Well, it’s been an interesting few days.  My old man came home Sun morning and told me the company had put up a memo announcing the closure of his division on Nov. 16th.  Now this led to several thoughts on my part.  The first being “we are so fucked“   The second, following rather quickly was “Nah, been there, it could be worse.”  The second thought is the more true one.  We immediately began discussing options.  Which all involve moving.   This is mainly due to the fact that my old man is an airframe and powerplant mechanic, so it’s rather important to be near an airplane of some kind to do his job.   

Right now we need to stay with this company they have good benefits and a good pension plan, so we’re thinking we will transfer.  Places we could transfer to are wide ranging.  There’s a Navy T-45 contract coming up in Kingsville Texas.  That wouldn’t be to bad since we would be making $3.00 more an hour there than here.

A Lear jet contract in Germany A huge jump in salary, but a considerable move.

Then there are several C-12 contracts.  Which are spaced from Alabama clear to California.  What to do is now the question. 

At this point I don’t know what to think.  I’m slightly excited at the prospect of travel, which I love, and bummed that we have such a life altering decision to make.  So here I am, thinking and thinking and still up in the air.  Hah! up in the air.

Found this at http://quizilla.com/  it’s been a long time since I visited there and they have some pretty funny stuff up.       

Me Tarzan!  You Jane?

  

I don’t want another heartbreak
I don’t need another turn to cry
I don’t want to learn the hard way
Baby Hello, oh no, goodbye
But you got me like a rocket
Shooting straight across the sky…
It’s the way you love me
It’s a feeling like this–
It’s centrifugal motion
It’s perpetual bliss.
It’s that pivotal moment
It’s Impossible
This Kiss, This Kiss
(Unstoppable)
This Kiss, This Kiss
Cinderella said to Snow White
How does love get so off course?
All I wanted was a white knight
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse.
Ride me off into the sunset
Baby, I’m forever yours
It’s the way you love me
It’s a feeling like this–
It’s centrifugal motion
It’s perpetual bliss.
It’s that pivotal moment
It’s Unthinkable
This Kiss, This Kiss
(Unsinkable)
This Kiss This Kiss
You can kiss me in the moonlight
On the rooftop under the sky
You can kiss me with the windows open
While the rain comes pouring inside
Kiss me in sweet slow motion
Let’s let every thing slide
You got me floating, You got me flying
It’s the way you love me
It’s a feeling like this–
It’s centrifugal motion
It’s perpetual bliss.
It’s that pivotal moment
It’s Subliminal
This Kiss, This Kiss
(It’s Criminal)
This Kiss, This Kiss

I’ve got Faith Hill stuck in my head.  I guess it could be worse.

This is what ended up getting me a free case of wine.  Lots of labor!

This is a pic of my Brother in law Andy, his brother, Mark and wife Terry are the owners of Piasa Winery.  (pie a saw) 

I worked for wine and Andy worked for money.  He had the much harder job, ha ha.  I did more helping than working, though one day before grape harvest I did some weed whacking and I did get paid for that.  I loved being at the vineyards and helping at the winery.  We processed literally tons of chardonel and traminette grapes. 

Next time I’m going to borrow my AllieMcNallys camera so I can take some decent pictures.  This is a shot of the vineyard from the winery.  The water is the leading edge of the acre pond that Mark and Terry had built.

My old man would be thrilled that his face is so blurry that you can’t get a good look at him.  That’s him and brother in law Andy.  Those shapes in the background are more grapes.  Really I’ll do better next time. 

This is in Alton Illinois at the Robert Wadlow memorial.This is a life size bronze.  He was 8’11″.1  and he was only 22 when he died.  They called him the “gentle giant”.

The original chair was specially made for him by a furniture manufacturer who saw how uncomfortable he was in a regular chair.  (I was very comfortable behind my sis and as you can see her feet are a long way from the ground.)  This is an exact bronze replica of his chair which is now in a local museum.  If I can get copies of the pictures on my sisters camera you’ll see our second trip here in the rain.

Also in october the Norton grapes will be ready for harvest and I’m going to try and go back with a real camera.

Guess where I’ve been??  ST. LOUIS!

Went to the zoo!  My favorite part was the penguin palace.  I took a couple of great pictures, but I can’t get them to scan at the resolution I want. 

So here is the brochure with the penguins modeling for a professional.

I like my pictures better but until they make a photo shop for “complete computer imbeciles” I will have to do the best I can.

Check out the hippo, he was really aggressive and looked very dangerous,which I’ve heard they are.  But at the same time once he got in the water he seemed so graceful.  It reminded me of the dancing hippos in Fantasia.

One evening we drove down the river road and ate fish sandwiches on the banks of the Mississippi, the sunset was amazing.  As anyone who takes photographs knows a picture is never as good as the real thing.  So you will have to use your imagination and make the real thing ten times better than this picture.  Of course all I had was a disposable camera so I shouldn’t bitch to much huh!

That may be why a lot of them are so grainy.

I also went to the biggest display of mosaic art in the world.  The St. Louis cathedral.  That was a good suggestion made by iris_nyx

I guess this is it for now.  I’m going to put some more pictures up tomorrow.  I spent a lot of the time I was there helping out at Piasa Winery.  It was grape harvest time.  So I’ll write some about my wine making adventures and how I came out of it with a case of free wine.  Mmmm!

See you tomorrow.  Missed you guys!

Two more for the road…me and my sister taking the ferry across the Illinois river.

This is really the end now, haha!

indie