The Weekend

Hope everyone out there had a good weekend. I did, it just wasn’t long enough, but that’s how it always seems I suppose. This coming up weekend, however, will be a little bit longer as it is Labor Day, the unofficial end to summer. I wish it was the official end to hot weather, but unfortunately we will have to suffer a little longer when it comes to the heat.

Friday night I went to the Madison Academy game with my dad and brother. MA lost, but we still managed to have a nice time and see some decent football. The MA concession stand offered stellar food as always and I visited it twice, once before the game and once during half time. It’s just not football without a visit to the concession stand.

On Saturday morning, I got a haircut and then did my weekly grocery shopping. After I got home, I had a bite to eat and then loaded up The Tide and took her down to pet wash at Goin’ To The Dogs and Cats retail store in Five Points. I usually just bathe The Tide at home, but as you can imagine, it makes a huge mess and is a lot of work so I thought I would give this pet wash a try. It was the best decision I have ever made… well, as far as bathing The Tide is concerned anyway. The owner clipped The Tide’s nails for me and then set me up for bathing The Tide. The wash stand was awesome and I didn’t have to bend over far which was good for the ole back. The dog wash provides the shampoo and towels and even a super duper hair dryer which blows off excess dead skin and dog hair and the best part of all is that after you are done, they clean up the wash station in preparation for the next dog. I was so excited I thought I might cry from joy! The cost was $15 but it was well worth it, especially considering a nail trim alone at PetSmart is $11; not to mention the fact that I didn’t have to clean up a dirty/hairy bathtub after the Tide got all clean. I will definitely be using this place again.

After the dog wash was complete, I did a little straightening and cleaning of the house as best I could anyway. It’s hard to put things in order when things are piled on top of each other multiple times in multiple rooms. I at least got the sheets changed the floors vacuumed and mopped and some dusting done. I also replaced the air filters which were, as always, covered in dog hair, but also caked in sawdust from the room renovation. I also watched a little of the hurricane coverage and then saw on Twitter that Huntsville Utilities sent some crews up to Greenville, NC to help them with their power outages. Greenville, NC is where I used to live and where The Tide was born. Hope all you East Carolinians are doing okay!

Speaking of the room renovation, here are the latest pictures which I didn’t have with me last Friday.

Saturday evening, I went out with Jackie to a charity concert. Some of our friends put together a show to raise money for a child that has Muscular Dystrophy. The insurance the child’s mother has won’t cover a lot of the medical costs associated with the child’s MD and so our friends put on this show to raise money to pay for the child’s medical costs. There were a lot of different bands playing and it was a fun night. One of the bands’ even had a song called Ms. Parker. I couldn’t make out the rest of the lyrics, but every time they sang MS. Parker, I was intrigued. I had ridden with Jackie; so, about 11:00, I asked her to drive me home so I wouldn’t be too exhausted for church the next morning. If it had been a Friday night, I would have definitely stayed later because I was having a great time and all the music was really wonderful.

The band our friends are in, The Robertsons

Jackie took this with her iPhone.

I look really engrossed with what's going on.

After church Sunday morning, I went over to my friend Robert’s house to see his newborn baby. Little Aston is a little over two weeks old now and it was my first chance to stop by and see him and his parents. Robert and I used to work together but he moved on to bigger and better things at the first of the month. It was really nice visiting with them. After a Sunday afternoon nap and evening church service, I came home and ate dinner and watched most of the last day of this year’s Tour de France. I recorded the last day and the Alpe D’Huez stages while I was gone and haven’t watched them yet. Some may think it’s weird to go back and watch but I rather enjoyed watching last night and plan to finish it up this evening. I may save the Alpe D’Huez stage for a rainy day but am looking forward to watching it almost as much as I was looking forward to being there that day.

I guess that’s it for this Monday’s weekend recap. Hopefully there will be some progress made on the room renovation this week because I am ready to get everything back where it belongs. Keep your fingers crossed.