Unusually nice!

We are having fantastic weather for this time of year and this place. It is in the 70's during the day; 50's in the night. It hasn't rained in at least five days. I've lived here; this is unusual!

A few photos seem to be in order. First, we traveled up US-101 highway to get here. Homes are situated along the edge of the road where there is space between it and the shore. These are typical; the water is the Hood Canal.



Our park is on the Olympic Peninsula. You can see across Puget Sound to Mount Baker northeast of Bellingham, WA. A reasonable guess is that it's about 75 miles away.



These characters are having an afternoon nap in a playground that the camp provides for kids. At this time of year, the kids are in school so guess who gets the playground.



In the midst of all this beauty, the stock market dumped almost 800 points today as the Congress expressed it's displeasure with the financial bailout plan proposed by the President and his advisors. I imagine that the plan will ultimately be passed but it is tough going through all this. We have substantial investments in the stock market so we are taking some large losses. Happily, we don't need the money 'today'. Every time I hear the idiots reporting the news talking about 'investors on Wall Street did such-and-so' I cringe. Most of those people on Wall Street are traders, not investors. Warren Buffett is an investor; in my own small way, I am an investor. We look carefully at a company before we buy into it and we keep it for a long time. Many, many of the mutual funds run by those Wall Street guys and gals have turnovers of 200% a year. That means they might buy a stock in January, sell it in May and buy it again in November. That just isn't investing; it's trading.

Hope you are all having a wonderful day. Take care.

Western Washington

Good Morning! We are currently parked on the Olympic Peninsula in Western Washington. It is unseasonably beautiful here right now. High temps should be in the 70's and lows in the 40's - AND - it's sunny! Very unusual.

We had a great trip up here. Driving along I-84 you are next to the Columbia River. It is a great river. It divides Washington and Oregon. The eastern part of each state is dry; the western parts of each is very wet. Parts of the Olympic Peninsula is actually a rainforest! I had to take photos of the river.

This is in the eastern part of the state:


This is the western part:


You go from desert dry and sunny to rainy, forested and overcast just by crossing a few low mountains.

I'll have more to say later. Have a good day!

Hello from Eastern Oregon

Hello!

We were camped in western Wyoming and were talking about this trailer we like: the Arctic Fox 29V. We have never even seen one but like the layout. We have also heard that you should visit the factory before buying something. SO, rather than continue on southwest to Reno, Nevada we came northwest to Le Grande, Oregon where the Arctic Fox rvs are made.

We went through the factory with one of their reps the other day. Typically factory tours are given once or twice a day; in our experience there will be six to twenty visitors. In this tour, it was me, my wife, the tour guy and a company salesman. Hmmm. Part of that is because it is late September and normal visitors aren't going to be here - it's cold. Unfortunately, the other reason is the economy/cost of fuel/lack of credit/etc. Want to know who's going to have a rough few years in the White House? Whoever wins! At this point they are both facing a lose-lose couple of years.

We liked the build quality so went to the local dealer. We don't know how closely connected they are to the factory but..... Anyway, they had 2 examples of the model we like - the 29V. So we checked them out pretty carefully. The first had a door that was sticking and a broken window. It also had a color scheme that we don't care about. The second had a color scheme that we actually like but had several options that we wouldn't ordinarily buy. Finally we discover that the factory is making some changes in the layout that we like for 2009. So we are faced with a trailer that we wouldn't buy; one we would buy if the price was right and some new ones that we like better.

In the end, we decided to ask about pricing on the 2008 that we thought was ok. Turns out that they liked it more than we did - couldn't come to an agreement on price! So I called them late this afternoon and said we were leaving town and thanked them for their time. Maybe they will figure out that they've pissed off a cash customer or maybe they won't. We are ok with either decision.

We would also have to purchase a truck to pull the trailer since our current truck is too small. We checked with the GM dealer (Chevy and GMC) - they don't have a truck available that meets our specs. The trailer dealer checked with the Ford dealer; there is one truck between here and Springfield, MO (1000 miles or so east) that is a good match though it is four wheel drive and we don't want that. Hmmm. We smell a rat or eight! Again, thanks for your time.

We are happy to leave with our current set up. We will go up into Washington to visit our family. They are out on the Olympic Peninsula so we don't have to worry about freezing. We should leave there in about a week and head south. When we are down there, we can order the truck we want. Dealers order an almost endless series of $300 options that inflate the price of a $35K truck to $45K. Ordering from the factory you order and pay for only what you want. THEN we can order the trailer we want - again, not something stuffed with options that inflate the price and give the user nothing. This could be good!

Hope you are having fun out there. It's sunny and warm but not hot here. I'm not saying anything about the drivers; no one's hit me yet! Take care.

Trucking West

We finally got out of Colorado Springs. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice town but we need to head west. So, of course, we went North. Wanted to catch I-80 for the trip west so.....

Denver was a breeze; went through mid-morning and didn't really slow down the entire way. Then Cheyenne, WY; there we just touched the city; saw the gleam of the capital. Now we are in Evanston, WY. Small town near the Utah border. Had some really LOUSY Mexican food for dinner; will not post the name of the resturant to protect the innocent but I will say it was a guy's name.

It occurred to me that you might not know about trucks & trailers. Here is a photo of our truck & trailer parked in Rawlings, WY. The truck is a 2000 GMC Sierra; what we call a half-ton pickup. The trailer is a 26 foot Cameo by Carriage; also manufactured in 2000.



The doors are open because it's time for the big fuzzy dog to get into her seat. Here she is looking somewhat odd. She is a mixed breed dog that we got from the Humane Society when she was about four months old. I always tell people she has a little of everything in her breeding. She is seven years old. The back seat of the truck is covered with an old blanket in an attempt to keep some of the dog hair off the actual seat.



So now you have an idea of the size of our trailer; truck & dog. Hope it all makes sense to you. Be careful out there; it's crazy!

Greetings from Colorado Springs

Sorry, I've been bad about updating the blog. It isn't as though we haven't had wifi. I'm actually surprised but we have had it almost the entire trip.

Went from Nashville up towards St. Louis then turned west. We prefer to travel on smaller roads but don't have a lot of time to spare so we opted for the Interstate. I-70 has been our friend. Stopped in Independence, Missouri to check out the Truman Museum. It sounds like Old Harry had a tough Presidency. The next day, we stopped in Abilene, Kansas to check out the Eisenhower Museum. Possibly a little easier but maybe it was just that Ike had more charisma. Anyway, we really enjoyed both experiences. Then we continued west on I-70 again until it was time to turn off for Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs is a fairly military town: the Air Force Acadamy; two air bases; one army fort. At the same time it's kind of a tree-huggy place. Lots of natural food stores, cute little shops, etc. There is a modern downtown area, of course, but we are managing to avoid it!

The rv park we use here is a real parking lot. Our front door opens onto our neighbor's water and sewer connections. There is no place to park our truck except on the street if all the places are rented. Fortunately, we are here to visit friends so spend our days at their home. This works fine for sleeping.

We'll be leaving here on Tuesday or Wednesday headed for Reno. We'll go north to pick up I-80 (new road!) and turn west to go through Salt Lake City for our destination on the western side of Nevada. Who knows if we will find a place we like or not. It seems like we are having an early fall this year so if it starts snowing on our parade we'll have to head for warmer climes.

My wife is talking about remaining in the rv rather than immediately buying a house. I'm kind of ok with that but there are a few kinks that we'd have to work out. This trailer is eight years old and needs to be replaced if we are going to be living in it. We have read about one we like on the internet but that isn't the same as seeing and touching one. If we can find what we want, we may be vagabonds for a while. I'll keep in touch.

Just a few more things.....

I was looking at some of my posts and figured out that I haven't mentioned a few things that might make our weird journey more understandable.

We have wanted to leave Florida for some time. This isn't the best of times to sell the house but because we bought before the big increase in prices we could sell and still make a little. We want to spend some time visiting some of the natural wonders found in the Western part of the US. Driving 1,500 miles from Florida for every trip got boring not to mention expensive. So we sold the house and are planning on buying another, simpler home, in the Southwest. We'll start checking out Nevada but Arizona and New Mexico aren't out of bounds.

We've been on I-10 many times but now with Gustav around, going North would seem reasonable. We also have relatives in Northern Missouri and friends in Colorado Springs we want to visit. So it's I-70 for us; life on the big slab. It's not fun but how much fun is Kansas anyway?

Anyway, that's why we are in Nashville; our intermediate stops and our eventual destination - so far as we know. We are good at changing direction in the middle of things so don't hold me to any of that stuff! The only thing I'm sure of is that we are in Nashville.

Take it easy!

Nashville Cats

Hello from Nashville, Country Music capital of the world. Got here this afternoon after another tiring drive. Atlanta was a giant pain even on the weekend. We are planning on spending a few days here to regroup. It's a nice enough park; even has a dog run.

Didn't see any cops on our trip Friday up to Perry, GA. Today we saw 6 or 8 including several who were busy writing tickets. Don't know if it is the holiday or what. Of course, pulling the trailer on the open road; we don't have to worry much about speeding. We might speed in town but 60 is a comfortable speed on the highway. It also gets us mileage that is marginally acceptable (9 or 10 miles to the gallon). Gas has been from $3.49 to $3.69 a gallon; diesel is a bit over $4. The parks we have used so far have been in the $15-20 range. Mastercard will love us this month!

Take it easy out there; them people are plum crazy!

WOW!!

Now I've got a problem: we are leaving Tampa Bay, probably for ever, so what's with the title of the blog? Hmmmm. Guess I'll have to move on.

Today we left Florida soil; we've no idea if or when we might return. We moved to Florida in 2000 because our mother's both lived near St. Pete. They have both passed away so now there is no reason for us to live here. We have friends and an aunt/uncle in Florida; otherwise, there are no familial obligations here.

Perhaps I'll start a new blog and leave a link here. I just haven't a clue about it's name! LOL Isn't life fun. John Lennon is supposed to have said 'life is what happens while you are busy making other plans'. Well, it's sure working for me. Maybe that should be the title of the new one: 'While I'm making other plans'. Sounds ok, any thoughts?

I'm tired; it's been a long day and I'm tired. Have a good day & take it easy.

Still having fun

We have decided that we are leaving this park in Dunedin on Thursday morning and heading north on I-75. It will take a couple days to get out of Florida since we need to stop and see family. I'm glad I'm not being chased by a hurricane!

Went down to Englewood yesterday to drop off some family memorabilia with a cousin. Funny how some people are really into that kind of thing. It doesn't mean a lot to me but, of course, I don't have any children to "build a dynasty". And I learned something interesting! I am a second generation Irish immigrant for I am eligible for Irish citizenship. Hmmm. Interesting! Maybe I'll try for it.

Hope things are going ok. Have a good one.

Haven't I been bad!

No posts in three weeks. Well, sorry but I'm in never-never land. Or somewhere close to it. Actually, I'm in Dunedin, FL about 10 miles from our old house. We parked the rig here because it would make it easy to load it with stuff from the house. As you saw in my last post, that plan worked almost too well. We had to treble the size of our storage overflow area. Now I have to figure out how to dump all that STUFF!

We hoped that we might find a new rig to replace this one. The newer trailers have slideouts that add perhaps 30 square feet of living space. That doesn't sound like much until you think about our trailer having 200 square feet TOTAL. That even includes the area taken up by the stove, sink, bed, etc. 30 square feet; something around 3 sq. m. would be a lot.

We've looked at most of the trailers in the area, and because this is a vacation destination there are plenty. We haven't found anything that has both good construction and nice usage of space. Even the Airstreams, the all aluminium ones, that cost about $80-90,000 and have beautiful wood work, aren't acceptable; the shower in them is too small for me to use! Honestly, I'm not THAT big! We want to buy the trailer before buying the truck because it is easy to buy a trailer that is too big to be towed by a given truck. If we buy the trailer first, we can use it's size to help with the truck purchase. Generally, buying a truck larger than needed is more expensive to buy, more expensive to run and less comfortable while you are riding in it.

Anyway, we've pretty much decided to take this trailer and this truck and drive out west to where we might want to buy a house. Then, if we can find anything, we'll buy house, truck, trailer & whatever else in whatever order! At least we will have the dealer's who sold us the stuff near by so we can beat on them as necessary. If we can't find the stuff we want, who the hell knows! We may emigrate!

Hope you are having fun but do be careful out there!

Oops, two more things: Tropical Storm Fay was headed our way but missed us entirely. Rained a bunch on Eastern Florida though. The other thing is that I'm back in the Microsoft fold - this is being done on my new Toshiba laptop. I just couldn't take that awful Apple hardware. Threw it in the trash and enjoyed the experience. Sure wish I had that operating system though. (Sigh!)

OMG!!!

We closed on the house yesterday. It was one of those closings that doesn't do much for your blood pressure but it did happen. The night before the closing, the purchaser started complaining (via his agent) about lint in the attic. I called him up and told him that if he wanted to use this as an excuse to not close it was fine with me. He decided to take care of the lint himself. Hell, it's been there since before we bought the house eight years ago. Our inspector found the dryer vent hose was broken and had spilled lint into the attic. They fixed the hose but didn't clean up.

Then at the closing, the first paper my wife was to sign had our last name mis-spelled in two places (MY name which is the same, was spelled correctly). So we all sat around for about 20 minutes while the title company rep corrected and re-printed all the paperwork. What an idiot! Nikki, I sure hope I never see you again.

So now we are living in our twenty-six foot travel trailer - with our dog and cat! It is so crowded that the dog can only turn around in the bedroom and under the dinette. We dumped stuff in here for later sorting; guess we'd better get busy! You can see for yourself here:






We are having second thoughts about the boat. Getting rid of it in a couple of years might be really difficult - that bothers me a lot. Then my wife is now saying that she used the boat idea to try to get me to leave Florida. It's crazy and manipulative but it does sound like her. We'll have to discuss that when we are more grounded. Right now we are just feeling too tired for sane discussion. But I'm thinking a new RV (larger!) is in our future.

Take it easy out there, it's dangerous!

Jeez, time flies, etc.

Wow! Guess I've been slow about updating my blog. Sorry!

Things are going along just fine except that we are going somewhat more than slightly crazy. The house appraised at more than the selling price but it really had to; it would have killed the sale otherwise. Then we had a wood destroying organism inspection. Fortunately we knew it was coming and I'd noticed some dry rot on the garage door. So we spent the odd $1000 on a new door. Just had to do it.

Last week we went up and got our trailer. We took the time to clean it from roof to wheels since you can't do that kind of cleaning in most parks. The interior is awful but it looks good outside! Anyway then we brought it down to a park in the area. We plan to move into it after the house is sold. We have a few things to do around town so it's nice to have a place to stay that isn't a hotel. I haven't even been over to check on it again because we parked it on Thursday and haven't stopped moving since. Friday and Saturday we had a garage sale. Now remember that the object was to get rid of things so in that regard we were successful. Making money wasn't much of a success but who cares. For example, we sold a bunch of lawn tools (shovels, rakes, etc) for $1 each. Considering that they are $15 to $25 each at the store, a slightly used tool for a buck sounds good to me. It did to others as well! LOL

Saturday was our daughter's birthday (still under 40!) but we couldn't really celebrate but she did come over yesterday & we had a nice time. Nice enough that she decided to stay over even though that meant sleeping on the floor since we sold the guest bed. She left this morning with a box full of pots & pans. We are scheduling last payments for utilities, changing mailing addresses, ordering a dumpster; all the fun stuff.

Hopefully, I'll be posting again early next week. I'll either be using the old laptop (Sony Vaio from 2001) or I'll have a new one. The Apple iMac G5(from 2005) has died. The troubleshooting part of their website says the logic board needs to be replaced. That company has such a wonderful operating system and such shitty hardware. It's just a shame.

Go forth and prosper folks! And be careful out there.

Happy Independence Day!

This should be a good day. A combination of traditional and non: the traditional is a bbq at the neighbor's; the non is that we will have the VA appraiser looking at our house today for the prospective buyer. It's gotta be done but I admit to amazement that someone is coming out to do it on the holiday.

Yesterday we signed a contract to store our furniture with a moving company. We'll be paying them somewhere between $250 and $300 a month to keep our things safe, dry and cool. We opted for air conditioned storage hoping that the furniture will survive in better condition. What a deal!

Have a Happy 4th of July!

There are some pretty spots around here.....

I live near an area that has been set aside as a wetland. It's the reason we have so many bird and animal visitors. This little backwater is about a mile from my house. During the dry season, it is completely dry. Now it obviously is not. Here's hoping for lots of rain this summer. The aquaifer needs it.

Things may be moving

We have a contract on our house. There is, of course, a hangup. The buyer wants a 100% VA loan. That means that the VA will have their own inspector/valuation specialist evaluate the house. If they think the house is worth what we are asking, then he gets the loan. If they don't think the house is worth it, he doesn't. So we'll just have to see how it appraises. The problem is that there are so few comparable sales that it's tough to value it. Bottom line, more waiting.

It was pretty overcast in Florida today. Took this photo out where there is a way out to the Gulf. It is low tide so the barrier islands are more obvious than usual. Even though it isn't nice, people are out collecting shells. Have a good one.

Boring Me!

Well, I'm sitting here surfing along trying to catch up on the 2.2 million blogs I've bookmarked. It's tough but that's what some of us retirees do! So I'm checking out http://effortlesslyaverage.blogspot.com/ and he's got a test for "How Evil Are You?" Here's where to find the test: http://home.att.net/~slugbutter/evil/ Of course I had to take it! Well, here's the proof:


How evil are you?

Yep, I'm a pussy. Not evil at all. Except, of course, in the eyes of my step-children who I beat and molested at every turn. Hmmm, well, maybe not at every turn; most? LOL No, not really. Really I'm just a softy who longs for world peace and step children who don't require money after they are 30. LOL And a magic formula for losing weight without any effort. (NO laughing matter!)

Recently I figured out that I'd exercised twice this year and six times in December of last year. I was afraid to go back farther! Isn't that an awful statistic? I was appalled. When I was in the Army we learned an exercise routine called "The Daily Dozen". It wasn't considered good; just kind of minimalistic. Guess it is 20 years since I've done it. I'm working on getting back into it now that our exercise equipment is all in storage. At least I've tried 4 times in the last 8 days. Hope it does something!

Speaking of the house - we've countered an offer we received. It isn't what we wanted but we can live with it. Now we'll see if the other people can manage it. Please think good thoughts for us if you can. And regardless, be careful out there, it's dangerous!

Kitty Jail

Whoa! My first screwup!

Don't know what happened but somehow the Blogger software only kept about half of my post! First time I've had anything like that happen. Fortunately, I prepare my post offline and still have the original. Just so you don't miss out on any of my fabulous prose; here's what got deleted. Have a good one!

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

Yes! Yet another pointless American holiday who's existance is a boon only to retailers. Gee, I'm looking forward to it.

Actually, it should be a pretty good day. Our daughter is coming up and will bring dinner; a dinner carefully selected so that I don't have to cook anything! Usually dinner might be something for me to grill but not today. She's always careful that on Mother's Day it is something that she and I can do and on Father's Day it is something she & her mom will do. Kind of cute, huh,

Went up to see relatives who live outside of Crystal River on Friday. My wife's aunt was having a birthday so we took them out to dinner. They are only a few years older than we so it's not like the traditional 'aunt' relationship. Had a good visit. The place they like to eat has halfway eatable food but they seem to have never heard of herbs. I had a large piece of tuna; it must have been 12-16 oz (400 g). Unfortunately, it was dry & poorly seasoned. A little sauce and it could have been magnificent. My wife & her uncle both had "prime rib". They serve huge portions, probably 3 lb (1.5 kilo) but, again, unseasoned. Still, they like the place so we keep going back. There aren't a lot of nice restaurants in their area and this one certainly gives you quantity and basically good ingredients.

Happy Father's Day!

It's summer here even if it doesn't officially start for another week. Took this photo of our weather station this morning. It tells the whole story. Not yet 07:00. Outside it is 93% humidity and 74 degrees F (say 23 C). Thanks to air conditioning it is the same temperature inside but only 39% humidity. It's hard to imagine living here without the air conditioning.

WeatherStation.jpg">

Have a happy day and be careful out there!

Can it really be June?

The year just seems to be flying by; can it really be June already? I guess we are doing things but wow. It is 93 degrees outside (like 34 C) so I guess our defacto summer has begun. The rain hasn't begun yet and we are needing it. Florida has had a drought for several years; we need our rain.

We've had a couple more people look at the house. Boy, I sure hope someone buys it soon! My wife is driving me crazy. She is worried that it won't sell and we'll have to stay here. She gets herself all worked up then lashes out. This morning, for example, she was wiping off the stove when she just started swearing and banged her hand down on something. When I asked what was wrong, she said she needed some water to clean the stove and had already cleaned the sink so she'd have to clean it again. I mean really, is that a reason to fly off the handle? Jeez!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all well. Every other day I hear about someone with some horrible disease or other not to mention the hundreds of thousands endangered by cyclone, flood and famine. All we can do is keep on but it's an amazingly dangerous place out there. Take care.

Hurricane Season

Howdy, y'all, from the great state of Florida! Hurricane season begins day after tomorrow so the stores are starting out with their sales on generators, shutters & all that stuff. Personally I think I prefer leaving if a hurricane is on the way. If the house is trashed; me being here won't help much. And it's all just 'stuff' so maybe we would have to do without or buy new. I can live with that.

The house has been on the market for three weeks and we've had six or eight showings. We've had two offers both indicative of the lousy real estate market here in Florida now. The first was just low; we rejected it. The second is a full price offer (great!) BUT it is tied to some kind of 'gift' program. The purchaser is given a gift of money to be used as a down payment by some foundation no one has ever heard of. The seller is then obligated to repay the down payment and then some to the foundation. This doesn't sit well with me.

There are several things I don't like. 1) The purchaser is given something that they needn't repay. I don't believe in the 'free lunch'. 2) The purchaser is not really involved in the transaction. They filled out some paperwork but.... When one works for and earns something, one is involved. When something is given to one, it just feels different. 3) This is clearly intended for "first house" buyers; this house is not a starter home. 4) The last thing is simply practical: they are asking for a larger discount than we wish to give.

So we are keeping the house extra clean. We pay rent on a storage unit with some of our things packed away. We are ready at a moment's notice to take the dog and leave so someone can view our house. There are several restaurants in the neighborhood who have tables outside where one may take a dog. We are getting to know them all! We are also creating a monster. The dog doesn't like all the traffic around our table. In an attempt to give her something else to think about, I feed her a few french fries. (Almost everything come with fries! aka chips in the UK, pomme frites in France, etc.) It does keep her quiet but maybe at the cost of her waistline! Hope the house sells soon!

Take care out there, it's dangerous.

Still truckin....

Originally I started this post whining about things around the house that are breaking. Then the ridiculous nature of the post hit me. I'm whining about a leaking filter and this is in a month when there are maybe two or three HUNDRED THOUSAND Asians dead from earthquakes & cyclones. There must be at least a million people in danger from who knows what diseases, lack of food and water, etc. That says nothing about the people in Africa caught in the many wars on that continent. Damn, it's getting rough out there and I'm whining about a leak in a pool filter. Isn't that crap!

It does, however, provide a segueway into the bigger question: my responsibility to the world. In this age of instant communication I can know about many of the problems on our earth. To effectively help with ANY of these problems, I'd need to do quite a lot of research. But, even if I could find an honest way to assist there is still the question of rightness. How much of my emotional/economic strength should I invest in the war in Dufur? How much in the Chinese earthquake? How much in the Myanmar cyclone? How much in the human rights fights in: China; Tibet; Palestine; Lebanon; Cyprus, etc? How much in the fight for economic progress & transparency in the US financial markets?

Isn't it right for me to be involved in my own (local, state & national) problems; and simply wish the best for others in their struggles in far off lands? Honestly, why would a fat, old American like me should have anything to contribute to the cause of freedom in Tibet? We have little enough freedom here, why am I setting myself up as someone who can advise them? I think I'll go have a V-8!

Good luck, y'all! It's dangerous out there!

Don

Not a lot to report

Things are quiet around here for the first time in quite a while. Getting the house ready for sale was a lot of work. We had a couple of showings the first day but nothing since. I'm not expecting a lot really. The housing market is stuffed to overflowing with houses so the few buyers who are out there are kind of lost. Once in a while one might decide our house calls to them but it's probably not going to be very often. Just in case you would like to check out the house it is listed here: http://www.edandbevcostello.com/featured-listings.html The MLS number is 7344770. The photo they show is just of the pool.

Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday. It is always difficult to go out and seldom satisfactory so we stay in. Our daughter will come up and do dinner; possibly with some help from me though I've been told that all I'm supposed to do is to provide champagne & beer. We'll see. These made up holidays are so stupid. They are just an excuse to buy cards & crappy little presents that no one wants. Bah, humbug!

I'm posting a photo of my room. I'm really proud of the way I've cleaned it up. The trash can is full for about the 4th time but otherwise, it's pretty good. I used to have an easy chair in front of the desk but it makes the room smaller so I put it in storage. The closet is packed full of crud, of course, but you can't see it!

Have a good one & be careful out there.

Operation Sellthehouse is underway

We choose our realtor and signed the papers to put the house on the market. The relief was physical. For better or worse we are going to find out if it sells or not. Actually, I'm not sure that I care. I'd like to go boating certainly but this isn't a slum and if times are going to get worse, it's nice to have settled expenses, knowledge of the area and all the rest. We'll see.

The news out of Myanmar is so awful. It's hard to imagine tens of thousands of people dead. They say twice the number known dead are missing. It is such a tragedy. For us in North America it is a little known place and the thousands of people lost are hard to imagine. Wikipedia suggests that about 1,800 people lost their lives in Katrina; so this is more than ten times worse! Not to mention that these people started with so much less than the people of New Orleans. The people of Myanmar will be in my thoughts for a long time.

I have no real opinion on the Olympics in Beijing. Clearly the country has human rights problems but since Mr Bush the 2nd came long, so do we. Not to mention that I can hardly conceive of the path China has followed for the last 20 years or so. I should have said they were the country most true to Communist ideals. I know that Communist does not equal socialist but there was some similarity. No longer! In a couple more years, they will have more billionaires than the rest of the world combined. But I imagine they will still have a government run by the Communist party for the party elite. It's an amazing place. Guess I'll have to visit one day. In the mean time, here's an Aussie who just spent a few days there.

http://coddledegg.blogspot.com/2008/05/china-sort-of.html

Well, I'm off to bed. Can't do this stuff all night long. Be careful out there, it's dangerous!

Still struggling

We are still struggling with our house and realtors. The third realtor we talked with didn't help matters when she said she would market the house at $325K - now we have a $75K difference and none of the people seemed to be totally insane. We are still working that problem.

Our family visits were great. No one got crazy though we did certainly drink more than would be good for us. My stepson is 36 though when around your parents you always remain the child. He and his 'significant other' have been together for almost 12 years. They talk about marriage but we told them that it is a two edged sword. Lots of long-term couples have broken up after taking their vows. It it also true that legally we (and his father) are his next of kin; not his life partner. At least I hope he makes a will.

The 'significant other' is a nice person but she hates to travel. Therefore, the only time we've spent with her was when we were visiting San Diego; which isn't much! She works as a nurse and usually works the night shift making it even more difficult to spend time together. Stepson kept saying how she would like it here just relaxing so maybe someday we'll get to see them together outside San Diego.

It was really easy having him here. He is interesting to talk with and undemanding in the extreme. We talked quite a bit about cooking since he also likes to cook. He works in the IT department of a construction sub-contractor. They do a lot of work in hospitals, hotels, etc so haven't stopped work like the people who build houses. He and his sister went out together one day & finally made it home about 22:00 - sounds like they had a good time which isn't always the case. All in all, the perfect visit.

In our spare time we are still fixing things around the house. Funny how fixing something brings something else to mind that needs work. My last big thing is replacing a few posts in our fence. They are sagging and just can't look like that. The other thing is to get my room, this room, looking like a person lives here! Now it looks like a 15 year olds room except that I don't have any posters on the walls. The two computers is kind of a problem but they'll just have to get over it. I'm putting the laptop in the truck so no one will see it and I can check out wifi at Starbucks. The storage area is close to full but I'll keep jamming stuff in there until it screams.

Take it easy out there; it's dangerous!

I'm still here....

No, haven't died or even moved but we have been busy. I rented a storage unit and we have it about half full of books, exercise equipment, boating stuff; all kinds of stuff. I've also made trips to Goodwill and Hospice with donations. It's all part of getting the house ready to be on the market. I have some fence repairs to make and a small deck to replace. Yesterday and today we talked with realtors.

Now we have some interesting decisions to make. The housing market here in Florida stinks. Trying to price the house so we aren't giving it away yet are scaring potential buyers away is a trick. The two realtors we found weren't a lot of help. One suggested pricing it in the $250K range; the other said $300K. Hmmm, a 20% variation is not really what we were wanting. Of course, there are only about two houses that have sold in our neighborhood in the last few months. Both realtors said the banks are being very picky about having recent appraisals but there just aren't enough sales to be meaningful. It's a tough situation. We'll see what happens when we get another realtor or two in here.

On an completely different topic, you've probably heard about Mrs. Clinton claiming to have come under fire when she visited Bosnia. Then just when the reports leave the front page, Bill starts complaining that the reports are being unfair to her. Ha! If I didn't know better I'd be wondering if he isn't really working for Mr. Obama! What a hoot.

Finally, I may not post for another ten days or so. We have family coming to visit Sunday through Thursday. And our son, who lives in California, will be here through the following Tuesday (if American Airlines gets their planes back in the air). He's 36 but he's still my wife's little boy.

Good luck, it's getting weirder and weirder out there!

Last weeks comics.....

I'm usually three or four days late looking at the Sunday paper. I just find it a lot of noise that means very little to me. But once in a while I find something I especially like. Here is a link to the Non Sequitur strip from 9 Mar 08. It describes me almost perfectly.

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2008/03/09/?campid=0&ssns=9&

I stupidly registered as a Republican when we moved to Florida. Thus before every election I receive fifteen or twenty calls trying to get me to vote for some idiot Republican or another. Please don't get me wrong, all Republican's are not idiots but sometimes it sure seems that all people running for office are!

Polls and statistics are another hot button. Mr. Miller has really nailed the pollsters in his strip. Well, you have to remember that the pollster is being paid by someone who wants a certain result from the poll. Yes, Virginia, even tv sponsored polls can be slanted. Even if you want to be fair, it's tough to both write questions and provide answers that will enable a range of answers to complex questions.

Enough rant. Tonight I'm off to a meeting of my local American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) group. Every month we have a speaker from a mutual fund company, brokerage or such who talks to us about their investing methodology. Many are a little too technical for me; I think the markets are both emotional and political so technical answers don't really satisfy me. But that's just my un-humble opinion. There are plenty of technicians who have made money in the stock market. Still, I learn something from every speaker. If nothing else they pique my interest in areas that I've never before considered. Here is the national web site: http://www.aaii.com/ for those who might like to check it out.

Take it easy out there; it's dangerous!

Florida Scene

This is an odd winter. We had one freeze that damaged a bunch of plants. But we haven't had the consistently nice weather that one comes to expect. There has been a lot of cool cloudy weather and quite a lot of rain. The rain is good because the state has had a water shortage for many years; but in the Tampa area we are almost 2 inches above normal so far this year. When our friends were here we went out to Clearwater Beach and got sand blasted off the beach. The breeze picked up that sand and just peppered you with it. Today we are having 20 mph gusts. It's just different this year!



Yesterday I was in John Chestnut County Park. It is on the other side of Lake Tarpon from the photos I posted few weeks ago. Here there is a boat ramp and some places where you can fish from the shore. I got a kick out of the avian help that these two guys had.

Have a good one!

Alone at last!

We've had friends visiting us since the 28th of February. It's a long time even though we love them dearly. It's a long time even though they took time out to visit other people in other parts of Florida. But now they are gone.

Back to my morning computer fix. Back to a 'normal' amount of coffee. Back to cooking for two. Back to quiet. Back to blogging!

The couple who visited are really nice but the woman can talk non-stop for several hours. I've no idea how she breathes since she certainly doesn't have to pause for it. She does read though and that quiets her for a while. Maybe she is storing up oxygen during that time for later use. The guy doesn't talk as much (how could he?) but he doesn't read. So he is always around to talk if his wife is reading. Of course, this last week has been fairly cool so we were stuck in the house a lot. Yeah, just to make escape more difficult. LOL We did go out to the beach but the wind was kicking up the sand so it was practically sand blasting our skin off.

All I can say is "Thank Goodness for alcohol"!!!

Gas mileage woes

Recently I posted couple of photos and complained about the streets/highways we have around here. Of course, the price of gasoline is going up; and fluctuating as well. One day it is $2.95 a gallon and three days later it is $3.15. Nothing to many other countries but for this country clearly someone in the chain is making serious money. I'm expecting a Congressional investigation after they get tired of bothering baseball players.

It is very flat here, no hills to speak of, but most speed limits are 45 mph (traffic moving a bit faster) and there are stop lights every 1 to 3 miles. Now in a reasonable world, these lights would be coordinated so one could travel many miles on a main road without being stopped. Not so here! There are lots of local governments that have control over their own lights. Therefore, they aren't in sync and the driver gets to stop a lot.

This doesn't help mileage! Going from zero to 50 then back to zero every two miles for a twenty-five mile trip is wasteful; to put it mildly! I typically drive our pickup truck. It's a small one (for the breed) with only a 5.3 liter gasoline engine. It really gets pretty good mileage considering what it is and our local conditions. I have raised it's in-town miles per gallon from 15 to 18 (from 15l/100km to 13l/100km) by using a 2000 rpm limit. I just keep a light foot on the accelerator and it will shift at 2000. I keep up with most traffic using this technique. It's easy enough to pass me while I'm accelerating but only about ten percent of cars do. This country is known for it's non-adherence to the idea of the left lane is the fast lane. I do though, basically I never use the left lane because I know my acceleration will be too slow for those folks. Here's a picture from the driver's seat going over the Bay Bridge; you see 2000 rpm isn't too tough on my desire to move quickly. You might also manage to make out that the truck has 110,000 miles (175,000 km or so); about 40,000 of which were towing our 7,000 pound travel trailer. It's a very nice vehicle; American car manufacturers may be losing money hand over fist but they are building some pretty nice machines.

Have a good one!

Reading corner

Books I've been reading.

For the first time in quite a while I've been reading some non-fiction. A relative loaned me two books on submarines and I've enjoyed both. "Torpedo Junction" by Homer Hickam is the true story of the a little known part of WWII. In 1942 the German navy sent a few submarines to attack shipping off the US coast. They were successful beyond anyone's dreams. The US was doing nothing at all to protect shipping so the subs could just lie offshore and wait until a ship came between them and the lights on the shore. They could then easily see what kind of ship it was and torpedo it if it were big and important enough. It was an interesting story. The author talked to many survivors of the sinkings, ex-submariners in Germany and US Coast Guard sailors of the time. Very interesting and a fast read.

The second book was "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. Another true story, this tells of two men who became obsessed by a sunken submarine they found while diving. It was clearly a German sub but no sub was known to be within several hundred miles of it's position. They spent several years and a bunch of money diving on the sub and researching the identity of the boat they had found. Added to the mystery was the danger of diving at the depths required to reach the sub. Another well researched true story about subs.

Finally, I got "The Club Dumas" by Arturo Perez-Reverte from the library. I found his books in the bookstore and thought it might be interesting. It's sort of a mystery and sort of a thriller. It is beautifully translated from Spanish by Sonia Soto. Reminds me somewhat of "The DiVinci Code" in that I can only follow about a tenth of the references without assistance.

Happy reading!

P.S. "The Club Dumas" turned out to be somewhat disappointing. The person responsible for the murders turns out insane at the end and there is no actual evidence of their responsibility. The motivations behind another character are completely unexplained; even their existance is glossed over. I'll try another of the author's books though because I did like his/his translator's use of language.

Misc. Foolishness

I was reading Wombat's http://limousinelife.blogspot.com/ the other day and he suggested that the average age in the Tampa area was 241. He's probably close. I get a kick out of folks like the ones in this photo. It's a new motorcycle club - Hell's Grandparents.



What are they thinking? First of all, motorcycling isn't generally an old person's sport. If either of these people dropped their bike, even in a parking lot, they'd need a crane to help them pick it up. Then, of course, there is the lack of helmets. The law in Florida says they aren't required and actually I prefer that it be left to the individual whether they wish to wear one or not. However, I also think it's pretty dumb not to wear one! These folks are riding on a heavily traveled road. Three lane in each direction and traffic moves between 50 and 60 mph (that's almost 100 kph) though the speed limit is 45. It's just not the place to take chances.



The second photo is of a new 'safety' feature our local government has purchased. It is a new kind of walk-don't walk sign that has a countdown timer to tell you when the light is going to change. This was taken a couple miles away from the previous photo but on the same road. Here the speeds are, if anything, a little higher than there. There are VERY few pedestrians in this area however I think the drivers really like the new signs. It gives them warning that they have to speed up to make the light! I don't think that was the intention but you know how these things work.

Drive safely until next time.

13 Feb 08 - Found these statistics from 2001 - the most recent I could find in the USA Today newspaper.

The metro areas are ranked by the number of traffic deaths per 100,000 residents in 2000.

1. Orlando 18.8
2. Tampa-St. Petersburg 17.6
3. West Palm Beach 16.6
4. Austin 15.8
5. Las Vegas 15.4
6. Phoenix 15.2
7. Memphis 14.7
8. Jacksonville 14.6
9. Fort Lauderdale 14.5
10. Kansas City 14.2

Sources: The Road Information Program, NHTSA

The article suggested several reasons for the number of Florida cities in this list. They included elderly drivers and the number of visitors. There was no information about motorcyclists. I would include the fact that many Florida cities have a large number of high speed streets. In New York you might get hit by a cab but it'll only be going 30 mph not 60.

It's Over! And a new beginning.

Whew! Having a party is fun but stressful even when you do whatever you can to make it easier. This one was fine. Lots of talk, a little impromptu dancing, eating and drinking; all the usual stuff. I think everyone had a good time. Much to my chagrin I've got a little hang over this morning. Maybe I can blame it on the cigarette smoke. LOL No, Don, don't you think it might be the booze? Hmmm, gotta consider that. The Pinot Grigio was flowing pretty freely, to the point that I lost track of the number of bottles I opened. Guess we have to do our share to prop up the euro. And the scotch I was drinking would help the pound. At least the food was from the US. Well, anyway, now we can go to our friend's parties guilt free.

While we were busy with the party, life went on. We now have a new second cousin twice removed (or whatever) born last night. As an indicator of the quality of life in this country at this time, the child was born out of wedlock so the mother's parent's insurance would cover the birth. I don't really give a *$%& and I know the parents will love and care for their child; indeed, they will probably marry now. But I think it's pretty sad that choices like that have to be made. If you choose not to marry but still wish to have children, that's fine. I respect that. But to restrain yourself from marrying prior to your child's birth for economic reasons is really sad. Having said that, the parents are very young and may decide that they do not wish to marry now that the impetus is gone.

Life in the fast lane, huh. Have a good one.

Quiet Week

It's pretty quiet around here these days. In our neighborhood there are four or five families who ocassionally give parties. It's our turn so we are having a party for 12 - 16 people Saturday afternoon. It will be fun, we, especially my wife, just doesn't like doing it. We know it is our turn, we know it will be fine, we know everyone will have fun but still, it's a struggle. It is just getting through it. Next week will be better.

Weather isn't helping any. Its been warm but now it's cooling off when we will have people over. Our house isn't big enough for 15; we need the outside areas. Oh well, maybe they will leave earlier!

BTW - we are still eating away on the leftovers! We just finished off the chicken rice tonight. That was one big doorstop! Tasty but next time I've got to put in less rice. LOL Leave it to me to screw up something simple.

More next week. Have a good weekend.

Leftovers

The fridge is full of leftovers and I thought I'd share with you all. Wish I could in actual fact too!

A week or so ago Cinn at dancingangelcafe.blogspot.com gave a chicken & rice recipe. I had a little more than 2 pounds (a kilo give or take) of chicken thighs in the freezer and thought it sounded like a great use for them. I tried making it but put in way too much rice. So I added some more chicken and ended up with this mess. It tastes ok but you could make a nice doorstop out of it if you let it dry just a bit.

There's a pork loin roast. We cook it with garlic & herbs then the leftovers get eaten just for snacks. I should probably learn to make something more substantial but it doesn't usually last long enough.

There is some Cajun Roast left from last night. A guy named Justin Wilson used to have a cajun cooking show on public tv. He was actually a Safety Engineer for some public utility but he had the show and wrote a couple of looseleaf books that we found. This is a favorite from one of them. You salt & pepper a chuck roast then cut 4 or 5 slits in each side. You insert a piece of garlic, green onion & pepper in each slit. (We use a jalapeno.) Then you toss it in a cooking bag with potatoes, carrots, onion, mushrooms & wine. In about 3 hours you have a lovely piece of meat. The vegies don't do all that well though; sometime I'm going to try leaving them out but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm sure they add a lot to the gravy though so maybe I should just not serve them. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

Gotta go. It's "fasting blood test day" so it's nothing but water until we get the test done. Now there is a motivator to get moving! Have a good one.

Almost forgot! Watched the Giants win the Superbowl last night then found this link. Hope it works this year.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/62773-bullish-investors-should-be-rooting-for-the-ny-giants?source=d_email

OMG!

I just read about this:

http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html

You can now use google to check out the sky above your head! Want to see a constellation? Did you hear that a planet is close to earth this week? They say it's all there. I've got to download this thing and check it out. Wow!

It's fluff, of course, but if it motivates a few children to become astronomers or astronauts; that's a good thing. It's better than watching tv.

Clever site

Corporations are trying to figure out the internet and how to use it to increase sales. Here's an innovative idea from HEMA. It is a Dutch department store. I'm told that the first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam and that now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany . Take a look at HEMA's product page . You can't order anything and it's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

This has to get attention which is the whole point of advertising.

http://producten.hema.nl/

Rant - the financial mess

If you are interested in finance, the stock markets and that whole area as I am, you are probably well aware of the amazing stupidity, cupidity and downright duplicity of our "financial community". Little by little the news is getting out that these people are making the old "robber barons" like John D. Rockefeller look like pretty nice people.

The stories of the guy who brought down Barings Bank and now the guy who caused a French bank to lose something like $7 billion dollars (3.5 billion euros I think) are the stories of crooks. They get caught sometimes and go to jail sometimes and sometimes not. I don't really care about them. It's the other ones that bother me.

The people who have invented these incredibly complex transactions are the people who are scary. I was reading about this financial product called a TOB - a Tender Option Bond. What they do is buy a municipal bond - a bond issued by some local governmental agency. In the US the interest on such bonds is usually tax-free. Then they borrow perhaps 80% of the value of the bond using it as collateral; then they borrow more money, like the remaining 20%, from someone else again using the bond as collateral. Thus, you are getting interest tax free but have your money back as well while paying interest that is tax deductible for corporations. It is when the lender's start fooling around trying to reduce the chance of loss that things get hairy.

The problem is that it does get much more complicated from there. Interest rate changes, especially, are going to change the value of the basic bond; therefore the amount borrowed may no longer be secured. The people who work in brokerage houses can't tell the future any better than your horoscope. I don't believe they can see the problems inherent with these complexities either. That's why Warren Buffett keeps speaking out against derivatives - the more complex the transaction, the more likely it is to crash.

I wish there was a way to get the world out of this mess but it's going to be ugly if it ever does happen. It will make this subprime mess look like good days. So what can we do? 1. Try not to invest in weird things like this. 2. Sit quietly and hope like hell nothing happens! At least those are the only ideas I have. If you have any, I'd love to hear them.

Sunny but cool

Florida is back to being sunny today but it's cool (67F or 19C) and breezy. Went out to the park and took a couple of pictures including this one. This is Lake Tarpon. It's in a very populated area but has a park on each shore and the water is kept pretty clean. I'm staying pretty quiet today. Just doing a few things around the house.

Cut up the meat for beef jerky this a.m. Jerky is a marinated, dried meat. I suppose you could make it out of almost any meat as long as it is lean. I marinate mine overnight in soy sauce and worcester sauce, add hot pepper flakes & a little onion powder and garlic powder. Tomorrow I'll put it on the dryer for five or six hours. I like it ok but my wife, daughter & everyone else really loves it. The three pounds (1.5 kg) of meat should make 12 or 14 ounces (400 g or so) of jerky. All we have to do in invite a couple of friends over and it would be gone.

Not so sunny, Florida

Went out to the local beach yesterday and got this photo of some folks determined to enjoy their stay. It wasn't snowing but it sure wasn't that nice either. When we lived in Washington state there was a saying to the effect that if you let the weather rule you, you'd never go out at all. Here sun is a lot more available so most local people would be hiding inside in this weather. These folks are certainly 'snowbirds'.

Some people don't like the snowbirds because when they come down here they really strain our resources. A doctor visit in the summer might be 'next week' but in the winter it's more like 'next month'. Trying to get your RV repaired in the winter is basically impossible. And I'm not going to speak of the dangers of having hordes of older, lost drivers running around in your city because I'd have to use some really bad language. Still, they are extremely important for the economy of Florida. This place would still be mostly swamp if it weren't for our visitors. So welcome to Florida. I'm glad you are missing out on the snow up north. (And I'll be happy when you head back next spring.) Enjoy the beach!

More Disney

Had a nice comment from meggie over at http://lifesfreetreats.blogspot.com/. She reminded me about a couple other Disney memories.

If you are considering visiting DisneyWorld in Orlando, you should be very careful about what ticket you buy. Each park charges a separate admission unless you buy a multi-park ticket. Parking at each is separate (generally $11 a day) and not included in the admission. The multi-park tickets cover more than one park but you need to check carefully that you are buying what you want. The web site is very helpful and you can buy the tickets ahead of time. That way you don't have to make all these decisions at the ticket window in the heat surrounded by anxious kids and adults. AND be very careful to wear the most comfortable shoes you have. You'll be walking miles. In the week we visited we walked over 29 miles by my wife's pedometer.

Disney is simply Disney. I've never found a substitute and I doubt if there is one (not to mention that I wouldn't look for it - LOL). It is always clean, the people are always happy, the messes cleaned up rapidly. The Orlando Disney complex includes several distinct parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood and more. That isn't counting the zillions of resorts. Here's the list: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/siteMap?id=SiteMapPage Every employee has their name tag with their 'home' listed. There are a lot of kids from all over the world working at Disney. (Kids being defined as anyone under 30! LOL) In Epcot at the various national pavilions, of course, they are nationals of that country. We've always liked Epcot but it is the clean, fake world of Disney; not the warty real world which is so much nicer in our opinion.

Magic Kingdom (the children's park) is totally unreal. Many people bring children who are too small thus by early afternoon there are whiny kids all over the place from missing their naps & too much sugar. It's not the kids fault but they sure are annoying. There are strollers everywhere; often double-wide strollers. There is a parade every afternoon, several live shows daily, and everything is Disney, happy and smiley. You see adults, grownup people without kids in their party, having their photo taken with an actor dressed as Beauty (from Beauty and the Beast). Do you hear my inner grouch coming out?

Mickey Mouse is everywhere. Croc's are a cheap plastic shoe that are all the rage right now. They have holes in the top for ventilation and cost $30. At Disney, the holes are in the Mickey Mouse shape and the shoes are $39. The candy is in the shape of Mickey. The balloons are Mickey shaped. The topiary is great; every cartoon character you can imagine. Come to think of it, it may be plastic; I didn't check.

For me the biggest annoyance is built into the nature of theme parks. They want you to stay a while and spend money; you want to see things then leave. There is no motivation for them to reduce waiting for rides so they keep the lines as long as possible while not actually having riots take place. On many rides, you wait in line, are taken into another area and wait in line there, then are taken into another area to wait more and finally get onto the ride. The ride itself is seldom more that 3 or 4 minutes. I think the only things that take longer are the films in the French & Chinese pavilions; those are about 15 minutes. Even in January, the slowest time, there were 20 to 50 minute waits for many things. (In summer there are other entrances to the rides that are opened to keep waits under control. In winter these are closed off to reduce the staffing required and keep those wait times up. See Queuing Theory 101 in your college catalog.)

The park has two ways you can beat the wait but neither really works to your advantage. Some rides have a 'Single Rider' line that you can use if you don't care about being with your party. They have a 3 seat ride. Lots of couples ride it together and don't want to be split up. So a 'single' can be slid in with the couple, raise the usage rate of the ride and go through faster. Of course, the wait in the single line can be manipulated just like the other waits. The other idea is the 'Fast Path'. Here you use your entry ticket to get a ticket for the ride at a predetermined time. You might arrive at 13:00 and get a ticket good for a ride sometime between 14:30 and 15:30. You go do something else for an hour and a half then go get on the ride. Of course, there is a wait in the 'Fast Path' line! And, needless to say, the timeframe you get is determined by the parks desire to keep you around, not the actual number of people wanting to go on the ride.

There is one thing that definitely adds to the need to wait in line and it is something that just isn't handled very well. There are many people who use wheelchairs to get around Disney for a variety of reasons. These people want to ride the rides as well and Disney does everything they can to accommodate them. Usually this includes stopping the ride for the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to get someone into the ride. Thus all two or three hundred people waiting in line stop and wait for this one person to get on the ride. I applaud Disney for enabling these wheelchair bound people to ride. I just wish they would do it in some better manner. For example, every 10th car might be designed for wheelchair bound folks with special easy entry doors. Why stop the ride so we can all watch someone struggle to get a chair into a standard car? Stop it for the 15 seconds it would take to roll the whole chair on. It's just dumb but then again, there is no motivation. The wheelchair bound get directed to the front of the line. They seldom have any wait at all and the park is giving them that perk so who's to complain? Only the politically incorrect who have had 4 kids going crazy in line for the past 20 minutes.

Would I go again. Well, yes, possibly after the sugar high wears off. But we left Orlando in 1988 & that was the last time we visited until just now in 2008. It could be another 20 years....

Have a good one, it's dangerous out there.

Something to eat

I saw this over on Someone Else's Horescope (http://someoneelseshoroscope.blogspot.com/). We love food and the preparation of it so much that I had to answer.

I have such an great diversity of bloggmates visiting here from near and far...
1. would love to know what some of your dinner favorites are...
2. what your favorite take out is...
3. annnnnd, if you were to cook me a meal what it would be!

1. Dinner favorites - if I cook, a stew of some kind, maybe curry. If my wife cooks, perhaps, chicken piccata. Wine, certainly!
2. Don't do much take out - pizza is usually it.
3. Well, something special for an honored guest. What do you like? BBQ steak, salmon, a pork roast; or if you prefer we could do something like a filet mignon, chicken kiev, enchiladas? We are pretty versatile. There would be a vegetable, a salad and probably bread. Desert is not usually on the menu but if you have a sweet tooth, we might add berries & cream. Would that work?

I forgot something cool

There was one thing that was pretty cool technically. We are Florida residents so get a discounted rate ticket that is only good for certain times of the year. Cool. Who the hell would want to attend in the middle of summer anyway if you had a choice!

However I digress. Twenty years ago you got a photo id resident card. NOW you just get this barcoded ticket. However, when you go to the entrance and stick the ticket into the machine, you are instructed to put your finger in a reader. After that your ticket and fingerprint are associated forever in the Dinsey archives. Every time you use the ticket to enter you need to display that same finger to the reader. If it doesn't match, you'll have a hell of a time entering the park. The rides aren't so picky - yet!

Ready for Big Brother? Well, here he comes, ready or not! Take care out there, someone might be watching!

Disney World

Just returned from a week at Disney World. No, it wasn't my idea. My wife, born in San Diego, visited Disneyland the first year it was open. She also says she would go there with a girl friend in her teen years and pick up sailors. She retains memories of those days. When we lived in Orlando in the early 80's we had Florida Resident passes giving us access to the parks in 3 or 4 of the unpopular months. This is our first visit in 20 years.

It was really ok. We took our trailer over and stayed in Fort Wilderness campground. It's a huge place. Well run, as you would expect with Disney, but arbitrary and silly, ditto. For example, we were parked in an area where dogs were permitted but there was a sign at the entrance to our area that dogs could not go beyond that area. The result was that there was only one small area in which we could walk the dog. They have a HUGE complex, surely they could cough up another acre for a dog run area. Then there is the $5 a day charge because we had a dog. Then there is the wifi - only near the office and $10 a day. We had the cable tv - unfortunately not normal cable but a Disney special with all their networks over represented and one or two representatives from other networks.

With our passes we could go anywhere we wanted so we hit most of the parks. Animal Kingdom has animals but you don't get to see much of them because the rides don't stop. We did really like the 3D movie It's Tough to be a Bug. 3D has sure come a long way since I last saw it! Disney-MGM was dull but my wife says it had the best roller coaster in the Rock and Roll Coaster. Hit a lot of the old rides in the Magic Kingdom; some were updated, some were dated, a couple were new.

Epcot has always been a favorite of my wife and I. We visited quite a bit when we lived in Orlando and had a teen-aged daughter. We revisited the old places and saw the new ones for the first time. It was ok. The revamp of Spaceship Earth is nothing to get hot & bothered about. The new ride Soarin has huge lines but was a mixed bag for us; we liked it but there were uncomfortable moments. You are supposed to be soaring over California but first of all, the photos are taken from a helicopter or small plane. They jump from place to place without warning so a scene going over rafters on a river is followed by having a golf ball hit at you which is followed by going over a high, snowy ridge with a big dropoff on the other side. Also you are up in the air, only 5 or 6 feet, but they tip you forward and backwards in your chair. Uncomfortable.

The place is horrendously expensive. Prices were generally twice what one might expect elsewhere and, unfortunately, the quality was often not there. Spending $15 for pasta with shrimp is a lot here in Florida. When the sauce comes from a can and the shrimp are old; there just isn't much excuse for that; even Chili's or TGI Friday would do better.

So, even with all this whining, we had a great time. Wifey got to see or ride whatever she wanted. I got to check out whatever I wanted. Kid came over for a day and a half & checked out what she wanted. We came home without a single souvenir between us. It could be a record. Photos, well maybe, if I can find anything worth posting.

Be careful out there!

Love this guy!

Someone introduced me to this guy. He may or may not be a great ventriloquist, but he's got a great dummy! He's just funny and that makes him less powerful AND the people who he represents. The dummy is Achmed the Dead Terrorist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskT6YfVB6E

Yes, Achmed wouldn't be singing Xmas carols but... it's humor folks!

Take care, it's dangerous out there!

Finally!

I've been wanting to put a photo on my blog. Tried and tried but it wouldn't take it. FINALLY I used the old laptop pc rather than the iMac. Of course, that worked in a second. Bah, humbug!

Sorry for the lousy quality of the photo. It is about 10 years old too; I'm just a little grayer. We were in Nice, France and I was enjoying a glass of wine on the balcony. Well, now that I think about things, it was 1999; our 15th anniversary. Now that I know another of Blogger's secrets, I may try to find a better photo.

Once again, have a Great 08!

More questions & answers

Rant for the day: Bah! It's almost 80 degrees and over 80% humidity today. What happened to winter?

These came from a blog entitled becomingariver. I'm not sure I'm on the same page as this lady but I check out her blog regularly anyway! Did these last night but it was too late to post. Have a Happy New Year, y'all!

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

Never in my life have I - hurt myself intentionally.

When I am nervous - I perspire.

The last song I listened to was - theme from "Chocolate"

My hair is - going away.

When I was four - I lived in Ohio and met John

Last Christmas - was pretty good - MIL died and I certainly did not miss her.

I should be - in bed.

When I look down I see - the floor I need to fix.

The happiest recent event was - selling an old table.

By this time, next year - I hope to be living on a boat.

My current distress is - disposing of a lifetimes accumulation of "stuff".

I have a hard time understanding - religion; any religion.

If I won an award, the first person I would tell is - my wife.

I want to buy a - boat.

I plan on visiting - Washington, DC

The world could do without - religion.

The most recent thing I bought myself is - does champagne for New Year's count? If not, I don't remember.

The most recent thing that someone else bought for me was - Xmas gifts - shirts, books and scotch.

My middle name is - Chambers - my paternal grandmother's maiden name. I was WAY to embarrassed by it for years. Funny story: I was using my middle name as my password. A friend needed to use my work computer one night & had been told my password but couldn't remember it. Finally he called about 02:00 - he said he tried every possible spelling of "Marilyn" but couldn't figure it out. After I picked myself up off the floor, I managed to choke out the key phrase. (For those of you of tender years, Marilyn Chambers was a famous porn star back in the 70's.)

In the morning I - need to get back into my exercise program.

Last night I was so tired I - slept part of the night in my recliner.

There is this guy I know who - is severely depressed because he recently had to close his business.

If I were an animal - I'd like to be pretty high on the old food chain!

A better name for me would be - éminence grise.

Tomorrow, I am - hoping for a good, productive day.

Tonight, I am - emailing, blogging & on my third (& last) scotch.

Questions - and answers

Checking out HLiza's blog she had this question series.

1. I watched a TV programme about plastic surgery recently.
If money is not an issue, would you do it? No; it's not like I scare people and I'm certainly not going to be a movie star!
If yes, which part of your body you'll like to change?

2. I find a lot of women here complaining that their husbands can't stand babies crying and will become crazy if the babies don't stop. What about your spouse? If you're single, do you think you can take it if you have a baby one day? My wife had children before we married so I missed out on the crying baby years. It would be tough to take but we keep reproducing so most people can manage it. Guess I could to.

3. Do you remember how you came to know about me (my blog)? Or did I appear in your blog comments section first? I think I saw you comment on Curate's Egg.

4. Tell me one house chore that you hate the most but have to do it repeatedly. Vacuuming - they aren't tall enough for men to use comfortably.

5. Name one foreign food you'll like to try one day. Well, as long as I can taste it in the country where it originated; turkish coffee in Turkey; jerk chicken in Jamaica; the different varieties of Chinese cuisine; the list is endless!

And just for fun, here' s a photo of someone else in his Xmas present. Unfortunately it didn't fit very well so I've returned it and am looking for one that is longer. Be careful out there.

Made it!

The Xmas production is over! Everyone ate too much but thankfully didn't drink too much so we had a pretty good time. Presents were exchanged and everyone was polite about what they received. Even the grouch is happy.

This is the day when photos taken yesterday must be exchanged. I did a really lousy job and only had one that I'd share with anyone at all! It's odd. I must need to practice taking more photos in the house because the ones I do take are not turning out well at all. I've got a Canon Powershot S2 IS. It's a wonderful camera but somewhat complicated. Perhaps I've got some setting screwed up. Back to the camera book!

Here's someone with her Xmas present - getting ready for boating! Have a lovely day.

Grouch

I've just re-read my last post and would like to apologize for being such a grouch. It sounds to me like something the Grinch would write. Anyway, sorry!

I am ready for the big day. I have been making beef jerky for several years and give it as gifts at Xmas. Everyone seems to like it; at least it disappears quickly! It's really easy to make, just a pain in the ass getting enough of it made to give. It took me about three weeks to get it all made. I also have purchased my wife's special present. She seems unable to watch me fix anything without helping so a few years ago I started buying her a tool every year for Xmas. This year it is a cordless electric screwdriver to replace one that she's worn out. As long as it is a good quality tool, she's happy.

The holiday is now just around the corner. I'll go out one more time this afternoon then we'll be busy hosting Xmas until the 26th. I usually treat myself to listening to Beethoven's Ninth at Xmas. The vocal portion is just so amazingly beautiful. that should help my mood!

New Years is one of my favorite holidays. First Xmas is over! But it is also a time to plan for the new year and to thing again about how fortunate we are. Three things have happened just lately to remind me of my own good fortune.

We bought a new table for our dining nook. The neighbor had a furniture store but has gone out of business. They were left with odds & ends; this one fits the space nicely making it look much larger than the old table. I was planning on renting one before putting the house on the market but this is much better and we are doing the neighbor a good turn helping him to get rid of his junk. Closing out your business has to be really tough on a person.

Sending out Xmas cards sometimes gets unexpected results. Last night my cousin's wife called to let us know that they aren't doing cards this year because my cousin had a defibrillator installed on Friday. He's had a heart attack and several bypass operations so things aren't going all that well for him. Hopefully this will help keep him going a while longer.

Finally today I read in http://btlifes2short.blogspot.com/ about the sudden death of a fellow cruiser. The guy just died in his sleep. One day he was traveling in his boat, thinking of driving home to his wife and for him, there was no next day. It is an amazing thought and one that makes me wish to tidy up my life. Here's to cleaning up our acts.

Be careful out there; it's crazy season.

Xmas crap

Oh boy, am I ever tired of Christmas. It doesn't bother me but it drives my wife crazy. And, as anyone married know, if one partner starts acting crazy the other has quite a job straightening things out.

Let me start by saying that neither of us are Christian though we were both raised in traditional Christian households. It is also important that our children are both grown. So the holiday is about being around family and dreaming of abstract things like "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men". It's kind of an extended Thanksgiving where we buy each other basically meaningless gifts, listen to Christmas music and watch football.

For some reason, this basically meanless holiday makes my wife crazy. We have a little tree that we dress with lights and baubles. We have purchased all the gifts that people told us they wanted. All we have to do in the next week is buy a ham, a few minor foodstuffs and a couple of bottles of wine. We are retired! We literally have 6 days to do that. Maybe that's why she's crazy; too much time to think. I don't know!

At any rate, I'm really looking forward to the 26th. Happy Holidays everyone!

One final thought: to me any decent moral philosophy is much like any other. There is no reason we should require any god to live morally.

History - anybody?

"Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." President F. D. Roosevelt

It's almost 7 pm here in Florida and I haven't heard a single reference to the historical significance of this day. I'm not trying to vilify the Japanese, hell, I admire their culture; but with all the phony patriotism that we hear these days I am surprised that I haven't heard about it. The attack was a surprise. There was a war in Europe and we were "loaning" equipment to Britain but it was far away and none of our business. Or so we thought. Reality, in the form of Japanese aircraft, taught us that we shouldn't avoid unpleasant thoughts. Warmongers in this country have used this argument ever since. You can hear in between the lines of every speech from President Bush.

The phony patriotism we have in this country is enough to make a cat barf. I'm one of those people who served in the armed forces of the United States some years ago. I didn't do anything wonderful; indeed, I did very little at all (more than the President but ...). Unfortunately, very few people these days have actually performed any small service for our country. Fewer still believe that "my country right or wrong" is stupid beyond belief. But turn on the radio today and you hear the national anthem played regularly just to remind us of the wonderfulness of our country. The DJ tells us to be proud. The DJ who in the next moment will be telling you how wonderful some restaurant is; the one that just go a citation for uncleanliness! What sheep we all are. Good night; or should I just say "Baaaaaa".

BTW A belated Happy Hanukkah to those of the Jewish faith.