Double Bad Brad, The High School Grad!

It's now official, I am old as dirt. Not only has my oldest & his beautiful bride made a Grandfather out of me, but now my youngest has graduated from High School. It was not so long ago that I was wiping their little behinds . . .

Needless to say, I am very proud of both of them . . . no, let's say all three.

While attending the graduation ceremony yesterday, I was fortunate enough to visit with the little angel known as "Jackie" - who is Bradley's older sister - my stepdaughter while married to Bradley's mother. Jackie has grown into a beautiful woman, wife, & mother - mother of three adorable little girls - with the fourth (another girl) on the way. She is married to a fine fellow named Dillon, and they have a nice home in my hometown of Cookeville, Tennessee.

Pictured above is Jackie, Danny, & Bradley, shortly after the graduation ceremony.

And here's a short video of Bradley as his name is called, he accepts his diploma, and crosses the stage:

CONGRATULATIONS BRADLEY! I AM VERY PROUD OF YOU!

Vacation Is Over

Well, my full week off from work has come to an end. Evidently, everything looked "OK" on the "echo" I had on Tuesday since I haven't heard anything since. Had that tooth pulled on Friday morning - it was painful, but it's over. And as expected, the dentist's office hit me up for even more money - charged me an additional $40 for the laughing gas without telling me in advance that it was extra. And my guess is, they rarely use it. It took them several attempts to get the gas flowing. When it did finally reach the nose mask, it must have been near 100% because I got real silly real fast. They turned it back down, and I am convinced they shut it completely off. Then the dentist copped attitude with me because I squirmed a bit while he was shoving the 1st needle into my gums. And from that moment on, he showed me no mercy. The 2nd needle went into the roof of my mouth - and felt like he shoved it all the way up into my skull. Can it get any worse? Absolutely! Nothing was numb when he started twisting and tugging at the tooth. I'm not sure, because I had my eyes closed, but I think he may have used a crow bar. The novacain, or whatever it was that he injected with the 3 foot needles, started working about an hour after I left the place. Between that and the pain pills, I didn't really suffer much after that evil tooth was gone.

On the lighter side, the boat has been de-winterized and is ready to hit the water. There was an unexpected repair, however, which cost an extra $100 + above what I had budgeted for, so unless somebody wants to cover the price of gas . . .

Isn't a week of vacation supposed to be fun? Oh well, that old familiar jingle comes to mind when I think about Monday (to the tune of "Hi Ho" from "Snow White"):

"I owe, I owe, so off to work I go . . . "

Happy Birthday to Danny Wayne Boles!

It's Danny's Birthday today! My oldest (or as my father used to say - "my number one son") turned 27 years old today. I was fortunate enough to be on vacation this week, so Danny, Amanda, Drew and I went to lunch to celebrate Danny's Birthday at the new Steak 'n Shake in Acworth.


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I was looking on my computer to find a picture of Danny, and realized that I have no recent shots of him. In the process, I ran across some old photos, and just couldn't resist putting at least one of them up on my blog. The photo below is of my Father holding Danny when he was somewhere between 1 and 2 years old.

Twins . . OR . . . ???

As some of you may already know, I am on "vacation" from the job all this week, and the 1st couple of days have been scattered with Doctor & Dentist appointments. I've had some trouble with a tooth for several weeks now, and the Dentist says I need a root canal. Now, the Dentist assured me that there is nothing to it, but I've heard far too many horror stories to believe him. Then, much to my disappointment, I learned that my insurance only pays based on some "schedule" that I have no visibility to. Although the information on the insurance website leads me to believe that the insurance pays 100%, this evidently is not the case. I learned that the root canal (that I don't want to have) will cost ME about $490 out-of-pocket. This is money I just don't have right now. When given my other option, an extraction, which will cost me about $49 out-of-pocket, well, let's just say I had no choice but to opt for the "hillbilly grin." Old age really bites, then your teeth falls out.

Oh, guess you're curious about the title to this post "Twins . . OR . . . ???" Well, it was time for the "one year after the surgery" echo today. The gal at the Cardiologist's office who performed the test did not speak very good English. Not sure if she was German or Russian or what. So, you know me, I like to joke and kid around, and in this case, was expecting to totally confuse this lady. So while lying there, as she moved the 'sensor' around my chest, I asked "Well . . is it a boy or a girl?" She, without any hesitation, said "It's both." So the title . . am I having twins, or some bizarre "combo" creature?

OK, so you can rest assured, I am not quitting my job to do stand up . . .

Drew is Officially Vertical!

Drew is Officially Vertical!!! Click here to follow the link to Danny's Blog and see a video clip.

Happy 3rd Birthday

to

Aden Christopher Gaskin!

Louanne's Grandson, Aden Christopher Gaskin, celebrated his 3rd Birthday today at Acworth Lake Park, along with his Mom (Candace), Dad (Ian), "Nee" (Louanne), PaPa & MeMaw (John & Van Gaskin, Ian's parents & Aden's Grandparents), and many more friends & family. Aden received lots of cool presents, including a "multi-pack" of water pistols. It wasn't long after he opened them that the "older kids" were filling them with ice water from the coolers. Once all the melted H20 had been used up, bottled water became the weapon of choice. Needless to say, we all got soaked!

Oh Beautiful For Spacious Skies . . .

As mentioned in a previous post, I attended the "Angels Over Atlanta" Air Show this weekend. I managed to capture several really cool video clips with Louanne's camera. This one is my favorite clip, and I am thrilled to share it with you!


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Videos of Drew Now Playing Right Here!!!

Finally! I must give credit where credit was due . . . I consulted with Danny to get some insight on how to post video and . . . WALA! I hope you enjoy watching these! Please note, both of these videos were taken with my cell phone, so when played from the windows below, the quality is a bit distorted. If you were to download the video and play it with Microsoft Windows Media Player, set for "normal size" - the quality is much sharper.

In this first video, Drew tears into his 1st Birthday Cake!

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"Look, Paw Paw, I can walk now!"


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