To Selma and Back!!!

This weekend we took a little adventure down to Selma, AL to celebrate MawMaw's 85th birthday. MawMaw is Ian's Great Grandmother, and one hell of a nice lady. We truly love to see her and spend time with her. She's a real spitfire too.

Anyway, Selma is no cakewalk. There's just nothing there, and it's very depressed. There's no restaurants other than the occasional barbecue joint and fast food there - wierd. I can say though that I had the all time best barbecued ribs of my lifetime there. They were un-freakin-believable. And that's all I have to say about that...

Here's some pics of Ian in his element. Pictures are resized. Click on the picture to go to the original:

"Here, let me get that booger for you..."





Catching some much needed shuteye...





Great Grandma, Mom, and Ian (puttin' in a fresh dip)





Grandmother Hartz, Mom, and Ian.

By the way, if you want a hi-resolution copy of any of these photos, email me and I'll send you one.

Jeff

My Boy Ian

Well, okay, so it's been well over a year since I last posted here. Sorry, but a lot has happened since then - Well, we had a boy!!! I'm now a dad, and that has changed my entire outlook on life.

Well, let me introduce him.. Ian Anderson Strickland was born on 2/1/2007. I'll skip all the details and just get to the good stuff. Here's what I think are my favorite pictures of him:



7/15/2007: Above we see the little monster's voracious appetite. He's chowing down on his very first taste of sweet potatoes, and I must say that he absolutely loved them!!



7/1/2007 (approximate date): Here we have Ian doing his best Jabba the Hut/Louie Anderson imitation. His a biggun' that's for sure. Next to him is James Bartoo, who is just a few days old in this photo. "Hey mom, can I eat him?"



Ian around 3 months: I just love the look on his face. Priceless.



Mother's day 2007: A lady killer in his stylish shades.



Just a couple weeks old here. I just love this picture of him. It really shows his personality at such a young age.



Okay, a little clowning. This was about a month ago - he's so much fun...

Jeff

Welcome, and all that stuff

Okay, so here's the first post. Fun huh?

I picked the name of the blog and web address because of Ian's name - Ian Anderson is the lead singer/flautist for Jethro Tull, to I named the blog after the most famous JT song.

So, this is my blog, and here's what you may read about at any given time:

Stupid people (one of my favorite topics) - I myself am often at the helm of this esteemed group of people. Just ask my wife.

My dogs Bandit, Baxter, Friday, or Gracie (RIP)
My loving wife
Woodworking
Fly Fishing
Cycling
Camping
Tools - especially antique woodworking tools
Knives
Scotch
Music
The Family Guy
UFC
WEC
MMA in general
...and anything else I want to spew on about.


Well, okay, that's really a list of what I'm in to. It's by no means comprehensive though. My guess is that you'll get to read a lot of soapbox rants too. Feel free to put me in my place, but don't expect me to engage you - especially if I think you're stupid.

By the way, In my opinion, nothing is taboo for this blog. If you don't have a sense of humor and can't laugh at your own follies, please move on. Life is too short.

Take care,
Starfish