Fallen off the Wagon

I see that I've fallen off posting again. I guess think my life is just too dull to be of interest to others. Anyway, what's been happening? Well, we took another 3 day trip in our trailer. The poor thing needed new tires (they degrade from the UV rays and should be replaced every 5-7 years regardless of mileage) so we got tires then went down to Sarasota for a couple of days. Got to see the Ringling Museum. It's pretty nice but didn't really knock my socks off. Had an episode of dumb: left the awning out in the rain. It filled with water and bowed the roller, which is supposed to be nice and straight. Luckily it did roll up again with a little encouragement. We'll need to replace it though.

We are trying to get some work done around the house and it's turning into a giant pain. The sprinkler system hasn't worked for several years & we are getting estimate for fixing/replacing it. One guy wanted to replace it; a second guy was going to fix part & replace part; the third guy didn't show up. What a pain! The guy we wanted to do some lawn cleanup didn't show. These guys doing this type of work are doing really tough work in the heat & humidity but they don't seem to have the greatest work ethic/business sense. Oh well, we'll just keep looking. We'd like to have the house painted too but that's another group of people to deal with!

Our daughter's 36th birthday came & went. She never wants anything special for her birthday so this year I went down & got the information about opening an IRA for her & gave her a check to start it. Thirty-six is really late to be starting an IRA but it's better than 46! She's been in the service industry for a long while & it's tough to save when you have cash tips. Now she has a job with a paycheck so it's easier. If you don't have one; start one!

We are also trying to figure out a 5 year plan. I love the idea that if you don't know where you are going you won't get there. Got our first major plan from a financial advisor around 20 years ago. Now, for the first time, we don't have to take into account work or parents; the freedom is almost scary. We are thinking of trips we want to take; moving from Florida; financial considerations; lots of choices! If you've never made such a plan; DO IT! You will certainly surprise yourself with the things you can accomplish. We did from that very first plan 20 years ago.

Gotta go. Have a good week everyone.

Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of a wonderful friend, Elga. She and her husband have been our best friends since we met them 8 years ago. She has grown children so we don't need to go into her exact age. However, this would also be my mother's birthday; she would be 94 today but she missed it by about 9 monlths.

A couple of years ago we adopted a cat who had at least a couple previous homes. We took him on and, because no one could tell us differently, we anointed today as his birthday. Today we celebrate Scotchie's 11th birthday.

Happy Birthday to them and to everyone else born on this day!

A trip!

We were invited to a 4th of July party at the home of some relatives who live about 2 hours north of here. We keep our travel trailer at their house since they have several acres. Went to the party; they are in their mid-sixtys and are the young people in the neighborhood. NOT a hot party but ok. It was one of those "men here; women there" things & the men were outside. I almost melted. Went over to the trailer in the afternoon & took a nap! In the evening someone set of a few fireworks to celebrate the holiday. I liked them but the others were kind of disappointed in the quality of the bangs. I think they are dangerous & ought to be outlawed. Florida does, in fact, outlaw them but allows explosives to be sold to people for use on farms to clear away tree stumps, etc. You sign a waiver that says you are using them in that way & can by all kinds of stuff. Laughable but there you are.

The next day we took the trailer away for a couple of days. We hadn't moved it since October of 2004! The tires needed more air but otherwise things seemed ok. Towed it about 50 miles to a park we know & like. Found a spot & stayed from Wednesday through Friday. We wanted to be home Sunday to see our daughter or would have stayed longer. We did almost nothing for the days we were there but trying out all the systems on the trailer made us happy. Now we know that everything works! There were some Sand Cranes at the campground & I got a few pictures of them. Big birds, about a meter tall, with a very distictive cry; we enjoyed their company. I'll try to post their pictures somewhere & add the URL later.

Friday night went to a favorite restuarant only to find that it will be closing next weekend. Very sorry to see it go but that's life. It sounds like the owner got a good offer on the building & decided to close. Saturday we came home & Sunday visited with the daughter. She is going out West next week to visit relatives so we wanted to wish her a good trip. Had bbq'd pork loin and salad for dinner. Lately we've been mixing a 'regular' bbq sauce with a mustard based one & like the combination. It works well on pork & chicken; I'll report later on other meats!

All in all it was a quiet week. Hope everyone had a good one. Take care!

Hmmm, haven't been blogging lately!

I keep thinking that I'll be a more consistant blogger but then something come up and it's been a couple of weeks. Bah! What's been happening? Well, week before last we were little social butterflys in spite of the fact that the Mrs. came down with a cold on Tuesday. She seldom becomes ill but this was a nasty cold. It didn't keep us from celebrating our 22nd anniversary on the 22nd. Went out to a local restuarant with a really good reputation.

The place is called Six Tables; guess how many tables they have! It is price fixe at $80 for a 6 course dinner; you pay extra for wine & gratuity so they don't really need tons of customers. They had 3 reservations for that night & one table didn't show so we got lots of attention along with really fantastic food. My spouse had the chateaubriand and I had rack of lamb. Both entrees were very nice; they also had venison, duck and salmon. The food was fairly simple but nicely prepared; just what we were wanting. Neither of us cares for these places that invent extravagant entrees like 'veal chops with eggplant and pepper stuffing and roasted red pepper sauce on a bed of radicchio with a pomegranate-hazelnut glaze'. I just made that up but you know what I mean. The staff is probably trying to be original but I think they only succeed in obscuring the basic ingredients.

Anyway then on the Friday we went to a friend's surprise birthday party. The Mrs left after half an hour but I stayed a couple hours. These people are so nice that one always feels at home at their house. I imagine they have trouble with people staying on too long from time to time.

On the Sunday I went to another neighborhood party. Mrs skipped that one entirely. Nice folks; they are from England and he works for some telecommunications company that is basically unknown here. They are always on the run and have visitors staying with them about 40% of the time. Don't know how they do it!

By the following Tuesday the Mrs was feeling better and I felt a little off color. There for a moment I thought we might be tossing the cold back and forth but I managed to shake it & am thinking it's gone. Thank goodness!

We used to have a palm tree in our front yard but someone offered to buy it and we finally decided it was time to sell. These people give you a few hundred dollars for the tree then sell it to a hotel or the state for 3 or 4 times what you get. But our tree was starting to get tangled in our oak tree and of the two, we really like the oak. It was time for the palm to go. The crew came in & dug it out by hand then picked it up with a crane and off it went. The house looks a lot better without the palm so we are happy. Now I have to do landscaping in the front yard though! Boo, hiss!

This last week we just did all kinds of foolish stuff. Like, we were sitting watching tv and there was this big bang. Looking around we discovered that one of the shelves in the garage had fallen off the wall! It took me most of a day to pick up all the stuff that had been on the shelf, re-attach it then reorganize the contents.

Yesterday I did Carnitas - it's a pork dish that is a filling for tacos or burittos. You chop up about 4 lbs of pork shoulder and cook it for a couple of hours in broth with onion, garlic, tomatos, and seasonings. When it's done you just break it up with a spoon and dig in. I guess you can fry it afterwards to make it crisp but I've never gotten beyond sticking it in a tortilla. Yum!

Gotta go. Have a fun and safe 4th. We'll be out of town for a few days but should be back by the weekend.

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Wow! Yesterday we finally closed on the duplex. Now this house is the only real estate we own. Six years ago we moved back to Florida thinking we would be working and being close to our mothers for a few years. The working part didn't work (urk) but the taking care of moms sure did. Now both have passed away and the duplex, the last big hangup, is gone.

We thought that we'd go out and have many drinks and maybe a fancy dinner. I have a nice bottle of champagne that I bought some time ago for the occasion. Nope! We did drive up the coast via the beachs and stop a couple of places but then we just stopped in a local Mexican place for dinner. It was all I could do to keep awake until 22:00. Rather than being in a party mood it was more of a numbness. We are like the wild animals who are caged for so long that they don't know how to respond when the door is left open. It will wear off, I know, but for right now we are moving slowly. The champagne will wait.

Today the lawn is calling. Alberto (the tropical storm one) left us with 4-6 inches of rain and our grass responded with an enthusiastic growth spurt. Mowing it & taking the resulting shower are my only plans. If my wife isn't up to cooking I might lose an ounce! Have a good one everyone.

Life in the fast lane

Wow! This being retired is tough. This morning I'm going to dump a mutual fund that hasn't been performing. Then this afternoon I'm taking the truck to get an oil change AND going to Sam's Club. How's that for a full schedule?

It's funny. When we were working we'd both have days where we went from meeting to meeting all day long. Now if we have one thing scheduled for the day it's unusual. Like yesterday, I did a bunch of shopping but none of it was absolutely required doing yesterday. If I'd put it off until today; well, we'd have had something else for dinner. Or my wife's printer would have had to limp along without color for another day. Real earth-shattering stuff, huh.

Dinner last night was baked ziti. It's a pain in the ass but we needed the comfort food thing. It's just layers of ziti, three cheeses and sauce but seems to take forever to make. Got home at 5 & it wasn't ready until 7. And I dirtied nearly every pot & pan in the place. Well, actually only 8 or 10 but it sure looked a heck of a mess. Thank goodness that we have the "cook doesn't have to clean up" rule!

Have a good one!

Bah Humbug!

Our closing date on the duplex came and went without closing because somehow our realtor had convinced himself that it was the 31st - it's June 14 and always has been. Bah! My wife is busy writing them a letter telling them they are idiots. I don't give a damn. Got tired of being nervous & am ready to party. Unfortunately my wife is still stressed so it would be a one person party; not optimal! Champagne opening will be delayed until she joins me.

Today my kind of party will start with making bean soup using a ham bone that has been sitting around. As usual for us, the only thing I had to buy was the celery. Just can't make bean soup without it but seldom have it for any reason but soup. There is a decent chance that the kid will come up for a couple of hours. That usually leads to bbq'd chicken later in the day. It's easy; she likes it & it doesn't make much of a mess. Add a bag of salad, nuke a potato & you are good to go.

Enough high tech cookery. Have a good week everyone!

Emergency!

Got a call yesterday from a relative who has gotten the idea that wife and I know something about computers. Her new machine, that we set up a couple of weeks ago, has started smoking and shutting down! She called the help line and they are sending her a box to return the machine. We are going up to see about setting up the old computer again (which they were using as a standalone). It's mindless, I know, but it will keep us from thinking about closing on the duplex.

My wife has associated the duplex with her mother for so long that selling it has brought her mother's passing back to life (how's that for lousy writing!). Anyway, now we are just waiting for the closing day and this little adventure will get us another day closer. After the closing, we feel like our new lives will begin. We bought the duplex for her to live in before we were actually married. I took over my mother's affairs when she was diagnosed with dementia on our 12th anniversary. And this year is our 22nd anniversary. It's a long time to be responsible for two little old ladies. It hasn't stopped us from living but it has intruded from time to time and the weight has always been there. Now it's over and we'll just have to figure out how to be responsible for ourselves; or maybe irresponsible!

Have a good one!

Is life returning?

I've begun to exercise again. Hopefully that is a sign that I'm returning to a more normal type of life than we've been living since my mother-in-law died in January. We all know the benefits that regular exercise brings both physical and mental. I've always tried to exercise but in times of stress I lose it. Of course if I had a physically challenging occupation or say a 50 lb kid to cart around, I wouldn't need it! In my professional life, if I had a 5 lb printout to carry it would be a big day, a 8 oz printout and a cup of coffee would be more like it. Anyway, life MAY be returning to normal.

Of course things aren't completely trouble-free; but who would expect that? The tenant in the duplex appears to have left town. He isn't answering his phone and when I was down there late yesterday he wasn't around. Let's hope he returns or we'll have to figure out how to evict someone who isn't there. And God knows what to do with the junk he left behind. Maybe we'll just cross that bridge another day.

Florida is in the news because of the gator attacks; the one described as north of St Pete was within probably 2 miles of our house in a very nice subdivision. What people don't understand is that the gators are in EVERY natural body of water in the state. People think that because the yard is manicured right down to the lake that they are it must be safe. Well, NO! The guys on mowers aren't worried about gators because the mower is a nice defensive tool but some nitwit wading in a pond dreaming about cream puffs would make a nice little snack. Really most gators won't attack a person but if the person seems to be attacking them or is close to their nest; well, it's called self defense. I sure wish I could post pictures (I use a Mac and Blogger+Mac does not equal picture) because I have a picture we took at a local resturant. We were sitting on a deck about 4 feet above the water and there is this gator down below us. I don't know if the drunks have been feeding him or what but you wouldn't want to fall off that deck!

Well, gotta go. Have a good one everyone.

Breathing again!

Well, it looks like we've sold the duplex. A guy is buying it as an investment. He's owned duplexes before and wants another one. Cool! We've been on pins and needles during the negotiation process. And now, it's almost over! Boy, am I ever glad. We've been eating & drinking too much, snapping at each other (and the animals), have been afraid to leave town & more but now all that is behind us. Well, the extra 5 lbs that I've gained is in front of me but we can do something about that. ;-)

The other day I made something called Armadillo Eggs. It was kind of a pain in the ass but different. You take 7 jalapeno peppers & seed them. Grate 1/2 lb of monterey jack cheese. Stuff the peppers - they take about a teaspoon full each. Now mix 1/2 lb breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean) 3/4 cp Bisquick & the rest of the cheese. Take pieces of that mix & wrap the jalapeno in it. Now roll the thing in egg then in breadcrumbs. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. I've got to say, they were only ok. The jalapeno gave it a crunch and some taste but the bisquick kind of overwhelmed everything else. I was surprised that the cheese in the covering didn't melt but it just melded with the other stuff I guess. I was also surprised that the 'eggs' weren't oily with all that cheese & the sausage grease: guess the bisquick took care of that too. Anyway, if you want to fix something weird and filling - there you go!

Dinner tonight is a bbq'd pork loin with brocoli and a salad. Should be quick, easy & pretty healthy. Have a good one!

Two weeks later......

Wow! I am really in awe of those bloggers who have a daily update. I can find so many excuses for not blogging that it isn't even funny! But now that I'm here... I really don't have a lot to say. We do have an offer on the duplex and are hoping that the buyer won't get all weird at the last minute. We had an offer but part was a)that we close on 16 May and b)that we kick the tenants out by that date. We weren't liking part b of that offer because it was only 20-some days notice. Plus the offer wasn't all that great. Not awful but not great. This second offer is good but the buyer has until May 12 to inspect and decide whether or not he needs to re-negotiate the deal. We'll see what happens but we are sure on pins & needles until it clears!

In the mean time, the tenant had a party or something last weekend and broke one of the fence gates and a swing. Bah! This is in addition to letting the grass die so he doesn't have to mow it! And I'm in the middle between him and my wife: she nags me; I nag him; he gives me his excuses; you can imagine the fun. The tenant is also going to be late with the rent this month. I was a fool and let him have a customized payment deal and easy payment schedule: he pays us in cash on first Friday of the month; and it will bite me in the butt until we sell the place. First; I have to go down and collect the rent; second; we sometimes get paid on the first of the month and sometimes on the 13th. That isn't so bad but I don't like Friday & shouldn't have let that happen. Friday is when all the amateur drunks are driving home so I don't like to be out there if I don't have to be. Therefore I often eat downtown when I have to go down there but the resturants are full because it's Friday. And, finally, there are times like this weekend when it's Cinqo d'Mayo. Now that will really bring out the fools. So I'm just as glad he's being late this month.

Paying in cash means that we could avoid reporting the income and paying the resultant tax. I never do that though for two reasons: I don't believe in breaking the law and I'd probably get caught anyway! Every time I get stopped for speeding by a cop I get a ticket. I know people who have been stopped a dozen times and get maybe two tickets. I just wasn't born on that lucky day. On the other hand, I'm healthy, retired early & aren't likely to be eating dog food so I can't bitch. I'll pay the damn tickets AND taxes anyday.

BBQ'ing pork ribs tonight. Florida has given us 3 or 4 days of low 80's and low humidity just when we thought we'd have to be under a/c for the rest of the summer. It's great! So, bbq, salad & wine is awaiting. Gotta go! Have a good one.

Dreams

As those who have time to read this drivel know, there have been a lot of changes lately in my life. Now my dreams are all filled with change. I go into my office but the furniture is all gone, the walls are bare but I know I have a place somewhere; I just have to find it. Or in another one I'm in my old high school with all my high school friends and I have to go to class but don't know where it is. Or just last night I was helping a friend try to make a career decision; whether to be a specialist or a generalist. Funny how our dreams are sometimes totally off the wall and other times so perfectly reflective of the times of our lives. This is certainly the latter. I'm not being chased or fighting or falling, it's just all about change.

On another note, I'm hoping that Cinn (at Dead on the Gearshift) has a good result when she takes her Kidlet in to see the doctor. Kidlet has so many problems already, she sure doesn't need surgery on top of it all. Hopefully the test lied and Kidlet is just fine; like so many of us, a little crazy but fine. Our thoughts and hopes are with you both.

Family History

I was reading another blog and the person has just discovered that his grandfather was an actual spy in World War II (that's what we Yanks call it, I know it has other names in other places, sorry I don't know them all!). I think that's really cool! Anyway, this brought to mind something about my family that I think is either fine or sad depending on your outlook. I believe that between my family and my wife's we've been represented in every major military action that the US has been involved in since the Spanish-American war.

My grandfather was in the Spanish American war. Went to Cuba even but not with Mr. Roosevelt. I had an uncle who was in World War I but I don't know much about it because he came home and died in the flu epidemic! My dad was in WW II; he was 36 when drafted but was divorced so he was fair game! My wife's step-father was in Korea; landed at Inchon (sp?) even. I was in the Army during Vietnam though I was stationed in the US for my whole service career. My wife's brother joined the Navy right about the time I left the Army and stayed until 2000 which covers a whole bunch of non-war hostilities. So I think that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are the first two military actions that we haven't been involved with in over 100 years. Pretty weird, huh. I wonder how many other families there are like ours.

BTW, if you don't have anything else to do, would you mind praying or wishing or dreaming for peace? It really seems like a good thing, especially since we seem to have invaded a couple of reasonably innocent countries who just happen to have religious beliefs that aren't the same as ours.

Have a good one!

Quickie

Just in case you wanted to know this.

On Wednesday of next week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

That won't ever happen again.
You may now return to your (normal ?) life.

No god please; we're atheist

A quiet Sunday. What a lovely sound that phrase has! The only thing I admire about religion is that they almost all have a designated day when you are supposed to think about your god and your life and how you are following the creed. It's a good idea; maybe if I left the god stuff out I could do it.

Should be quiet around here. We have the paper and coffee thing going. Soon we'll watch the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix which we taped earlier. F1 is the only sport I regularly follow but I've followed it since I was a teen and Jim Clark was driving. It's an awful thing with weird, pointless rules and incredible politics but I still love it. At least SOME of the political shit has been cleaned up. And if I ever win the lottery, one of the things I'm going to do is to attend every race some year. Well, don't have to worry about that now!

I was awake half the night thinking of things to do at the duplex. It is supposed to be done but projects never are! And when I wasn't awake I was dreaming about the darned thing. Dreamt that I found a huge hole that needed repair; then sanding; then paint of course all of which would take days but I had to get it done quicker because someone wanted to see it.... All the usual crap when I'm under pressure for something. Jeez, this is a bad as work!

Found an old email with the usual 5 cent philosophy but I thought I'd share some of it anyway. Have a wonderful week!

++++++++++++++++++++++++

To all my friends who are SINGLE:

Love is like a butterfly.
The more you chase it, the more it eludes you.
But if you just let it fly, it will come to you when
you least expect it.

Love can make you happy but often it hurts,
but love is only special when you give it to
someone who is really worth it.

So take your time and choose the best.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

To My Friends Who Are HEARTBROKEN:

Heartbreaks last as long as you want
and cut as deep as you will allow them to go.

The challenge is not how to survive heartbreaks
But to learn from them.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

To All My Friends:
My wish for you is a man/woman whose love is:
honest, strong, mature, never-changing,
protective, encouraging, rewarding and unselfish.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

No, I'm not dead....

We've been cleaning, painting and fixing up the duplex to sell and I've had no time for fun or even blogging! We'd leave home about 08:30 and return at 19:00 or even later. Not a fun week or whatever. You know those little containers of spackle; the kind you use once then have 99% of the stuff dry out before you need it again? I used an entire container filling the holes in the walls of this 1,000 sq. ft. duplex. An ENTIRE container; I've never used more than maybe a quarter of a container.

Neither of us is used to climbing up and down ladders all day so we were both hurting. We were taking ibuprofen like M&M's. The stove had to be replaced because when we looked in the oven there were little holes all over the floor. Can't figure out how that happened but obviously we couldn't leave it like that.

So yesterday we have a cleaning crew from Merry Maids come in and clean the place. They managed to break two blades off one of the ceiling fans! WTF is that? How do you break off ceiling fan blades? Anyway, I wasn't doing anything this afternoon so I'll go down & install a new fan. Bah! Humbug!

Have a good day, y'all.

Quiet & productive week

Just figured out that I haven't written anything since Monday. Bad Don!! Still, it's been a busy week. Monday was devoted to making our house look a little more cared for; Tuesday was a day off after we went and got the new Harry Potter (had to watch it, of course); Wednesday we worked in the duplex removing wallpaper that should have died a quiet death many years ago; Thursday was Home-Depot-Day: $350 for paint & other supplies. It really was kind of funny; we got 5 gallons of paint @ $108; 1 gallon ceiling paint @ $18 and the rest of the order was all cheap stuff, a buck here and two there. Took the checker quite some time to get rid of us!

Today we worked around the house some then hosted some relatives who live North of here but come down to MacDill for the BX, pharmacy services, etc. It was a really nice day; having lunch out by the pool made Florida make sense. Next hurricane I must remember today! LOL

Lunch was chicken quesadilla's. I used some little eight inch tortillas, some green onions, lots of jack and cheddar cheese and a can of chicken. I warm/cook the chicken because I don't like the look of it right out of the can - but, damn, it's quick and easy. I read just yesterday that things don't brown without oil so I started brushing my tortillas with olive oil. Works so well that I burned a couple! Still they seemed to go over ok. Mostly because of my wifes homemade salsa! My wife is so glad that she doesn't have to cook that she'll eat anything before criticizing my cooking. It's a nice thought but doesn't help me improve.

Weekend should see more work on the duplex and a visit from #1 daughter (also only daughter!). BTW a note to Cinn and others visiting Florida: hope you have a great visit. We locals grouch a lot about visitors but this would be a much poorer state without you. You make possible for many of the restaurants, attractions and civic improvement projects. Without you Florida would just be a big sandbar covered by farms and ranches. Kind of like Oklahoma without the oil & with more bugs. Have a good one!

Happy Day

I got a happy surprise over the dinner last night: the dijon marinated pork was really nice. We just added a salad and there we were. Watched the Oscars until we were falling asleep so recorded the rest for viewing this a.m.

This is home maintenance day. I'm off to mow that lawn, sweep that pool and all that good stuff.

Have a good day!

P.S.
Well, it was happy until I heard about the SD decisions on abortion. My wife is pretty sure she couldn't have an abortion; I'm not sure where my mind is but we are both certain that it is no business of any government to tell us whether or not someone can have or must have an abortion. For that is the other side of the stick.

I'm trying to love my fellow man, honestly I am!

Quiet Sunday

The Great Garage Sale was yesterday. We were just a little excited about it: woke at 03:00 or so. Showered 05:00. Got down to St Pete in time to have donuts before opening the sale at 08:00. Yeah, I know we were weird; also wired! Anyway, it turned out ok. I took the actual garage with the big furniture and wifey took the sunroom with the smaller stuff. We sold about 75% of the little stuff and 50% of the big things. Now we have to find a charity who takes furniture! The really wonderful thing is that it didn't bother my wife at all. She was really zonked by the end of the day but she had a great excuse! She wasn't upset at seeing her mom's stuff sold and actually was exhilarated at selling some things.

Took today off. I made a ham & cheese omelet this morning & we had a few drinks. Wifey went for a nap & I spent the afternoon reading out by the pool. I should have worked in the yard because not to put too fine a point on it, the yard looks like shit. But I needed my recovery time too. Next week we start getting the duplex ready for sale. Should be fun!

Dinner tonight is grilled mustard marinated pork loin slices with whatever we find for sides. Cinn over at http://deadonthegearshift.blogspot.com/ talked about this recipe but, being a professional chef, doesn't need the kind of detail that we beginners need; and doesn't usually supply it. We'll just see if mine is even half ok; I'm pretty sure to have the marinade fouled up. The pork loin was sitting the the freezer calling to me though so at least it will be outta there.

Have a good week!

Getting Better All The Time

It seems that my wife is recovering from the loss of her mother. Part of it might be time but all our talks and the talk she had with the woman from Hospice seem to have helped her. Of course she occasionally thinks about her mom and is sad, even teary, but then she gets over it. MUCH more like normal. Thanks to everyone for their advice & concern.

Took a drive today on the Dunedin Causeway. It is a thin spit of land that sticks out into the Gulf. There is a road with beaches on both sides and a walk-bike path; the whole thing is perhaps 100 feet across and a couple miles long. The beaches are pretty lousy, lots of rocks, but its popular because it's quite a drive to the better beaches AND because you can take toys like Ski-doos, beach catamarans, kayaks, etc. I like to drive out there and walk on the path but didn't want to take the time to walk today. It was cool, maybe low 70s, but there was just a ton of people out there. The cars were mostly from Ontario, Ohio, New York; snowbirds. They all want to have a tan when they leave so they are out in the sun when us locals are hiding inside. I just needed to see the water. I get weird if I don't get to see water ocassionally.

Hope everyone has a good day.