Paw Paws Place

With soccer season in full swing Pat and I are enjoying watching the kids play. Luke just finished up playing indoor soccer and now is outside. What he has found out is that running up and down a regulation field is tough. The indoor soccer field is about half the length of a regular field. He has different team mates then he had in the indoor season so it is quite different. Tyler has surprise all of us with his ability to come back and play. Tyler has not played soccer for at least nine years or so. He is play a defensive back and also goalie and really playing well. I know that Doug is really enjoying seeing him play, what father wouldn’t? What Tyler found out quickly was that he was not in shape. He has gotten better with each game, doesn’t seem to be sucking as much wind. Football is also a big part of our life this time of the year. Friday night it is Manatee HS and Saturday is college football. There are two really big games this weekend. Manatee plays Southeast and Florida pla...

I have been on this reading craze for a while now. I love my books and hate to get rid of them because I may want to read them again. So, what has happened is my old small book case has become too small to hold my books. This week I set out to build a new bookcase and it was completed as of Friday. The books on the bottom two shelves have been read. The next two and a half selves have not. When I was a young firefighter I used to read Mike Hammer and Shell Scott. I really enjoy murder mysteries as I try to guess "who done i't" before I am through reading it. I mostly read James Patterson (my favorite), John Grisham, Harlan Cobin and Linwood Barclay. My daughter Sandy has loaned me many books to read also. Patricia Cornwell and Eric Lustbader seems to be her favorites at one time. I am reading a Tom Clancy book right now and I have not gotten in to it yet. I also like Stuart Woods and T. Jefferson Parker. Oh well as you can see I have plenty to read, but I have to stop bu...

26th Street and Manatee Ave West Coming to Manatee Ave and 26th Street West Coming into Downtown Bradenton At 15th st and Manatee Ave West Standing on 59th Street over looking GT Bray Part, Standing in my front yard looking east. As you can see we do have some beautiful Sun Rises in our small area of the world. I know that the Beach is known for Sunsets which are nice but we "Arise" to this. Well it was another sports weekend for the Gallo's as we went to the Manatee game on Friday night. Manatee lost to the number one team in the nation 22 to 16. They made two bad mistakes that cost them their game. But the have nothing to hang their heads for as they played a great game. Saturday morning Pat and I headed to Gainesville to see the Gator's play Tenn. Florida won their game 33 to 23 but did not play all that well. They better put it together as the month of October will be rough. We missed our grandsons first soccer games this Saturday. Tyler's team lost 2 - 0 but...

Friday afternoon I attended a luncheon honors our Public Service hero's, Fireman, Military and EMS workers. We watched videos of past 911 events and some videos of the event itself. I will never forget that day when our country was attacked. The lives of everyone US citizens was changed in some way. I hope that we have also proved that if you mess with us we will stand tall and react. "God Bless America" ! As you can see my book case runnith over, I will be building a new and bigger one to replace it with. I really enjoy my reading, I am a big fan of James Patterson, John Grisham, Harlan Cobin and Linwood Barclay. They are my favorite authors that I read, About the only things that are going on are Manatee and Florida football. The kids will be starting soccer soon and that will be great. I hope it cools off a little before it starts. As you also can see I like to watch...

Yes I know I have not been writing my Blog like I should have. I could give you some excuses but they would not be the truth. It has been a combination of not feeling like it and being on vacation and of course being ever so busy at City Hall....talk about stretching the truth...ha CAPT GLENN DAVIS This has really been a bad year for some of my friends in the fire service. We lost our Fire Chief here in Bradenton in January. I went to his memorial service at the Florida Fire Chiefs meeting in July. There were also three more chiefs that I know that had passed away also. And then here locally we have lost two men that I worked with for years. Capt Glenn Davis who past away last month. Then I read in the paper that Bill Juregens who I went to high school with and also worked with him on the FD past away, he live in Tenn. Pat and I went off for a little vacation in the mountains. We visited with Gary and Harriett Gregory in NC. We had a nice time as we always do when we are with them. I t...

Pat and I have always enjoyed working in our yard and keeping it nice. We are now letting our Grandson Tyler mow our yard and he does a wonderful job. I still do the edging and weed eating while Pat continues to be the weed puller and pruner of the plants and picker upper of stuff! This week however, Tyler is on vacation enjoying his last days of freedom before school starts. He will be a sophomore at Manatee High School this year.Yipes! Pat mowed the yard on Wednesday and almost made it before the rain started. She mowed about 98% of what needed to be mowed. On Thursday I finished the mowing and the did the weed eating. Today I edged and then blew off the street and patio of grass clippings. I wanted to share this with you as I think we have a beautiful yard and we are proud of it. We also do our own fertilizing and insect treating of our lawn. That is something we used to hire out but I was never satisfied with...

Luke is really in to Soccer, it may be his sport in life to play. He is leading his team and league in scoring goals, His team is in first place and if they win Monday night they will clinch 1st place. Monday night report! They won 5 - 3 and MY GRANDSON scored all 5 goals.......Go Luke.. This last week he was at a training camp that is provided at the youth center and is taught by some players from England. As you can see Luke was playing for the Jamaican team, he really gets in to it. Have a Blessed day and be a Blessing to someone today. “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us.” - Isaiah 33:22