: )..

 

Thank you for not making me dance like

the others when I forgot my badge..  : )..

Young Puppies Walkin..

Let the puppies enjoy the cooler weather today.  They got to celebrate it with a walk around the Independence downtown square.  There were lots of places to sniff and I think Fergus was tinkled out about halfway through the jaunt.  Lol.  He still tried to go on the way back, but I think he was runnin low.  : )..  We wore them out, gave them a cool drink of water and ended their trip with a stop at Petsmart where there were even more things to sniff, more stuff to tinkle on and lots and lots and lots of dogs to bark at. 

We found out, Milo is checking in at 18 pounds, Emmy is close behind at 17 and Fergus is quickly gaining, weighing in at 12.9 pounds.  Pretty good for an eight month old puppy.

Here are some pics from the walk.. 

It was way too bright to really tell how well they were

coming out..

 Tinkle, tinkle little star..

I wasn't quite going for that shot,

but again, it was hard to see with

the sun and my iphone screen.  Lol.

 The Ferginator ferginating..

 Milo maxin and relaxin..

 Emmy eminatin..

And finally, Emmy channeling

her inner Olympic gymnast,

workin it on the balance beam..

She says she's ready for the catwalk now..

Lol.

But soft...

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? 

 It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief

That thou, her maid, are far more fair than she..

Oooh.  Wait.  It's just the backdoor

light that our new neighbors thought

would look great, if it was left on

allll night long.

Awesome.

'Preciate that.

Yup.  It's just that bright.  It's like one

of those 1000 candle watt lights that they make.

Ugh.  Hope it runs their electric bill up.  : )..

Ha!  Actually, I'm sure our dogs will find something

to bark at around 2am when they have to go out

in that illuminated back yard.

They won't think it's such a good idea then.

They just about scared the schtickey out of me

late Thursday night as well.  It was dark and I was

about to get in the car and run to the store,

when all of a sudden!  There was a florescent

flashlight moving around in the darkended

house that hadn't had anyone in it for months.

I'm tellin ya!  I was ducking, backing out in a hurry

and about to call 911 when I noticed their

vehicle parked in their driveway.  Whew!

I'm tellin ya, I thought I jumped when

some cops were yelling, "Get on the ground!!!"

a few weeks ago!  Lol.  I was mooovin

after the flashlight incident!  Lol.

I Heart It..

It's been a long week at work, glad to have made it to the weekend..

Feelin a little love for this Friday..  : )..

Ahh..  The weekend..

How I've missed you so..

My Old Friend~Tim McGraw Lyrics

Went to work only to find out that we lost yet another ADT / Tyco family
member.  This one was still young, but filled with so much fun and laughter
that she got a lot out of her 33 years on Earth.  May Beth Good rest in peace
and join the countless others that we have lost in the last few years.
 

Ms. Good / Ms. Great / Ms. Always bubbly and smiling.. 

Don from our resource desk..

Mat from our inbound department..

 

One of my former managers, Mr. "Rontastic!" Burns..

May the one(s) who took him from us know no peace
and those who knew him, know peace and comfort.

One of my former training assistant new hires, Loyd..

You never knew just how much we would miss you.. 

Another one of our inbound personalities, Glenn..

And another one of our managers, Vivian..

There were a few others that we have lost these last few years.

We actually were all intact last year, but the year before that

saw us lose five people, and we are up to four this year.  : (..

My heart goes out to all of their family and friends.  May they

all know much peace and comfort.  And lemme tell ya, between

Beth, Don and Ron, Heaven is hoppin today!  Lol.  I don't think

they knew what was in store for them up there.  : )..  Until we

meet again, y'all keep the party goin.

Dinner Theater.. : )..

Went to Dixon's Famous Chili in Independence tonight.  They have some pretty good chili.

 Our dinner theater occured outside at the street corner.

One vehicle ran a red light and t-boned another.

Not a major wreck, but enough that one car had trouble

opening their doors and there was a little smoke coming out

from under the hood.

Luckily, there was a group of Kansas City PD and Swat

members finishing their dinner there as well.  Lol.

A couple of them jogged over to control the situation

until the Independence Fire, Ambulance and Police arrived.

 Usually I feel a little woozy from the firemen

who visit my employer often..

However, I might have to include

wooziness for Swat members as well.  : )...

Lol.  Men in uniforms.

Hubba hubba hubba.

Umm hmm.

Uniforms.

Is it hot in here?

Yeah.  Must be the chili.

Umm hmm.

The chili.

Yeah.

That's it.  : )..

Sooo sleepy..

Just not tonight..

Lol..

zzzz..

Take the Long Way Home..

This song was playing Saturday and Sunday while I drove home from the
wineries.  : )..  Great song, great time!

Grape Therapy 2.0.. : )..

Alrighty!  This has been one of the best weekends that I've had in a long, long, long time.  I had a feeling that the wine harvests were going to be fun, but I had no idea just how much fun I was going to have!  Two days of picking grapes, and I'm tellin ya!  I hardly have any stress at all.

My weekend started at Ladoga Ridge Winery in Smithville, MO.  I had such a great time, even though I snipped my fingers three times with the pruning shears!  Yikes!  : )..  They had music playing from their outside speakers, and it was sooo nice and relaxing moving through the rows, collecting grape clusters and filling several buckets.

My weekend ended at Fence Stile Vineyard in Excelsior Springs, MO.  I avoided snipping my fingers (and everyone else's too) this time.  We had some rain that blew through early in the morning, but it stopped by the time we started, leaving us with a gorgeous, cool breeze while we were collecting the grapes.

We started our morning by helping to remove the bird netting, bending down to remove the plastic clips, and then lifting the netting over the tops of the rows of vines.  It was quite the workout.  We uncovered two long, full rows.  Once all of the vines were free, it was time to start snipping and filling buckets.

We made it through eight rows of grapes, but right at the end of the harvest, I was reaching for a grape cluster that was hidden behind some leaves.  It took me a couple seconds to realize what was happening, I heard a humming or buzzing sound and I thought I had hit part of an electric fence!  Lol.  Nope!  I got stung!  Yikes!  I had a small grape cluster in my hand, which went flying across the row while I was hopping around, shaking my other hand.  Ha!  It only hurt for a bit though and although it's a little sore when I try bending my finger, all of the fun I had this weekend was well worth that bee sting!

We ended both days with a lunch, and ended Sunday's harvest with a few bottles of delishus, delishus, delishus wine.  I went to Ladoga Ridge without my wine mob group, but they were present and accounted for at Fence Stile.  There were 30 volunteers picking grapes.  We picked over 5,000 pounds, which averages out to 172 pounds per person.  The grapes we picked will create about 112 cases of wine.  Not a bad days work.  Very therapeutic!  How can I be stressed with a weekend like that?  Umm.  I can't!  : )..

Here are some pics from Fence Stile's harvest.

 Da Seyval Grapes..

 One of da buckets I filled..

 Some of da grapes that were added to the big crates..

 Some of da stems that were leftover from the harvest..
There were a lot more stems, that's only part of the lot..

Da wine mob toast..

Buon cibo!  Buon vino!  Buon amici!

(Good food * Good wine * Good friends)

Next up?  Fence Stile's harvest August 26th..

Guess who is going to be there?  Our wine mob

and a couple other friends!

I can't wait!

If anyone has the chance to join a winery's
grape harvest?  I highly recommend it!  : )..

I'm adding this to DebbieDoo's Newbie party.
Great host!  Great site!  Great participants!
Great idea that she included Newbie grads and diy/crafts as well!

Grape Therapy.. : )..

Had a great time helping harvest grapes at Ladoga Ridge Winery in Smithville, MO this morning.  It started around 8am and I stopped at 11am, getting a nice lunch.  I snipped my fingers a few times, including a pretty good snip on my thumb.  Other than being a little sore and achy, it was soo worth it.  I have found my Calgon moment!  Ahhhh.  So nice.  So relaxing.  It only got up to about 80 degrees while I was there, although I did break a sweat as well.  They had some great music playing on their outdoor speakers while we worked.  They didn't have a lot of people to help, but by gosh, the harvest got done.  : )..  Pretty neat.  Definitely therapeutic!

Ahhh.  Just what the doctor ordered!

Peace and quiet.  And wine.  : )..