It's WONDERFUL to see FRIENDS and FAMILY!!!!

We are now in Meridian, MS........Home town of our good Neighbor and Friend Jim Brumfield. Jim has a waste management business here and a fleet of about 30 trucks,,,,,,many Mack's and Volvo's. He has his own staff of Mechanics and they agreed to look at our Volvo and see if they could find a little fuel/air leak that no one else seems to be able to find. They are GREAT guys and I've gotten more information and learned more about my truck from them that I have anyone else in the 4 years I've owned it. Mike Holmes is the VP Operations Manager and a SUPER guy!!! Shannon Dotson, is his lead mechanic and spent a lot of the day yesterday looking at my truck and trying to figure out what the problem is......He is EXTREMELY knowledgeable!!!, as is Mike. These guys work with trucks all day long and have run into every problem that can be had....

We ordered some parts that we'll install today....Hopefully that will do the trick..... I can't thank Jim enough for taking such an interest in my situation and directing his guys to work on it.....!!!!

A lot of you have ask me to keep you posted on how I like the new Verizion AIR-CARD we started using instead of the Hughes Net for our internet connection.....

Well, this might not be the time, because I'm thoroughly disgusted with it. At our place in Custer,SD, although we are only a mile from the tower, it is EXTREMELY slow. I mean as bad as DIAL up!!! They say thats because it's not EVDO,,,,,big deal! When you do get in an EVDO (high speed) area, it's real good........ However that being said, you can't believe the places you go that are NOT EVDO..........Here in Meridian, MS is the second town of over 50,000 population that has no EVDO, so it is so slow its almost unbearable........Hughes Net is MUCH BETTER...

Now to top that off, we just got our first months bill from Verizon and it was $190.00 OVER, yes, OVER the basic $59.99 monthly charges. Can you believe that?....TOTAL= $250.00 for the first month's charges........ UNREAL............They say we WENT OVER the 5Gb monthly allowance. There is NO WAY we could have done that. No way that I can see anyhow. We don't download any pictures or movies, just surf the internet and emails........No one can believe we did nearly a Gb OVER the 5Gb.

Pat is working on it full force and we are learning how to watch the usage better, but we are mighty discouraged and disgusted with it right now...........Some of our friends use the internet as much or more than we do and they don't even get close to the 5Gb.......Maybe there is something the matter. We will let you know what we find and if any of you have any ideas, let us know. Pat has spent hours on the phone with Verizon and Mark Bruss and Jack Mayer looking for a solution.....stay tuned....Right now we're on Park WiFi, saving our PRECIOUS data usage with Verizion......:-(

Now a few pictures of our FAMILY... taken at Daughter Lisa and Randy's home south of Tallahassee.

Little Kylie and Great Grandma Pat

Granddaughter Megan, Great Granddaughter Kylie and Grandma Pat

Grandson Jeremy pitching horseshoes....he's pretty GOOD!!

Grandson Gabe taking his turn at a "toss"...he's GOOD, too!

Grandson Gabe and Son Scott.....I guess I'll have to say they're ALL PRETTY DARN GOOD!!

2 Granddaughters-in-law, Granddaughter & Great Granddaughter, Pat and Daughter Lisa!

4 Generations: Great Granddaughter Brianna, Daughter Lisa, Pat and Grandson Gabe

Cooking "Low Country Boil", Oysters & Stone Crab Legs!! YUM!!!

Lisa's husband Randy.....a great Seafood Chef!! And Fisherman!!

That's it for my first MID WEEK post..........Thank you all for checking back.........

Next post, we hope to be on our LOT in Mission, TX. where maybe it's a LITTLE warmer!!! (it was 27 deg here this morning)brrrrrrrr...

Take care

Mike

Drop back by SUNDAY for my next post.......