Spring Break

I’m throwing this up here really quick because I haven’t hit the blog in a few days. In my defense I don’t have internet access at work and I had to work a double on tuesday-wednesday. So this week is spring break. It has gone by especially fast this year. Lacey took off work to be home with me on the two days off before my birthday, which is tomorrow. The girls have been, to be honest, driving me crazy. I have been trying to enjoy them all being out of school at the same time but I enjoy my wife not having to sleep and work nights the two days I have off more.  Lily is really blossoming lately (sorry) her facial expressions and attention to detail is very exciting. Katherine has been sick and had to go to the doctor, but has been good the last two days. Elizabeth is excited as always about Easter and my birthday. She got me a really funny card that she picked out herself. She is so creative. I hope she builds the confidence needed to show others how creative she can be. The double I worked was busy. We had more fires in two days than we have had in the last 6 months combined. I have to work tomorrow on my birthday but I’m “riding backwards” so I’m hoping the action doesn’t slow down. Thats it for tonight, got to get to bed…. it is my birthday after all

An Introduction cont.

This is a guest post by my wife Lacey Whatley

Paternal: I am the biological granddaughter of  Richard and Elsie Stewart. Their son Brian Stewart is my biological father. Richard and Elsie had other children but Im unsure of how many and there names. I have not had contact with any of them for most of my life.

Maternal: I  am the biological granddaughter of Nelson and Janet Hughes maiden name Harris. They had three daughters Janice, Sandra, and Kim. I am the daughter of Janice Louise Hughes. Nelson and Janet divorced before I was born. Janet then married Wenzel Miles.

I am the daughter of Brian Stewart and Janice West. They were never married. My mother married Will Jamie West when I was one. He adopted me and is the only father that I have ever known. My Mother and Jamie had two daughters Erin H. West, and Kaylee R. West.

Jamie West is the Son of Will S. West and Shirley A West. He was an only child.

An Introduction

So I thought I would start things off with a simple run down up the family tree. This is who and where I came from. This is also any family members’opportunity to introduce yourself in the comments. Im going to stick to what I know and keep it close to the trunk.

Paternal: I am the grandson of Thurman H Whatley and Loveda K Whatley maiden name Crawford.  Thurman and Loveda had three sons: Steve Robert and Richard I am the son of Richard Lee Whatley “Rick”.

Maternal:  I am the grandson of Marcella M Litsinger. I do not know my maternal grandfather. Macella had three children: David Linda and Dianna. I am the son of Dianna Marie Litsinger.

My Mother and Father Married and had four children of which I am the second. I have three sisters: Deidra, Ericka and Alainna. I was born April 3, 1985 in Winter Haven Fl

I am Thomas Justin Whatley

Memory Forever

Can you imagine if you found a journal written by your great great grandfather Now imagine that he wrote in that journal every day even if it was only 140 characters. This week, one of my favorite tech blogs featured a series of post on the topic of memory. Being a tech blog they obviously discussed computer memory, however they also touched on my generations obsession with social networking sites and how our descendants will be able to read our tweets, status updates, view our Flickr and Facebook pictures and more. This was the revelation that followed. I have the opportunity to leave a detailed record, an account of my life, my children’s lives, maybe even my grandchildren’s lives for future generations to explore. . Thats a good enough reason on its own, but I also considered the fact that I have a somewhat dangerous job. If something ever happened to me my children will have a way of recalling good times we shared together. So, I’m doing it. I’m leaving a legacy, a written and visual account of mine and my immediate families lives. I plan on writing something everyday. Wether it’s a blog post, an twitter update, mobile picture upload to Facebook or whatever else the internets have invented years from now. I also will be writing exclusively to my descendants. So, it’s up to you. If you would like to continue to subscribe to this blog, just know I won’t be writing for you. However, if you decide to stick around, hold me accountable. I really want to do this. Feel free to leave comments it will be interesting to see how my friends and family virtually interacted with me years from now.

As for my previous activity on this blog, I plan on leaving old posts as they are just incase lower branches on my family tree want to see my first experimentation with blogging.

For those pessimists and over thinkers who believe that 100 years from now the internet will be reconfigured and old websites like WordPress and facebook will be forgotten about… I’m with you. I fully plan on backing up posts and pictures by printing the pages and storing them, all the while conforming to the latest trends in “lifecasting”.

My Internet Accounts in chronological order:

MySpace
Facebook
Flickr
Twitter
Vimeo

Spreading There Wings Once More

One of my favorite shows is coming back for a 2nd season on January 18th and this is the last song from the first episode, which you just so happen to be able to watch in its fullness online at joost.com. Hope you enjoy, the last 30 seconds of the video had me rolling.

Back in the Saddle

Alright I know I haven’t blogged in a while and it’s high time I climbed back up on that horse and started participating in this thing called the internet again. Honestly I haven’t missed it to much, I don’t know what that says. It’s good to take a break every once and a while, and in my defense I have stepped up my twittering. I got back from our annual trip to Alabama this past Friday, and let me tell you I had a blast. I love getting out of Florida. I never expected to live here as long as I have. When I was younger I told everyone I was going to move to Alaska or North Carolina, or Tennessee, pretty much anywhere but here. I don’t know what it was, I just didn’t feel like I was supposed to live here. But in the last few years I have started to appreciate Florida more and more. Still, every chance I get to leave the state I take it. As you know from my early posts I am an avid outdoors men I love to deer hunt, and this last Wednesday God blessed me with the best deer I have ever harvested. It was a six point buck and weighed about 180 lbs. It was an awesome experience. It was a very windy morning and after climbing down out of a tree stand at about 0930 I decided to follow a game trail back into the woods. After hiking for about half an hour I came to a valley where the trees thinned out and a creek marked the edge of the property I had permission to hunt. I walked down to edge of the water and marveled at the His creativeness for a few minutes before heading back the way I came. When I looked back for the trail that I been following I saw him. He had literally followed me in to the clearing, not more then five minutes behind me. I knew at a glance that this was a nice buck and quickly crawled out of the creek bed onto a small embankment to get in a better position. I found a clean shot through the scope and squeezed the trigger. I don’t remember feeling the recoil of the gun despite it’s large caliber, I must have been really focused. Still looking through the scope I saw him hit the ground, it was a quick humane kill, the kind you hope for. The fist thing I did was stop and pray, thanking God for blessing me, something my dad taught me to do. I spent the rest of the morning dragging my prize out of the woods and cleaning every scrap of meat leaving nothing to waste. When all was said and done I had a 100 quart cooler 3/4 of the way full with meat, and more of an understanding for the way God honors his promise to bless those who are faithful stewards.

Know When To Hold’em

   I have a very complex job. Not complex in that only a select few could do it, but more like in the way a recipe is complex. Comprised of many ingredients and specific ways to handle them in order to make the dish come out right. There are cramped living quarters and the tolerance required to live with people having such different personalities is a big challenge. We go from dead asleep to 80mph screaming down the highway with lights and sirens, on your way to god knows what. Or maybe we are just taking an old ladies blood pressure and having one of the only conversations she will have with anyone all week. We sweep and mop and scrub and dust and cook and wash and shammy and come back in 3 days and do it all over again. Everyones different ways of handling these situations and tasks are interesting to watch and can often be analyzed to discover things about human nature and my own nature. But one of my favorite things to sit back and observe is conversation. It is, however a specific kind of conversation that is most Intresting to me. Often comprised of no more then 3 people and is by invitation only, which means if I want to observe I have to be an active participant. It is usually held outside (regardless of the weather) and is accompanied by some form of stimulant ending in -eine. (caffeine or the other kind of -eine we won’t mention for fear of glamorizing it to all the little kids who read this blog) These dialogs are political in nature (local government and fire dept politics, not federal government) and when observed from the outside look akin to dramatized historical accounts of the patriots discussing the revolution in a dark pub corner. This is never more so then when the parties involved are from two different shifts. Each shift has it’s own way of looking at things and bringing someone from another shift into the discussion is usually done to get a feel for how that shift as a whole will side on a certain topic. Key phrases like “it’s going to be interesting” replace personal opinions. This phrase “It’s going to be interesting” is repeated over and over, where as when observing from the outside it would almost become comical like the punch line in a Saturday Night Live skit. Ideas and viewpoints are closely guarded and only offered when asked, with great care given to the choice of words so as not to show too much passion for the subject. It is very much like a game of poker. Everyone is keeping their cards real close, looking for the the other guys signature “tell”, feeling out the table and trying to decide if you have a good enough hand to play. The colloquies can last hours or minutes depending on the subject and who tries to join in. However they almost always end the same way, “It’s going to be interesting”.

Am I the only one who analyzes things like this. If you do it  too, tell me something you’ve noticed and dissected in the comments.

Playing favorites

Moss hangs, sways from the weathered trees; oaks, cypress and imported maples, like grey beards. How appropriate does it show there age, even better than there rings. There heritage and history presented proudly. Firmly standing, stretching, showing there territory earned by seniority along small lakes in small towns. These gardians of the lake spaced ever so slightly just enough to allow strangers a glimpse of the shimmering blues and greens. The ancient arboreal have endured hurricanes, tornadoes, hail and chain saws. They’ve seen there grandfathers cut down, cousins blown over, even a distant relative who suffered lightning, splitting him from the highest branch to the lowest root. Baring witness to the coldest winters and the hottest summers, torrential rains and torturous droughts. This history only reviled when one is laid to rest. They have endured and outlived us, peacefully coexisting offering shade and sharing the breeze, providing the exchange required for us to stay alive and in return receiving only our short company. How one-sided this relationship is that He has established. We are truly favored among His creations.

What’s your favorite holiday

Elizabeth: Dad what’s your favorite holiday?
Me: Uhhhh St. Patrick’s Day
Elizabeth: because you want to find the leprechaun, and the pot of gold?
Me: yes
Elizabeth: my favorite holiday is Christmas
Me: Why
Elizabeth: because you get to buy gifts and give them to people and you get to bake christmas cookies, and leave them for santa.
Me: (thinking…..? how….?…. I suck)
Elizabeth: Im gonna ask santa how to find St. Patrick the leprechaun’s gold for you
Me: awesome.

What’s your favorite holiday and why?

The most wonderful time of the year

This past weekend hunting season for general gun started. Hunting is my thing. I love being in the woods. I know it doesn’t seem possible, computer nerd that likes to hunt, but what can I say? Im a well rounded guy. I enjoy all sorts of outdoor activities; camping, fishing, hiking. I hunt hogs with dogs year around and fish whenever I get invited (I don’t have a boat), but I generally try to have my self in the woods or on the water a few times a month, with one exception. From November 8th-January 18th I am frantic to get to the woods every chance I get. Some people like going to the beach, for some people its visiting big cities, but my Idea of a great vacation is walking trough the woods searching for the perfect little spot to sit and wait.  Im excited to get up early, (read: butt-crack of dawn) sneak out to a pre-scouted locale in freezing temperatures and wait for the sun to come up. It’s awesome. It reminds me how creative God is, and also that He has a since of humor. He has to when he sees me sitting, shivering, smiling, and praying for a chance to see bambi a nice mature buck, walk out in a clear shooting lane. I have harvested four deer in my life and with each one, before it was moved I knelt beside the animal and thanked God for allowing me to take it. That was taught to me by my dad and is a tradition I plan to pass on to my children and grandchildren.

  So my blogging will be few and far between for the next couple of months. I know…I know, what will you ever do, but trust me you’ll be fine, there are plenty of other…better blogs out there, just check out my blog roll. And If you’ve never tried hunting, or your really offend by the idea, then take a look at this. It may give you a different point of view, or at least a more educated one. If you would like me to answer any questions about hunting leave a comment and I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction.  For all my fellow hunters out there, leave a comment on a memorable hunting experience, or your favorite hunting season.