Woolly Mammoth Skeleton

This display is one of many that can be seen at the Museum Of The Middle Appalachians.

A victim of his environment

My son got me in trouble, but he was just a victim of his environment. The other day while at his day-care (Baptist affiliated) the kids were being served their lunch and were asked to say their blessing. My son bowed his innocent little head and proceeded with the following blessing, which is the chorus from the country song 'People Are Crazy'..... God is great, beer is good and people are crazy. Needless to say, after my waterboarding interrogation, I caved and admitted that I had been listening to that song while transporting this innocent child to his day-care. Thank goodness they don't know about John Boy and Billy, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before my son implicates me again.

One of the upper falls at Tumbling Creek near Saltville, VA

Hailstorm - April 10, 2009

Video of the hailstorm that hit Concord, NC around 4:30 PM.

Money Talks - LOL!

Back in the early 1990's, I worked at a Four Star/Four Diamond Hotel in the Southwest Virginia area. I was working at the front desk one night when a male guest checked into the bridal suite. His registration listed a Mercedes as his vehicle and he was paying with cash. Here is a brief exchange of our conversation as I remember it.
The guest asked, "Does that suite have a mini bar?"
I answered, "Yes, sir, it does."
"May I have the key to the mini bar?"
"Sir, we can only give that key out if we have a credit card from the guest."
He responded, "I don't have a credit card."
"You don't have a credit card?", as I glanced back at his registration and made a mental note of the vehicle on the registration!
"Son, I do not have a credit card and why do you need a credit card anyway?"
Sticking to the rules, I apologetically replied, "I can't give you that key without a credit card. The reason we need the credit card, is we will not know what you used from the mini bar until after you check out. Therefore, we use the credit card to add a charge separate from your room bill for anything consumed from the mini bar."
The guest insisted, "I really don't have a credit card. How about I give you $100 for that key?"
I asked with a little confusion, "You want to put an additional $100 in cash on the room to cover any items you consume from the mini bar?"
"I can do that, but I was thinking that I would give you $100, personally, to give me that key!"
Asking with a slight laugh, "You are going to give me $100 dollars just to give you the key to the mini bar?"
The guest confirmed, "Yes. I will give you $100 to give me that key."
Replying with a bigger laugh, "Yeah, right! You're going to give me $100 for that key?"
The guest quickly pulled a wad of cash out and laid a $100 bill on the desk and said, "That's your money if you give me that key!"
I snatched up the $100 bill, gave him the key to the mini bar, and happily replied, "Here's your key!"

Your children are watching!

When my daughter was between two and three years old, she and I were out riding around. We were sitting at a red light. When it changed to green, she said, "Green! Green! Green! Go!" I thought to myself, wow, she knows green means go.
I asked her, "What does the red light mean?" She replied, "Stop."
"What does green mean?" She replied, "Go."
I said, "Good job! What does yellow mean?" She said, "Go faster!"

Wii have fun!

If you are like most families today, you are looking for ways to trim the family budget and still be able to find fun loving entertainment. The Wii gaming console along with the Wii Sports that is included may just be what you need. The Wii Sports game offers boxing, baseball, bowling, golf and tennis. The bowling is particularly family fun at its best.
Another fun thing to do is creating your Mii. Mii's are characters that you create to represent yourself, either as a likeness or your fun alter ego. You then use your Mii to participate in the games.
If you have a Wii, start using it for free family fun nights.