Roland, congratulations on your new place. Am I confused or did you buy another place just a short while ago? You must like to move more than I do. BTW, are any of our classmates in the path of this latest storm? We are keeping contact with my sister in law Kathy who lives in the West Palm area, but they are sure they will be fine. Here will just be rain at the beginning of the week, but yesterday we had traffic reports on the influx of people coming here from FL.

Pat, thankyou. It will be nice when I finish with it. We are going down this w/e for a big cook out and to plan fences for the critters etc. Its something I've wanted to do for awhile so I'm grabing the opportunity while I can. I'll send some pics of the Buggy Festival next month for you to see too if you're interested.

Richard, yes....its exciting. The town used to produce most of the buggies for this great nation of ours and yes, they have3 a big festival which we are planning on attending next month. In 05 I will probably have at least one entry in the parade. I'll see if I can take some pics and email them to you. We are going down there for a big picnic / cookout tomorrow and to plan the new fences etc for the critters.

Roland, I understand that your new town is the buggy capital of the south and that there is a big buggy weekend coming up in two weeks. I love old carriage building techniques and love to look at the carriages that have been built. I saw quite a few in a museum in the Stockyards in Fort Worth TX in June. I hope you check it out.

Congratulations Roland, your new home souonds terrific.

School stated this week. I'm tired. Labor Day Weekend is a welcome promise. Fall is in the air here. cool and Windy. Oh well, it was bound to come.

Richard, yes by the first of the year I plan to be there full time. I can't wait but have to work out all the details and finish the house too. I am already looking at employment prospects in the Macon area or communting say 3 say per week with a long weekend. We sign papers sometime this week I believe. Its all approved we're just waiting on the final writte contract.

Karen, yes....its very sad. In addition you have probably viewed the commentaries about the "good kids lies". We all did it and luckily never got hurt. They tell their parents that they are one place and then go another and then.......things like that happen. What upset me more was that there were two others in the car and they were found walking down the road away from the accident. Evidentally thwey pulled the couple out and left. Another story hit about two best friends that got totally wasted and while driving home one had his head out the door and it got decapitated and the other continued to drive home not even knowing spewing a blood trail. He awoke the next am to police surrounding him and he knew nothing. Eigh!!!!! As you know its really rough being a parent today. It IS the parents responsibility to know everything. You've got to be parent, friend, detective, and counselor all in one rounded package while probably holding a full time job. There are many good ones out there but the peer preasure today is sooooooo great it really has to start at home. But then again most of you reading this are doing the stink correctly and have not many problems. I think personally that in the metro areas like here the peer preasure is much more. Out in the country there are other activities to keep busy with and more room to "do your own thing".

Karen, That is really creepy!! It reminds me of when I lived in NYC. There were times when I would hear too much "news". It usually had the effect of keeping me out of the subway for a couple of weeks. Inevitably, convenience would overcome imagined risks and I would return to subterrainian travel.

Okay, here is a true story, that you can tell your kids to drive home the point of the evils of drinking and driving. Roland, I am sure you have heard it because it has been all over the news here. Two kids, 21 and 23 were out partying heavily and left a bar in the wee hours of the morning. The passenger was leaning out the window vomitting and the driver went off the road, hit a guy wire, decapitated his friend, then proceeded home, 12 miles, and parked in his driveway and went to bed. The next morning at 8pm a man was walking his one year old, saw a headless body hanging out of the truck and called the police. They came and got the guy out of bed, he was covered with blood and still drunk ... the story goes that he had no idea of what had happenned. Now is that the grossest thing you have heard in a long time? How sick! One thing about living in a big city, you can really get down listening to all the stuff that goes on in the course of a day ... accidents, murders, you name it.

Roland, the new place sounds great. Will this be your primary place to live?

50 acres pending about 80 miles so of here. I can finally have the horse there and my friends can have their criters too like llamas and exotic pigmy goats & chickens. Great to hear about Pete & Larry. Those are two I wondered about. Mom was friendly with Petes mom in church groups and Doc Noble asked about Larry as they used to be in contact. Oh, got a great 10acre pond on the property too so I can learn to fish for some brim. I want to create some nature trails and there is a garden plot with irrirgation too.