100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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It was hot this past weekend. I don't know what the temp was but it must have been well into the 90s. I decided I was done making excuses about the trim on the southside of my barn, so I was up there sweating buckets "gettn r dun". I moved and chopped firewood, cleared some for the fence and generally did farm work. I finished mowing my hay field this week. It feels great to look back at the 18 acres and see alternating stripes of grass. Next year, I plan on baling.

The big news is that Bonnie "made me" buy a fish pole as well as a new reel for my larger pole. That was fun. I have a very nice Fenwick/Abu Garcia ultralight now. Sunday morning I got up at the usual early hour (about 5:00), drove through the woods with my Jeep to the far corner of the property. I then carried my fish gear through the park about a mile to the very serene, slightly foggy, glass-smooth lake. I fished about 45 minutes. I hooked a nice bass. The fish jumped nicely and then spit the hook; Mr. fish said, "thanks but no thanks." Of course as you can tell through this narrative, I forgot my camera. The woods and park was nice. A great way to start a day.

Greenwood park

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100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

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Image
We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
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