Nothing Runs Like a Deere

August 25, 2006... The day you all knew would arrive.... ARRIVED!!... Yep.... Bruce finally got his John Deere..... One very happy man on my hands right now....!!! And look..... they even threw in a hat ..... How's that for a bargain!!??....
And for you men folk out there ..... Here's a few close-up photos so you can check out some of the details of Bruce's new "TOY"....

Now here's the part that nearly put me into cardiac arrest.... Watching him figure out how he's going to unload his new "TOY".... Not sure I was so happy with his thinking ..... Nope...... not happy one bit.....
But then who was listening to me???..... Certainly not Bruce.... One thought on his mind.... Get her unloaded so he could try her out!!.... Meanwhile, my breath is held as I watched him start to manuever his way down the narrow ramp....
Almost there and I'm almost breathing normal again.....
"Yes!"... He made it!!!..... And feeling pretty proud of himself too.... (Of course)
Is that a HAPPY FACE or what!!??.....
Of course then he had to try it out on the "huge" yard of ours..... You go, Bruce!!!....
If you can tear your eyes away from the green machine.... try checking out my beautiful Impatiens there in the background.....
Now this is where the green machine is going to be stored.... Looks like somebody had their work cut out for them.... And it wasn't me!!!
And looky here.... Even Mama got to take a ride... Bruce said I drove it too slow, but then this is more his thing then mine.... I just wanted to get a feel of what it was like..... I'm good now!!!
Checking it all over to make sure everything is in it's place.....
A close up of the motor for the guys!!.....

Checked it all over..... Everythings looking good!!.... All's well in Bruce's world right now!!...
And look here.... The shed's all organized and there's room to store the new TOY.... Of course there'll be even more room once he sells the old lawn mower and snow blower.... Oh yeah... forgot to mention... The John Deere comes with a snow blower attachement... That'll be here in another month....
Time to put her away and come in for dinner Bruce.....
Looks like somebody's having a hard time saying "Good-bye"....

Don't worry Honey.... You can play with it again tomorrow when you get home from work....

2nd Annual Birthday Get Together

On August 12, 2006... My good friends, Bonnie S. and Debbie S. and I got together for what is becoming our special time together to celebrate our 3 birthdays .... (July, August, & January)... Our lives are always so busy around our birthdays, so we finally picked this date and time of year to set aside ... And Sackets seems to be our town of preference.... And why not... it's a beautiful little town, especially this time of year.... filled with all kinds of interesting sights and activities.....
This year we hit it right on time with the Jazz Fest going on all day..... Unbeknownst to me, I wasn't suppose to be taking pictures of the musicians.... but did manage to get this one photo before it was brought to my attention....thankfully I wasn't hauled off to suffer the consequences and we were able to enjoy the beautifull day God provided us....
Here are one couple dancing along with the music....
Boats were coming and leaving through-out the afternoon.... What a simply gorgeous and relaxing afternoon we had....
We found ourselves a nice bench by the dock side and enjoyed catching up on each other's lives as we past time waiting for our reservation hour atTin Pan Galley for our lunch.... Of course, I'm not in the pictures, because as usual... I was off taking pictures......Unfortunately when it came time for lunch..... I was so hungry I didn't think to take pictures of the beautiful court yard we dined in.....(Maybe next time)

After lunch we slowly strolled back to the car, and then headed back to town where we stopped off at Debbie's place to do our little gift exchange.... Caught this picture of Debbie on her porch swing her husband, Vaughn built for her....
Had a wonderful day girls!!!... Looking forward to our next get together....

Celebrating My 58th Birthday At The Office

August 4, 2006 I turn 58.... YIKES!!! Two years away from 60 and 5 years away from retirement!!!! I decided to take my birthday off from work so I could just do what ever my little heart desired..... Sooooo......Bonnie & Pete gave me a party at the office on the 3rd...... Here are gifts they got me........ just begging me to open them..... The flowers were a gift to the office from one of our clients... Aren't they beautiful!!! And here's my chocolate cake..... just begging me to cut into it.... Just in case you're wondering... MerMer is my office nickname (pronounced maremare).... I'm MerMer and Bonnie is BonBon....
First things first..... Time to open the presents.... Pete gave me a Lowe's Gift Card.... Can't wait to hit that store and see what I can find for myself... Pete had in mind the flower section (as we all love to garden)... and I just may go with that idea.... but we're talking Lowe's here... who knows what I may end up getting.....
Showing off my new necklace and earrings from Bonnie... The bigger necklace is the one from Bonnie.... I've always been a 'gold' person, but have recently started breaking myself into the silver.....
Bonnie also gave me these great assorted sizes.....acylic .... magnetic frames for my refridgerator.... I had seen the ones she had and told her I wanted to get some for myself... Well she beat me to it.... I have them filled and on my refridgerator already.... Does that surprise anyone!!??...
Time to have a few friends from the building to stop in for ice cream & cake (and a few snacks)... This is Ann who works way up on the 3rd floor with DSS....
And of course we couldn't have a party without inviting our good friend, Mark.... You can tell he's having a good time by that big smile plastered all over his face..... He's a real party animal this one....
And here's Tom, one of Mark's summer helpers.... He's just starting his sophomore year at college this fall..... Tom is looking at something in the line of civil engineering....
Matt's another one of his helpers and heading into his sophomore year at college too... Matt is considering something in the law field.... Both are very fine young men.... and hard workers too....
Just sitting around eating and chatting.....
While everyone is in the outer office having a good time .... Ole Pete was hard at work keeping the office running.....
Another good friend, Vicki.... whom I affectionately call "V" and she calls me "M".... old joke between us that goes way back.... Thanks EVERYONE for helping me celebrate my birthday......

And Thank you Bonnie & Pete for the great gifts and the GREAT Party!!! (AND for those of you who might be wondering if any work DID get done.... yes it DID....)