Irish Joke of the Day...

Why do cars make horrible football players?












Answer: They only have one boot!

Where did the clock go?

You might have noticed that the little clock (written in Irish) that followed the cursor has gone... We decided to change things up a little and add the bouncing string of shamrocks. What do you think? Do you like it? Is it distracting?

Click here to email us what you think! Or Email me at: wallace@heyitsourwebsite.com

PB Crisis Diverted...

Yes, that is correct... our peanut butter crisis has been solved.... Our good friends down in Citronelle, AL sent us two massive care packages full of grape jelly, Fruity Pebbles, instant grits, and of course those ever precious jars of peanut butter (one of which was as large as my head!). Thanks everybody!!! You have no idea how much your thoughtfulness means to us!

That Thing Going Around...

Well.... I've got it.... yea.... "That thing going around".... I'm sick.


Apparently several people have had it.... But I seem to keep keeping it. So, sorry that I have not been posting very much this week.



On a positive note... I have to make a comment on our local medical services. No... I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything... just to our local doctor. Now, I realize that the mental image some of you have of the local doctor out here in the countryside of Ireland might be of someone from the past... out in his buggy making house calls or something similar... To be honest with you - I have been extremely impressed with the quality and efficiency of our services here. Our little village has a really nice, new medical center that houses five doctors. That patient to doctor ratio has to be better than what it is in the states! I have never had any problem making an appointment or just walking in off the street. I didn't even have to sit down in the waiting room today.... They took me immediately back and the doctor was with me the whole time. The doctor was extremely friendly and was as interested in who I am and what else is going on in my life as he was interested in my symptoms. I always leave amazed...... They have captured the best of both worlds... an amazingly efficient practice that has not lost the small town charm or care.


Don't worry mom... I'm taking my meds and I'll be back up to full speed soon.

Another Random Pic For Today...

Ireland is converting...

That is right... Starting yesterday Ireland has converted from the imperial system to the metric system. We no longer use that crazy mile system that only the United Kingdom (In Europe - that is) uses. Almost overnight all of the speed signs across the country were taken down and replaced with km/h signs. Let me tell you it is a little bit of a thrill to see a speed limit sign with a big 100 on it! I have to admit though.... It is kinda hard when I have to squint and lean in to see the little numbers on my speedometer!

(Quick translation: 80km/h = 50mph)
That is right! 60mph on this road!

"Welcome to Ireland! Watch out for the cows!"

Made in USA?

Our good friend Mary wrote to tell me that the FDA allows a certain number of rat hairs in each jar of peanut butter... well Mary...... did you know that according to FDA standards -- Chocolate cannot contain an average of more than 60 insect fragments per 100 grams? The FDA says that Pasta is allowed to have 225 insect parts per 225 grams? A can of corn is allowed to have two larvae? And in orange juice...... oh, orange juice!.... five fly eggs or one maggot per 250 milli-liters is considered acceptable! woa.... Thanks for pointing all of this out to us Mary! Boy did you open a can of worms with your little tidbit about PB (Pun intended!)!!!

One of My Favorite Pictures...

Meditations on Peanut Butter...

It is amazing to me how slogans like "American Style" or "American Brand" seem to make some products more atractive when in fact they are just like the other European brands right next to them on the shelf. Take Peanut Butter for example.... This little product (Mixed with real grape jelly and spread on white bread) crossed my teeth everyday during my school years... It never really mattered to me if it was crunchy or smooth... I didn't really care if Peter Pan or some guy named Jiff endorsed the jar... all I cared about was the 'top of the roof' sticking taste that is so satifiying... I really didn't think that something as simple as peanut butter could be messed up (with the one notible exception of buying pre-mixed peanut butter and jelly.... uuuugghhh..... the thought makes me shutter......) The problem is that I'm sitting here looking at a jar of peanut butter with the brandname of "Nick". Nick is apparently the all-american guy on the motor-cycle right next to the little stamp that says "The american way of life"... now you would think that with an endortion by nick and a big "quality USA" sticker on it the peanut butter would have to be wonderful... well... it isn't... the peanut butter is a light brown color.... almost grey... and it seems like there is no sugar in it at all... (I know all you moms think that might be a good idea... let me just say that in the case of peanut butter it isn't....) so... I have given up on nick and his motorcycle... there is no substitute for the real thing... I'll take sugar loaded Peter Pan any day!

Some Interesting Facts...

I thought that you might like to see a few interesting facts about the site...

---------------------------------------------------------------

The top visitor to our site visited it 173 times!

---------------------------------------------------------------
The countries that have given us the most visitors:
(I find this very surprising!)


3000 United States
157 Ireland
47 United Kingdom
37 Canada
29 Mexico
28 Spain
27 Germany
17 Italy
17 Korea, South
13 Taiwan
12 France
11 Brazil
10 Australia
9 Hong Kong
8 Peru
7 Hungary
6 Czech Republic
6 Switzerland

If you are visiting this site and you live in one of these countries (especially outside of the USA) please take a moment and put a pushpin in our visitor's guest-map!

------------------------------------------------------------

The chart below shows the 'unique visitors' (If someone visits multiple times, they are counted only once on this graph) to our site in 2004.

A Year and Counting

It is hard to believe it... But yes... Our little web-journal has been up and going for a year now. As of this point we are just under the 3,000 visitor mark! We never expected that so many of you would follow the sight... And I can't tell you how much we appreciate your coming here... And how much we appreciate your interest and encouragement. We have really had a ton of fun keeping the site going... And we have a lot of plans for the future... So please keep checking in on the site...

Hope you had a Happy...

We hope that all of you had a very happy Christmas. We awoke to a small miracle on Christmas day... Snow... And believe me snow in Ireland AND snow in Ireland on Christmas morning is a miracle! We had a really nice day and enjoyed the quiet peace of the day. We went down to the beach at noon and shivered and watched as people ran down the sand and dove into the freezing cold ocean water.....brrr... Everyone was actually saying that it was warmer in the water than it was outside.... (I'll just take their word on that one...) We had a really nice lunch and then went over to a good friend's house for a night of singing, playing with kids, and laughing. The rest of the week was also very slow paced. The shops and things began to re-open just before they closed for a long weekend (New Years)... and we are looking forward to life returning to normal pretty soon.