"Houston... That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

All this time I thought the ditch would be the end of me but with help from Boike, a rented Bobcat, a couple cases of the nectar of the Gods, PBR, and a good back bone I choke slammed the ditch into submission! This is not the first time the dynamic duel got together to fight the evil forces of the world!!! This was like 15 years ago at the love shack baby love shack, I mean the lake house. You show me someone that graduated from CCHS in 1992 and I will show you a person that took part in 'extra curriculum activities' down there..... Anyways, a big tree fell on it and we were commissioned by Mr and Mrs. Boike to tear it down and boy did we!!!!!

That's my truck at the time being used to knock a wall down. MMMMM To be young and care free again!!!!!

OK...... The first thing I had to do was have all the utility lines marked so we didn't accidentally rupture the gas line while digging!!! KABOOM!!!! Get this..... I went to this web site in the morning and filled in my info... I was thinking it would take them at least a week to come out and mark them all but to my amazement, when I came home from work that afternoon they were all marked!!!! SWEET!!!!


Next up.... Getting the Bobcat..... I made it very clear to the guys at the place I rented it that I had never operated one before. The guy said with a little chuckle "That's no problem... It will take me about five minutes to show you how to use it and I guarantee you'll be driving it like a pro in the first half an hour." Sure enough he was 100% right!!!!

I unloaded it and I was off faster than a prom dress..... I started working on the side of the house where I keep the boat. Remember this?

Well that is what happens when your tires are sitting on the ground. The soil sucks all the moisture out of them... I leveled it and I will be having a load of gravel dumped in there.


The next night Boike came and we took part in drinkin' some PBR...... I love sitting in the rocking chairs out on my huge front porch and talking about the same stuff we talked about the last time we saw each other. GOOD GOD we are old men! He was telling me about how much fun Mese, his wife and him had at the Poison show. If I recall he told me that she was wearing a tub top that said 'spring break 86'. And this is me giving my approval!!

We started out bright and early the next morning by taking out all the RR ties I put in there last year...

Don't let the looks fool ya. I took this picture when I first put them in and you're right, I had a pretty good lookin' start to it but trust me. It was a downward spiral after that.... Anyways, we took them all and threw them in the back yard for the time being.


Then the digging and leveling off began....


OH YEAH!!!!!!! It's 10am!!!! You know what that means!?!?!?!?! It's time to take our Teamster break with a couple of cold ones....


We learned to take a 'real' break from our good friend Gary who was a Teamster for like 30 some years. You want some good entertainment!?!?!?! Watch those two yahoos 'discuss' unions after each of them has had a few alcoholic beverages... Boike's anti and Gary is pro union... It's better than watching any presidential debate you have ever seen.



After our break we started building a retaining wall around my water line. We decided that digging directly on top of it would not be in my best interest. How nice would it have been if none of my neighbors on the street had running water for the day because it had to be shut off so the water company could fix the line I ruptured!?!?!? They all would have loved me!!!! Neighborly hospitality!!!!


After that we leveled out the ditch so the slope was not that drastic. So it was this...

And now it's this...

Up next was a trip to the local feed & seed store Elgin's for a few bales of hay and some seed, rye and brown top millet, that would start right a way. Let me tell ya folks, go and support your local feed & seed store because they know a lot more than any of those lawn and garden BIG BOX stores..... You might save a little bit of money if you go to Lowes, Home Depot or Walmart but you'll be lucky to get someone that knows what the sam hell they are talkin' about......

So up next was spreading some seed then hay. We got rye and top millet because the stuff grows fast and helps fight erosion. We also used a few of the bails and steaked them where the water runs so they slow the flow down which also helps with erosion. Don't worry, they are not permanent. I'll keep them in there until there is a good cover of grass and the dirt is compacted enough.

That was enough work for one day..... We got cleaned up and my parents came down and we cooked out with some steaks. All catered by Kate McBride catering service!!! HE HE HE HE HE HE!!! Her and pops brought everything down for a feast fit for a king!!!! WOO HOO!!!! I didn't have to do anything!!!! I told Boike that he was lucky they came down and served up dinner because if they didn't he would have been lucky if I threw in a frozen pizza in the oven for him.... We spent the rest of the evening chilling out on the front porch. I was soooooo tired that I fell out of my rocking chair...... That's my story and I am stickin' to it!!!!

The next morning we focused on the side yard. We touched it up a little bit and then placed some RR ties as a border and laid some weed barrier down. I'm getting a dump truck load of gravel on Friday. It will look real puuuuuurty then.


Then came the area where we built the retaining wall..... I moved the bush you see on the left of the picture and centered it and also planted some ivy to spread.... That stuff rules!!!!! It's fast growing and covers up all of the imperfections..... It's the Toupee of landscaping... HMMMMMMM!?!?! I might go over to my brother's house and take some of the ivy growing up the retaining wall?????? That sounds like a plan to me!!!!! MORE IVY!!!! I'm a ivy-holic!!!!

Now your going to get my two cents on this whole experience..... I highly recommend you go and rent a Bobcat if you are doing some landscaping!!! Trust me! Your back will thank you!!! I stacked all those RR ties in the back yard in less than a half an hour...

When you realize all the stuff you can get accomplished when you rent one it's a no brainer..... It's money well spent.....

Look what I found on You Tube!!! See those trees in the background? I live on the other side of them. You can hear the cars if you were outside but if your just sitting inside watching TV then you can hardly hear them...

I started out by telling you that Boike and I tore down the old lake house years ago... Well Boike's younger brother and his family just built a house out there..... The original built by Sanford and Son.



And the new one!!! I'd say it's a little bit better then the shack that use to be out there.

And look who made a magazine cover!?!? None other than my wacky sister in law Princess Leia.... You want my opinion? Well I don't care, you're going to get it anyway.... The best picture is on page 4!!! It's an action shot of her singing karaoke!!! I think she is singing an old Milli Vanilli song......

And before I sign off I just wanted to mention that no you are not tripping on anything, I changed the background to blue..... That's right!! I added some spice to my blog!!!!! OH YEAH BABY!!!! I also want to apologize that it took me so long to post a new entry but I have had computer issues.... The dang thing died and I am having it looked at. Plus all of my pictures and stuff are on the that computer and I had to scramble to find or take other pictures and there are other 'issues' that caused a delay too...... Anyways, enough of my whinning. Have a good one and I will talk to y'all later.......

HULLABALOO!!!!!!!

My aunt and God mother, although she had forgotten that part until I reminded her of it like 5 years ago, Nancy informed me that she enjoys the pictures on my blog but she is not too sure about all the hullabaloo I write about. That silly lady had me confused. I didn't know what that word meant. So my aunt Kathy informed me of what that word meant as well as told me that there was a show with that name back in the 60's. LIKE GROOVY MAN!!!!!

Now that we are straight with the meaning of hullabaloo it's time for another entry on the best BLOG on the net!!!!!

Now for like 15 years, give or take a few years when I was in WI. or the Boikes were in Co., we would spend July 4th on Lake Wylie at the Boike Lakeland, MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!! Great times, I went up to the Boike farm up in Va.. Sure it was weird not being down at the lake but hey things change, HELLO THAT'S LIFE! In all it was a good time and I realized that no matter where we are for the 4th there will be someone that can't handle their alcohol and yells obscenities to people then passes out... No this is not the person. I forget her name. This was from a couple of years ago when she yelled at Mr. Williamson and I because we told her that she was too drunk to waterski. She cussed us out then promptly passed out..... AHHH Good times!!!!! Anyways! It was a male this time and he carried on the tradition of, someway or another, upsetting almost everyone there.... It would not be a July 4th without one!!!!! I want to apologize that I have no pictures of my trip up there because being the idiot I can be sometimes I forgot to charge the battery in my camera before I went up there. So you'll have to take my word that I had fun... We even went to the Shenandoah river and floated down it...... That was a blast!!! Chilling out in an inner tube and drinking a beer is the best cure that ails ya EVER! I gave some old beer signs and NASCAR stuff I had accumulated over the years and I thought they would be perfect to give to Hatcher as my contribution to the 'Man Room'. Being that Boike was the only person who actually responded to my request for what the heck I should do with the side yard, he won the magnet/'to do' list.... I do not have a picture of him accepting his award, HECK I even forgot to bring it up with me when I was up there. I guess I will mail it to him. His suggestion was to lay stone down... The other side of the house has 'issues' too with not growing grass and looking nasty so Mom got me some ivy to plant... I figure it will cover this whole area in a few years.... As you can see the rose garden has a problem with the soil staying in one place. I don't know about your neck of the woods but we have had some pretty fierce thunderstorms around here and it has rained so hard that the my gutters overflow and spill over onto the ground.... But besides that everything is growing pretty good. The Wii has been great to play!!!!! It comes with a boxing game that kicks your butt!!!! The workout you get playing it is better than any membership to a gym.... I also got a WWII game that is sweet too.... I ask you? How can you go wrong killing Nazis?????? Exactly!!! You can't!!!! Next month's entry will be all about the eye sore I mean ditch in the front. I have big plans that include A Bobcat, Boike, some RR ties and a case or two of PBR. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go and liberate a French town and kick some Nazi butt!!!!! ACHTUNG BABY!!!!

MULCH-A-PALOOZA

Gas is $4 a gallon now but I still love having my truck!!!!! BEHOLD!!!!! A 1997 F-150 with a 5.8 V8!!!! It drinks gas faster than an alcoholic who has not had a drink in two days!!!! But I wouldn't change a thing!!! When it's time for mulch all I do is go the the dump and pick up a load and start spreading it!!!!



Pretty sweet deal!!!!! Sure does beat going to Lowes or Home Depot and buying a 2 Cu. Ft. of the stuff for $5.00!!!! Can you say "rip off"!?!?! If I say so myself, I think the old F-150 still looks great for all the stuff it's been through like going through a WI. winter and then being loaded down and towing a Mustang for a 15 hour trip when I moved back here in 2001, pucked in, slept in, plus hauling a boat around and going to and from Talladega, MMMMMMMM dega, towing a Scotty.


HE HE HE HE!!!! I found a picture of the day I got it back in 12/98..... WOW!!!! That was almost 10 years ago!!!! Where does the time go???????


OK! Back to the subject of mulch..... I finished the front of the house as well as around the trees.


I know, I know....... The bushes need to be trimmed..... I'll do that next weekend.... Patients young Jedis..... I have a couple more areas to cover like the side of the driveway and another area and that will be next weekends project.... Here's the deal with the mulch.... I put it in areas that grass doesn't grow.....

SOOOOOOOOOO As most of you know I was pretty sick in May and didn't get a chance to go up to the Boike farm in VA. but rest assure!!! I'll be heading up there for July 4th weekend for some fun!!!!! Have a great Independence Day weekend....

HOLY CHAUTAUQUA LAKE!!!!!! I wish I could sit here and tell you what a great time I had up at the Boike farm in VA.. But I got very sick and was not able to go up there and I was pretty bummed out about the whole situation. It got so bad that my parents had to come get me and take me to the hospital....... My parents ROCK!!!! And thanks to all who were concerned about me....Mr. & Mrs. Carbonara, GOD BLESS THEM, called my parents because I didn't show up to work on their computer... So I have spent the last two weeks watching 'trash TV' like Jerry Springer and having to be fed yogurt by my mom because I was soooooooo weak..... I am happy to report that I am getting back on track and will be 100% in no time..... I really wanted to go up to Boike and Mese's and clear some more land with Hillary...


Why Hillary? Because she takes out anything in here way and leaves destruction and emptiness behind!!!! HE HE HE HE HE HE!! GEE I wonder what political party I am a part of??????

Don't get me wrong, I love getting free stuff but it can be a very bittersweet experience.... Let's delve into my thoughts shall we!?!?!?! Not to get all depressing but you know the times when someone like a relative or good friend starts giving you stuff they say "no longer can use"? It's a good sign that they know that they will not be on this earth much longer. I think it's a stage of knowing you are going to die. Am I right? Correct me if I am wrong. My Grandpa Cawley did it to me, I picked up his old .22 rifle and his SWEET A$$ bowling shirt!


But I am going through it again with my Grandpa McBride. Sure "he's got this ultimate set of tools", name that movie, but it bums me out that he can't use them anymore at the same time I feels honored that he is giving them to me...... He knows I will use them.... I tell ya, the circle of life sure can suck sometimes....

One of the things he gave me was this hatchet..... It is in pristine condition... He probably bought it back in the 60's thinking he would need it sometime. From the looks of it I say he may of used it a few times over the years.! Look at it.... Hardly a nick or scratch on it...... The lettering is a little smeared but so what and don't get my started on the blade... I cut myself on it when I checked to see if it needed to be sharpened....


Things have been busy at casa de McBride..... Big Ron hooked me up with the old outdoor lights from their house..... I guess mom wanted new ones that went better with the outdoor decor of their Taj Mahal. They were a copper color and it was 'suggested' to me to paint them black....


So after a trip to Big Lots for some black spray paint and Food Dawg for a sixer of High Life I spent the evening getting a contact high from the paint and taking breaks to enjoy a beer while jamming to Hair Nation on Sirius.


I had flashbacks to when I was 17 working on the Mustang, of course there was no beer involved because I was under age.... HELL I had no one to buy me some..... My older brother was a Puritan or something and would never buy it for my friends and I. A topic that is still mentioned when I am together with some of my high school friends... They don't refer to him as Andy's older brother but Andy's older brother that NEVER bought us beer. So anyways, what do you think????? I think they turned out pretty good.....

These are the ones I replaced.


And the new ones.


I built some trellises for my rose/saint garden...... See the one on your left??? As you can see, I have high hopes for the roses to grow and climb up to the top..... I will call this one "Barry Bonds" because I will 'juice' it until it reaches the top!!!! The RGH, Rose Growth Hormone, will consist of a healthy dose of Miracle-Gro and a bunch of plant food that's specialized for roses.


Slowly but surely I am getting all the necessary parts for my entertainment center..... Behold!!!! The Wii in all of it's glory!!!!!

I've been waiting to snag one for almost two years now.... I found a web site that alerted me when there was one available at about 50 different online stores. Well I woke up a couple of Sundays ago and checked my email and I had one telling me one was at Sears.com. So using my Jedi like skills I quickly ordered it!!! With the work outs I'll get playing it I will look like this in a matter of weeks and I can start being his body double again.....

Here's a little movie info for ya.... All the scenes where he has to be naked with a woman, that's actually me!!!!! I say if you got the money maker why not show it off!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen this is what dry rot looks like!!!!! I'm not going to sit here and sound like a nerd, even though I probably did in the last paragraph, and explain what causes it but I will be like my brother and send you a link that explains it.....

Anyways, I spend the morning getting the tire replaced, luckily there's Wilson Tire down the road!!!! That's what's great about a small town, everything is so close and everyone is soooooo nice........ Mr. Wilson put a new tire on while I enjoyed some coffee with some of the ol' timers talkin' NASCAR!!!! This is what I have realized, now as y'all know I have your typically whiny northern accent but I don't care who you are, if you know your NASCAR you can talk to any good ol' boy.......

And this is what happens to your yard when you try to move your boat, so you can change the flat tire, on really soggy ground.... I tore it up pretty good didn't I?????


So it looks like I have an excuse to rototill it plant new seed or spread some mulch on it..... What do you think..... Drop me an email or just leave a comment on here.... The winner of the contest will receive this lovely grocery list/magnet!!!!!

It's never been used and sticks well to any metal surface..... You see these are from Johnny who was my Realtor.... He still has me on his mailing list so I have about 55 of these things....
Talk to you later I'm off to bed to try to get some sleep because I have a full day of being poked and pronged at by the Dr...... Oh the joy!!!!!!

Yeah I like to be a high roller once in a while!!!! So shoot me!?!?!?!? Big Ron and my Uncle Bill needed my truck to get some lumber and build a shelf similar to the one in my garage for my cousin Marty.



So he offered to have me drive the truck over to his house and I would take his car home with me and use it for the next couple days.... Do you know what kind of car Big Ron has??????? A freakin' BMW Z4!!!! Oh yeah baby!!!!!


People look at you in a different way whether good or bad when you drive a really nice car like this and I really don't mind to be that person once in a while. The Bavarian Motor Works , BMW, sure can make a car!!! I have no problem getting up to speed in this thing. I'm doing like 80 MPH before I know it!!! It's 6 speed shifting of pure fun and the handling in that little baby!!!!! GEEZ!!!! I can take a corner like I was in a race car!!! Here's a good one for ya..... I drove it to Big Lots and when I got out of it this young kid and I think his girlfriend said to me, "Hey that's a nice car." My reply, "Thanks and you too can get one with the money you save shopping at Big Lots." That really didn't happen but that is one AWESOME commercial idea for them!!!!! HELL!!!! Don't let me catch them running a commercial like that or I will sue them faster than Hillary Clinton changing her story about going to Bosnia.... In all it's great to drive it and feel like a king once in a while but I still love driving my Civic or my F-150. When I drive the 'Z' it reminds me of my Mustang when I was younger....


Here it is these days.... Poor thing hasn't run since 2001... Sad I know.....


I know this is really a short update but I can assure you that the next one will have tons of pictures and some good tales because I will be heading up for my annual pilgrimage to the Boike and Mese farm up in VA. for the Gold Cup. I am taking a week off so I can go up there and drive the tractor and do farmer stuff, be a tecky nerd and do some computer stuff for them, enjoy a beer or two in front of a bon fire, marinate in Janice and Hatcher's new house, tell some of the ladies at the Gold Cup that my name is Andy but they can call Thor the God of thunder!!!! So look for an update the first weekend of May.....

A man has to know his limitations.... Those were my exact thoughts when I was knee deep in mud working on the ditch.... It's just too big of a job for me and a shovel.... It's Napoleon's Waterloo, Jimi Hendrix's night of binging on heroin, Eliot Spitzer's fling with a 22 year old hooker, The Patriots losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. You get my drift. Soooooo I have two options, hire a landscaping crew to come out with there heavy machinery or make the call on the BAT phone and arrange a weekend where a couple of my friends come down from VA. and we rent a Bobcat and get-r-done..... This is what the big hurdle is....... The ditch needs to be graded and sloped so water runs freely in one direction. Then I can use that pile of broken up concrete as a bed along with the RR ties as a retaining wall.... This is my dream and it will be a reality!!! Oh yes it will be a reality!!!!! I talked to Boike about him and Hatcher coming down a long weekend and helping... I sure hope he recalls our conservation because as he explained in a slurred speech he was at the horse races all day drinking a few adult beverages. I think it will be some weekend in the next month or so.....

Speaking of that kooky kid Boike, we went down to Atlanta for the race last weekend and DANG what a wild and wacky time.... It freakin' snowed on Saturday morning....



Yeah it was cold but it' was still a great time. We met some great people and not so great ones too... OK I'm going to get this off my chest, There was this old grumpy man who thought it was still 1862 and we were fighting the Civil war. He found out I was a Yankee, I think it was my northern accent that gave me away, and started calling me a damn Yankee and all the problems in this country is because of me and everyone else from the north.... He was serious the whole time, not smiling or laughing like he was having fun with me. The kicker was when Boike, gotta love him, added fuel to the fire and told this guy, "Yeah and he even voted for Hilary for senate!"GEEZ!!!! For the record, I have not lived in NY for 20 years and she came along well after. The guy went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when he said that. Thanks Boike! The guy did a great job in putting me into a foul mood. THERE!!! I let it off my chest..... I'm good now. I will never see that ,TOOL, guy again and it's just too bad that some people are just flat out bitter about stuff... Let it go DUDE!!! It was 150 years ago.......

Back to the great people we met. Meet Cale!!! He's a good old boy from Monroe, Ga and runs the local pawn shop.

He told us some funny stories about the crystal meth addicts that come in and the stuff they try to pawn. I know it's sad the way there life is in a downward spiral but we still chuckled at the stories.... A bunch of heathens we are..... Back to Cale, who was named for Cale Yarborough. He was such a nice guy that he even helped the 24 crew push the car onto the hauler. What a guy!!!


But I would say the highlight of our trip and the story that will never be resolved was our run in with Bill Elliott. Let's begin shall we……. It was Saturday night and Boike and I were doing our ritual walk around the infield. They were running legends cars on the little 1/8 mile on the front stretch. We wandered on over there onto pit road to watch a little racin'. We were there for about 10 minutes when this guy in Dickey's coveralls comes over and starts watching the races. He was maybe 5 feet away from us. Boike says, "hey I think that is Bill Elliott." So I glance over there and I thought it was too….. Then another guy comes over and starts watching the race with him. Boike says, "And look, I think that is his brother Ernie." I glanced over there again and I concurred…. As soon as I said yeah I think it is, Boike does a 180 and starts saying "NO it's not Bill. He would be dressed better and he would be mobbed by people wanting his autograph….." I made the argument that he was probably there watching his son in the Legends race and he wears those coveralls because he is working on the car between races PLUS let's not forget that Bill is a good old boy from the backwoods of GA…. Of course he wears Dickey coveralls. What else would he be wearing? A tuxedo?????? And he wasn't being mobbed by people because they are use to seeing him because there kids race legend cars with his son every week. Of course Boike and I were too scared to go over and ask him. Before we knew it he went back to the garage area. So Boike and I debated it the whole walk back and even asked the local guys who were camped out next to us. They agreed with me that it probably was Bill and that is what he would wear. Boike was still on the fence until we heard on the radio that Bill's son won the legends event that night. Also I found this too.

Bill Elliott's son wins title: Twelve-year-old Chase Elliott, son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, won his first major racing title Saturday by clinching the Young Guns division of Atlanta Motor Speedway's Winter Flurry. The Winter Flurry is a six-race competition for eight divisions of Legends, Bandolero and Roadsters. Other champions crowned Saturday were Bubba Harry (Roadsters), Kyle Plott (Bandits), Trey Maughan (Outlaws), Rawlin West (Chargers), Justin Swilling (Semi-Pro), Jeff Haynie (Masters) and Billy Fulson (Pro). Elliott's crew chief is his father Bill, who said he was just "tickled to death that nothing fell off the car" during the race. But he shouldn't start looking for a full-time gig in that arena, according to his son. "He climbed out and said, 'It's junk,'" Bill Elliott said. "I guess he must have got that from me. But he's doing a good job. Right now, it's just been a good way to spend time with him. I didn't get to spend too much time with my other kids, and I regret that." Chase Elliott, from Ballground, Ga., also sees these early races as a stepping stone for his future. "It was fun," Chase Elliott said. "We're just working hard, having a good time. We're moving in to a Legends car this summer and just want to keep moving up. I guess my goal is to get to Cup one day." His mother, Cindy, is bracing herself for that. "I tried to deter him when he was younger; I gave him golf lessons, tried to get him involved in baseball," Cindy Elliott said, laughing. "But ever since he's been old enough to talk, he's wanted to be a race car driver. And he's doing a great job, having a lot of fun. I'm so proud of him."

There you have it! Boike swears he knew the whole time that it was Bill but I'm not buying it.

I never thought I would see the day when someone wanted to look like me but Charlie was all about looking like his uncle Andy!!! Being the simple guy I am, I get my hair cut with a #3 shed on the trimmers.... Very simple and maintenance free... Well he saw me getting my hair cut and wanted it done on him. FYI When a 3 year old asks to have this hair shaved off it's best to ask his mother first if it's OK. So I asked Lizzy and see gave the green light.... And here is the results!!!! fine looking hair cut if you ask me!