My "Ghostly" Encounter

Yesterday (Wednesday), my supervisor and I went to Palestine, TX, which is the county seat of Anderson County. We were making a presentation of our Twogether in Texas program to the County Clerk and her staff. The meeting took place in one of the records rooms in the rear of her office. In one corner of the room was a "closet" of sorts that had a large door, that used to be the door of an old safe. Inside the closet was a small refrigerator a mirror and a sink. There were no other doors in or out of this little room.

While my colleague was making the presentation to the County Clerk staff, I was standing in the doorway to this little closet. About half-way through the presentation, I felt a tap on my left shoulder, and I heard a masculine voice say, "Excuse me." Of course, in an attempt to be polite I said, "Sure" and I turned slightly to my left and started to move out the way to let the "person" out of the closet. I thought I saw an image of a man wearing a white shirt and a dark hair in the mirror. As I moved I realized there was no one in the closet or anywhere behind me.

Two of the ladies who were listening to the presentation saw me move away from the door and heard me say, "Sure." Of course I turned a little pale and I moved across the room to get away from the door.

After our presentation, I asked if the Court House was haunted. I was told by the County Clerk, that some county prisoners had died building the spiral staircase in the court house and some people have seen these prisoners from time to time, as well as hearing children in the building after the hours the court house has closed for the day.

Creepy! The photo is the exterior of the Anderson County, Texas Court House located in Palestine, TX.

Gators and Me

My family and I made it back from our last summer outing of the year. Going back to work was tough. We enjoyed spending time together as a family. The best part of our vacation, in my opinion was Gators and Friends. This little "hole in the wall" place was like visiting a small exotic zoo. Of course they had alligators, but they also had llamas, kangaroos, camels, ostriches, mountain goats, and a few other animals you could hand feed. We had a great time! I even got to hold an alligator. Rachel was just content to watch!

Ready for the Weekend!

I am so ready for this weekend. My family and I are going on our last little family outing of the summer. Saturday we plan on going to Water Town USA in Shreveport, Louisiana for a last effort at getting sunburned while swimming. We also plan to visit Gators and Friends near Shreveport on the way on Friday just to visit somewhere else family friendly.

As of now I am filling in my monthly schedule for my new job. Busy, Busy, Busy. Just the way I like it. A busy day makes the time go faster.

Training in Austin #1

I am currently on lunch break from my first training day in Austin. We are learning about a healthy marriage curriculum that can be used as part of our state grant. It has been fairly interesting and I plan on using some of the things I learn when I get home.

I didn't sleep very well last night. The beds at the OMNI Hotel are very comfortable, but I was missing the most important part of a good night's sleep: My wife Jamie. Pillows are OK to cuddle with, but they can' replace the feeling of your bride next to you.

I also forgot my bathing suit, so I can't swim in the nice pool. I guess I could swim naked, but I don't think I would still have my job after that.

I will let you know more about my training tomorrow.

On a different note: Some one finally came and took away the old couch from our yard. So all our "Garage Sale" stuff is finally gone.

On a different note: We should be having some people come and do some Lawn Care work on our yard. We finally got tired of being one of only two "brown" yards on our block. I watered it and fertilized it, but nothing seemed to grow, so now we are turning it over to professionals. It may take a little bit of our savings money, but I think it will be worth it.

I really miss my kids and Jamie and I can't wait to head home tomorrow evening.

Oh, by the way the Rangers beat the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion last night. Very Cool!

What's new with Mr. E! (for August 2, 2008)

Thursday was my last day as a teacher of Adult Education at Kilgore College. My fellow staff members took me out to eat at a local Chinese restaurant and they also gave me a $50.00 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Whoo-Hoo!

Friday was my first day as the Healthy Marriage Coordinator for Twogether in Texas. I spent most of it filling out paperwork for insurance, HIPPA, and payroll. The rest of the time I was filling out a calendar showing my trips to Austin (apparently these are a monthly thing), and possible training days for me to teach our sub-contractors. Monday I will make my first visit to Austin for a training and I should be home on Wednesday. I will miss my family during the trips to Austin, but I have been told that if I am traveling alone, or it's a time when the kids are out of school, that they can come with me, I just pay any additional cost, if charged.

Saturday (today), we had a garage sale to try and raise a little money towards our last summer family vacation. We managed to pull off $100 exactly and we got rid of a bunch of stuff. We still have a old couch, an ironing board, a trundle bed frame and a box spring for a twin bed, sitting out by the curb, with a "FREE" sign hanging on them. We look like we have a "red-neck" yard. I hope someone comes along tonight and "Frees" us from the rest of our stuff.

Life is Good!

Update (4:20 pm): A few moments ago, someone picked up some of our "FREE" stuff that was left on the curb, after the garage sale. They picked up the ironing board, the trundle bed frame, and the twin bed metal frame. They left the twin bed box spring and the couch. Come on people...relieve us of our stuff!

Update #2 (8:30 pm): Some fellow just took the box springs, now if someone would just take the couch.

Facebook Addictions

About a month ago I started a page on FACEBOOK. (click for my page) This another fun way for friends and family to keep in touch with one another. Facebook not only offers a way to communicate through messages, it also has "applications" such as games or other type programs to let the world know who you are and what you like to do. I have become addicted, of sorts, to two of their applications.

One is called NATIONS. In this application you create your own nation, in which you are the leader, and you get to solve mostly real-life issues in order to earn points. My nation is called Christendome.

The other application is called MOUSE HUNT. In this application you are a mouse hunter in the town of Gnawnia. You get to purchase mouse traps and cheese and you hunt mice. You get various points and amounts of "gold" for different types of mice that you catch. You can also win real prizes for catching rare types of mice.

Facebook also has other applications such as PIECES of FLAIR and some others that are fun ways to send notes or other stuff to your friends. You can even link your Blogspot blog to Facebook as well...so don't forget to BLOG!