Happy Birthday Elliott Carter

Wow! Has it been since October since I have updated this blog? I need to start doing better. I have been so busy trying to keep up my other blogs, writing articles at eHow and Twittering and going to visit with our grandson, Elliott Carter, and our other new grand baby, Shelby Claire. And now the holidays are sneaking up on us fast! We'll have a full house this year since my mother in law is coming  to visit from LeHigh Acres, FL, and all the kids and grand kids will be coming down to visit. It will be an exciting Christmas for us this year and especially for my mother in law, since she has never met her great grand kids except through pictures. She is 88 years old and an amazing woman.
Not quite as old as Elliott Carter though, I saw in the paper this morning that today is his birthday. 101 years old today, another amazing person. Happy Birthday Mr. Carter!
I will start working harder here on this side to keep this blog updated, lots of new pictures to share and exciting times happening in our lives here in the SWVA valley ...

I wish all of my visitors here a safe and blessed holiday season... Thanks for stopping by...

Twitter Pays Off!! Overstock is the best!

I had decided back in September to start a Twitter account. After much thought and reading about it I had come to the conclusion that it would be beneficial for me to have a way to help advertise and market the articles I have written on line for sites such as eHow http://www.ehow.com/members/rnmassage.html?view=3rd  and Scribe Seeker http://www.scribeseeker.com/. 
Twitter actually is a very useful tool for myself as well as for anyone else out there that are trying to create a web presence for yourselves.
I am finding out more and more how much I enjoy using Twitter, following our local newspaper, the Roanoke Times and local TV news channels, I am getting instant updates about major news stories happening close to our home. I am also running across contests and sweepstakes happening on the internet on an almost daily basis. I saw OverStock.com was running a contest, giving away 10 prizes to celebrate their 10th anniversary. All you had to do was to complete a phrase and then send it out from your Twitter account. The phrase for the day I entered was "I wanted..." So I sent out the twitter below...
@Overstock I wanted a sunny bright fall day, but got gray skies instead #In1999 http://bit.ly/19yM3Z10:08 AM Oct 10th from web in reply to OverstockSunday, after we got home from church I was checking emails and the Twitter account and found that I had won the final and grand prize of OverStock's contest.What an exciting surprise that was for us! Checking the price of the HDTV on Overstock and Amazon both, I found that the prize is worth almost 700 dollars! Not bad for one tweet.
Overstock And the final winner of Overstock.com's #in1999contest is...@RnMassage! He's won a 40" Toshiba 1080p LCD HDTV! Congrats!12:12 PM Oct 11th from Power Twitter

Anyone who has ever been interested in Twitter but have been like me, hesitant to sign up for an account, thinking they would not have anything to add to the world should rethink it and go ahead and give it a try.
Twitter truly has become the voice of the internet and is a great place to share your ideas and thoughts. And if it (which it will)  increases traffic to your web content that is an added bonus, and stumbling across all kinds of contests and free offers from legitimate companies is a great perk!

Evanescence with Amy Lee...

While browsing through Twitter feeds this morning I ran across this site,
A new group and singer I had never heard of before. Evanescence...I really
liked their music and thought I would give them a plug here on my blog;
give them a listen and see what you think...
Check out their web site at
http://www.evanescence.com/index.asp.

Blue Ridge Parkway Adventures...

Last weekend Diana (my wife) and I decided to journey on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is one of the prettiest drives in Virginia. The leaves are already showing signs of fall with some color changes;  it won't be long until the peak season comes to the Parkway. We have never driven too far on the Parkway; usually we just go find a nice overlook close to home and set up our chairs, enjoy the view and commune with nature, God and our books. This journey carried us into North Carolina and then back into Virginia, stopping for the evening at Galax, VA. Some of the neat things we saw on this trip were the Mabry Mill in Floyd County (Va) a variety of wildlife, including deer that were everywhere, especially in the early evening hours when they come out to forage in the grassy fields along the Parkway. We saw wild turkeys that were so magnificent - they are such beautiful birds. I saw my first ever live skunk. I was beginning to think the only skunks that existed were road kill since that is the only way I have seen them. Skunks are really very pretty animals, almost like a cat.
We stopped in Mt. Airy, NC to visit Andy Griffith's home town and see all of the Mayberry sites. We got there just in time to visit their brand new Andy Griffith Museum and caught onto the tail end of a Mayberry squad car tour around the town. We followed the squad car as it stopped at all of the attractions related to the Andy Griffith show.
One of the most humorous things we saw was at Mabry Mill, VA. There's a pond next to the mill, with ducks that hang out and swim around. A couple had stopped to let their large Spaniel off his leash so he could run - not the smartest thing to do, since Spaniels do love water and love chasing things.  This funny dog spotted the ducks and decided that one would be a great catch, and jumped right into the water. All but one white duck flew out of the pond to safety - the poor white duck couldn't fly.  I saw this dog swimming around in the pond chasing the duck, and it was so funny I just started laughing.  The owner corrected me - saying it wasn't funny at all because the dog had been in there for more than 30 minutes and wouldn't come out.
The funniest thing was that every time the dog paddled close to the duck and was ready to snatch him, the duck would disappear under the water, leaving the dog totally baffled.  The duck would reappear 20 to 30 feet away, swimming calmly. This went on for at least twenty more minutes. Finally one of the ducks that could fly decided to help out his buddy and  got back in the water. Now this Spaniel didn't know what to do, since he had two to chase now! The flying duck would swim close to the dog to distract him, and then would fill his face full of water from a very splashy take off; then the non-flying duck would swim close to the dog, only to do his disappearing act. I have never seen such team work from ducks and it gave me a whole new respect for them! Finally this thoroughly frustrated dog, and, I am sure, totally exhausted, decided to head for shore and back to his waiting masters.
Next time I'm sure they will be smarter and keep their dog on a leash when they are out in a public place. Their punishment was a ride home with a wet smelly dog!
Next time you are in Virginia or North Carolina, treat yourself to something special, and take the Parkway. You will find wonder and blessings with each turn you take, surely a show of God's handiwork.

Happy Trails...Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

We have been making slide show for some time now; they make nice gifts for our family and friends. 

We have been successful with some paid projects and hope to see that expand.

Anyway this is an example of a show we put together for one of my wife's friends who is
moving on to New Mexico and it is my first You Tube video posted on the Internet.

Good bye to Mary Travers, she will be missed...

Mary-Travers-of-Peter-Paul-and-Mary--Died-today  September 16, 7:44 PM Tucson Celebrity Examiner Darla Hanger

Swagbucks

You may notice the Swagbuck widget on my blog now. After hearing about Swagbucks for a long time, I finally decided to check it out and sign up for it. I figured that I was doing searches on the Internet anyway, and Swagbucks uses Google and Ask search engines, what would be the difference if I used them instead of my usual Google home page on my computer. It took a little getting used to, but after awhile it seems normal to be using it for my searches.

You don't earn "Swagbucks" with every search, it seems that in the mornings you usually earn 1 for maybe your second or third search and sometimes two "Swagbucks"

Now this may seem silly, but you really do get chances to enter sweepstakes spending your hard earned searching bucks to buy entries, plus if you accumulate enough "Swagbucks" you can purchase gift cards to various stores, like Starbucks, Amazon, Lowes and more. 

I am up to 13 "Swagbucks" bucks now, had more, but decided to spend 2 to enter the sweepstakes for the Barnes and Noble $100 gift card.

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to open my mail and find a notice from them that I was the winner of the Barnes and Noble gift card, and after confirming they sent me the code and pin number for it.

Now how cool is that, no money outlay from my pocket and now I have a 100 dollars to spend at one of our favorite stores, Barnes and Noble. Just for doing what I do anyway, searching the Internet.
If you decide to try it for yourself, just click on the widget here which will take you to the Swagbucks signup page. You do get credit if others sign up using you as a reference and it is a way to quickly boost your earnings since for the first 100 swagbucks your friends earn they match it in your account.
Give it a try, now that I am 100 dollars richer I think it is the best way to search the Internet.
Oh yes... I was still a little skeptical about it but went to the Barnes and Noble site and entered the code and pin for the gift card.... balance is 100 dollars!!   Time to go book shopping! I'll bet Elliott will be wanting some new baby books soon!