Fly View Two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't hurt the camera on my new phone is pretty darn good.

Fly View One

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can never get enough of how pretty butterflies can be, nature's art is unmatched.

Foot Baller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Paralympics have been amazing so far, but nothing has captured our attention more so far than watching Matthew Stutzman, a man with no arms, win the gold medal in archery. Truly astounding what people can accomplish.

WOTM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got them election jitters, keep on holding that breath. 

The Mehb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tore through the second in the three game Mafia series I got. This one was a little longer than the first but not in a good way. Most of that was just busywork. The second one was no where near as good as the first. Story not as good, voice acting not up to par, and somehow even though it's several years newer the graphics were worse. So, let's hope the third one is better!

Let The Games Continue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2024 Summer Paralympics begin today!

 

Joining The Mob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 2020 the first game in the Mafia series was released. There are three now, but I never played any of them. They got decent to middling reviews but I always had better options. Well Steam just had a special deal to get all three games for 14 bucks. That's a lot of gaming on the cheap, how can I pass that up? The first one was dinged for being short and I agree, I finished it in two sittings. If I had paid 60 bucks for that back in the day I probably would have been let down. The game was decent, but the voice acting and plot were very good so that elevated it a bit. On to part 2!

New Horizons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I finished the long awaited sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Forbidden West. The package also included the expansion Burning Shores. Every bit as good as the first game, this has become one of my favorite series. Can't wait for the third one!

The Dream Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not since Obama has there been this kind of energy and good vibes. Let's just hope it's enough to put Dump down once and for all.

When We Fight, We Win

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 of the DNC, Harris accepts the presidential nomination. I hope, I hope, I hope.

Walzing In

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DNC day 3, Walz accepts the VP nomination with a short, effective delivery.

Yes She Can

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 of the DNC and the highlight speech, like anyone is surprised by this, was delivered by Michelle Obama. Seen here burning Donny Dump to a crisp.

Thanks Joe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For 52 years of exemplary public service.

Snooze Pals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner nap time while we watch Dom help some makers.

I Hope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save us from the brink, one more time.

Spotted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not much cuter than a baby deer.

Dicky's View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying the view from Moby Dicky's patio.

WOTM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Harris go!

Volunteer Crew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad and some of the ladies he works with at the hospital.

Gold Medal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The certificate and pin that were awarded to Dad. There were a few other categories that were given awards as well, such as administration and nursing.

Humanitarian Huddle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here the CEO (right), COO (kinda hidden), and Chief of Nursing (left) give him the award.

Voluntary Award

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad was awarded the humanitarian of the year for volunteers award at Hendersonville Hospital for all the work he does there, including the NICU quilts he and Mari make. Here the hospital COO reads a statement about him and what he's done for the hospital community.

Delayed Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been quite a while since this year's Moonlight and Magnolias shindig, but they just got around to sending us a link to the official photo.

Let The Games Begin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We're big Olympics fans at the Lower Greers, so excited for the opening in Paris!

All Clear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tests showed everything was clear, so my heart issue with the heart itself and no other factors. This is good because my cardiologist can focus on one thing and know there's no mitigating issues. Since they had to go through the main artery in my wrist, they were very cautious about making sure it wasn't bleeding. They had this see-through air pressurized "bandage" that they checked every 30 minutes, letting a little of the air out at a time, verifying at each stage there was no bleeding.

Go With The Flow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm at the hospital today to have a cardiac cauterization. Which is fancy talk for they are going to look at the blood flow through the various pathways to my heart to make sure I don't have any narrowing or blockages.

Rain Deer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drizzly Maddie walk with a special guest.

5000

 <Art from Mari coming soon.>

 

My 5,000th post.

A little tiptoe through the past:

4000

3000

2000

1000

Gone Girl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The toy bins are all packed up and away in the closet, another visit has come to an end.

Tiger Time Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we finish with some sleeping tigers. Of course there were a lot more animals, but those were some of my best shots. My personal favorites, the snow leopards, were not out in their enclosure for some reason, maybe the heat, so no pics of them!

Slow Ride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nashville Zoo's Galapagos tortoises.

 

 

Total Macaw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashley is here to take Mackenzie home tomorrow, so we're spending the day at the Nashville Zoo. Always a nice visit and a good place to support. Here are some Hyacinth Macaws.

Sparkly Fett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mackenzie's visit continues. We be getting crafty up in here.

Rainbowface

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sequel to rainbowbutt.

Crime Scene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a murder!

All Set

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headphones, sleep mask, tablet, apples with peanut butter. Check.

Ben and Jerry and Jerry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always worth the wait, my yearly birthday treat.

High Age

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mackenzie picked out this special balloon for my birthday. Can never go wrong with them turtles.

The Young And The Restless

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mackenzie is here for a week visiting, while the ol' Maddie girl keeps on defying the odds. It's obvious, but also a little surreal she's older than both Payton and Mackenzie.

Sun And Sleep

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gigi enjoying some deck sun soaking.

Matters Of The Heart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My heart murmur has gotten a little worse after years of staying pretty much the same, so I've been undergoing a bevvy of tests. It's on the left side. The inner wall of the ventricle where the blood comes back from the lungs is thicker, so it can cause a small vortex effect sometimes when it pumps. The doc doesn't think it's serious yet but he's covering all the bases to be sure. One more test and hopefully I'm good for another year.

Skalded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skald: Against the Black Priory is an indy game made by just a handful of people. It uses retro graphics and music over modern underpinnings. It's very reminiscent of Bard's Tale or early Neverwinter Nights. It's gotten a lot of buzz so I gave it a go and I enjoyed it right up until the end. The end is so jarringly different and poor compared to the rest of the game its a huge letdown. They just couldn't stick the landing I guess.

WOTM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The summer of discontent.

It Is Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mad is ready for her morning walk.

Blue Jay Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That new zoom is no joke.

Trippy Road Trips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pacific Drive is a unique blend of driving sim and first person explorer. You have a special car you can customize in many ways that protects you on trips through a fictional "science gone wrong" zone called the Pacific Exclusion Zone. Solid story, really great voice acting, only slightly let down by an ending that falls a little flat. It's a very grindy game, so I admit I might have cheated a little to speed that process up. I find as I get older I have a lot less patience for grind.

The Ol' Squirrel Zoom Test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking out the sweet new 200 MP zoom on my phone. Wow. Compare this to my previous zoom capability, also keeping in mind the other picture I had to take larger, then manually zoom in using a picture editor and crop out that section. The image above is straight from the phone as is.

Return To The Galaxy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up until a few months ago my Pixel 6 Pro was easily my favorite cell so far. Then for some reason it stopped doing the one function a phone needs to do, working as a phone. People would call, but it would never ring or show anything missed on my end. The calls just went off into nowhere. That's not acceptable with work and family trying to get in touch with me, so I had to change.

Enter the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Honestly the S24 Plus was enough phone for me, but the Ultra has a huge 200 MP zoom lens. I take a lot of pictures with my phone and couldn't resist the siren song of that feature.

 So far I'm really liking this phone, and you know, it actually gets all the calls sent to it so that's nice.

 Just for fun, a little blog memory lane:

2021 - Pixel 6 Pro 

2016 - Samsung Galaxy S7

2014 - Samsung Galaxy S5 

2012 - Motorola Droid Razr Maxx

2010 - Motorola Droid

2008 - Motorola Maxx

Pre 2008 - LG VX-6000

 Fun fact the Motorola Maxx was the first phone with a camera, at a whopping 2 MP!

 

 

 

Pops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day to all. I'm very grateful I've got a great Dad and great kids!

Party Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a party at my boss Nathalie's house and the road to get to her road had a very familiar name.

8-19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two sweet pups.