The snow melted, we had a 60 degree day, but Winter isn't over yet. Grab a Book!

Allow me to recommend any book written by Dorothea Benton Frank. I have become of fan of her work. She is from the Charleston, SC area and her books take place along that coastline and, for those of you who know me, I sure do love that sand, sea, and salty part of the world. I love the regions food, the music, the history and, of course, the mystery. If you like that too, then Dorothea Benton Frank is for you.

I have read the following books:

"Return to Sullivan's Island" This is her latest book and was released in June of 2009, the week that my family and I returned from our first weeklong vacation in the Charleston Area. So it goes without saying, that once I saw the name of the book, then I needed to have it. That was my first time of ever hearing the author's name. I heard Sullivan's Island quite a bit while on that Charleston area vacation, because the SC Governor was missing upon our arrival there and, by the time we left, we had learned that he had skipped the state, the country, and his wife to meet his lover in Argentina. His wife and kids were at their summer home on Sullivan's Island and the media was all about it. Great book. Left me wanting more and wishing that I had read her earlier books first, such as, "Sullivan's Island", her first novel.

"Pawley's Island" this book took place in the popular island retreat below Myrtle Beach and included fine foods, art, divorce, and family tradition.

"Isle of Palms" This book was a Christmas gift from my sister in law, Cindy of Polk County Florida. What a great find. I only like the hardback books, and they are often hard to find, especially when there is a few years on them. She found this book in some store in Savannah, GA and it had actually been a library book in a library up in the northern to Heartland area of the country. It was in great shape and I loved it. This book involved the love of family, the desire of a home on the beach and that island way of life. The main character is a hair dresser and has a crazy neighbor and teenage daughter who had just spent the first year in college and who was trying to find herself, along with some old southern valued neighbors. A bit of romance and a common softly folded presence of ghosts, that appears to be a theme of Ms. Frank's novels. It also introduced me to gullah language and way of life.

"The Christmas Pearl" Now this book was a wonderful story of a disfunctional family that is brought back together and learned to value history, family and life again through the visit of a temporary house servant who had actually ran this same home generations before. Her name was Pearl and this was a warm story of old homes, old Christmas traditions, elegance, and included recipes from old Charleston special Christmas' of years past. Great book.

"Shem Creek" Another book about imperfect families, love, hard work and rebuilding a life by moving two teenage daughters from New York to the Charleston area of Shem Creek, just off of the Cooper River. There is the intimate details of running a restaurant named "Jackson Hole", environmental whackos, and of course, a nice, watchful ghost.

Check 'em out, don't just take my word. I have "Bulls Island", but I haven't read it yet. I think I might read "The lost Symbol", by Dan Brown first. I have it in waiting also.

That 60 degree weather yesterday had me yearning for Florida again. I checked out the schedules for Spring Training Baseball in the Grapefruit league and they really don't start playing until March 2nd, 2010. Catchers and pitchers report Feb. 17th, 2010. So it will be here soon!

Will the snow ever go away - Jan. 12, 2010

The picture of my home was taken today, Jan. 12, 2010. The snow that you see has been in my front yard since the big dec. 18th snow of 2009. You know, that was technically fall of last year, and we still have that stuff hanging around.


Hey, it will be February before you know it, that means that groundhog day is just around the corner. He always sees his shadow, so big deal. The Shrine's Provost Guard unit has teamed up with the Lakeland Masonic Lodge for a combination deal to make Valentines an awesome event. Lakeland Lodge will be holding a formal dinner as a fundraiser. It costs $45.00 per couple and starts seating every 30 minutes at 5 pm on Saturday Feb. 13th. Last year's dinner was fabulous. we had soup and salad with prime rib, baked potato and a huge slice of New York style cheese cake.

After the dinner, the Provost Guard unit sponsors the Valentine dance over at the Kazim Shrine Center with a live band, "Off the Cuff". There will be door prizes and raffles to raise money for the "Shriner's Children's Hospitals". You can win a pearl necklace and more. There will be food there too and all for $20.00 for a couple.

If you are interested, I can get you tickets to both or just for the dance, your choice. send me an email ghuffman4@cox.net.

They tell me the weather has finally changed down in Florida, but not without damages to the crops. We will be paying more for orange juice and strawberries for sure.

You know, for some reason, I was talking the other night about our country's past killers. Like, John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was shot later by Jack Ruby. We got around to the boy from Roanoke, that went down in Texas and shot up the fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. Hasan had some connection with the middle east. Well then someone mentioned Robert Kennedy's killer, Sirhan Sirhan. I didn't know much about this guy, accept he shot Robert Kennedy in 1968. Well, I encourage you to google his name and look under wikipedia. I was amazed with the events around this individual and how they were very simular to Hasan in 2009. Now keep in mind, I am not a person who swears by wikipedia, but I think you'll get the picture.

I love Jimmy Buffett 01-07-2010

Jimmy Buffett's music has that natural warming effect, you just want to move and enjoy the very basic aspects of life!

Jimmy Buffett's music is like an escape to some white sandy beach with steel drums and blue green water that allows you to see the bottom. You feel warm all over. His music has gotten me through some tough times in my life like divorce and many other stresses. I have seen him in concert 36 times in various locations up and down the east coast. I even saw him out in Cincinnati, Ohio. Each show has memories and stories of all types.

His music gets me through the winter months and gives me hope that spring will eventually get here, and oh, when it does!!!

Jimmy Buffett owns his own radio station that broadcasts out of one of his restaurants, the Orlando, Fl Margaritaville location. it broadcasts all of his concerts live and can be heard on Sirius and on the internet site http://www.margaritaville.com/. just go to the radiomargaritaville link and listen live.

They are calling for more winter weather here in Roanoke tonight. Please make it go away.

Stay warm, to those of you in Florida too. They are actually having to rescue manatees out of the canals around Tampa because the water temps are getting to low and they are going to die if they don't get warmed up. So much for global warming, Al Gore is such a Boob!!!

See later!

Gary D. Huffman 01-07-2010

Happy New Year Everybody!!!! Jan. 05, 2009

Got some catching up to do, things to tell you! First, It is cold here in Virginia. We brought the new year in with a bang, seriously, from where I was standing. I had to work the Fireworks event New Years Eve in Vinton for "Enchanted Eve". 2009 went and 2010 came with fireworks.

It's actually colder now than it was in this photo of the snow, but the thing is, a lot of that snow from back on December 19th is still hanging around here in January 2010.

All of this cold weather just makes me want to scream. It is cold all over though!


It is even Cold in Florida !!

The Christmas decorations have all been put away intil next year. We have cleaned closets and made room for those new clothes and toys and stuff!

Heck, we have cleaned the whole house and it feels really good!!


The cold weather has me thinking about Florida though. I sure would like to get away and get out of the very cold weather.

Above is our little place down in flroida at 7390 Eastern Circle Drive. Brooksville FL. We aren't right on the Gulf of Mexico, but we sure are close, just a short drive is all it takes.

This time of the year the Manatees are all up in the rivers where the water is warm. The rivers are spring fed and maintain 72 degree water temperature year round.

Well, the Saints have lost the last 3 games of the regular season and are the #1 seat for the NFC playoffs. Wish my poor old Saints luck!

See ya soon,

Gary D. Huffman 01-05-10

Christmas is over. It's cold and we still have that snow on the ground 12-29-2009

Back to work and things are changing...... Robyn, one our Deputy Fire Marshal's, handed in a resignation letter today. she plans to move to Ohio and be with the love of her life. This is good for her, however, Brian Simmons and I are concerned about the workload and callback life.

The weather is very cold. high today barely above 30 degrees, but windy.

I got some books for Christmas, and a few from one of my new favorite authors, Dorothea Benton Frank. I am currently reading the "Isle of Palms". It, like her other books, takes place in the South Carolina coastline islands. Gotta love those characters that she creates, and she always includes the Charleston history and culture. The food is part of her stories too, some books even have recipes. I got "The Christmas Pearl" and "Bulls Island" also, all in hardback. I have already read "The Return to Sullivan's Island" and "Pawleys Island". The summer filled, beach lined stories seem to help get me through the cold snow covered early winter that we seem to be having.

My mom & dad are currently in Florida. They said it was about 70 degrees down on the Gulf Coast today. My uncle George, Bennie, & Lyndsey are going out grouper fishing tommorrow, so the weather must be pretty nice.

I have to work on New Years Eve. We have a fireworks show that will be shot off at the stroke of midnight. this, of course, is regulated by the Fire Marshal's Office and we do the early setup inspection and are on site during the performance. Zambelli fireworks Internantional has been contracted by the Roanoke County Parks & Rec Department.

Speaking of Parks & Rec., I was at the Green Ridge Rec Center today for the acceptance test of the new fire pump that supports the building's sprinkler system.

Things coming up...... The Rodeo is coming to the Salem Civic Center Jan. 8, 9, & 10th, 2010. The Shrine Circus will be at the Roanoke Civic Center Jan. 28, 29, 30, & 31st, 2010. The Provost Guard Valentine's Dance is Saturday Night Feb. 13th, 2010 and only costs $20.00 for the couple. Live band "Off the Cuff".

Gary D. Huffman
12-29-2009

Christmas was grand, now looking forward to the New Year 12-28-2009

Well, Christmas was great. We were actually pretty beat by the time Christmas Day arrived though, based on the big snow, the shoveling, the last minute shopping, and the parties and get togethers!! The Presents were all under the tree, the energy was magical, and we were eating like crazy. I must have put on 8 pounds the week of Christmas!!





We had a Christmas Party on Wed. Night Dec. 23rd for the Wickham side of the family, that is my mother's side. Santa Claus came and delivered presents for good boys & Girls. Uncle George got a fishing calendar. Uncle Pete got one of those little grass skirted dolls that you put on the dashboard of your car and she wiggles. Santa was played by John Sweeney of Garden City. He and his wife, Mary Kay, joined us for dinner and a Dirty Santa game.

Christmas Eve arrived and we went to my parents house for lunch and gift giving. My mom & dad left right after that for Florida. They wanted to get out of Virginia before the Christmas morning ice storm arrived. We were really getting beat up by all of this weather. Florida was sounding wonderful. I Got a house just sitting down there at 7390 Eastern Circle Drive, but I had to start callback on Christmas Day. After my folks left we had our little
Christmas at our house. Paula, Jordan, Mason, Max & I.



We shared the special time together as a family, we had nowhere to be and no shedule to keep. We were thankful for so many things in our lives. The day to day pressures and stresses were put on a shelf and we just had a great time. the gifts were distributed and when it was all over, we had lots of neat stuff. I got a lap top, Jordan got a flat screen high def TV for her room, Mason got DS games and Legos. Paula got a new bedroom bedding and curtains and a steamer to get those creases out. We were thankful for all that God had provided for us and giving the greatest gift of all, his son Jesus Christ, our savior.

Sometime during that night Santa Claus came and Mason woke up the next morning with even more gifts. More DS games, and Legos. There were GI Joe figures and a huge brown Bear, stuffed, of course.







Oh, By the way, Jordan really liked her hat!

And Max, our black Lab, had a good time too with all of his chew toys, a new bed and all of the attention. He is such a hound!!




Gary D. Huffman - Christmas 2009 style

Catching up..And.."The Big Snow Storm"

Well, I haven't added to the blog in a few days and man, are there things to tell you!


Tues. night Dec. 15th, 2009 - We went to Mason's School, Mountain View Elementary, for a musical that he, and the whole 2nd grade class, was in. That is him to the left of the mic singing an old time Rock & Roll Christmas Tune. Mason did very well and he was wearing a green elf hat.

Wed. night Dec. 16th, 2009 - We had Christmas at Paula's parents house, Raymond & Joyce Compton. Paula's sister, Cindy was in from sunny florida and was loving our much cooler weather. (Not) We had a fabulous dinner and enjoyed the time spent together. As you can see we had a great time. look at all of those presents under the tree. Mason is in the center, Paula on the left, Cindy on the right, Jordan to the left of mason and Paula's dad, Raymond, is behind Mason. I couldn't be in the picture. i was taking the picture!

The weatherman was starting to hint of some weekend winter type weather, but we all planned for the big trip over "Big A Mountain" to Fletcher's Ridge in Bucanan County for the Big Cristmas parties on both of Paula's parents sides of the family. The Comptons side on Friday night and the Farmers on Saturday night, but.....

Thursday Dec. 17th, 2009 - This was my last day at work for a while, so I was around the office for a large protion of the day. The weatherman was kicking things up and calling for a large snow to start on Friday around 4 pm. I worked out for Robyn Blankenship to get my 4 wheel drive vehicle due to the proposed 18 inch snow.

Thursday night, I attended the James Evans Masonic Lodge #72 meeting and served in the position of Senior Deacon for this meeting. We did not have the scheduled elections for this Dec. meeting, so they should be held in January 2010.

Friday Dec. 18th, 2009 - After sleeping in then getting e few things together, The Schools all anounced that they were closing 2 hours early due to the incoming weather. Well, Paula decided that we should leave for the country 2 hours earlier also to get a head start on the weather. I went to school and picked up Mason. we packed quickly, dropped Max off at my mom & dad's. They would surely spoil the dog while we were gone. We picked up Jordan and by 2 pm we were heading up Christiansburg Mountain on I-81. We hadn't eaten, so we planned to stop at the Christiansburg exit.

When we came off the exit, it was starting to snow. While in McDonalds, it started to really stick to the grass. We jumped back in the car and headed south. We were getting text messages about every 15 minutes from Cindy, Paula's Sister, on the road conditions at the mile marker that they were passing. they were almost a hour ahead of us.

Well we got stuck in standstill traffic in Mongomery County due to wrecks. The road was becoming very slippery and there were crashes everywhere. We saw vehicles in ditches, into guardrails, and some upside down. after a brief stop there, we moved on and got to the south side on Wytheville. It was snowing very hard and suddenly the traffic just stopped. We were at a standstill for nearly 5 1/2 hrs.

Now this was not the most pleasant situation, but we had gas, heat, bottled water, chips and swiss cheese. We had some cake if needed and extra blankets. the longer we set the deeper the snow seemed to get. We listend to different radio stations, but none seemed to give us the news we needed. the best information came from K-92 fm out of Roanoke. They are located an hour away, but they knew and spoke about our situation quite a bit. We sang to the songs and talked about old times and just many diferent things. In today's life, we are moving so fast, that it wasn't so bad being stuck out there at mile marker 68 on I-81 with all of the truckers.

I would go and talk to a truck driver behind me every so often. He would inform me of what he was hearing over the CB from the other truckers. They had a mess of a wreck ahead of us and after the trucks had set for so long, they couldn't get them moving in the large amounts of snow that was piling up on the roadway. He told me a story of a single mom with a 5 month old baby. She had milk but no way to heat the bottle. A truck driver with a microwave heated it for her. He would ask if we were okay every time I went to talk to him. I'd say yeah, we're fine, we have gas and food and we had made contact with frineds by use of cell, which had a poor signal, and they had reserved us a room for the night in Marion, if we ever got to moving again.

Here we were, heading for the country for christmas, stuck in traffic, and three cell phones just working overtime. We had a hard time getting the signal to go out, but we did after much moving around inside of the vehicle.

Paula learned that Cindy was stuck in Abingdon. She learned that her mom & dad had made it to her grandmothers on Fletcher's Ridge after attending the Friday night party that we missed while sitting at mm 68. They reported the snow was getting deep and they had lost power.

Finally we saw the yellow lights of a salt truck over the hill. The trucker behind me had told me that they were going to be working their way from the front of the blockage back to us. They had to move the trucks out as they came back to get the road open. I walked up to the Highway worker and he said they were salting the road around each truck and working their way back to us. I witnessed these huge truck and trailers slide and spin and then slowly inch forward and head on out down the road. He finally reached us. The highway man asked if he got the truck beside us moved, would I be able to get out. I replied "yes" and he said "okay" and that he was sorry for taking so log to get us out. We were happy to be moving and thanked him with a huge smile.

I-81 was a mess the snow was deep, our windshield wipers were freezing up and it was snowing so hard. We finally got off the interstate in Marion and found our motel. It wasn't the grandest, by any means, but it was off of that interstate. All of the motels were full. Cindy had gotten back to Abingdon and found a room at a Hampton Inn as did Dean, Paula's cousin, who was coming in for Chrsitmas too, but from Raliegh, NC.

I got the kids and the wife all settled in our room and I went back out in search of food. I found a McDonalds all lit up like an Oasis in the middle of the desert. I grabbed a bunch of food from the drive through and arrived back at the room to find my family huddled around the television watching "Christmas Vacation", a true Christmas classic. We ate and went to sleep.

The photo above was taken the next morning of the motel we stayed at. It was called the Magnuson Inn, or something like that, but thank goodness they were there for us.

Saturday Dec. 19th, 2009 - After sleeping in, since we didn't get to sleep until around midnight the night before, we all got up, showered, and dug the Kia out. People were leaving the motel and sliding all over the place. Checkout was at 11am, so we got out just in time. We needed food and guess where we went. McDonalds again. While at McDonalds, we were on the cell phones trying to determine if we were going on to Fletcher's Ridge or back to Roanoke. I talked to my dad and it was still snowing in Roanoke. There was no power at Fletcher's Ridge and there were trees down blocking roads, so we decided to go back home. Cindy left for Florida.

The roads were in great shape going back north on 81 until be got to Radford. Stuck again. I tried talking to truckers again and finally, I got that little Kia Borrego off at the Radford Exit, hit route 11 through Christiansburg and down 460 into Salem, Va. Finally got home just before dark. The roads were bad around our house so I couldn't go get Max and decided to watch the Saints play on TV. You know what, They lost to the Dallas Cowboys. They are not undefeated anymore. Saints are now 13 -1 but hey, maybe they can still get to the Superbowl!! Who Dat?

Sunday Dec. 20th, 2009 - Spent the day digging out, went grocery shopping and just happy to be home.

My dad brought Max home. he seemed happy to be back too. I had to shovel out a place in the grass for him to go to the bathroom. The poor dog sure is picky.

Planning on watching movies tonight and relaxing with my family in front of the fire, maybe a glass of wine by the Christmas Tree with Paula later.

I sure hope you are having a very Merry Christmas! By they way, I think they said we had 19 inches of snow. The Weather channel broadcast live from Roanoke, VA too, during the storm.

My mom works for Friendship Retirement Center as the head of Dietary and she has had to work this weekend while my dad was busy picking people up to get them to work. Even though the weather is bad, those folks in the retirement center still have to eat and have ther basic needs addressed. Mom & Dad are going to Florida on Christmas Day though. I hope they have a great time and enjoy the warmer weather. I'll take the sand over the snow any day!

Christmas is coming fast, be careful. I have got to figure out a way to get to Florida too.

Gary D. Huffman