Escape

We had to have the house tented for termites - ARGHHH!!!!! SO - we farmed out the animals to various locations and spent 2 nights on Madeira Beach and ejoyed the sand, sea-breeze, sunsets and palm trees...........

Linda's new baby - Mustang GT!!!

A little jaunt through John's Pass Village......

It's been a GREAT summer of memories for 2006. A little look back over the past few months as we head into fall - and back to the mountains in a few weeks! In April we had the Genungs for their 1st visit of the year, followed in July for another week. We love them dearly and look forward to each and every visit! May was our mountain vacation and asssault on the Dragon - and then on to Charlie's Ranger graduation - another one of those lifetime memories. Court had gotten a new VW Passat and Dad got a new Explorer. June 1 was our 32nd anniversary - WOW!!!! Charlie was home for a week and he and I took another little trip back to the Dragon to play! July 1 saw Charlie become Captain Charles Moores and he headed off to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate. It was a HOTTTT summer but another one that was filled with good times. Charlie came back to visit with the Genungs in July and in August Courtney turned 24! Hard to believe - seems like yesterday she was wearing her Punkie Brewster shoes headed off to 1st grade.....We were honored to celebrate with her at Bonefish and look forward to spending many more special days with her!In August, Linda got a flight home to see her Mom and all her family turned it into a SUPER reunion! Linda was able to see her dear friend Peggy as well! Linda traded her new Mustang on a pretty new(er) Mustang GT!!! September has brought another birthday by me and I'm feeling it this year - the old injuries are really wearing on me! As September closes, we look forward to meeting Charlie in the mountains again for 5 days in the middle of October. It's been a GRAND ride and I remain thankful.....

JDM

Look who I ran into at lunch!!!!!!!!!!!

Tree of Shame - Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort, NC - victims of crashes on the dragon have hung their broken parts on this tree for years.....

I'll really miss this guy!!! RIP Steve Irwin

With his trademark khaki shorts, chirpy manner and an obvious love of wildlife, Steve Irwin was known to television viewers around the world simply as "the crocodile hunter".
But Steve Irwin's popular image, wrestling crocs and other creatures, belied the fact that he was implacably opposed to the hunting, not just of crocodiles, but of any animal.
A natural showman as well as a conservationist and zoo owner, Irwin was committed to educating people about wildlife.
He often did this by putting himself at great risk, confronting crocodiles, venomous snakes and other dangerous beasts in their own environment. This fascinating television was often punctuated by his trademark yell of "Crikey!"
But his unconventional approach drew criticism from those who believed his idiosyncratic style to be irresponsible and cavalier.
Family tradition
Steve Irwin was born in Essendon in Victoria, Australia, in February 1962. In 1970, his parents founded the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, later to become Australia Zoo, on the country's Sunshine Coast.
The park specialised in rehabilitating ill or injured baby kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas, and Steve Irwin grew up surrounded by wildlife.
When his father, Bob, decided to do something about the hunting which threatened to destroy Australia's crocodile population, Steve played his part, working for Australia's Crocodile Relocation Programme which captured and moved the reptiles to safer areas, often to the Australia Zoo.
When television director John Stainton first encountered Steve Irwin, while shooting an advertisement at Australia Zoo, he immediately realised that he had a new star on his hands.
The first episode of Stainton's show, The Crocodile Hunter, was built around a crocodile trapping trip that Irwin and his Oregon-born wife Terri Baines undertook for their honeymoon.
Discovery Channel bought the programme in 1996 and it rapidly became a phenomenon, being screened in 130 countries and bringing both Stainton and Irwin great wealth.
Serious commitment
In January 2004, Irwin faced a barrage of criticism after being filmed holding his infant son in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a 4-metre saltwater crocodile with the other. At the time, he said: "I was in complete control of the crocodile."
Despite his often light-hearted manner, Steve Irwin's commitment to protecting crocodiles was serious. "Every chance I get, I will put my life on the line to save crocs," he told one interviewer.
Irwin's other programme The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries and New Breed Vets, were also great hits, especially in the United States, and he was feted by television interviewers like Jay Leno, Larry King and Oprah Winfrey.
He even played a cameo role in the 2001 Eddie Murphy film, Dr Doolittle 2, before hitting the big screen the following year with his own movie, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.
And a measure of Steve Irwin's fame came when Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, who described him as "one of Australia's great conservation icons," personally invited the environmentalist to a barbecue for President George W Bush in Canberra in 2003.

Sunrise at Ballast Point






Tampa Yacht Club wall mural

Colorful shop - downtown, St. Petersburg

August sunset at Gandy Bridge

How about this for a back yard???

Showing support in St. Petersburg

Stormy Saturday night on Madeira Beach

Our legal beagle...

Stormy afternoon on Siesta Key

Tennessee chalet

This is where we go to "lose time", ride motorcycles and take naps....

Foggy morn in the Smokies

  

My baby girl - all grown up~

Linda's new buddy from the mountain trip in May - her very own Dragon!

My favorite lunch place! Blackened grouper, coleslaw, coffee, water, hot sauce - can't beat it! On Gandy Blvd on the St. Pete side - stop in - you will be pleased!

Charlie gets ready for another run on the Dragon...

Check this out!

Homeless Model Writes Memoir on Apple Store Computer

*this is from one of the many other great blogs that I check out daily.......
jerry




Macs really do bring out the creativity in people. Seriously.

Take the case of Isobello Jadeco, a homeless fashion model who is currently trying to pitch her memoir, Almost 5'4" to publishers in part based on the story of its creation -- at the Prince Street Apple Store in SoHo. Since it's 250 pages long, that was a lot of window-shopping to put it together.

She told mediabistro's FishbowlNY, which broke the story,

I stood at the Apple Store infront of a 17inch computer the one that I call " mine." I had been going to the store at the time for about 9 months. As I stood in heels for up to 2 hours at a time, my contacts and my mouth would go dry and without a blink of the eye I would pace back and forth from writing about my experiences to DOING the experience and the daily tasks of responding to emails, researching modeling jobs and places to send my comp cards. I was always in a rush running into and out of the Apple Store up to 3 times a day ... to go on meetings, photo shoots, and receive a potential paycheck and then right back to the store, I freelance so every minute in my day counts.


And I thought I lingered over the product in my local Apple Store a bit too much...

The Captain and Dad

July 1 Charlie became Captain Charles Moores! Congrats dude! He had flown into Tampa on late Sunday night and we would trailer his Harley back to Ft Campbell by the weekend. I took a couple days off and we headed out wednesday night for "boys play" on the Dragon! We stayed in Perry, Georgia Wednesday night and were at the cabin by lunchtime. We took a quick siesta and jumpped on the bikes for the Captain and Dad assault on the Dragon! We rode through on a beautiful day and after a refresher at Deal's Gap we took off down 28 toward Bryson City - through Fontana Village and through the incredible sites on Hwy 28. We headed back west at 143 toward Robbinsville and the Cherohala Skyway. We went through the winding approach to the Cherohala and as we neared the bridge where we start the climb, there was a fire truck blocking the road and a helicopter air-lifting a biker out - UGH! We turned around and headed back to 129. We stopped at Wheeler's Performace Center for a drink and a T-shirt. Charlie found the pocket rockets real interesting. We rolled on - back through the Dragon and back to the cabin. It was already after 7 - we had lost track of the time up in the mountains - caught up in the fun! We watched a little tube and drove into Maryville for dinner. Friday we were up and headed back over the Dragon on an incredibly gorgeous day! We had breakfast at the Dragon's Den and went across the street where Charlie could meet Ron Johnson (owner of tailofthedragon.com). Ron had emailed me to bring Charlie by so he could personally thank him for his service to our country. Ron presented Charlie with the 3-DVD set of the Tail of the Dragon videos! Very nice! We chatted with Ron for a while, took pics of the tree of shame and headed back for our final run on the Dragon. We had another Harley pull out after us and he hung with us for the 1st 2-3 miles and then we "turned it on" and lost him - the roads were perfect and Charlie stayed with me on every turn! What a BLAST!!!! We rode off the mountain and along the river - both very content and excited...Back to the cabin, load up and off to Clarksville! Great memories for the Captain and the Dad!!!

PICS FROM THE DRAGON!

Thanks Killboy! Darryl Cannon, his lovely bride Lori and a team of photographers catch all the fun we have on the Dragon and send us the pics! AWESOME!!!!! Make sure you check out killboy.com for your pictures when you visit the Dragon! Here are a couple shots of Linda and I from this May visit and an extra bonus sunset shot from Darryl!

Airport Art

Linda and Charlie with some of the new artwork at Tampa International Airport - Bob Marley Manatee.... Charlie's week home flew by and it was time for hugs and goodbyes again. No, it still isn't any easier!

32 rose for 32 years

 

Wayne & Wanda

Wayne Armstrong is Linda's oldest brother and Wanda is his wife. Wonderful people! Wayne has just retired and I tell everyone that he has mastered "happy"!!! He is one of the most mellow people you will ever meet. Wayne has been riding motorcycles his whole life and this shot is from our visit 3 years ago to their place in Arkansas. We dragged the Harley up there and rode the hills and curves for days! Lots of smiles and memories.

Fun in the Sun

Charlie came home for a week after Ranger school and we had to finish breaking in his upgraded engine on the Harley, so we puttered around the bay area on Saturday! Another beautiful day in paradise....

My 1974 Girlfriend

June 1st was our 32nd anniversary and here is a collage of pictures of the little girl from Little Rock that stole my heart in 1974! We have had miles and years of smiles and memories and TONS to be thankful for!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LINDA!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!