It's official. Yesterday at approximately 14:00 local time I got my second bionic part; another lens implant. As soon as I got the first it started being apparent that I really did need to have the other eye done. I could see reasonably well out of the new lens in my right eye but the left was going downhill fast. So let's spend another $2300 worth of the insurance company's money!
It's been 24 hours so I'm just hanging around getting eye drops every 4 hours. The new lens does make quite a difference though; in a couple of weeks it should be great. I have distance vision in both eyes so I'll be using glasses for the rest of my life but what the heck. I've been needing them anyway.
My doctor is kind of an interesting guy. He, his father and his sister own the "Ironman" franchise. Every time you see an Ironman race or watch or shoe; they are getting some tiny part of it. He is a competitor himself; very physically fit but taller than you might imagine. It's an interesting sideline for opthomologists (his father is one as well).
I see that The Grumpy Old Bookman is going to give up on his blog for a while. (http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com) I'm going to miss reading it but to paraphrase him, life has more important things in it than blogging. I am very thankful for all the work that some people do to keep us lurkers happy. Thanks to you all.
As always, take care out there!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
It's OVER!
We've managed to get through another Thanksgiving without major injury. My wife managed to burn herself a bit on a hot pan but otherwise all is cool. A few years ago she did a really nice job that required ice for the rest of the day; today was a nothing. We had four different appetizers, turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, peas & onions, salad, rolls & two kinds of pie. Wine, of course, and coffee with the pie. Tough life!
Our extended family did not bring their extra person but our daughter did bring an unexpected friend so we were six for dinner. A nice number and no one was too objectionable at the table. We managed to decimate an 18 lb turkey; I doubt if we have a pound of leftover turkey; of course we sent a few pounds off with the visitors. They all had things to do & people to see so they were gone by 17:00. We were able to make our Thanksgiving family calls to the West Coast family members before they had eaten. That was nice.
The woman our daughter brought along is married but her husband went to spend the holiday with his family and she "opt'ed out". We aren't sure what that means but it doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship. Or perhaps it is the most healthy; I've just never experienced that kind of health. Wouldn't that be interesting. Anyway, she is one of those women who bath in scent. I guess it would help you find her if a smoke filled bar but it would seem a private home isn't her primary hunting ground. She was also wearing a pretty low cut top and knee high boots with a 3 or 4 inch heel. She certainly wasn't dressed for a family dinner.
After dinner our next door neighbors came over for a drink. We sat outside as dusk turned to dark and enjoyed talking with our friends and admiring the full moon. Altogether a wonderful day. No one was a complete jerk, nothing was spoiled, no one will have lost weight! We really enjoy Thanksgiving; and really do enjoy hosting it but it is over! Peace be with you all.
Our extended family did not bring their extra person but our daughter did bring an unexpected friend so we were six for dinner. A nice number and no one was too objectionable at the table. We managed to decimate an 18 lb turkey; I doubt if we have a pound of leftover turkey; of course we sent a few pounds off with the visitors. They all had things to do & people to see so they were gone by 17:00. We were able to make our Thanksgiving family calls to the West Coast family members before they had eaten. That was nice.
The woman our daughter brought along is married but her husband went to spend the holiday with his family and she "opt'ed out". We aren't sure what that means but it doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship. Or perhaps it is the most healthy; I've just never experienced that kind of health. Wouldn't that be interesting. Anyway, she is one of those women who bath in scent. I guess it would help you find her if a smoke filled bar but it would seem a private home isn't her primary hunting ground. She was also wearing a pretty low cut top and knee high boots with a 3 or 4 inch heel. She certainly wasn't dressed for a family dinner.
After dinner our next door neighbors came over for a drink. We sat outside as dusk turned to dark and enjoyed talking with our friends and admiring the full moon. Altogether a wonderful day. No one was a complete jerk, nothing was spoiled, no one will have lost weight! We really enjoy Thanksgiving; and really do enjoy hosting it but it is over! Peace be with you all.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving Week Crazy
It is the week when we in the US celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a nice time. You don't have to buy gifts, you don't have to think about Christianity, all you have to do is enjoy. Well, unless you are hosting a party! Naturally, we like to have a few folks join us for Thanksgiving; only 5 or 6 though so it really isn't a big deal. We look forward to it. So for those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! And for those outside the US, have a nice Thursday.
It never hurts one to consider his or her life and to think about how fortunate we are. My wife and I both know we are way beyond fortunate. We have each other. We have only minor ailments. We have enough money, good friends, even moderately good family! All we really wish for is "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men".
Speaking of peace, when the hell are we going to get our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan? What a bunch of incompetent jerks we have running this country. I thought it was embarrassing when President Clinton had to get blow jobs from an intern in his office. NOW we are invading other sovereign nations, that's really embarrassing not to mention just plain wrong. I didn't mind Afghanistan at first. There was supposed to be someone there who was directing terrorist activities towards us and other countries. But if you can't find the guy in 6 years maybe you need to re-think things. The really frightening thing is: Who knows what the next jerk we elect as President will find to do!
Speaking of possible Presidents, I saw this the other day.
I think there are a lot of folks who feel this way about Mrs. Clinton. She is such a lying piece of @*#$ - unfortunately all the other politicians are pretty much the same. Like Diogenes, I am looking for an honest man or woman.
On a brighter note, here's a bit of advice concerning family planning. Take care out there!
It never hurts one to consider his or her life and to think about how fortunate we are. My wife and I both know we are way beyond fortunate. We have each other. We have only minor ailments. We have enough money, good friends, even moderately good family! All we really wish for is "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men".
Speaking of peace, when the hell are we going to get our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan? What a bunch of incompetent jerks we have running this country. I thought it was embarrassing when President Clinton had to get blow jobs from an intern in his office. NOW we are invading other sovereign nations, that's really embarrassing not to mention just plain wrong. I didn't mind Afghanistan at first. There was supposed to be someone there who was directing terrorist activities towards us and other countries. But if you can't find the guy in 6 years maybe you need to re-think things. The really frightening thing is: Who knows what the next jerk we elect as President will find to do!
Speaking of possible Presidents, I saw this the other day.
I think there are a lot of folks who feel this way about Mrs. Clinton. She is such a lying piece of @*#$ - unfortunately all the other politicians are pretty much the same. Like Diogenes, I am looking for an honest man or woman.
On a brighter note, here's a bit of advice concerning family planning. Take care out there!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Bionic Man - Part 2
Hmmmm. blogger just did something to my post so I hope it isn't too screwed up. However.....
Yesterday I got the measurements done to have my second cataract operation. In two weeks I'll have my second bionic part. Don't it sound great. Jeez, next I'll be blogging about my kids & grandkids (none yet, thank you!). Anyway, I'll try to keep relatively quiet about the details.
Last night I went to a meeting of the local chapter of AAII - the American Assn. of Independent Investors. Basically it's just a company that offers a forum for discussing how people invest. They have a magazine, website (www.aaii.com amazingly enough) & local groups. This was the monthly meeting which consists exclusively of a guest speaker. This guy was a chartist. He looks at a chart of what is happening with a stock and thinks he can tell what will happen to the stock based on what has already occured. Do I buy it? Well, certainly he had interesting examples and he claims he is simply interpreting what the marked is doing. That may be so but it seems to me that the interpretation is pretty open to discussion. It was an interesting presentation and I'm probably going to email the guy a few questions. (There is no discussion period!)
In other financial news here's what one of my advisory newsletters has to say about how Wall Street does business. This is in regard to all the major investment houses BUT ONE losing money on the sub-prime lending fiasco. Skip it if it's boring but do take care.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
one of Wall Street's "paper mills" has remained
strangely untouched by the mortgage crisis – Goldman
Sachs. By now, you must be familiar with our argument:
Like a rubber ducky floating in a toilet, Goldman's
stock must soon spiral down into the cesspool of the
mortgage debacle.
What might explain Goldman's curious immunity from a
big mortgage-related charge against its book value?
We've learned the firm is setting aside more than $16
billion for this year's bonus pool. But... how big
would the bonus pool be if Goldman were to take a big
($5 billion to $10 billion) write-off before the end
of the year? We don't know exactly, but we would
venture to guess: several billion dollars less.
Reuters reports that if Goldman doesn't take a big
loss on its mortgages, Blankfein will get a $75
million bonus this year, up $20 million from last
year. Goldman's co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon
Winkelried, will get $70 million each. It's hard to
believe shareholders would agree to pay one president
$70 million... and Goldman's got two of 'em!
Shareholders are about to get what they deserve...
Now that we've identified Goldman's motive for
masking the size of its mortgage losses, we've been
searching for the weapon. How has Goldman hidden its
losses, we wonder? We've been playing a game of Wall
Street Clue. "It was Colonel Mustard... in the
library... with the wrench..." No, it was CEO Lloyd
Blankfein, in the boardroom, with illiquid bonds that
can't be priced.
An entire category of financial assets (called "Level
3 assets") are so illiquid they can't be accurately
priced. To make up for the lack of a true market for
these assets – which include certain kinds of
securitized mortgages – Wall Street uses computer
models. (Reminder: When your broker starts talking
about a computer model, grab your wallet.) Or, in
other words, these big banks are allowed to "pick a
number" for the value of these Level 3 assets. Guess
which big Wall Street bank has the largest pile of
Level 3 assets as a percentage of its equity? That's
right, Goldman Sachs.
Yesterday I got the measurements done to have my second cataract operation. In two weeks I'll have my second bionic part. Don't it sound great. Jeez, next I'll be blogging about my kids & grandkids (none yet, thank you!). Anyway, I'll try to keep relatively quiet about the details.
Last night I went to a meeting of the local chapter of AAII - the American Assn. of Independent Investors. Basically it's just a company that offers a forum for discussing how people invest. They have a magazine, website (www.aaii.com amazingly enough) & local groups. This was the monthly meeting which consists exclusively of a guest speaker. This guy was a chartist. He looks at a chart of what is happening with a stock and thinks he can tell what will happen to the stock based on what has already occured. Do I buy it? Well, certainly he had interesting examples and he claims he is simply interpreting what the marked is doing. That may be so but it seems to me that the interpretation is pretty open to discussion. It was an interesting presentation and I'm probably going to email the guy a few questions. (There is no discussion period!)
In other financial news here's what one of my advisory newsletters has to say about how Wall Street does business. This is in regard to all the major investment houses BUT ONE losing money on the sub-prime lending fiasco. Skip it if it's boring but do take care.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
one of Wall Street's "paper mills" has remained
strangely untouched by the mortgage crisis – Goldman
Sachs. By now, you must be familiar with our argument:
Like a rubber ducky floating in a toilet, Goldman's
stock must soon spiral down into the cesspool of the
mortgage debacle.
What might explain Goldman's curious immunity from a
big mortgage-related charge against its book value?
We've learned the firm is setting aside more than $16
billion for this year's bonus pool. But... how big
would the bonus pool be if Goldman were to take a big
($5 billion to $10 billion) write-off before the end
of the year? We don't know exactly, but we would
venture to guess: several billion dollars less.
Reuters reports that if Goldman doesn't take a big
loss on its mortgages, Blankfein will get a $75
million bonus this year, up $20 million from last
year. Goldman's co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon
Winkelried, will get $70 million each. It's hard to
believe shareholders would agree to pay one president
$70 million... and Goldman's got two of 'em!
Shareholders are about to get what they deserve...
Now that we've identified Goldman's motive for
masking the size of its mortgage losses, we've been
searching for the weapon. How has Goldman hidden its
losses, we wonder? We've been playing a game of Wall
Street Clue. "It was Colonel Mustard... in the
library... with the wrench..." No, it was CEO Lloyd
Blankfein, in the boardroom, with illiquid bonds that
can't be priced.
An entire category of financial assets (called "Level
3 assets") are so illiquid they can't be accurately
priced. To make up for the lack of a true market for
these assets – which include certain kinds of
securitized mortgages – Wall Street uses computer
models. (Reminder: When your broker starts talking
about a computer model, grab your wallet.) Or, in
other words, these big banks are allowed to "pick a
number" for the value of these Level 3 assets. Guess
which big Wall Street bank has the largest pile of
Level 3 assets as a percentage of its equity? That's
right, Goldman Sachs.
Monday, November 05, 2007
More Halloween and...
More news about our Halloween. We don't get a lot of kids in our neighborhood. For one thing we are on a busy street & unless supervised I doubt if people want their kids walking around here. At any rate, the adults from several houses all got together in our driveway and created a little food line for the kids. We all had a glass of wine or a beer and had a great time. The kids would come up & get 4 houses at one stop. We could all admire the outfits, etc. and got to talk about other stuff where there were no kids. It was really fun. I'm hoping we can make it an annual event.
Florida is finally becoming livable. Today it's mid-70's (23 or 24 I suppose to the rest of the world) and the humidity is down to under 40%. It's great. We have the house open finally.
Here's a meme I found over on Lee's blog "A Curates Egg" aka http://coddledegg.blogspot.com/ He didn't send it to my; he's much too respectful of other people's time but I like doing them ocassionally. Sometimes they help me think about things. Take care!
++++++++++++++++
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Watched MXC - a crazy Japanese show where people try a sort of obstacle course and a often get dunked in water. In this country, they do a voice-over with 2 American guys who are really rude sometimes.
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Sleeping
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Showering.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
My mother-in-law died. We cleaned up and sold the duplex we bought for her 23 years ago - becoming liable for a huge tax bill. Trip to the midwest to a family reunion with my cousins, many of whom I had never met. Moved away from waterbeds for the first time in many, many years.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
“Thank you.”
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Coffee, decaf, water, orange juice, soup (does that count?).
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Don't have one. Don't need it, bald is beautiful! LOL
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Beef to make chili yesterday.
9.Where were you last night?
Home.
10. What colour is your front door?
Dark gray.
11. Where do you keep your change?
Top of the dresser.
12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny, cooler (mid-70's F or maybe 23 C).
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavour?
Some chocolate-coffee mix.
14. What excites you?
I'm easily excited - liars, stupid people, almost anything political, the economy, the dollar - I could keep on for a long while. Erotically excited? I'm dull - boobs, legs, hair; the usual guy stuff.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No. Don't want anyone else to either.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Way! I'm 59.
17. Do you talk a lot?
No.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
I have no idea what the O.C. is.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes but no one I CALL Steven.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Can't spell for s*it but otherwise, no.
21. Are you a jealous person?
I can be but you've gotta be pushing my buttons.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Don't have one.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kelly.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Wife
25. What does the last text message you received say?
Don't text message.
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No. Don’t use straws and don't have a farm.
7. Do you have curly hair?
Some places.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
No idea. It's under discussion. Perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway; perhaps Texas, Nevada & the west in general.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Our daughter.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Soup - see above.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Well, my wife would be really surprised! If she were to die, probably not.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Don't know that I've seen one. Saw parts of "How to Marry a Millionaire" on tv the other day.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Yes. (Of course, but no extra-marital entanglements if that is what you mean.)
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Yesterday.
35. Are you currently depressed?
No.
36. Did you cry today?
No.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I'm a Nitwit!
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey…
No.
Florida is finally becoming livable. Today it's mid-70's (23 or 24 I suppose to the rest of the world) and the humidity is down to under 40%. It's great. We have the house open finally.
Here's a meme I found over on Lee's blog "A Curates Egg" aka http://coddledegg.blogspot.com/ He didn't send it to my; he's much too respectful of other people's time but I like doing them ocassionally. Sometimes they help me think about things. Take care!
++++++++++++++++
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Watched MXC - a crazy Japanese show where people try a sort of obstacle course and a often get dunked in water. In this country, they do a voice-over with 2 American guys who are really rude sometimes.
2. What were you doing at 0800?
Sleeping
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Showering.
4. What happened to you in 2006?
My mother-in-law died. We cleaned up and sold the duplex we bought for her 23 years ago - becoming liable for a huge tax bill. Trip to the midwest to a family reunion with my cousins, many of whom I had never met. Moved away from waterbeds for the first time in many, many years.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
“Thank you.”
6. How many beverages did you have today?
Coffee, decaf, water, orange juice, soup (does that count?).
7. What colour is your hairbrush?
Don't have one. Don't need it, bald is beautiful! LOL
8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Beef to make chili yesterday.
9.Where were you last night?
Home.
10. What colour is your front door?
Dark gray.
11. Where do you keep your change?
Top of the dresser.
12. What’s the weather like today?
Sunny, cooler (mid-70's F or maybe 23 C).
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavour?
Some chocolate-coffee mix.
14. What excites you?
I'm easily excited - liars, stupid people, almost anything political, the economy, the dollar - I could keep on for a long while. Erotically excited? I'm dull - boobs, legs, hair; the usual guy stuff.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No. Don't want anyone else to either.
16. Are you over the age of 25?
Way! I'm 59.
17. Do you talk a lot?
No.
18. Do you watch the O.C.?
I have no idea what the O.C. is.
19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes but no one I CALL Steven.
20. Do you make up your own words?
Can't spell for s*it but otherwise, no.
21. Are you a jealous person?
I can be but you've gotta be pushing my buttons.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Don't have one.
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kelly.
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Wife
25. What does the last text message you received say?
Don't text message.
26. Do you chew on your straw?
No. Don’t use straws and don't have a farm.
7. Do you have curly hair?
Some places.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
No idea. It's under discussion. Perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway; perhaps Texas, Nevada & the west in general.
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Our daughter.
30. What was the last thing you ate?
Soup - see above.
31. Will you get married in the future?
Well, my wife would be really surprised! If she were to die, probably not.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
Don't know that I've seen one. Saw parts of "How to Marry a Millionaire" on tv the other day.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Yes. (Of course, but no extra-marital entanglements if that is what you mean.)
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Yesterday.
35. Are you currently depressed?
No.
36. Did you cry today?
No.
37. Why did you answer and post this?
I'm a Nitwit!
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey…
No.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Still surviving!
The neighbor had their annual Halloween party on Saturday night. Wifey and I had a little party of our own earlier in the day and weren't feeling like drinking a lot or even being up late so we had to say good night about 21:30. Turns out that was a really GOOD thing since I've heard that they got rid of the last guests about 02:30. Boy, I can't even imagine how awful I'd feel if I'd stayed drinking until then. It makes me ill just thinking about it.
How about a totally different subject? SEX. You may note that I don't talk about sex much here. I'm pretty shy in person as well but I had the weirdest thing happen a few days ago and I just have to talk about it. We'd had a few drinks that day as well (3 or 4 maybe). And we decided that going in to bed and making love would be a good thing. We'd done this sort of thing before, of course, and were pretty sure that neither of us would cum after that much alcohol but wanted the closeness. (It's really great to feel that way about someone I've been with for over 25 years. It didn't last 10 with my first wife.) Anyway, we go in to bed and do our thing. After a while, it becomes obvious that we are only getting more and more tired so we stop. I got out of bed and looked back at my wife who was still lying there. Like almost all of us over 50, she's put on a few pounds (or kilos or stone or whatever) but I certainly still find her very attractive. I'm standing there with a hardon looking at my nude wife and think, maybe I could masturbate here. So I did. After just a few strokes, much to my surprise, it feels like I am going to cum after all. Now, I've never done this (standing over wifey, etc) before so I was really surprised that I might cum especially since I certainly was not going to just a couple of minutes earlier. So I did; cum, that is. Except that I didn't. What came out was perhaps a quarter cup of clear, odorless fluid. There was a lot. It shot all over my wife's thigh and part of the bed. I've never been so shocked in my life. She was pretty amazed too! I still don't know what happened. I guess it was seminal fluid without the sperm but sure don't know. I'm pretty sure it wasn't urine because a) that just isn't a time one urinates & b) it didn't smell like it. No, neither of us thought to taste it. Weird stuff anyway.
Well, there is my first, and probably last, sex post. At least until the next time. Have a good one & be careful out there.
How about a totally different subject? SEX. You may note that I don't talk about sex much here. I'm pretty shy in person as well but I had the weirdest thing happen a few days ago and I just have to talk about it. We'd had a few drinks that day as well (3 or 4 maybe). And we decided that going in to bed and making love would be a good thing. We'd done this sort of thing before, of course, and were pretty sure that neither of us would cum after that much alcohol but wanted the closeness. (It's really great to feel that way about someone I've been with for over 25 years. It didn't last 10 with my first wife.) Anyway, we go in to bed and do our thing. After a while, it becomes obvious that we are only getting more and more tired so we stop. I got out of bed and looked back at my wife who was still lying there. Like almost all of us over 50, she's put on a few pounds (or kilos or stone or whatever) but I certainly still find her very attractive. I'm standing there with a hardon looking at my nude wife and think, maybe I could masturbate here. So I did. After just a few strokes, much to my surprise, it feels like I am going to cum after all. Now, I've never done this (standing over wifey, etc) before so I was really surprised that I might cum especially since I certainly was not going to just a couple of minutes earlier. So I did; cum, that is. Except that I didn't. What came out was perhaps a quarter cup of clear, odorless fluid. There was a lot. It shot all over my wife's thigh and part of the bed. I've never been so shocked in my life. She was pretty amazed too! I still don't know what happened. I guess it was seminal fluid without the sperm but sure don't know. I'm pretty sure it wasn't urine because a) that just isn't a time one urinates & b) it didn't smell like it. No, neither of us thought to taste it. Weird stuff anyway.
Well, there is my first, and probably last, sex post. At least until the next time. Have a good one & be careful out there.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Sale's over!
We managed to live through our yard sale but only just! The first day was really hot. I was soaked with perspiration the entire day. The second day was overcast so not as hot. That helped a lot. Each day I came in and immediately fell asleep for an hour or so. Then we went to bed about 9.
We made about $300 but the real object is to reduce the number of things we will have to store or cart around with us. Looked at it in that light and the sale was quite success. We won't have to worry about - a freezer, a refridgerator, a table saw, perhaps 50 records, 3 television sets and lots of smaller items. There was a fair amount left over but we'll get to that another day. One of these days we are going to call some charity to come load up their truck!
Weather is still overcast here. There is a tropical wave coming up from the south bringing pretty much constant showers. It's different for this area but it is fine with me. Highs of 75 or so are great.
Our son lives in San Diego so we are watching the fires out there with some trepidation. They are well inside the city however so we don't expect there is any real danger. This is an amazing technology though; here I am in Florida watching the smoke billow on a webcam in San Diego. I'm still waiting for the ability to be transported around like on Startrek. That will be the day!
Have a good one and be careful out there.
We made about $300 but the real object is to reduce the number of things we will have to store or cart around with us. Looked at it in that light and the sale was quite success. We won't have to worry about - a freezer, a refridgerator, a table saw, perhaps 50 records, 3 television sets and lots of smaller items. There was a fair amount left over but we'll get to that another day. One of these days we are going to call some charity to come load up their truck!
Weather is still overcast here. There is a tropical wave coming up from the south bringing pretty much constant showers. It's different for this area but it is fine with me. Highs of 75 or so are great.
Our son lives in San Diego so we are watching the fires out there with some trepidation. They are well inside the city however so we don't expect there is any real danger. This is an amazing technology though; here I am in Florida watching the smoke billow on a webcam in San Diego. I'm still waiting for the ability to be transported around like on Startrek. That will be the day!
Have a good one and be careful out there.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Yard Sale!
Our neighborhood is having a 2 day yard sale tomorrow and Friday. We have been putting things out in the garage for days so, of course, we had to work until 9 pm tonight getting last minute things done. If we can get rid of 50% of this stuff it will be fantastic. I've already emptied 4 garbage cans of trash out of the garage. We also made a trip to the hazardous waste facility with a number of items. What a thrill! We did have one thrill; we found our old Atari 400 complete with it's cassette tape drive and some game cartridges. We still talk about getting drunk one night and playing "Frogger". You try to get your frog across a busy highway. When the frog gets hit by a car it makes this noise - I can't explain it but when you are drunk it's really funny.
Naturally summer has returned for the event. It's hot & humid; don't know if we'll make it through the whole day. Setting it up we've only worked a couple of hours at a time. Fortunately we can close down whenever we want. All it means is that we'll make a few less dollars and have a larger trash bill when we get rid of the stuff.
Wish us luck. We'll be wishing to be elsewhere! And take care out there.
Naturally summer has returned for the event. It's hot & humid; don't know if we'll make it through the whole day. Setting it up we've only worked a couple of hours at a time. Fortunately we can close down whenever we want. All it means is that we'll make a few less dollars and have a larger trash bill when we get rid of the stuff.
Wish us luck. We'll be wishing to be elsewhere! And take care out there.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
It's a Beautiful Morning
Ah, morning! Don't know if I'm really a morning person but there is something amazing about the fresh smell of the morning.
I was afraid to say anything yesterday, it was so nice but this morning smells like fall might finally have come to Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons. This summer has been long and hot but it is time for a change. It might be here.
We have the car out on the driveway but it's been there for a week and I still haven't washed & waxed it so we can sell it. Hmmmm, think I have a problem selling it? Yep! I've even kept myself awake worrying about it. It's just a THING but I'm having trouble selling it. What an idiot.
Still, it's a beautiful morning in Florida. Hope it's as wonderful where ever you are.
I was afraid to say anything yesterday, it was so nice but this morning smells like fall might finally have come to Florida. Don't get me wrong, I love all the seasons. This summer has been long and hot but it is time for a change. It might be here.
We have the car out on the driveway but it's been there for a week and I still haven't washed & waxed it so we can sell it. Hmmmm, think I have a problem selling it? Yep! I've even kept myself awake worrying about it. It's just a THING but I'm having trouble selling it. What an idiot.
Still, it's a beautiful morning in Florida. Hope it's as wonderful where ever you are.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Photos
I like taking photos. I've been doing it since college; some good, some bad. Just like every photographer! Here are a couple I made around the house the last couple of days. First is a little lizard who seems to be making a home in the bracket that holds our flag.
The next is the shadow cast by the antenna on a radio. We have one of those light bars in the bathroom that casts multiple shadows of the same object. I just liked seeing it. Seeing is not quite the same as having our eyes open.
Have a good one! (And, yes, I am using the old laptop pc to load these since Blogger won't do it via the Mac.)
The next is the shadow cast by the antenna on a radio. We have one of those light bars in the bathroom that casts multiple shadows of the same object. I just liked seeing it. Seeing is not quite the same as having our eyes open.
Have a good one! (And, yes, I am using the old laptop pc to load these since Blogger won't do it via the Mac.)
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bionic Man!
Remember the old tv series, Bionic Man? Well, I'm on my way! Had the cataract surgery last Wednesday. It all went fine; was over by noon and I seem to be recovering ok. My wife is a manic about giving me my eye drops every 4 hours. I suppose that's a good thing but it is a little scary. She isn't usually that careful about things. I finally decided to go for the standard distance lens rather than a multi-focal job. Things I read kept talking about good success with a few people and far from success with others. Much as a techno - wiz like myself would like the newest thing I also want a successful experience here, so I went for the 40 year old technology. WTF, call me a chicken.
The doctor said that he was expecting to see me again for my other eye and now that I've got the right one fixed, I can see the problems in my left eye. They gave me a little eye test and my left eye has degraded since June when I was tested last. It is noticeable even at home. I was looking at tv with my 'new' eye then my old (58 years now) one. There was a substantial yellow tint through my natural eye that wasn't there with the fake one. Yep, I guess I'll be back in a few months.
On a completely different front, I ordered a new GPS today from Amazon. I spent a LOT of time checking out handheld mapping GPS from the various manufacturers and ended up ordering a Garmin 60CSx. We'll probably be ordering the maps later but thought we'd give the base model a checkout first. No other manufacturer has a lineup as complete as Garmin. Glad that we like their products! The only hassle was that Amazon doesn't carry the car power cord. Had to order that from Garmin directly. HOPEFULLY it will be the right one.
Our daughter is visiting today. She lives about 25 miles away in St. Petersburg. She is toying with the idea of buying a house since the market seems to be down. We are offering her some suggestions without directly suggesting what she should do. I always find it better to let people make their own mistakes. Then whatever happens isn't your fault! LOL Besides, who ever takes advice? In this case, the people selling the houses are poorly ranked by the Better Business Bureau. That alone is a problem for me let alone the idea of purchasing a house in this market. Then we get going about what kind of loan she is getting, additional expenses she will be incurring, etc. I sure hope she gives it a miss.
Gotta go. Have a good one.
The doctor said that he was expecting to see me again for my other eye and now that I've got the right one fixed, I can see the problems in my left eye. They gave me a little eye test and my left eye has degraded since June when I was tested last. It is noticeable even at home. I was looking at tv with my 'new' eye then my old (58 years now) one. There was a substantial yellow tint through my natural eye that wasn't there with the fake one. Yep, I guess I'll be back in a few months.
On a completely different front, I ordered a new GPS today from Amazon. I spent a LOT of time checking out handheld mapping GPS from the various manufacturers and ended up ordering a Garmin 60CSx. We'll probably be ordering the maps later but thought we'd give the base model a checkout first. No other manufacturer has a lineup as complete as Garmin. Glad that we like their products! The only hassle was that Amazon doesn't carry the car power cord. Had to order that from Garmin directly. HOPEFULLY it will be the right one.
Our daughter is visiting today. She lives about 25 miles away in St. Petersburg. She is toying with the idea of buying a house since the market seems to be down. We are offering her some suggestions without directly suggesting what she should do. I always find it better to let people make their own mistakes. Then whatever happens isn't your fault! LOL Besides, who ever takes advice? In this case, the people selling the houses are poorly ranked by the Better Business Bureau. That alone is a problem for me let alone the idea of purchasing a house in this market. Then we get going about what kind of loan she is getting, additional expenses she will be incurring, etc. I sure hope she gives it a miss.
Gotta go. Have a good one.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Back in Florida
Hello world! We got back in Florida on Thursday night. It was a great trip. Sometimes the family can get a little obnoxious but this time everything and everyone was great. We ate in 4 restaurants; only 1 was totally pretentious; service was lousy in that one and 2 others. Then we came home & went out with another couple and that place had lousy food and lousy service. Boy, I am getting to be a total grouch!
Fortunately the home made food was very good. Lots of seafood, of course, since we were visiting the Pacific Northwest. Weather was excellent as well. We got rain a couple of times but it wasn't bad at all. Went up the Hurricane Ridge in the sun then came down in as close to zero visibility as I've ever seen. I doubt we could see 30 feet at times. I was driving about 15 mph! At the end, when you finally get off the mountain, you are in Port Angeles. There is a place that was still marked with emergency tape where a motorhome went through a guardrail into a little gully and killed the driver. I've seen pictures of the wreck via some of our RVing connections. The furniture in the RV that is supposed to be fastened to the walls came off the wall and crushed the driver to death. Much as I dislike governmental rules, something needs to be done. That just shouldn't happen and the RV industry had better firm up their self-regulation or Uncle Sam is going to be doing it for them.
One set of relatives have a house on "high bank" waterfront on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a very nice view but it's a climb of like 130 feet down to the beach. Our Florida flatland bodies didn't care for that much! Another set is building a new house on some Puget Sound waterfront. The lot cost $500K! They are still working and need to at that rate. I think I'll stick to cheaper houses and retirement. The third set live in a trailer. They were full-time RVers for many years but finally came to a stop on the Olympic Peninsula. They do still have a van conversion that they take various places for fishing, etc.
The animals came through their stay with their "aunt and uncle" just fine. The dog was really worried that we'd leave her again though. The cat was quiet all the way home (an hour & a half's drive). I took that to mean that he was glad to be coming home even though, being a cat, he would die before admitting he missed us. Saw the daughter yesterday, she lived through our absence as well. (She's 37, you'd kind of hope she'd make it!)
So now it's back to sorting through our stuff, selling some, giving some away, wishing we could sell the house for a reasonable sum. The four or five houses on our street that were for sale are still for sale so I'm in no hurry to get on the market. Why join a crowd of losers?
Have a good one!
Fortunately the home made food was very good. Lots of seafood, of course, since we were visiting the Pacific Northwest. Weather was excellent as well. We got rain a couple of times but it wasn't bad at all. Went up the Hurricane Ridge in the sun then came down in as close to zero visibility as I've ever seen. I doubt we could see 30 feet at times. I was driving about 15 mph! At the end, when you finally get off the mountain, you are in Port Angeles. There is a place that was still marked with emergency tape where a motorhome went through a guardrail into a little gully and killed the driver. I've seen pictures of the wreck via some of our RVing connections. The furniture in the RV that is supposed to be fastened to the walls came off the wall and crushed the driver to death. Much as I dislike governmental rules, something needs to be done. That just shouldn't happen and the RV industry had better firm up their self-regulation or Uncle Sam is going to be doing it for them.
One set of relatives have a house on "high bank" waterfront on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is a very nice view but it's a climb of like 130 feet down to the beach. Our Florida flatland bodies didn't care for that much! Another set is building a new house on some Puget Sound waterfront. The lot cost $500K! They are still working and need to at that rate. I think I'll stick to cheaper houses and retirement. The third set live in a trailer. They were full-time RVers for many years but finally came to a stop on the Olympic Peninsula. They do still have a van conversion that they take various places for fishing, etc.
The animals came through their stay with their "aunt and uncle" just fine. The dog was really worried that we'd leave her again though. The cat was quiet all the way home (an hour & a half's drive). I took that to mean that he was glad to be coming home even though, being a cat, he would die before admitting he missed us. Saw the daughter yesterday, she lived through our absence as well. (She's 37, you'd kind of hope she'd make it!)
So now it's back to sorting through our stuff, selling some, giving some away, wishing we could sell the house for a reasonable sum. The four or five houses on our street that were for sale are still for sale so I'm in no hurry to get on the market. Why join a crowd of losers?
Have a good one!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tripping
Today we are off on our first flight since 2000. We found a relative to keep the dog & cat, made our reservations and we are off to Seattle. Wife has lots of relatives around there and we lived there ourselves for several years. In fact, we each lived there when we were married to other people. That's a LONG time ago! LOL
The trip is already being stressful. US Airways cancelled our flight without telling us. We signed on to their site to get boarding passes at 22:00 last night and found there was no flight. We had a car coming for us at 06:00 so we were NOT happy about the lack of notification. We got another flight (9 hours later) and should have seats. We'll see.
Packing is interesting. We went out and got all these little bottles of shampoo & stuff. Frequent travelers know the rules but we keep having to look up if we can take this or that. I'm hoping we got it mostly right. We are getting out long pants for the first time in months. It's pretty funny. Our Florida bodies are going to be shocked by the change in temperature.
Should be back in 10 days or so. Keep safe, it's dangerous out there.
The trip is already being stressful. US Airways cancelled our flight without telling us. We signed on to their site to get boarding passes at 22:00 last night and found there was no flight. We had a car coming for us at 06:00 so we were NOT happy about the lack of notification. We got another flight (9 hours later) and should have seats. We'll see.
Packing is interesting. We went out and got all these little bottles of shampoo & stuff. Frequent travelers know the rules but we keep having to look up if we can take this or that. I'm hoping we got it mostly right. We are getting out long pants for the first time in months. It's pretty funny. Our Florida bodies are going to be shocked by the change in temperature.
Should be back in 10 days or so. Keep safe, it's dangerous out there.
Monday, August 13, 2007
An idea
If you've read my blog much you probably know I'm an atheist. Even so, here is a bumper sticker I found on the web that I like. I'm using an old laptop pc so hopefully I can embed this image. If it doesn't work, I'll probably keep trying so hang in there.
Have a good one.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Dull times
We've had a couple of pretty dull days here in Palm (less) Harbor (less). Yesterday the big thing was to mow the back yard. It's too narrow for the yard guys to get their professional equipment back there. Today the excitement was a visit to Sam's Club. Well, actually that was a step in a direction.
I talked about my unhappiness with the cataract options given me. One option was to keep on using glasses. I went back to the optometrist at Sam's for another exam. My eyes have deteriorated in the six months since she tested me last but glasses can still bring them back to something reasonable so that's where I'm going. If I can limp along getting new glasses every six months or a year; there might be something promising on the implanted lens field when I finally MUST have it. After all, if I should live to 78 ( that's when my dad died) I'll have had them for 20 years. If I make it to 93 like my mom, then it would be 35 years! That's a long time to live with someone else's mistake. Granted they will always continue to make improvements but the current version of multi-focal-length lenses just aren't that great. Internet chat rooms suggest a 40% success rate with another 20% rating them as ok. I'd like something a little better and if I can wait a couple of years and get it; why not!
Sunday is my wife's 57th birthday. Our daughter is taking her out to dinner; just the two of them. Then they come back here for dessert. It was what my wife wanted since, if we move, she won't get to spend much one-on-one time with the kid. Right now I'm thinking berries & cream; something simple. Of course the kid probably won't eat it but if I did coconut creme pie (fav of the wife) I'm pretty sure she wouldn't eat it. She's got some weird eating habits for someone who is in her mid-thirties.
Probably won't be back until after the big celebration. Have a good weekend y'all.
I talked about my unhappiness with the cataract options given me. One option was to keep on using glasses. I went back to the optometrist at Sam's for another exam. My eyes have deteriorated in the six months since she tested me last but glasses can still bring them back to something reasonable so that's where I'm going. If I can limp along getting new glasses every six months or a year; there might be something promising on the implanted lens field when I finally MUST have it. After all, if I should live to 78 ( that's when my dad died) I'll have had them for 20 years. If I make it to 93 like my mom, then it would be 35 years! That's a long time to live with someone else's mistake. Granted they will always continue to make improvements but the current version of multi-focal-length lenses just aren't that great. Internet chat rooms suggest a 40% success rate with another 20% rating them as ok. I'd like something a little better and if I can wait a couple of years and get it; why not!
Sunday is my wife's 57th birthday. Our daughter is taking her out to dinner; just the two of them. Then they come back here for dessert. It was what my wife wanted since, if we move, she won't get to spend much one-on-one time with the kid. Right now I'm thinking berries & cream; something simple. Of course the kid probably won't eat it but if I did coconut creme pie (fav of the wife) I'm pretty sure she wouldn't eat it. She's got some weird eating habits for someone who is in her mid-thirties.
Probably won't be back until after the big celebration. Have a good weekend y'all.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Im really tired of it all
Someone sent me a link to a bunch of questions proposed by a group trying to help the US Presidential election system to a better place. One of the things they would like us to consider is internet voting. Obviously it's technically possible. It would be direct and quick; the two problems I see are 1) internet access for some and 2) only one vote per person. These objections should be pretty easy to deal with; there must be a hundred ways!
The thing is that there hasn't been a candidate that's been worth a shit in years! There is so much coverage of every tiny aspect of their lives that a 'normal' person wouldn't bother! Think about all the people who've been embarrassed by having Mexican maids who were in the country illegally. Think about the guy who went on a vacation and was photographed with a blonde on his lap. Think about how Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting a blow job from an intern.
ALL these things were wrong. Each of the people involved were doing something either illegal or, according to our mores, immoral. The problem is that NOT ONE of those things had to do with whether or not the person might be a great president. If you put my life under that microscope, with the power and resources of every newspaper in the country behind you, I would be laughed out of the race. And I'm someone who has had maybe 6 traffic tickets in my life; served as an officer in the US Army (honorably!); have had positions requiring security clearance for most of my professional life; have NEVER performed any act that would be considered a felony (as far as I know!).
It just isn't right. If we'd like "the best and the brightest" to lead us; we have to let up on the stupid stuff and pay attention to the important stuff. Any ideas? I don't care who wins the next election, I already know they'll be a greedy, crooked bastard.
On that uplifting note; have a good one please! And definitely, take care out there.
The thing is that there hasn't been a candidate that's been worth a shit in years! There is so much coverage of every tiny aspect of their lives that a 'normal' person wouldn't bother! Think about all the people who've been embarrassed by having Mexican maids who were in the country illegally. Think about the guy who went on a vacation and was photographed with a blonde on his lap. Think about how Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting a blow job from an intern.
ALL these things were wrong. Each of the people involved were doing something either illegal or, according to our mores, immoral. The problem is that NOT ONE of those things had to do with whether or not the person might be a great president. If you put my life under that microscope, with the power and resources of every newspaper in the country behind you, I would be laughed out of the race. And I'm someone who has had maybe 6 traffic tickets in my life; served as an officer in the US Army (honorably!); have had positions requiring security clearance for most of my professional life; have NEVER performed any act that would be considered a felony (as far as I know!).
It just isn't right. If we'd like "the best and the brightest" to lead us; we have to let up on the stupid stuff and pay attention to the important stuff. Any ideas? I don't care who wins the next election, I already know they'll be a greedy, crooked bastard.
On that uplifting note; have a good one please! And definitely, take care out there.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Oops, forgot!
Forgot to mention that I put off my cataract surgery for a couple of months. Reasons: 1) I don't really like the clinic. It is a cattle call kind of place. They can afford the absolute best equipment, have practice with tons of procedures but you get no more than about 30 seconds of the doctor's time. 2) I can have either a standard fixed focus lens or (for $2500 that the insurance won't re-imburse) a multi-focal lens. Unfortunately, the web chatter that I've been reading isn't terribly reassuring that the things work (like they work 40% of the time!). 3) My optometrist said she could fit me with glasses that would delay the need for surgery. If I can put it off a few years maybe things will be clearer (if you don't mind the lousy play on words!).
Went up and checked out our trailer yesterday & today. Spent this a.m. on the roof trying to find a leak that has appeared. It's a real pain in the you know what. Guess that's why I get the big bucks. Or maybe that's why I need to take the trailer to someone and pay them the big bucks to find it. You know what cheap little me will choose don't you. Will go up later in the week after it rains to see how successful I was.
Went to the library twice last week with book & video donations. We are going through our collections with a thought to storing as few as possible. My wife is lots better at it than I am. She's a ruthless critter sometimes. We are just going to store our photo albums. It would be nice to scan them into the computer but it would probably take a year and we don't have that kind of time, we hope!
I keep reading discouraging things about the housing market (discouraging since we want to sell; it might be a great time to buy). Of course there are lots of people who've gotten into trouble with Adjustable Rate Mortgages & stuff. I don't give much financial advice but here's a piece of advice that works in almost every circumstance: IF IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.
Have a good one and just say NO to those once in a lifetime offers. Take care.
Went up and checked out our trailer yesterday & today. Spent this a.m. on the roof trying to find a leak that has appeared. It's a real pain in the you know what. Guess that's why I get the big bucks. Or maybe that's why I need to take the trailer to someone and pay them the big bucks to find it. You know what cheap little me will choose don't you. Will go up later in the week after it rains to see how successful I was.
Went to the library twice last week with book & video donations. We are going through our collections with a thought to storing as few as possible. My wife is lots better at it than I am. She's a ruthless critter sometimes. We are just going to store our photo albums. It would be nice to scan them into the computer but it would probably take a year and we don't have that kind of time, we hope!
I keep reading discouraging things about the housing market (discouraging since we want to sell; it might be a great time to buy). Of course there are lots of people who've gotten into trouble with Adjustable Rate Mortgages & stuff. I don't give much financial advice but here's a piece of advice that works in almost every circumstance: IF IT SOUNDS OR LOOKS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS.
Have a good one and just say NO to those once in a lifetime offers. Take care.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
8 Things about me
Heard of this so thought I'd do it even though no one asked me! I'm supposed to tell 8 things(facts or habits) about me.
1. I had the quietest Army service of anyone I ever heard of. I was in the Infantry from 1971 to 73 (Vietnam was going strong) but I sat in Ft Bliss, TX (in El Paso) and shuffled papers. I did more than Mr Bush but only because I showed up!
2. I'm certainly addicted to Scotch. Laphroaig is my favorite but generally I drink something cheaper.
3. I always say I don't smoke but in fact I've smoked a pipe for 35 years. I buy a package of pipe tobacco and it lasts me about six months. I'll have a pipe full every 2 or 3 weeks whether I need it or not.
4. When I left high school I had math phobia. After the Army I taught my self geometry then went back to college to get a degree in Computer Science with minors in math and accounting.
5. I always get motion sick when I'm not driving. Twenty miles is about my limit unless it is twisty then it's MUCH less. The one exception is when my wife is driving. She can take me anywhere but I do fall asleep pretty quickly!
6. I was a virgin until I was 19.
7. I'm a technology addict but am only interested in things that work for me. For example, I don't care about carrying music around with me so have no need of an iPod. But just try to pry the cell phone out of my fingers and I'll have to kill you.
8. I'm a mystery freak - only old and usually British ones. They put most people to sleep but I read them again and again.
That's it for today. Have a good one.
1. I had the quietest Army service of anyone I ever heard of. I was in the Infantry from 1971 to 73 (Vietnam was going strong) but I sat in Ft Bliss, TX (in El Paso) and shuffled papers. I did more than Mr Bush but only because I showed up!
2. I'm certainly addicted to Scotch. Laphroaig is my favorite but generally I drink something cheaper.
3. I always say I don't smoke but in fact I've smoked a pipe for 35 years. I buy a package of pipe tobacco and it lasts me about six months. I'll have a pipe full every 2 or 3 weeks whether I need it or not.
4. When I left high school I had math phobia. After the Army I taught my self geometry then went back to college to get a degree in Computer Science with minors in math and accounting.
5. I always get motion sick when I'm not driving. Twenty miles is about my limit unless it is twisty then it's MUCH less. The one exception is when my wife is driving. She can take me anywhere but I do fall asleep pretty quickly!
6. I was a virgin until I was 19.
7. I'm a technology addict but am only interested in things that work for me. For example, I don't care about carrying music around with me so have no need of an iPod. But just try to pry the cell phone out of my fingers and I'll have to kill you.
8. I'm a mystery freak - only old and usually British ones. They put most people to sleep but I read them again and again.
That's it for today. Have a good one.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Nothing much here...
I'm trying to do a better job at writing this thing. Depressing though when you don't have much to say!
Here's a link for Cinn who seems to think she lives in "Heaven". The title is: Murder Rate Soars In Philadelphia
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml
Of course stuff like that is reported all the time. I always like the line, attributed to Mark Twain I believe, that there are "Liars, Damn Liars and Statistics". With the advent of computers it is easier than ever to compile statistics and, therefore, screw them up. I only took one class in statistics in college but it was enough that I never believe statistics. It is SO easy to foul them up not to mention easy to slant them by asking the wrong question. I mean, how do you answer the question "Are you still beating your wife?"
We are going though our books trying to decide which to donate to the library. It's tough for either of us to part with a book, even one we haven't looked at in years. Still, it's gotta be done. Last time we moved we had 70 or 80 boxes of books; we just can't cart them all around with us any more. Not a lot by some people's standards but most are paperbacks dating from the days when they were sized for the pocket not sized to make the paper companies rich.
Have a good one.
Here's a link for Cinn who seems to think she lives in "Heaven". The title is: Murder Rate Soars In Philadelphia
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/01/eveningnews/main2635629.shtml
Of course stuff like that is reported all the time. I always like the line, attributed to Mark Twain I believe, that there are "Liars, Damn Liars and Statistics". With the advent of computers it is easier than ever to compile statistics and, therefore, screw them up. I only took one class in statistics in college but it was enough that I never believe statistics. It is SO easy to foul them up not to mention easy to slant them by asking the wrong question. I mean, how do you answer the question "Are you still beating your wife?"
We are going though our books trying to decide which to donate to the library. It's tough for either of us to part with a book, even one we haven't looked at in years. Still, it's gotta be done. Last time we moved we had 70 or 80 boxes of books; we just can't cart them all around with us any more. Not a lot by some people's standards but most are paperbacks dating from the days when they were sized for the pocket not sized to make the paper companies rich.
Have a good one.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
All the news .....
Since my last post one of the MIA's came back! Cinn contacted me so now I can go back to reading of her amazing life. Cool! Thank you, Cinn. She's trying to live a more positive life & write a more positive blog. I certainly wish her luck. I've been accused of being rather negative myself; I suppose it's true. But changing a personality trait is difficult, at least for me.
On a completely different front, (depressing as it happens) we had 3 people hit by lightning in the Tampa Bay area yesterday. Two are doing fairly well, the third is still pretty bad. As it happens, I accidentally found this video of lightning hitting a tree. Gives you an idea of the power of lightning; if you decide to visit Florida, don't fool around. We get a lot of lightning.
http://www.break.com/index/lightning-strike-caught-on-tape.html
A final totally unconnected note - my wife just left for the library. They have the Harry Potter that she reserved several months ago; they open at 10:00 and by 10:10 she was leaving. Can you spell 'addict'? LOL It's cool though that so many people are so involved in the series. If only a few young people learn the love of reading it will be great.
Until next time....
On a completely different front, (depressing as it happens) we had 3 people hit by lightning in the Tampa Bay area yesterday. Two are doing fairly well, the third is still pretty bad. As it happens, I accidentally found this video of lightning hitting a tree. Gives you an idea of the power of lightning; if you decide to visit Florida, don't fool around. We get a lot of lightning.
http://www.break.com/index/lightning-strike-caught-on-tape.html
A final totally unconnected note - my wife just left for the library. They have the Harry Potter that she reserved several months ago; they open at 10:00 and by 10:10 she was leaving. Can you spell 'addict'? LOL It's cool though that so many people are so involved in the series. If only a few young people learn the love of reading it will be great.
Until next time....
Saturday, July 14, 2007
MIA
It's odd how people disappear from the internet. I know some people are harassed and leave for that reason but some just seem to disappear without reason or explanation. There are two bloggers that I used to read who have just dropped out of sight.
Cinn from Dead on the Gearshift decided to change the direction of her blog and decided that only certain people would be allowed to access it. I found it odd because she was already very careful about hiding her identity. Her blog was the tale of her trials and tribulations as a single mom.
A guy named Lee wrote THREE blogs, the only one I can remember was The Curate's Egg. He was quite open about his identity but his blogs just disappeared. I enjoyed reading his blogs because the writing was so good. I even exchanged emails with him a few times. But now he's gone.
I guess some people disappear because they get tired; some lose their password (like me!); perhaps some lose computer access. It's up to them, of course, to do as they wish but it does bother me to have an electronic friend go away. Isn't it odd that we can learn to care for people who we know only as bits and bytes.
Have a good one!
Cinn from Dead on the Gearshift decided to change the direction of her blog and decided that only certain people would be allowed to access it. I found it odd because she was already very careful about hiding her identity. Her blog was the tale of her trials and tribulations as a single mom.
A guy named Lee wrote THREE blogs, the only one I can remember was The Curate's Egg. He was quite open about his identity but his blogs just disappeared. I enjoyed reading his blogs because the writing was so good. I even exchanged emails with him a few times. But now he's gone.
I guess some people disappear because they get tired; some lose their password (like me!); perhaps some lose computer access. It's up to them, of course, to do as they wish but it does bother me to have an electronic friend go away. Isn't it odd that we can learn to care for people who we know only as bits and bytes.
Have a good one!
Friday, July 13, 2007
The UN-cramp
Good old dumbshit Don managed the impossible, I figured out what I did to my password! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING but I lucked out finally. Please believe me when I tell you it's a bad idea to change your password after a few drinks. LOL I'm totally sober this a.m. but finally got the password typed the right-wrong way if you know what I mean. Whew, what an ordeal.
Went and got the measurements done yesterday for my cataract surgery. What a pain in the ass. I'm going to St Lukes Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, FL. It is probably a fine place but if you don't have to wait 30 minutes to see a nurse they think they are doing something wrong. It's a real factory setting but at least I feel that they have plenty of experience.
I'll see if I can't do this more often. Have a good one!
And remember I'm back to don34685 at Yahoo dot com. Hurray!
Went and got the measurements done yesterday for my cataract surgery. What a pain in the ass. I'm going to St Lukes Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs, FL. It is probably a fine place but if you don't have to wait 30 minutes to see a nurse they think they are doing something wrong. It's a real factory setting but at least I feel that they have plenty of experience.
I'll see if I can't do this more often. Have a good one!
And remember I'm back to don34685 at Yahoo dot com. Hurray!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Not Dead Yet
Hello all. Yes, I'm getting worse about updating the blog. Well, I only started it so I could leave comments on other blogs so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Haven't been doing much. We keep talking about moving and doing as little as possible however I think that is changing. We sold our little bass boat last week. A nice couple who look like they will use it bought it. Next are the BMW and the spa. The BMW will be difficult. We picked in up in Munich on the European Delivery Plan on May 15, 1993. The first few years my wife commuted in it but then when we lived in New Jersey she worked from home. In Holland she had a company car and I used it around town. Now that we are retired, we mostly use the truck because it fits our needs better. As a result, we have a 14 year old car with around 83,000 original miles. What a shame. But we both LOVE driving the car. It has spoiled us for anything else. It will be tough to sell it.
Otherwise, I am having cararact surgery at the end of the month. I'm only 58 but I guess it's my time. Right eye this time but they say it won't be long before the left requires it. The sad thing is that our insurance covers the operation and a basic lense but won't do anything about the new improved lens they can implant. The new ones have three focusing areas - far, near and close rather than the one distance older lenses. It will cost us $2500 out of our pocket but I really can't see getting the single focus ones. Any advice?
ONE MORE THING! I had a brain cramp and screwed up my yahoo id. I used to be don34685 at yahoo.com - NOW I'm duhdon34685 at yahoo.com. Sorry but I'm just an idiot sometimes.
Take care of yourselves; it's tough out there.
Otherwise, I am having cararact surgery at the end of the month. I'm only 58 but I guess it's my time. Right eye this time but they say it won't be long before the left requires it. The sad thing is that our insurance covers the operation and a basic lense but won't do anything about the new improved lens they can implant. The new ones have three focusing areas - far, near and close rather than the one distance older lenses. It will cost us $2500 out of our pocket but I really can't see getting the single focus ones. Any advice?
ONE MORE THING! I had a brain cramp and screwed up my yahoo id. I used to be don34685 at yahoo.com - NOW I'm duhdon34685 at yahoo.com. Sorry but I'm just an idiot sometimes.
Take care of yourselves; it's tough out there.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Home Again
Got home last Thursday - a month to the day since we left. Drove 6700+ miles in that time & the truck went over 100,000 miles. About 35,000 of that has been towing our trailer. Had a great time. Learned a lot about the west. We are planning on moving to a little town west of Las Vegas, Nevada as soon as we can sell our house here in Florida. The humidity here is just killing both of us.
We had rain, snow & sleet leaving Colorado Springs; that was fun. Messy too! Then had a dust storm in Nevada. We were in a park in the middle of a valley between two mountain ranges. The valley was probably 40 miles across. We couldn't see the mountains on either side! Then it started misting and turned my nice clean truck into a muddy mess! In Amarillo we stopped at a park and turned on the tv. We saw there was a major storm about an hour away headed for us. The first course would be a tornado; the second was rain, 60mph winds and hail the size of baseballs. We hooked the rig back up & drove away. We only drove about an hour but found a park where we were next to a couple of nice sturdy concrete buildings. We got quite a bit of wind but the buildings blocked it from hitting us directly so all we got was a bunch of rain. Whew!
Kept dropping south into milder weather until we got home. 85 degrees & moderate humidity - Florida at it's best. Unfortunately the real estate market still seems rotten. Well, we'll stay here, fix the house & yard & wait a while. Our next door neighbor is retiring the first of June after 35 years with the Federal government. We should have quite a party!
Hope things are going well for everyone. Take care.
We had rain, snow & sleet leaving Colorado Springs; that was fun. Messy too! Then had a dust storm in Nevada. We were in a park in the middle of a valley between two mountain ranges. The valley was probably 40 miles across. We couldn't see the mountains on either side! Then it started misting and turned my nice clean truck into a muddy mess! In Amarillo we stopped at a park and turned on the tv. We saw there was a major storm about an hour away headed for us. The first course would be a tornado; the second was rain, 60mph winds and hail the size of baseballs. We hooked the rig back up & drove away. We only drove about an hour but found a park where we were next to a couple of nice sturdy concrete buildings. We got quite a bit of wind but the buildings blocked it from hitting us directly so all we got was a bunch of rain. Whew!
Kept dropping south into milder weather until we got home. 85 degrees & moderate humidity - Florida at it's best. Unfortunately the real estate market still seems rotten. Well, we'll stay here, fix the house & yard & wait a while. Our next door neighbor is retiring the first of June after 35 years with the Federal government. We should have quite a party!
Hope things are going well for everyone. Take care.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Outta Here!
Hello all. Looks like it's over a month again since I posted anything. I can't imagine how people post daily. I'd be limited to talking about my trip to the hardware store or something. Today I do have something exciting to write about. We are off on our trip starting Thursday! Hurray!
We'll leave here Thursday morning to go up to where we store the trailer in Crystal River. We'll spend the night there; go out to dinner with our relatives, then Friday morning hit the road. We are planning on making it to the Escapees park in Summerdale, Alabama the first day. It's a long drive for us but we need to get started. The first day is usually tough on everyone.
Don't know if I've mentioned it before but we travel with our dog & cat. The dog LOVES going with us; the cat would rather not but when we first got him I said he was either a member of the family and would come or he wouldn't be in our family. That was 4 years and 3 major trips ago. The dog gets the backseat of the truck and the cat gets to be under it. He howls if the road is really rough but otherwise he just hangs out. When we stop for gas he hops out & looks around then goes back under the seat when we start off again. When we stop for the night, he stretches out on the couch & acts like he owns the place. Really he's been a great traveler.
He and the dog have both gotten baths in honor of the trip. They are all fluffy now. Still losing hair like crazy but that's what they do. We cleaned the truck this evening, filled a vacuum bag that was less than half full when we started. Now I need to get the outside cleaned tomorrow. And buy some food items and buy lots of liquor and buy odds & ends and load all this stuff into the truck and take my wife out to dinner and try to keep her from flipping out with excitement. Jeez!
We hope to visit friends in Colorado Springs for a couple of days then go down to Lost Wages for a few days. We are looking for a place to live in the west and Vegas is the first possible place. We may go on to visit Reno or may decide to skip it and just go down into Arizona & New Mexico. We'll spend as much time as we can checking places out then return home. The mail will be held until April 28 so I guess we have to be back then! Maybe I'll post something from the road but..... Gee, more than one post a month would be a new record wouldn't it?
We did finally get the bathroom fixed up. Replaced the faucets too since the old ones were leaking and of a type that cannot really be repaired. It looks pretty good if I do say so. All the same you can bet that we won't be removing the wall paper from the other three walls.
We got the carpet in our bedroom replaced in February by Empire - you know the ones who will install new carpet tomorrow. We had them out here once already to glue down the edge where the carpet butts against the tile - the original guys didn't glue it. Now they are supposed to come out again tomorrow because the seam is totally visible. It just shouldn't be visible after a month but we can't get it to not show. Hopefully they can fix it. What fun.
Hope you all have a good month. I'll write more when we return if not before.
We'll leave here Thursday morning to go up to where we store the trailer in Crystal River. We'll spend the night there; go out to dinner with our relatives, then Friday morning hit the road. We are planning on making it to the Escapees park in Summerdale, Alabama the first day. It's a long drive for us but we need to get started. The first day is usually tough on everyone.
Don't know if I've mentioned it before but we travel with our dog & cat. The dog LOVES going with us; the cat would rather not but when we first got him I said he was either a member of the family and would come or he wouldn't be in our family. That was 4 years and 3 major trips ago. The dog gets the backseat of the truck and the cat gets to be under it. He howls if the road is really rough but otherwise he just hangs out. When we stop for gas he hops out & looks around then goes back under the seat when we start off again. When we stop for the night, he stretches out on the couch & acts like he owns the place. Really he's been a great traveler.
He and the dog have both gotten baths in honor of the trip. They are all fluffy now. Still losing hair like crazy but that's what they do. We cleaned the truck this evening, filled a vacuum bag that was less than half full when we started. Now I need to get the outside cleaned tomorrow. And buy some food items and buy lots of liquor and buy odds & ends and load all this stuff into the truck and take my wife out to dinner and try to keep her from flipping out with excitement. Jeez!
We hope to visit friends in Colorado Springs for a couple of days then go down to Lost Wages for a few days. We are looking for a place to live in the west and Vegas is the first possible place. We may go on to visit Reno or may decide to skip it and just go down into Arizona & New Mexico. We'll spend as much time as we can checking places out then return home. The mail will be held until April 28 so I guess we have to be back then! Maybe I'll post something from the road but..... Gee, more than one post a month would be a new record wouldn't it?
We did finally get the bathroom fixed up. Replaced the faucets too since the old ones were leaking and of a type that cannot really be repaired. It looks pretty good if I do say so. All the same you can bet that we won't be removing the wall paper from the other three walls.
We got the carpet in our bedroom replaced in February by Empire - you know the ones who will install new carpet tomorrow. We had them out here once already to glue down the edge where the carpet butts against the tile - the original guys didn't glue it. Now they are supposed to come out again tomorrow because the seam is totally visible. It just shouldn't be visible after a month but we can't get it to not show. Hopefully they can fix it. What fun.
Hope you all have a good month. I'll write more when we return if not before.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Half a month - better than last time!
Ok, it's been over 2 weeks - so sue me.
We had been expecting visitors in March; now it's looking like neither group will show. That's what I get for trying to figure out what is going to happen in my life ahead of time. Oh well, we don't like visitors all that much anyway!
My wife decided to rip the wallpaper off one wall of the bathroom. THEN we found that the builder (back in 1984!) pasted the wallpaper directly on the drywall; therefore it doesn't really come off. Tore it off, sanded a bunch, vacuumed a bunch and finally put a coat of primer (Kilz if you are interested). Today we sprayed the wall with texture stuff. It comes in a spray can & covers about 50 sq. ft. Pretty cool. You let it dry a bit then knock it down with a trowel. Gives the wall that textured effect. Tomorrow we prime again then can paint. It's been quite a while so I'm looking forward to having a bathroom again.
Got down to 40 degrees F last night. It's the coolest this winter. This will be 3 years without a freeze. Some plants are really loving it but so do pests like fleas. Hopefully this is our last winter here but who knows. Right now we don't know where we want to go. We are currently planning on leaving in mid-April for the west & the northwest. Should be fun; especially if we actually get to go!
Hope everyone is doing ok. Keep on keeping on!
We had been expecting visitors in March; now it's looking like neither group will show. That's what I get for trying to figure out what is going to happen in my life ahead of time. Oh well, we don't like visitors all that much anyway!
My wife decided to rip the wallpaper off one wall of the bathroom. THEN we found that the builder (back in 1984!) pasted the wallpaper directly on the drywall; therefore it doesn't really come off. Tore it off, sanded a bunch, vacuumed a bunch and finally put a coat of primer (Kilz if you are interested). Today we sprayed the wall with texture stuff. It comes in a spray can & covers about 50 sq. ft. Pretty cool. You let it dry a bit then knock it down with a trowel. Gives the wall that textured effect. Tomorrow we prime again then can paint. It's been quite a while so I'm looking forward to having a bathroom again.
Got down to 40 degrees F last night. It's the coolest this winter. This will be 3 years without a freeze. Some plants are really loving it but so do pests like fleas. Hopefully this is our last winter here but who knows. Right now we don't know where we want to go. We are currently planning on leaving in mid-April for the west & the northwest. Should be fun; especially if we actually get to go!
Hope everyone is doing ok. Keep on keeping on!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Wow - a whole month!
I've been bad. Haven't been here updating for the whole month. Sorry about that! I've got an excuse or two though. We are renovating like crazy. As my wife says, spending money like we had it. First, have I whined about buying a new heat pump on 27 December? If not, that's the first thing. (The dealer isn't having a good time though, we've had them out here three times getting the thing to work properly. Tomorrow will be their fourth service call; they are promising to send someone tomorrow who actually knows what he or she is doing. That will be nice for a change.) Then paint the house, replacing a couple of rusted exterior doors as well. And replacing all the door hardware with new. Now we've bought a new bed; the last new one was in 1981 so you can't say we don't hang on to things. Finally we are replacing the carpet in both bedrooms. There probably won't be enough left from $15,000 to go to McDonald's. Bah, humbug!
And we certainly are NOT going to Ireland. At least not right now. We got in the middle of all this renovation and just couldn't stop & go have fun. Besides, since we are paying to have others do all this work, my wife decided to rip the wallpaper off one wall of the bathroom. Of course, then we discover that the builder put the wallpaper directly over the sheetrock so it doesn't come off nicely at all. We've got it mostly sanded off so now we can start priming, adding texture, priming and painting. Doesn't it all sound like fun.
To make it a totally fun month, yesterday I went & had my eyes checked and the doctor says I have cataracts. One eye is bothering me quite a bit; the other isn't as advanced but will be ready in a year or two. Hmmm. Life in the fast lane is sounding tame compared to this retirement thing.
Have a good one - I'll try to be back before the end of February. I promise.
And we certainly are NOT going to Ireland. At least not right now. We got in the middle of all this renovation and just couldn't stop & go have fun. Besides, since we are paying to have others do all this work, my wife decided to rip the wallpaper off one wall of the bathroom. Of course, then we discover that the builder put the wallpaper directly over the sheetrock so it doesn't come off nicely at all. We've got it mostly sanded off so now we can start priming, adding texture, priming and painting. Doesn't it all sound like fun.
To make it a totally fun month, yesterday I went & had my eyes checked and the doctor says I have cataracts. One eye is bothering me quite a bit; the other isn't as advanced but will be ready in a year or two. Hmmm. Life in the fast lane is sounding tame compared to this retirement thing.
Have a good one - I'll try to be back before the end of February. I promise.
Monday, January 01, 2007
1 January 2007
Happy New Year everyone! And what a year it is going to be. At least I'm thinking it will be interesting. For starters, we are getting our house cleaned up so it will be salable. No, the market isn't in good shape so we aren't putting it on the market but we are working towards that end.
January: we just got a new heat pump installed $5500. We are having the exterior of the house painted and some minor work done $3000. I have permission to sell our bed whereupon we will have the bed rooms recarpeted and buy a new bed.
February: we hope to visit Ireland for a couple of weeks. We just have to get out of Dodge(i.e. the USA) for a few days.
March: we hope to have visitors; #1 Son who lives in California and, later, some old friends who live in Colorado.
April: we will write a HUGE check to Uncle Sam.
May or June: take a trailer trip out to the Pacific Northwest to visit relatives. Spend some time on the trip checking out various places we've heard about that we might consider for our new home. Will this house be on the market? Who knows!
In the background for this half year you should hear us going through boxes & getting rid of things we no longer want or need. Like do I really need that PL/I textbook?
The rest of the year is downright dull: hope like everything that there aren't any hurricanes! That will be the big thing. Maybe another trailer trip somewhere either here in the East (like Washington, DC) or back out west.
We'll just have to see what happens. Here's wishing you & yours a happy and prosperous 2007. Best of luck, folks.
January: we just got a new heat pump installed $5500. We are having the exterior of the house painted and some minor work done $3000. I have permission to sell our bed whereupon we will have the bed rooms recarpeted and buy a new bed.
February: we hope to visit Ireland for a couple of weeks. We just have to get out of Dodge(i.e. the USA) for a few days.
March: we hope to have visitors; #1 Son who lives in California and, later, some old friends who live in Colorado.
April: we will write a HUGE check to Uncle Sam.
May or June: take a trailer trip out to the Pacific Northwest to visit relatives. Spend some time on the trip checking out various places we've heard about that we might consider for our new home. Will this house be on the market? Who knows!
In the background for this half year you should hear us going through boxes & getting rid of things we no longer want or need. Like do I really need that PL/I textbook?
The rest of the year is downright dull: hope like everything that there aren't any hurricanes! That will be the big thing. Maybe another trailer trip somewhere either here in the East (like Washington, DC) or back out west.
We'll just have to see what happens. Here's wishing you & yours a happy and prosperous 2007. Best of luck, folks.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Tuesday, December 19
I'm driving around town looking for Xmas presents. It is 83 degrees and I've got the A/C running. What the devil is this? I know people visit here in the winter so they can enjoy this kind of thing but, frankly, I'm tired of it. We have a propane fireplace in our home(no, I didn't install the thing). We are out of propane & can't get any until after the holiday. I was all bothered until I figured out that it would be too warm to run the darn thing anyway. We are actively thinking of places we'd rather live. We've replaced the fence around the yard, replaced the roof, tore out the carpet & replaced it with hardwood, rebuilt the lawn sprinkler system and refinished the pool and deck. We are taking bids to paint the house & have decided on replacing the heat pump. The house is in a LOT better shape than it was when we bought it. If the housing market revives a bit, we'll be ready.
Right now the west is calling to us. Go somewhere and find four seasons but not 30 feet of snow in the winter. Well, actually, being retired we can pretty much wait out a snowfall as long as the power isn't interrupted. The state of Washington is definitely OUT of contention. We've lived there and I need more sunlight. Ditto Oregon. So we'll work on finding places that seem feasible. California is also out but because of prices and taxation. Parts of Colorado, Nevada, Arizona & New Mexico are the current favorites but I wouldn't bet much on any of them.
To change subjects radically, I read people's blogs to learn about them, their problems and their ability to deal with them. Recently I've been reading about having a written set of values and goals. It sounds to me like a good idea and I'm going to try to implement something like that in my life. One list I saw included: consideration, integrity, the Ten Commandments, character, health, order, time, communications, honesty, charity, prudence, and goals. Whew! It made me tired to simply read the list. Besides, I don't really feel that I need to work on some of those values; it's a very long time since I've worried about my integrity or honesty.
Order is certainly something I need to work on! We have lived in this house for almost 6 years; TODAY I emptied some boxes that have been cluttering our spare room all this time. Procrastination is another thing. I have at least 20 or 30 items that I've earmarked for sale on eBay. I've actually sold 2. Health - now there is a problem. I'm basically in excellent health but I'm 58 and 30 pounds overweight and obviously that isn't the start of a good news story. We'll see if I can do something about that problem.
Finally, two sites I'd like to recommend. The first is written my a woman whose husband is a career officer in the Army and is scheduled to be shipped to Iraq. Her blog is: http://blogs.tampabay.com/standingby/
The other is a bit different. I read many sites put up by RVers who want to let their family & friends (& others) know about their travels. Recently they added a page about a man currently in Iraq. He writes some things & the RVers add a bit here and there to put things in prospective. The page is: http://www.1tree.net/adventure/soldier_story.htm
If I haven't said before, I think this war in Iraq is beyond stupid. The invasion of Afghanistan MIGHT be explainable though I'm not sure our continued presence there is but invading Iraq was stupid beyond belief. But shit happens. Even intelligent people make mistakes. But we are still there. I'd leave in a New York minute. I know the country would go immediately into civil war mode but they will anyway whenever we leave unless we install another dictator who is so powerful that his enemies simply cannot afford the fight. Sounds like Saddam to me.
HOWEVER, the men and women of the armed forces deserve our complete support. I'm a veteran but I didn't have to do much. Some of our soldiers have to do and give so much. They go places and do things because they are ordered to do so. Sometimes things go wrong and they get a little crazy and hurt people they shouldn't. So what? They are in the middle of a war and in war bad things happen to good people. These two sites approach the soldiers life from two angles: the family left at home and the soldier himself. They are really very good.
Have a good week and if I don't make it back until after Xmas - Happy Holidays!
Right now the west is calling to us. Go somewhere and find four seasons but not 30 feet of snow in the winter. Well, actually, being retired we can pretty much wait out a snowfall as long as the power isn't interrupted. The state of Washington is definitely OUT of contention. We've lived there and I need more sunlight. Ditto Oregon. So we'll work on finding places that seem feasible. California is also out but because of prices and taxation. Parts of Colorado, Nevada, Arizona & New Mexico are the current favorites but I wouldn't bet much on any of them.
To change subjects radically, I read people's blogs to learn about them, their problems and their ability to deal with them. Recently I've been reading about having a written set of values and goals. It sounds to me like a good idea and I'm going to try to implement something like that in my life. One list I saw included: consideration, integrity, the Ten Commandments, character, health, order, time, communications, honesty, charity, prudence, and goals. Whew! It made me tired to simply read the list. Besides, I don't really feel that I need to work on some of those values; it's a very long time since I've worried about my integrity or honesty.
Order is certainly something I need to work on! We have lived in this house for almost 6 years; TODAY I emptied some boxes that have been cluttering our spare room all this time. Procrastination is another thing. I have at least 20 or 30 items that I've earmarked for sale on eBay. I've actually sold 2. Health - now there is a problem. I'm basically in excellent health but I'm 58 and 30 pounds overweight and obviously that isn't the start of a good news story. We'll see if I can do something about that problem.
Finally, two sites I'd like to recommend. The first is written my a woman whose husband is a career officer in the Army and is scheduled to be shipped to Iraq. Her blog is: http://blogs.tampabay.com/standingby/
The other is a bit different. I read many sites put up by RVers who want to let their family & friends (& others) know about their travels. Recently they added a page about a man currently in Iraq. He writes some things & the RVers add a bit here and there to put things in prospective. The page is: http://www.1tree.net/adventure/soldier_story.htm
If I haven't said before, I think this war in Iraq is beyond stupid. The invasion of Afghanistan MIGHT be explainable though I'm not sure our continued presence there is but invading Iraq was stupid beyond belief. But shit happens. Even intelligent people make mistakes. But we are still there. I'd leave in a New York minute. I know the country would go immediately into civil war mode but they will anyway whenever we leave unless we install another dictator who is so powerful that his enemies simply cannot afford the fight. Sounds like Saddam to me.
HOWEVER, the men and women of the armed forces deserve our complete support. I'm a veteran but I didn't have to do much. Some of our soldiers have to do and give so much. They go places and do things because they are ordered to do so. Sometimes things go wrong and they get a little crazy and hurt people they shouldn't. So what? They are in the middle of a war and in war bad things happen to good people. These two sites approach the soldiers life from two angles: the family left at home and the soldier himself. They are really very good.
Have a good week and if I don't make it back until after Xmas - Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Back to normal
My back finally got more or less normal so I've been out and about again. Yesterday we drove up to Citrus Springs, Florida to visit some relatives & go to a Xmas party. That whole area is mostly retired folks so the average age at the party was probably 70. The stories I was hearing just reinforced my desire to go places & do things as soon as you are able.
There was a couple where the guy just retired & they find that his wife has breast cancer. Another is a lady undergoing chemo while caring for her half-crazy husband. The hostess can barely move from back pain; yesterday she was taking drugs that would knock out an ordinary person. You just have to go early, go young, go poor but go!
We are planning on taking our own advice after the new year and visiting Ireland. We've been in Western Europe quite a bit but never made it to the Emerald Isle. We even have ancestors from Ireland but haven't made the trek. Now we figure that we'll just go for a couple of weeks & enjoy ourselves. We have friends who will keep the dog & cat; it certainly isn't the 'high' season so it shouldn't be crowded; & we both love Guinness. What's not to like! If anyone has any advice about places to go & things to see, please either leave a comment or email me.
Have a good week!
There was a couple where the guy just retired & they find that his wife has breast cancer. Another is a lady undergoing chemo while caring for her half-crazy husband. The hostess can barely move from back pain; yesterday she was taking drugs that would knock out an ordinary person. You just have to go early, go young, go poor but go!
We are planning on taking our own advice after the new year and visiting Ireland. We've been in Western Europe quite a bit but never made it to the Emerald Isle. We even have ancestors from Ireland but haven't made the trek. Now we figure that we'll just go for a couple of weeks & enjoy ourselves. We have friends who will keep the dog & cat; it certainly isn't the 'high' season so it shouldn't be crowded; & we both love Guinness. What's not to like! If anyone has any advice about places to go & things to see, please either leave a comment or email me.
Have a good week!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Life goes on.....
Hi,
On the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, I developed what is sometimes referred to as a muscle spasm. The definition is a one time muscular contraction that is soon forgotten. The reality, for me, is something that it continues for some time. Several years ago I was prescribed SOMA, a muscle relaxant, for the condition. I've been taking leftover SOMA for three days trying to get things back to normal. Today, Saturday, I finally went out to a couple of stores. I wasn't great but I wasn't taking drugs either! The point is that shit like this happens more often as you age so get out there & have fun while you can.
I have to tell you folks; you're dumb if you don't retire as soon as you can. Have your fun while you can; your income is less important than your ability to have fun. As one ages, the things that would have been minor aches become things that keep you in bed; the things that would have meant a day off work become something that no one understands. I have a history of muscle spasms that started about 10 years ago. I'm 58 now. Do you really think I'll be more healthy next year? Are you really that foolish? These things will lay me low for 1 or 2 weeks a year. What if it happens to you while you are having that once in a lifetime vacation?
If you have visited me before you know that my attitude is that THIS IS my once in a lifetime vacation; my next lifetime starts tomorrow! The only way my last vacation will be my best is if I die before I take another! Join me in enjoying the present; remembering the past and hoping for the future!
Best regards,
Don
On the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, I developed what is sometimes referred to as a muscle spasm. The definition is a one time muscular contraction that is soon forgotten. The reality, for me, is something that it continues for some time. Several years ago I was prescribed SOMA, a muscle relaxant, for the condition. I've been taking leftover SOMA for three days trying to get things back to normal. Today, Saturday, I finally went out to a couple of stores. I wasn't great but I wasn't taking drugs either! The point is that shit like this happens more often as you age so get out there & have fun while you can.
I have to tell you folks; you're dumb if you don't retire as soon as you can. Have your fun while you can; your income is less important than your ability to have fun. As one ages, the things that would have been minor aches become things that keep you in bed; the things that would have meant a day off work become something that no one understands. I have a history of muscle spasms that started about 10 years ago. I'm 58 now. Do you really think I'll be more healthy next year? Are you really that foolish? These things will lay me low for 1 or 2 weeks a year. What if it happens to you while you are having that once in a lifetime vacation?
If you have visited me before you know that my attitude is that THIS IS my once in a lifetime vacation; my next lifetime starts tomorrow! The only way my last vacation will be my best is if I die before I take another! Join me in enjoying the present; remembering the past and hoping for the future!
Best regards,
Don
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Thanksgiving that was....
We had a very nice Thanksgiving; quiet, peaceful & we all ate too much. Daughter brought a guy from work; just a colleague we are told. The local couple who are relatives showed; & us. Just 6 but, for us, a nice number. Daughter noted that her mother was much calmer this year than in the past. When I asked MrsD about it she said "no more mother to worry about". Amazing that her mother weighed so on her. But now, she's been gone for about 10 months and things are calmer for MrsD.
The bad thing about having people over is that we need to clean the house - that is MrsD works in the kitchen and I have to clean the rest! Oh well! It is a lot cleaner now. Remember how people used to do "Spring Cleaning" = in our house it is "Before someone comes to visit" cleaning. I'm not all that good but I'm the only person here who isn't slaving away in the kitchen.
After the dinner there is a traditional game of cards called "Piss and Moan". I don't play (hate cards & especially with her family) so I get to strip the meat off the turkey, package it & do general cleaning in the kitchen. It didn't stop me from taking a nice little nap in my chair though before the game ended. Ha! I sure won that one!
Now we get to the greedy month. Corporate greed at it's best! We usually have dollar limits on gifts so it doesn't get stupid. I read about others who end the month with $5 or $10K in bills. Those are definitely NOT people from Iowa born of Depression Era parents! Work on keeping it down folks, there's plenty of personal debt in this country already. But don't forget your local food bank. There are plenty of less fortunate people around.
I've been listening to the downloads from the 2005 conference on Science and it's relationship to Religion. URL is
http://beyondbelief2006.org/ - it's interesting but, so far, not enthralling even though I agree with a lot of what is being said. Most of the speakers are professors and we've all fallen asleep in class! The 2006 conference was supposed to be held in early November so there may be a whole series more if anyone wants to check it out.
BTW: it's 74 with a projected high of 82 today. Eat your heart out Seattle! Have a good one!
The bad thing about having people over is that we need to clean the house - that is MrsD works in the kitchen and I have to clean the rest! Oh well! It is a lot cleaner now. Remember how people used to do "Spring Cleaning" = in our house it is "Before someone comes to visit" cleaning. I'm not all that good but I'm the only person here who isn't slaving away in the kitchen.
After the dinner there is a traditional game of cards called "Piss and Moan". I don't play (hate cards & especially with her family) so I get to strip the meat off the turkey, package it & do general cleaning in the kitchen. It didn't stop me from taking a nice little nap in my chair though before the game ended. Ha! I sure won that one!
Now we get to the greedy month. Corporate greed at it's best! We usually have dollar limits on gifts so it doesn't get stupid. I read about others who end the month with $5 or $10K in bills. Those are definitely NOT people from Iowa born of Depression Era parents! Work on keeping it down folks, there's plenty of personal debt in this country already. But don't forget your local food bank. There are plenty of less fortunate people around.
I've been listening to the downloads from the 2005 conference on Science and it's relationship to Religion. URL is
http://beyondbelief2006.org/ - it's interesting but, so far, not enthralling even though I agree with a lot of what is being said. Most of the speakers are professors and we've all fallen asleep in class! The 2006 conference was supposed to be held in early November so there may be a whole series more if anyone wants to check it out.
BTW: it's 74 with a projected high of 82 today. Eat your heart out Seattle! Have a good one!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Wine Tasting from Hell
We went to a neighbor's house tonight for a "wine tasting". We were told to bring an appetizer and a bottle of wine from Chile. We got there a few minutes late & were the last ones to arrive. It turns out that the wine tasting was just an excuse to have a quiet little party, drink wine & eat. Now that's ok but it sure wasn't what we were expecting. All the folks brought nasty shit from the grocery store to eat with the wine. For example, a shrimp platter that was still partially frozen. Yecch! And then there was the guy who tried to tell us that brie is a Dutch cheese! We took pate which was totally unknown to everyone there. Never again!
Other than that excitement, we are just getting ready for Thanksgiving. My wife likes to cook and tries to make the holiday special. The only problem is that she thinks that we ought to have sweet potatoes. However, she doesn't like them so can't really cook them. One year she did a sweet potato casserole that no one could stand. She thought the recipe sounded good but it tasted awful. Now I just talk her out of having sweet potatoes and everyone is much better off. She also doesn't care a lot for vegetables so they are sometimes bizarre. Haven't had any that were inedible yet though! Tomorrow I start doing the shopping; I'll start with easy stuff: the wine and maybe the turkey.
Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. Take care!
Other than that excitement, we are just getting ready for Thanksgiving. My wife likes to cook and tries to make the holiday special. The only problem is that she thinks that we ought to have sweet potatoes. However, she doesn't like them so can't really cook them. One year she did a sweet potato casserole that no one could stand. She thought the recipe sounded good but it tasted awful. Now I just talk her out of having sweet potatoes and everyone is much better off. She also doesn't care a lot for vegetables so they are sometimes bizarre. Haven't had any that were inedible yet though! Tomorrow I start doing the shopping; I'll start with easy stuff: the wine and maybe the turkey.
Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. Take care!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Still crazy after all these years.....
Had to go out & buy a new computer for my wife the other day. It is a really odd feeling because she is as computer savvy as I and has never asked me to do anything like that before. The problem is that her computer has been doing weird stuff for over a year. It is a Gateway 510 (I think); about 3 years old. It started crashing & restarting occasionally. We took it in & had someone check it out. They said the hard drive was dying so we replaced that. It gave us lots more storage but didn't do anything about the random crashes. Then the monitor started flickering. It just got to be too distressing for her to use it & it was too distressing to go buy another box. I looked around a bit then got an HP from CompUSA. We plugged it in and I haven't seen her since! (Kidding, but not much.)
It's funny how things can assume absurd importance. The fact that this computer was faulty & the tech's couldn't find anything wrong bothered her so much that she thought it was wrong to replace it. It wasn't 'mine' so it was easy for me to go buy another box. Now, maybe, we can be happy little computer nerds for a while.
Oh, and it isn't like she couldn't reach the Internet or play her games or whatever. We have a nice little Toshiba laptop that she uses in the living room while she is watching tv. Are we nerds or what?
Have a nice week!
It's funny how things can assume absurd importance. The fact that this computer was faulty & the tech's couldn't find anything wrong bothered her so much that she thought it was wrong to replace it. It wasn't 'mine' so it was easy for me to go buy another box. Now, maybe, we can be happy little computer nerds for a while.
Oh, and it isn't like she couldn't reach the Internet or play her games or whatever. We have a nice little Toshiba laptop that she uses in the living room while she is watching tv. Are we nerds or what?
Have a nice week!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Why Live in Florida
Today has been one of the days that makes living in Florida seem reasonable. It was warm but not hot; and the humidity that is the curse of our weather was gone. After a late breakfast we sat out by the pool with a drink just enjoying the world. We even had a ham bone for the dog. There are things we need to do; things we planned to do today but they will be done another day and I am glad of it.
Tonight in the early evening I was outside reading when I heard a commotion; a man yelling. It turns out that some of our neighbors was having a "domestic disturbance". After a few minutes a police car arrived. Then the woman put some things into her car and drove off. The police left shortly thereafter. No one was injured; no one arrested but it was disturbing. Marital problems happen, of course. I guess it just reminded me of the fragility of our happiness.
Though I am not a believer, the Compline service says it very nicely:
The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end. Amen.
Tonight in the early evening I was outside reading when I heard a commotion; a man yelling. It turns out that some of our neighbors was having a "domestic disturbance". After a few minutes a police car arrived. Then the woman put some things into her car and drove off. The police left shortly thereafter. No one was injured; no one arrested but it was disturbing. Marital problems happen, of course. I guess it just reminded me of the fragility of our happiness.
Though I am not a believer, the Compline service says it very nicely:
The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end. Amen.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Almost back to normal
We are almost back to normal here in Tampa Bay Land. Put out 6 bags of grass clippings last week from the back yard alone. It was just a little tall! That's what I get for making the back yard too tight for professional yard equipment; I can't hire anyone to cut it while we are gone. What the heck. I need the exercise!
We are working on our long term plan to leave the area; it's starting to look like the process will take a year & a half or so. We have SO much house maintenance that hasn't been done for starters. Then we have to shave our belongings down to some reasonable amount for moving. Finally, it's sell (which may take some time, certainly) and go. Like the rest of the country the Florida housing market has slowed quite a lot. Besides, we have a house that really cries out to be sold either in the early spring or the late fall. When you enter the house, if it can be open to the outside, it sells itself. You have 2000 sq ft of house that connects almost seamlessly to 1500 sq ft of pool deck as your living area. It's great and looks even better. When it is too hot to have the house open (in the summer) you have only the relatively small house to show. It's a nice enough house but in this market you need the extra zing of the outside. Spouse and I have both worked as project managers so you KNOW we'll have list upon list upon list covering THIS project.
In the middle of that 'leaving' plan we need to develop and explore places for the 'where the hell are we going' plan! We really have almost no idea of where we want to move. It could be Northern Florida, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico or even somewhere we haven't considered yet. It's odd to be able to move anywhere we would like. We've always moved for and by our work until we moved here & we moved here to be near our mothers. Now that they are gone, we are free to fly. It will be interesting to see what we eventually do. We plan on doing more traveling to visit possible home bases during the months that the house will be on the market. Should be fun!
Have a great weekend everyone. And don't get stuck on Friday, the 13th!
We are working on our long term plan to leave the area; it's starting to look like the process will take a year & a half or so. We have SO much house maintenance that hasn't been done for starters. Then we have to shave our belongings down to some reasonable amount for moving. Finally, it's sell (which may take some time, certainly) and go. Like the rest of the country the Florida housing market has slowed quite a lot. Besides, we have a house that really cries out to be sold either in the early spring or the late fall. When you enter the house, if it can be open to the outside, it sells itself. You have 2000 sq ft of house that connects almost seamlessly to 1500 sq ft of pool deck as your living area. It's great and looks even better. When it is too hot to have the house open (in the summer) you have only the relatively small house to show. It's a nice enough house but in this market you need the extra zing of the outside. Spouse and I have both worked as project managers so you KNOW we'll have list upon list upon list covering THIS project.
In the middle of that 'leaving' plan we need to develop and explore places for the 'where the hell are we going' plan! We really have almost no idea of where we want to move. It could be Northern Florida, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico or even somewhere we haven't considered yet. It's odd to be able to move anywhere we would like. We've always moved for and by our work until we moved here & we moved here to be near our mothers. Now that they are gone, we are free to fly. It will be interesting to see what we eventually do. We plan on doing more traveling to visit possible home bases during the months that the house will be on the market. Should be fun!
Have a great weekend everyone. And don't get stuck on Friday, the 13th!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Home Again, Naturally
We got home last Sunday evening and here it is nearly a week later before I manage to get to the blog. Well, let's face it; I'm lazy! Plus there were a few things to handle. Like on any trip you decide not to do laundry until you get home - we had a zillion loads. We had someone cut our front grass but not the back since they can't use their equipment in the back. It was at least a foot high! The house had somehow gotten really dirty in spite of the fact that we weren't here to make it so. Funny, but it really did need cleaning. The mail was impressive; about 3% was actually something we'd care about. But we are making it more like a home again.
The trip was excellent. Drove almost 5,000 miles towing the trailer 3,600 of them. (8,000 km total; 5,800 km towing if I'm to believe the web.) It's a long way for under a month and including all the stuff we did. I was able to meet and talk with relatives that I didn't know I had; actual cousins. We got to visit effigy Mounds National Monument; it is a place the ancient people of North America buried their dead and communed with their gods. It was very quiet, lovely and somehow touching. We got to eat wonderful catfish in Missouri and wonderful pork ribs and pulled pork in Georgia. Had a great time visiting the USS Alabama in Mobile. It brought back some of the hardships that men endured during World War II. Along the way we met some nice people; some weird people and some that I certainly don't want to meet again! We were in Sikesville, Missouri in the wind and the rain with tornados north of us and tornados south of us. The next day was dry when we woke but by the time we wanted to leave we were wading in 3 inches (7.5cm) of water with more landing on us every second.
We love to travel but getting home is pretty great too. I'm reading all the usual blogs; it just takes time to catch up. Have a good weekend all!
The trip was excellent. Drove almost 5,000 miles towing the trailer 3,600 of them. (8,000 km total; 5,800 km towing if I'm to believe the web.) It's a long way for under a month and including all the stuff we did. I was able to meet and talk with relatives that I didn't know I had; actual cousins. We got to visit effigy Mounds National Monument; it is a place the ancient people of North America buried their dead and communed with their gods. It was very quiet, lovely and somehow touching. We got to eat wonderful catfish in Missouri and wonderful pork ribs and pulled pork in Georgia. Had a great time visiting the USS Alabama in Mobile. It brought back some of the hardships that men endured during World War II. Along the way we met some nice people; some weird people and some that I certainly don't want to meet again! We were in Sikesville, Missouri in the wind and the rain with tornados north of us and tornados south of us. The next day was dry when we woke but by the time we wanted to leave we were wading in 3 inches (7.5cm) of water with more landing on us every second.
We love to travel but getting home is pretty great too. I'm reading all the usual blogs; it just takes time to catch up. Have a good weekend all!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Travel
Have moved on to Clear Lake, Iowa. Since we left Columbia we had a wonderful family reunion on a cousin's farm. It wasn't actually fantastic but it wasn't bad and that's good. Met a couple of relatives that we actually liked! We stayed in a city park that was really nice; they were having a Fur Trapper's Meeting. We checked it out but all traps look the same to us!
This is a nice little park with wifi for $1 extra a day. Don't we love it! Next stop is the Winnebago factory; gotta see where all the Winnie's are built. We are thinking about a new RV but haven't any clue about what we want. Seeing how the things are built is at least a first step. Don't know that Winnie is even in the running but you can learn from the losers as well as the winners.
Keep on having fun!
This is a nice little park with wifi for $1 extra a day. Don't we love it! Next stop is the Winnebago factory; gotta see where all the Winnie's are built. We are thinking about a new RV but haven't any clue about what we want. Seeing how the things are built is at least a first step. Don't know that Winnie is even in the running but you can learn from the losers as well as the winners.
Keep on having fun!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Gone - Definitely Gone
I say at the start of the blog that we like to travel as much as possible. We are doing it now! I'm writing from Columbia, MO on the way to a family reunion. Then we'll wander back to Florida stopping at a couple of RV factories in between. We like to see how they are built in case we might like to buy one some day. So there won't be much updating between now an the end of September; like anyone could tell anyway!
Have a safe rest of the month folks.
Have a safe rest of the month folks.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, July 24, 2006
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 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!
Monday, July 10, 2006
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!
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!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
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 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.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
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!
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!
Sunday, June 04, 2006
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!
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!
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
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!
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!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
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!
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!
Monday, May 01, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
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!
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!
Monday, April 03, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
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