So this is Christmas


It was a relaxing Christmas. I woke at 6:30 to a country breakfast bake prepared by Christy and Penny – well actually we opened presents first after simulating placing baby Jesus in the manger. We lit the fireplace and had a warm cozy breakfast.

It was a blustery cloudy cool morning but we still did our Christmas Day beach walk. Christy, Finn and I went to Destin Pass and walked out to the jetties and along the beach. Once again there weren’t many other crazy people out walking the beach. We had consistent 20+ mph winds and the surf was 5-7 feet and rising. Finn didn’t care and wore himself out running after sea birds and any reflection of sunlight he saw. We were surprised when the clouds broke and we had bright sun for part of the walk. The clouds returned later and remained for the rest of the day.


It was already noon when we got back home. Penny had the ham in the oven and she and Christy went on preparing the rest of our meal. I played around with the 70 or so pictures Christy took of Finn on the beach. I got a call from brother, Lou and called Sister Kathy. For our Christmas meal we had ham, sweet potato muggin, mac & cheese, broccoli, apple salad and biscuits.


The afternoon was clean up and football on TV. My fantasy football team lost today so I cannot win the league this year.


For dinner it was cherry pie a-la-mode. Then it was more football – blogging and digesting.

I enjoyed answering the phone with “Merry Christmas” That is suggestion #287 in “The Little Book of Christmas Joys”.


Tomorrow it’s back to Physical Therapy. I have one more session on Thursday and that’s it. I go see the doc next week and see what we need to do for my right arm. It is still giving me problems.
Now we have the last week of 2006. It’s time for resolutions and reminiscing. I’m behind on my training for the River Run in March so I have one resolution to make. It is hard to fathom that I’ve been retired now for 1 ¼ years. It still hasn’t sunk in. I think the fact that I have had health issues for the whole period has played a big role in this. There were a lot of tasks around the house and yard that I thought I would have finished in the first year but are barely done. So here’s to having a healthy new year and finally accomplishing those tasks.

‘Twas The Night Before … "


Here it is 9:30 PM on Christmas Eve and Penny and Christy have gone to their rooms after a scrumptious evening dinner. I asked them if they were having any visions of sugarplums, but they didn’t even know what a sugarplum was.


We went to church twice today – once for Sunday, once for Christmas. We like to go to the children’s Mass and see the kids act out the manger scene. This year they did a good job. As is typical for Christmas, this mass was packed. There were lots of extended families and a mess of babies. Needless to say the church was not quiet. For the first half of mass – before the kids did their play – a shepherd or wise man would run down the isle to make a bathroom call. This year the microphones worked so the kids could be heard. My favorite part was when the littlest kid came out, stood on a chair and held up a big paper star – the guiding light for the kings. The star was half his size and he held it out straight and high for the whole time. They gave one of the older girls a solo and she forgot the words. The rest of the group picked up the verse nicely for her, but it was sad to see her embarrassment.


There was no accompanist at the mass so the choir carried all the singing. It actually set a nice soft mood for the mass with just the voices. After the play when Father was preparing the gifts the babies began to be restless. At one point in particular when he was consecrating the hosts a wave of angry baby noises rose through the church. It reminded me of the way dogs bark in a neighborhood. One starts and sets off all the others.


Penny seems to have a knack for attracting big people that sit in front of her at sporting events, movies and tonight at church. We had a very large young man sit right in front of her. Since this is a military parish I figured he might be a soldier of sorts. I turned to Penny and said, “How do you do that?” meaning attract big people. She looked at the guy and said, “Genetics and hard work”. Obviously she didn’t understand my question and told me how big people are made.


It was nice to see all the families smiling and talking at church. It reminded me of earlier Christmases in CT when we would have all the relatives over. There was always a huge tray of “cold cuts” and crusty bread. My Dad always got a tray of Italian cookies. I liked the almond cookies. It was at one of those Christmas gatherings that I got drunk. I couldn’t of been more than 4 or 5 years old, but for some reason I wanted to taste my Mom’s highball. I don’t remember if I was given the drink or snuck it. I think she let me have the last of one of hers, figuring the ice had watered things down. Whatever the circumstances, my only memory of how it felt was walking through our kitchen flopping my head side-to-side marching along singing some song. It’s a wonder I’m not an alcoholic!


This is not a white Christmas, but it is a wet one. We are supposed to get about ½ inch of rain. It’s nice to know we are safe and dry and have nowhere we need to be. Tomorrow morning we will wake, have Christy put the baby Jesus in the manger and open presents.
Now it is time to go to bed and have those sugarplum visions dance in my head.
Merry Christmas!

Winter Days


Winter makes for an interesting time here in Northwest FL. This past week I walked on the beach and had a nice sunset ;

Took pictures of the foliage around the neighborhood;

Noticed Christy's plant is blooming nicely;

Started on the Christmas decorations and tonight we are snuggling up because it will be in the mid 20’s. All that is missing is the white stuff but a White Christmas is not impossible.

Whale Holes

When I was in college in 1969 – shortly after Apollo 10 took a picture of earth from 200,000 miles away showing earth as a small blue sphere floating in a black void – I used to picture all the people on that globe going about their daily business thinking their business was so important. Then in my mind I would back off from earth until it was a barely visible and think about those people. Then I would think that I could continue backing until the solar system and even the galaxy was indistinguishable in the universe. Why do we think our causes are so important? Why do we fear or destroy people who don’t share our beliefs? Why can’t we see how alone and dependent we are on each other? Why can’t we see the big picture and understand what is important?


A couple of things happened this week to bring my college thinking to mind. The first was an E-mail Kathy sent me about the size of earth compared to other planets and the sun and then went on to compare the sun with other stars until our sun was the size of 1 pixel on the screen when compared with other stars.

Next I read a couple articles in an old National Geographic. They are related because they both are about intelligent life, distance and time. The whale hole story was sad. Apparently weather conditions in the arctic can cause all the openings in the ice to close in a short time span. In this instance only one small hole through the ice was available for these beluga whales to breath. The closest open water was 8 miles away, far too distant for the whales to reach. So the whales that found this hole were trapped in this location. The picture in the magazine showed a hole roughly 50 ft in diameter full of whales vying for air. I wondered how many whales never found a hole and suffocated. The whale hole was a bounty for polar bears. The bears feasted on the whales at will and had eaten so much that they could go for a full year with no food if necessary with the body fat they had stored. Still the bears continued to feast. The whales were stuck. This was the only place to get the air they needed.


The second story was about intelligent life in the universe and the vast distance that isolates us and eliminates any possibility of contact with other intelligent beings assuming they exist. If you use Carl Sagan’s estimate of 1 million technical civilizations in our galaxy alone then even if they could travel 10 million mph it would still take 300 yrs to reach us from the nearest star system. So like the whales we are all stuck here together.

We don’t have bears devouring us. We seem to do a good job of that all by ourselves.

Last night 60 minutes did a story about the genocide in Rwanda. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/60minutes/main2218371.shtml
We’ve had Conquerors, kings, inquisitions, jihads, the Holocaust, ethnic cleansing and wars too numerous to mention. Like many back in 1969 I thought that the sight of the earth from space would be an epiphany for the world. We would see our beautiful, fragile, little blue planet and want to do whatever necessary to preserve and protect our planet and make everyone’s life better– even if it meant we had to get along with one another. I was young and more idealistic back then - and dead wrong.

So here we are stuck in our little “whale hole” hoping for a spring thaw.

Beach Walk Thoughts – 4 November

I wrote this on 4 Nov but didn’t post it. After talking with Karen about blogs at Thanksgiving time I decided to post it.

I’ve been beach walking in the evenings now when the weather cooperates and it fits into our schedule. I usually head out around 3:30 ish walk for about an hour or so and come home. That timing has me leaving the beach at sunset and getting home in time for dinner.

Today I am walking on a portion of National Seashore stretching from Destin Pass to the West. There are a couple of people fishing here and a small family group up the beach – and that’s it. Destin Pass is about a mile and a half to the East and I usually walk there and back.


I usually start my walk just enjoying the sights, sounds and smell. I’m thankful that I can walk the beach, that my eye’s and ears work and that I finally have time to do this. It is truly a visual feast. There are few footprints in the sand. A cold front came through a couple of days ago and we’ve had a 10-15 Mph wind for 2 days. With the lack of footprints the sand has taken on a wavy pattern. There are brush strokes and strange formations around every stand of sea oats. I listen to the squeak of the sand with each step. The tide is coming in and each wave washes over the first hump of beach. The water gets trapped there until it finds a low point to rush back out to the Gulf. The water is nice and clear this time of year showing a lot of the emerald green color this area is known for.


After enjoying the natural beauty my mind usually drifts to deeper thoughts. This is my quiet time. Since it is Nov 4, Karen’s birthday, I think back to the day she was born. It wasn’t expected that the father be in the delivery room back then. It was starting to catch on but many doctors didn’t allow it. Ours did. Seeing Karen come into this world was truly a life changing experience. She looked all confused – like “Hey, put me back into that warm cozy place I was”. Two years later at Christy’s birth I was even more emotional because I had a better understanding of what a child meant to us. I also think about Sunshine and shed a few tears knowing she is getting very weak and won’t last much longer.


I have reached Destin Pass and climb up on the rocks of the jetty. It’s cool today with a brisk wind out of the north. The tide is flowing in at the pass – south to north against the direction of the wind. The pelicans have put this to good use. They coast on the wind looking for a meal from north to south. Then the land at the mouth of the pass and drift with the current back up to their starting point – very energy efficient!


There is a full moon today and it makes for a nice picture above the dunes and condos.

Walking back from the pass I am facing the now setting sun. It casts a reddish glow on the waves. I pass a family with a toddler. The dad is lying on his back flying a kite for the kid. There is a layer of cloud right along the horizon and it cuts the sun in two. We always say “somebody broked the sun” when it looks like this because that’s the way Karen described it when she was small. Since this is her birthday it’s a nice touch. The Sun elongates as it touches the horizon and the sky turns a brilliant red. Soon there is just a sliver of light and it is gone.

As I head back to the car I snap one more picture of the full moon. Beach walking is a nice combination of necessary exercise, thinking time and recreation.

Oral Surgery


Today was step 2 in my 3 step dental ordeal – the crown lengthening. The procedure was painless after the doctor filled me up with lidocane. I never had so many shots to numb the area, but they did do the job. The Doc had no bedside manner at all. He and his assistant chatted about the holidays while he worked on me. He said I didn't want to know what he was doing. They even covered my eyes with a cloth so I couldn’t see. He would periodically interrupt his banter to tell me to turn my head – but I didn’t realize he was talking to me and not his assistant – so he had to repeat the instructions a lot. He also didn’t say how it was going or how much work was left. I got as much feedback as a practice dummy would get. Apparently he did good work, but I didn’t like his style.


So now I have a bandage on the area they worked – it looks like silly putty. The periodontal post-surgical instructions are interesting.


1. Avoid physical activity, exercise, TALKING or other vigorous activity for 24 hours.
2. Do nothing that causes sudden strain for the first 24 hours.
3. Go home immediately and sit or lie in a slightly reclined position with your head elevated. (Once again the recliner to the rescue!) DO NOT LIE FLAT!
4. Do not use heat for 24 hours.
5. No hot drinks - don’t drink from a straw, warm but not hot soup is acceptable.
6. For the next seven days eat only very soft foods that require no chewing or biting.


There is a lot more, but those are the high points. I stopped on the way home and got a lot of soft food - yougurt, apple sauce, eggs, pudding, cottage cheese and jello. We still have some ice cream from the holiday but now I have an excuse to get more when that's gone.


It’s 10 PM now and my mouth is a little sore but not bad. I assume the pain medication is doing its job (I’m on Vicadin, Dr. House’s pain medication of choice). I’ll find out for sure how I am doing at 3 AM when it wears off.

Update: I didn't post this last night (no wi-fi card in the laptop) so I can update how the night went. The tooth is sore but no swelling has occurred. It's uncomfortable but not unbearable. So it is going well. I’m supposed to do very little today – I think I can handle that.

TRADITION!


What a great Thanksgiving weekend we had! Both daughters, our favorite son-in-law, and both granddogs were here and we did all our traditional activities and added a couple of new ones. Once again, the weather cooperated – as it has been doing for us all year – and we didn’t have to cancel any plans.


Wednesday

Everyone arrived safely on Wednesday evening. Penny cooked a pork roast for the arriving hungry travelers. Brie was relegated to our room to avoid being traumatized by all the “strangers” and dogs. She didn’t let Penny and I sleep in on Thanksgiving morning.

Thursday - Stuff the Turkeys

We did find that the turkey had defrosted after sitting in the fridge for 5days so after making everyone breakfast burritos Penny worked her magic preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Our traditional meal is turkey, dressing, gravy, sweet potato muggin, green beans, apple salad, cranberry sauce, biscuits, iced tea and wine. We saw, we ate, we full! Everything was great! Somehow with all the food on the table I missed the apple salad completely. After the meal came the traditional nap. Then Tim went on the telephone in search of someplace to watch the Kansas City game. Christy and Tim went out to see the game. Karen Penny and I stayed home and had pumpkin pie and whipped cream and/or ice cream for dinner. The day ended with planning a shopping strategy for Friday morning.


Friday – Hunter Gatherers

Penny and I got up at 3:45 AM on Friday. For once Brie was not the first one up. Turn-about is fair play! We got to Circuit City at 4:30 – our primary mission – to get a GPS nav system for Karen and Tim. The secondary goal was a big USB hard drive for us. Beyond that we would pick up whatever bargains we could on items we would use. Karen, Christy and Tim went to Target for their mission. It was a chilly morning – about 42 degrees – so everyone was bundled up. There were more than 200 people in line ahead of us and more than that behind us when the doors opened at 5 AM. Circuit City handed out vouchers for the big-ticket items to the 1st 50 people in line so there was no panic of people trying to get those items. The items we wanted were plentiful but if they weren’t Penny would have gotten them anyway. She is a master of holiday shopping. We got everything we wanted and then Penny got stuff for other people in the store as I waited in line.

We took our traditional walk on the beach and decided that we would bring the dogs to the beach on Saturday. We all enjoyed the clear emerald green water and mid temperatures. Later there was the normal consumption of leftovers – a repeat of the Thanksgiving dinner – for our evening meal. Karen, Tim and Christy went to a movie and I went to bed early – Getting up early finally caught up with me (I didn’t take a nap).


Saturday – Dogs Gone Wild!

After a hardy breakfast creation by Penny we packed the dogs in the car and went back to the beach. We got there early enough and went to a secluded part of the beach such that we had the whole beach to ourselves. The dogs loved it! Finn almost never stood still. He ran and splashed and swam and chased birds. Truman waded in and bit the waves as they splashed on him. Truman got so wrapped up with the beach that he forgot us and headed off down the beach and just kept going. Tim got in a good ½ mile run catching up with him.

After the beach we went to Harbor Docks our favorite restaurant for family get togethers. As usual it did not disappoint- good food, nice view, good service. We TiVoed the FL-FSU game and watched it when we got home. Christy was happy her team won.


We went shopping at Big Lots and Tuesday Morning (Instigated by Christy) on our way to eat dinner at Slick Mick’s. Then we finished the day by breaking out our Karaoke machine. Tim and Karen are good at karaoke. Penny did a slam bang “Joy to the World”. I was too shy to do much. Christy sent the devil on down to Georgia.


Sunday – Parting is such sweet sorrow

Sunday morning was blueberry pancakes and church. Then everyone gathered up their stuff and went home. Truman was making sure he didn’t get left behind – so much so that when our neighbor opened his car door Truman jumped in. We all hugged many times – and then it was over.


It took Brie a while to realize everyone had gone. She could still smell everyone. Now after 24 hours she is comfortable again.

I enjoyed the whole weekend and feel blessed that we could have the whole family together.

Smoke and Mirrors



My dental adventure continued today. I had a root canal. It’s probably been 15-20 years since I had my first root canal and the procedure has improved. The worst part of the whole procedure was the numbing shots at the beginning.



First they took digital X-rays – no film – instant results. The radiograph of the teeth is displayed on a flat screen and is visible to the patient for the doctor to explain what he does. After the procedure another radiograph is taken showing the finished root canal.

The doctor even has a sensor to tell him how deep the root is so he can’t go too far. They put a tent in your mouth and a chock between your teeth (so you don’t have to hold your mouth open).


During part of the procedure the doctor heats and melts some material to fill in the area where the root was. When he does this a little column of smoke rises from your mouth. So the job is literally smoke and mirrors!



I was in and out in about a half-hour. When I paid my bill I got a “free” root canal survivor T-shirt

Lory



Gas to drive to Tampa - $50

2-year Busch Gardens Passport - $169

nectar to feed the Lories - $2

Ear cleaning by a Lory – Priceless!

“Probing with their long, brush-tipped tongues, lories enjoy examining the eyes, ears and lips of their favorite person.”



The picture says it all. This Lory really liked me. After we fed it it jumped up on my shoulder and proceeded to clean my ear THOROUGHLY. You wouldn’t believe how long that feathered tongue is or how weird it feels cleaning your ear. After my ear the bird goes on Penny’s head and groomed her for a while. Then it went back to my other shoulder and proceeded to clean that ear.

There was an old Laugh-In line “Blow in my ear and I’ll follow you anywhere”. It was sort of neat having an animal interact that way. It made me want to have one as a pet. I bet Brie would like that!

The Best of Days, The Worst of Days

Yesterday was one of those days. It started with me waking up to discover that the tooth that had been bothering me finally revealed what was wrong. It had split in two and the loose part was hanging in there causing pain whenever it moved.

I went out to the Den to check on Sunshine and while she was still alive, she was looking bad. She had lost control of her rear legs and although she didn’t appear to be in pain she hadn’t eaten for over a week and was just literally skin and bones. She still was appreciative of attention and turned her head toward me so I would scratch it. I knew she would only get worse so I started preparing myself to have her euthanized.


Back to my tooth – I called my dentist and she told me to come right in. She said she expected me to dress appropriately – that meant I should wear my red dancing shoes. That should give you some idea of what type of person she is. After looking at the tooth she said she would have to extract it. I didn’t like that idea so I asked her if it could be saved. She said that if the tooth broke off to the side and not in half then maybe – but you would have to be awfully lucky for that. She juiced me up and yanked out the broken part of the tooth exclaiming, “You are a lucky, lucky man!” The tooth can be saved. All I need is a root canal, a crown lengthening procedure (actually cutting away gum and bone to make better room for the crown to fit on the tooth) and then to have a post put in and a crown applied. Cha-ching! So, I’ve got appointments with 3 dentists to have all that done by the end of the year.


I didn’t like the idea of all that dental work, but at least I would have a solid tooth instead of some sort of appliance. By now I was pretty depressed. It was a dreary rainy day, I knew I had to do something about Sunshine before she went into bad pain and I was facing lots of time in the dentist’s chair. But God was watching out for me. As I left the dentist’s and walked to my car, the clouds broke just enough to let some sunshine through. A beautiful rainbow appeared just for a few minutes. This type of thing has happened before. I take it as reassurance I was doing the right thing and a reminder to have a little faith in him. As I drove home in the rain, I gathered up the will to do the job.


It is hard not to feel like you are betraying the trust that an animal has had with you to take care of it and protect it. Brie, for example, wont trust anyone but Penny and I (and to some degree Christy). So being the one to make the decision and bring our 16-year-old companion to her death was very, very difficult.


After Sushine was put to sleep I wrapped her body in one of Karen’s old shirts and buried her beside Friskie and Allie in our side yard.


Today Brie is visibly upset. She goes around the house meowing looking for Sunshine. She sniffs everywhere that Sunshine was in the last week – even the litter pan, and wanders around in a confused manner not knowing why her friend is gone.


So why was yesterday also the best of days. It’s because we saw Christy. She had to turn in a bid in Tallahassee so we drove over and had dinner with her at Applebee’s. Sorry to say her company did not win the contract but Christy looked good and we enjoyed our time together. We also found out yesterday that the kids are coming home for Thanksgiving.


Hopefully today will be just a normal day or if is going to be some extreme I would much rather have just one of those “best of days”.

November

November 2 is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining.


Today I turn 58! That’s getting uncomfortably close to 60. The good news is that for the past year my health has improved rather than degraded. My left shoulder is almost completely pain-free and my strength is good. The right shoulder still hurts – but it is noticeably less each day and no longer wakes me up at 3:30 AM. I figure that in another month or for sure by the end of the year I will be pain free and have normal strength and range of motion in both arms.


My other health issue, my back, is also doing well. I’m back to beach walking with the beautiful weather we are having. Today, after walking 3 miles on the beach, I actually felt good. It used to hurt at least a little with every step I took. After walking that far it would have hurt more than a little. It was nice to feel good. There was a nice sunset too.


So I’m optimistic for year 58. Check back in a year and we will see how I feel about 59.

Halloween



37 years ago today Penny and I had our first date.


I had a productive day today. I started by stopping off at the insurance office to get my homeowners insurance paid in monthly installments (it’s too big to pay all at once this year – curse you hurricanes). Then it was off to the tax collector to renew our vehicles’ registrations. When I walked in they were serving #67 and I had #80. Rather than wait I went over to my dentist’s office and made an appointment to have a bothersome tooth fixed. I think I cracked it biting down on a cherry pit. X-rays and visuals don’t show any problem with the tooth. I just can’t chew with it! When I got back to the tax collector’s they were on #78. I waited less than 5 minutes to get service. My next appointment was a haircut but I had 45 minutes – so I went to the Library and got a few audio books. When I showed up for my haircut all the hairdressers were dressed for Halloween – a lion, a scarecrow and the wizard – no tin man.


After the haircut I picked up lunch at Crystal and brought it home to Penny. Before heading out in the morning I had sorted the laundry and started the first load. After lunch I went back to laundry and paying some attention to our ailing cat Sunshine. By days end I got all the laundry done and, in my pirate’s get-up, fended off goblins and ghosts and superheroes by giving them candy.

Fading Sunshine


Our 16-year-old cat, Sunshine, is losing her battle with old age. We don’t expect her to last much longer. She is very skinny, although her long hair covers up that fact, and is having trouble controlling her hind legs. Sunshine was a regular purr machine. All it took was walking into the room for her to get her motor going. I haven’t heard her purr for the last 2 days.


Sunshine and Friskie both were cats we rescued from the pound. Sunshine’s mother and littermate were also there. Karen picked Sunshine, Christy picked Friskie, Friskie was a ball-of-fire never stand still little hunk of fur and claws. I tried to convince Christy to get Sunshine’s littermate because I saw nothing but trouble in Friskie. Of course, I was wrong but Friskie was never a sit in your lap purring kind of cat. Sunshine, on the other hand got into the habit of trying to crawl up your arm or leg to make you pick her up. She liked to lie on my chest (usually with her butt in my face). Many times over the past several months when I went to lie on the sofa and soak my shoulders with cold packs Sunshine was up on the sofa and crawling up on me even before I could get the cold packs positioned.


Now we are faced with that sad dilemma that sometimes comes with having a pet. Do we let her slowly fade away hoping she is not in pain or do we have her put to sleep. It’s a dilemma simply because I know I can’t do the latter. I brought our cat Topaz in to be euthanised many years ago and I was so choked up with emotion I couldn’t talk to the veterinarian. So unless Sunshine is in obvious bad pain I would not be able to do it.


I take the death of a pet hard. It’s the main reason I’ve resisted pets whenever I can. Yes I am better for the pet experience. And they bring so much joy and laughter and companionship to life. But as with Brie, our year-old cat, I don’t pick her up or play with her without the thought nagging me that one day I will likely be watching her suffer and die – or worse as with our dog Annie something happens that takes her in her prime. I’ve dug too many graves with tears in my eyes and I’m not totally sure that with me the good outweighs the bad pet experience.


I like to think that our pets join us in heaven. It isn’t unusual thinking. John Edwards, the guy that communicates with those who have crossed over, often mentions pets. Even the TV show “Ghost Whisperer” has animal ghosts. It is nice to think that I will once again see (making the assumption I get there) Candy, Bootsy, Whiskers, Waddles, Pidge, Coffee, Topaz, Big Red, Sheeba, Annie, Allie, Friskie and BYC without having to say good-bye.

Ahoy


NovaCare, the people who do my Physical Therapy have all of their local clinics competing in a Halloween Decoration contest. Given that, they are encouraging all their patients to come dressed in a pirate theme on Monday. Now I’m a little uneasy with the idea but Penny and I did get an inexpensive pirate outfit for me today. Now all I need to do is wear it. If I do, of course, there will be a picture which I will add here later.A-A-A-R-R-G-H!

A Masked Bandit

I slept on the recliner last night to see if it would help my shoulder. It’s been waking me up throbbing at 3:30 AM. The Dr suggested that sleeping flat might be the cause. The recliner seems to have worked, but as with everything there was a complication to the night’s sleep.


The recliner is in the sunroom and my super MOD III cat feeder (still going strong) is just outside the glass door there. At about 10:30 I hear a racket out there and look up to see one of the cats dashing away from the feeder. I grabbed a flashlight and looked out to see a raccoon nonchalantly trying to figure out how to get at the stored food. Now a raccoon can do some serious damage so I opened the door and chased him away.


Since I was awake again I watched the end of the World Series game and then began to doze off when again - noise out side and Brie sitting there watching the raccoon at the feeder. I went over to the door and shined the light at the creature. He came right up to the glass, with me shining directly into his face, and sniffs the glass. Then he goes back to the feeder to try to break into it. Once again I chased him off.


Today it rained all day, but I made the area more difficult for the coon to negotiate. Tomorrow I need to protect the food supply so he cant get it.

When we got back from our vacation we found that there were 3 new kittens using the feeder. That’s bad news because we don’t need more cats, but kittens sure are cute to watch.

Aunt Dot


While we were at Margaret’s we found out where my aunt Dot was staying after her knee replacement surgery. She had both knees done a week and a half ago.

When we arrived on her floor, coming down the hall was my cousin Linda. She did a double take and then ran over and gave me a big hug saying “Oh my God! Oh my God!” then she backed off looked at me and went through the whole routine again. She greeted me the same way when we were here for the memorial service in June. I’m not used to such a joyful greeting but I have to admit it felt good. At least here was someone that not only remembered me but also was excited to see me. Linda asked if we knew what was going on with the family. We didn’t. Her sister Georgette and Georgette’s son, Johnny, had been in a motorcycle accident. Fortunately they were wearing good protective clothing but Johnny still fractured his femur. Georgette’s helmet actually cracked and Johnny’s was deeply gouged. Linda’s brother in law Jim (Diane’s husband) also has medical issues resulting from complications from prostate removal surgery. And my Aunt Dot had gone through some bad reactions to the drug Vicodin. She hallucinated, was combative and here’s the real scary part – she saw the motorcycle accident before it happened.

After our talk with Linda we went in to see Dot. Linda came along to watch her reaction. When I walked in the room she looked at me and got all teary. Granted she was drugged up, but the Lenart side of the family sure makes me feel good. She was so happy to see me. I don’t know why but Dot thinks I am special. Many years ago, I think at Kerry’s wedding, she told me that. So going to see her was a good idea. She told us about seeing the picture of her cat moving and seeing ants crawling all over. She vividly remembers everything about her bad drug reaction and she heard voices too.


Linda set up a Sunday brunch for all the Lenarts. That filled in the only hole in my list of relatives to see while up here. This day was going better than planned.

It turned out that my Aunt Dot experienced chest pains that evening and was readmitted to the hospital. I got a call from Linda. She said Dot was OK but that no one wanted to leave her for the brunch the next day. So we called it off.

Aunt Margaret - The Visit

The first relative we visited when we drove down to CT on Friday morning (Oct 6) was Aunt Margaret. She is 95 years old. Her mind is sharp but she is suffering from the same problem I had surgery to fix 2 ½ years ago (my butt surgery). She was not diagnosed early enough in life to have it fixed. Now it causes her a great deal of pain and it has started limiting her mobility. I feel sorry for her because I know the pain she is going through and it is frustrating that all she can do is endure it. She lives with her son (my cousin) John and his wife. John is 75 and has been retired 1 year. He has a good-sized house with a big yard in a nice section of Fairfield a cat, a dog and a bird.


One of the first things I learned from them was that they didn’t remember me. (So much for my ego!) Aunt Margaret said her memory isn’t good for that time, John just doesn’t remember me. He said when he heard my voice when we arrived he thought it was my brother Louie. Although I was not remembered, the welcome we received was tremendous. Penny and I had eaten lunch before we arrived but they kept trying to feed us and they succeeded to a point. I told them that my most vivid memory of my visits to Margaret’s house as a kid was walking through her garden and seeing this ceramic cow’s head that she had. To my surprise John said they still had it and, sure enough, out in his backyard there it was. A story went with it, too. Margaret found it at the dump in 1945, thought it was pretty and took it home and has had it ever since.


It took no time at all to feel comfortable with them. They broke out cold cuts and we all sat around their table and talked. We took pictures of everyone and even got Aunt Margaret to smile (sort of).

Walt Richardson


We had the pleasure of hearing Walt sing again today in church. Walt is showing his age. He walks unsteadily with a cane and has trouble on the stairs. He sang in the choir today but sat through all the songs. He took communion at the altar so he didn’t have to use the stairs.


Then just before the end of mass he stood at the podium, referred to today’s Gospel as a lead in to singing “Do Not Let Me Pass”. He pulled his rosary out of his breast pocket, he always holds the rosary when he sings and began his song. Each time I hear him sing I savor it now because it may be the last time I hear him. His deep cavernous voice is interspersed with his unique almost crying tone when he sings. The transformation when he sings is amazing to see. He stands up straight and gets so involved with the song that he literally bounced with feeling as he sang. He is a big man and his bouncing made an audible thump. I noticed one of the choir members smiling warmly at Walt when he did the bouncing. He looked strong and straight, not feeble at all. His voice was strong and wonderful. Once you’ve heard Walt sing a song his unique rendition stays with you for the rest of your life. When he sings “How Great Thou Art” you can actually feel Walt’s faith.


Walt lives his faith and it is always a joy to see him. It is almost heaven to hear him sing.

Home Sweet Home

We are home safe and sound after an almost perfect trip. We totaled over 4,000 miles of driving. Our itinerary: Home, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington (NC), Williamsburg, Wilmington (VT), Monroe (CT), back to Wilmington, Harrisburg (PA), Lenoir (NC), Jacksonville, Gainesville, HOME.

We had great weather the whole trip. We hit misty rain in upstate NY on the drive home and a little rain in Gainesville also on the way home. We had the delightful problem of having to adapt our picture taking to bright sunlight and blue skies. This is in sharp contrast (pun intended) to last year where it rained or was cloudy every day in Wilmington. The only sun we saw last year was in Northern VT on 1 day.


We saw a good portion of our relatives. The only people we missed were my cousins on the Lenart side of the family. They had medical emergencies to deal with. This is what lowered our trip rating to almost perfect. Everybody we hoped would show up at Donna’s did. We found out that even some of them, who live within 10 miles of one another hadn’t seen each other since the memorial service. So whether you live 10 or 1200 miles away you still get all wrapped up in your personal life and don’t make seeing relatives a priority. It’s human nature, a little sad but the way things are. I intend to follow this blog with more detail on our visits.

Savannah was beautiful. I found that I enjoyed Charleston even more. Colonial Williamsburg was interesting. Vermont was its usual outstanding self. The colors were not as vivid this year but we did have sun and blue skies. We did our usual “pick a road and drive down it and see what we discover” routine and VT did not disappoint us. The only disappointment there was that Ben & Jerry’s no longer distributes their ice cream 2nds. We had the added bonus of seeing Marty at the cabin. Penny made sure he ate well while we were there.

On the way up and back we stopped in at Christy’s work to help her recover office chairs. We also saw and rode in Christy’s new car – very nice. And we met Christian, Christy’s boyfriend (and like him). Christy watched our cats for us. We were worried about the Brie Factor (see earlier blog article) but we didn’t have to. Since our return Brie has been affectionate, less aloof and not so spastic. I did upset her however with a laundry basket. I came in the room and set it on the floor while I tried to pet her. She got very alert and kept watching the basket. I finally realized that the basket resembles the cat carrier we put her in to travel. She was worried about another trip.


On another cat note, my cat feeder MOD III worked! It successfully fed Marmalade and the kitten for the full time we were gone. It’s just another indication of how well this trip went. Interestingly enough, this morning the dispenser used up the supply of food I put in it. How perfect is that! As I write this Brie is pestering me for attention.

The house was still here when we got home. Apart from a few spider webs in the corner of the sink everything was as we left it. The sprinkler timer worked so what lawn we have didn’t die. The cat feeder worked. We had stopped our mail and newspaper but the paper still came. Our neighbor greeted us with an armload of newspapers. The mailman filled our mailbox completely today with our held mail.

So now it is time to do laundry, organize pictures and send them out, do thank you notes, sort mail, pay bills, and remember fondly a wonderful vacation. (Brie has just stepped on the keyboard adding the number”65” in front of thank you notes. I had to delay my typing because she then proceeded to wrap herself around my hand and the mouse. She came to rest with her cheek on the right click button, her chin on the roller ball and her hair fouling any possibility of using the mouse. She keeps clicking the right mouse button and bringing up that menu. I think she wants attention.)

There will be sun


We woke up this morning to 41 degrees and clouds. Around 7AM the clouds began to break and now it is partly cloudy, breezy and cool. This is more sunshine already than we had last October in 2 weeks.


Debbie’s cabin was spotless when we arrived. The cleaners did a good job. We bought some basics at the grocery store (Shaws) before we got to the cabin. This included a small bag of apples. As of 8 AM I’ve only eaten 3 of them.


Now we wait and hope that delivery folks in Vermont arrive according to the schedule. I’m not holding my breath, but how many hot tubs can they be delivering on a Thursday in October to hold them up? Today is a relax and unwind day anyway and the view from the cabin is fine.


The only noticeable effect from the 12 hours on the road yesterday is a sore butt. My shoulders are doing fine. Penny’s jaw is sore but her head doesn’t hurt. So we are here safe and sound and now relatively well rested- more later.

A day with no Pictures


We left Williamsburg around 6 AM and arrived at the cabin in Vermont around 6 PM. We have covered more than 1800 miles since we left home. Since today was all driving all the time we didn’t take any pictures today.


After driving through MD, DE, NJ and NY I am much happier about where I live. Gas prices went from $2.05 in VA to $2.62 in NY. And did I mention the tolls? We didn’t keep an accurate tally but we know we spent more than $22 just on tolls in the northeast. We stopped at a service area on the New Jersey Turnpike thinking we would get lunch. We couldn’t stomach the price of a junior bacon cheeseburger meal – at $8 we decided to munch on our trail mix until we got out of NJ. In NJ it is also illegal to pump your own gas. We finally got off the turnpike in NY, had trouble finding someplace to eat (no signs on the turnpike) and stumbled on a little mom and pop pizza take out place. I got a ham and cheese panini and Penny got their special hero – a great sub sandwich that could have fed both of us. That was probably the high point off our drive today.


We ran into traffic jams south of DC (1/2 hour) and in Albany when we got off the turnpike. It was a pleasure to finally get on rt9 in VT and see that the foliage is just beginning to peak. We hit no ran for the whole trip up here. As I write this it is pouring outside!

Tomorrow we will be at the cabin to take delivery of a hot tub for Marty and Deb. It’s supposed to come in the morning. After the delivery we will probably explore. The good news is that tomorrow is supposed to be cool and partly SUNNY!

Williamsburg

We spent most of the day at Colonial Williamsburg today. Apart from it being expensive and the fact that the signage for tourists is poor it was a very nice day. The admission price does not get you into the 3 main buildings on the grounds. To see them you must pay more – the Governors palace for $9, Basset hall and the Dewitt Wallace Museum $6. We just skipped those.

We had another gorgeous day – no clouds and close to 80 degrees, but with a nice breeze. We began the day with their orientation tour. A period-costumed young lady explained what Colonial Williamsburg was and how it came to be. The financier was John D. Rockefeller. “ Colonial Williamsburg’s Revolutionary City immerses guests in the 18th century. Located in an area surrounding the Capitol building, the Revolutionary City creates a slice of life experience illustrating the daily life in the community of the colonial capitol at the most dynamic period in its history”.


After the orientation we walked up and down Duke of Gloucester Street stopping at all the shops and artisans houses. We chatted with the shoemaker, visited the church, jail, post office, grocer, milliner, silversmith, apothecary, Capitol, cabinetmaker, and blacksmith. We toured a tavern and found that sleeping accommodations were not like in the movies. 3 smelly guys to a bed, others sleeping on the floor and empty the chamber pot out the window when it is full. Yuk! At lunchtime we ate at the King’s Arms Tavern. Penny had Chicken Pottage Pye (pot pie) and I had the Made Beef Dish (beef pot roast cooked with wine served on mashed potatoes with pearl onions, carrots and mushrooms. Of course, in between shops and artisans we walked around and took more pictures.


We had an interesting encounter when we walked back behind a house to look at the garden. Penny was concerned that I was walking into someone’s private garden and she voiced that fear. That’s when a landscaper (not an 18th century character) poked his head up from behind a picket fence and said, “Don’t worry, all the gardens are open to our guests.” This guy looked and sounded like Tim the tool man’s neighbor Wilson. He went on to explain about the garden and the crepe myrtle tree that was there and how the colonials might have gotten some of the plants and grown them. Both Penny and I came away feeling as if we just had a conversation with Wilson.

Penny has been sinking a little earlier each day and around 3 o’clock today we had to call it quits. We had done a good job of seeing Williamsburg and our vacation policy is not to push ourselves (except for the 10-hour drive tomorrow). That’s also why we didn’t go to either of the gardens I tentatively planned into this trip. We found that it was plenty to just do 1 city a day.

So now we relax for the rest of today and tomorrow it is off early to Wilmington.

Hampton Outs


Today started with the 5+ hour drive to Williamsburg and finished with sightseeing and pizza. We were given another beautiful day and the drive was interesting- especially in North Carolina. Periodically in the median there are hundreds of feet of flowers. Sometimes all one color, red, blue, yellow and other times combinations. One stretch went for about 500 feet and consisted of red and white stripes of flowers. Then there were the billboards. “ Get US out of the UN”. “Jesus is the answer”. “Truck Pull”. We stopped at our old standard- Cracker Barrel- for lunch and Diane, our waitress told us her special today was baked chicken with cornbread dressing and one side. We both got it with fried apples and biscuits (which is our dessert).


I forgot to mention yesterday that the Hampton Inn we stayed at in Wilmington will be changing to a Red Roof Inn soon. It was really not up to Hampton standards, but I did get a great rate. So today, when we arrive at the Williamsburg hotel, there is no signpost saying Hampton Inn and the building itself had all the Hampton signs removed. You could still see the outline of the signs. When we checked in we found that as of last Friday this hotel was no longer part of the Hampton chain. They didn’t comply with something Hampton required so they had there plug pulled. The good news is that everything but the name is the same. It is interesting to me that the Hamptons I got good rates at are no longer part of the chain.


We got to Williamsburg early enough to do some sight seeing. We went down to the Historic Section (that’s the way it is spelled on the map) and walked around. This turned out to be Colonial Williamsburg Lite. The way Williamsburg works is it is free to walk around. If you want to go in any buildings and see the colonial artisans doing their thing you have to buy a $34 ticket. That’s the plan for tomorrow. Williamsburg is wonderfully preserved and steeped in history. We’ve got all day to see it tomorrow – no driving.

We finished up at UNO’s Pizza. Just our luck, it was full of kids, teachers and family all supporting their school by going to UNOs with a discount coupon. Service was good once we were seated. We had a deep-dish cheeseburger pizza. Then back to the hotel. Our room has a Jacuzzi bath tub – That should be good for my shoulders. I’m going to go try it out.

Doin’ the Charleston


Charleston was even more incredible than Savannah!


Our day started with breakfast at the Hampton Inn. Then it was off to church. The small church we went to had a nice pipe organ. It was sort of funny because the priest looked and sounded like a Disney character. He wasn’t short but he looked like one of the 7 dwarfs – and he had this bandage thing on his nose.


After church we headed to Charleston. We got to the visitor center at 9:30, just in time to hop on a 90-minute tour bus. We did Charleston in the same manner we did Savannah. After the tour, which was enjoyable, we walked south on Meeting Street in search of lunch. We ate at a chain barbeque place called Sticky Fingers. I had a lunch plate of ribs with their #1 selling sweet Carolina barbeque sauce. Of course it came with baked beans and slaw. Penny got a smoked chicken with barbeque sauce, rice and green beans. The portions were just right and gave us the energy to do our walking tour.

We walked through the open market – sort of like the French Market in New Orleans but smaller. Then we headed to the Battery waterfront area. The closer to the water you get the grander the architecture until those buildings right on the water are incredibly beautiful. We passed “Rainbow Row”, a section with 11 houses each painted a different color. There are also huge churches everywhere. Every neighborhood we walked through was well preserved and maintained. We had a beautiful weather-day once again.


After Charleston we drove about 4 hours to Wilmington NC. This leaves us a 5-6 hour drive tomorrow to get to Williamsburg. So tomorrow is an easy day.

Savannah Smiles


We had a great day in Savannah, beautiful weather, nice people, good food, and no bad health issues. The day started with breakfast at Famous Amos with Tim and Karen. They went on to kayaking and we drove to Savannah. Penny knew the way to the visitor information center where we parked.


We talked with a nice lady at the information counter who outlined a walking tour for us on the map. She told us that the trolley tours were currently having a price war and a 90-minute tour was only $10. That’s half-price. We thought it would be a good way to see Savannah so we started our tour of the town with the trolley. It was a good choice. It covered all of the sites and the driver provided interesting historical comments and bad jokes. It also gave us an idea of where we would wander on-foot later in the day.


The trolley dropped us off at the open market area. We wandered down to the riverfront looking for a place to eat lunch. We asked a tour guide for recommendations and ended up at a place called Huey’s. Penny had shrimp and grits; I had pasta jambalaya, all with a view of the river through the open glass doors.


Then it was off to taking pictures of buildings, fountains and shady parks. It is difficult to get good pictures in Savannah because there are huge Live Oak trees everywhere. If the aren’t covering the subject they are shading it.


The impression of Savannah I am left with is one of gorgeous architecture, beautiful shady parks and a place that we will return to again.


Before this trip my niece, Debbie, suggested getting a GPS navigation unit for the trip. I went on line and found a basic unit for a good price. We didn’t use it to get to Savannah but when we left I punched in the address of our hotel in SC. It guided us beautifully. The only mistakes were made when we didn’t follow the unit’s directions.


We also used it to find the church we will go to in the morning.


It’s our bed time so I’ll post this with no pictures.

Later in the trip I may add them.

Tomorrow is Charleston.

Big Lagoon


Penny and I played hooky today and went on an explore. It was a perfect day and hey, we can do it!


We drove over to Big Lagoon State Park. (http://www.floridastateparks.org/biglagoon/)
During my channel surfing on TV when I was healing I ran across one of those tourist information shows that talked about this State Park. It looked interesting. So today, sort of as a dry run for our upcoming vacation we headed off to the park.


We had no schedule to keep so on the way we drove over to Navarre Beach to see how it looked after the hurricanes. There is a lot of damage still evident out there. Except for a 10-foot berm that they have made the whole area is flat. All the dunes, on both sides of the island are gone. There is an incredible amount of construction in progress also. This includes some very tall condos. The road through the national seashore is closed so we had to back-track back across the bridge and go west on hwy 98.


We don’t take 98 that often because it becomes a parking lot twice a day. Other times it is just plain dangerous. We are always amazed at how much development has occurred on that stretch of road. Where there was once nothing, now there are Wal-Marts, Lowe’s, Publix, new churches and new housing developments. Of course there are many more stoplights.

We stopped on the west side of Pensacola to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. We got to the park just about lunch time, rolled down the windows, listened to our book on tape and ate our sandwiches with a view of the water. The park is just recovering from severe hurricane damage. Most of the walkways were new and the observation tower was freshly renovated. Most of it was new wood. The park is a good place for boating and swimming. It is right on the Florida border and has a view of the bridge to Perdido Key.


As you can see from the pictures it is flat land with saw grass and slash pines. Besides the lagoon there is a small lake and, of course, the mouth of Perdido River and associated beaches. This could be a neat area to kayak too if we run out of places in FWB.

We spent about 2 hours at the park. Then we went to a couple of fabric shops in P’cola to find fabric for Christy to reupholster her office chairs. 2 stores and 2 phone calls later the fabric was ours.


Then it was time to head home. We got back around 3:45. All in all it was a fun day. Penny and I like to go off and explore and take pictures. Penny got a good butterfly picture, too. She got close up and personal with a Blue Heron, too.

I was alone, I took a ride

I drove for the first time in 5 weeks. It was just a trip to the library but as I headed out, listening to the music of 1966 on the CD Karen gave me, I felt a little bit of euphoria. I was surprised to feel it since like I said it had only been 5 weeks, but I guess having the freedom and ability to jump in the car and go somewhere can be something special. So I turned the volume up a little on the Beatles “Good Day Sunshine” and just enjoyed the drive. Coincidentally Kathy sent me a joke today about an 80 year old man who just got married – not for sex – not for money – not for good looks – but because she could still drive. So the next time you jump in your car think about how fortunate you are.


Have you seen the Hummer adds where someone cuts in line ahead of a woman and child so she goes and buys a Hummer and everything is OK. I never understood that add. How does buying an expensive gas-guzzler make things OK? After having my little euphoria encounter in the car I began to wonder if there are people out there whose lives are so empty that the only place they feel good is driving in their car. Given that then maybe the add makes sense.


My right arm is doing much better than my left did right after I removed the sling. I have to be careful because it feels like I can do more than I really should. I guess I was really getting used to the sling. Last night I dreamed I missed catching a ball because of my sling.

Tomorrow is my physical therapist’s birthday. She turns 32 and is starting to feel old. Penny, not missing any opportunity to provide food, baked a lemon cake and brownies for me to bring in today. Everyone at the place thanked Penny and me many times over. Penny does good work!
I had to fix my cat feeder both times it operated today. When I fixed the first issue I misaligned the wheel and thus it did not turn the dispenser the second time. I expected to have bugs to iron out. After I made the second adjustment I ran it through 3 cycles without a hitch. Now we will see if it finally works without a hitch in the morning.

I’m Free

Not free from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, just free from the sling I’ve been in for the past 5 weeks. I have permission to drive again. Physical Therapy goes to phase 2 – range of motion and strengthening. I tried sleeping in the bed last night instead of the recliner. The only issue I had was that I reached out to pet Brie when I was half asleep, forgetting that my arm does not do that right now. It was sore for a while after that, but nothing serious. The recliner is still more comfortable for my shoulders, but I like the normalcy of the bedroom.


My Rube Goldberg adventure continues. Today I completed the new design MOD III cat food dispenser. As promised, it is driven by an electric drill that turns a bicycle wheel (using a circular wire brush for traction). Every revolution of the wheel brings around a bolt that hits the dispenser wheel causing it to rotate in short steps each time it is hit. The rotating dispenser passes under the food supply where gravity fills a cup at the top of the rotation. The dispenser continues to rotate (a sleeve keeps the food from spilling until it is over the dish) until it dumps out at the bottom of the rotation into the feeding dish. The drill is turned on for 1 minute every 12 hours and in one minute the dispenser makes 1 full rotation dispensing the cup full of food. The design actually works. It can hang up, so I am going to do whatever fine-tuning may be needed this week. Hopefully it will continue to work and the kitties will have a food supply while we are gone.


In current events I find it interesting that when the Pope makes a faux pas and uses a quote that refers to violence and killing and Muslims, the reaction from the Muslims is violence (burning churches) and killing (a nun).

So now it is back to catching up on all those things I put off while in the sling and planning for our drive up north.

Yellow Sky

It’s been an unremarkable week. Monday started in a strange way. It was cloudy dark and getting ready to rain. Then the clouds opened enough for some light to get through. Everything was bathed in an eerie yellow light. Now I know about red sky in the morning…. But what does yellow sky in the morning mean? For us it meant imminent rain. I googled yellow sky and found that there was an old western movie made with that name, but no explanation of the weather phenomena and what it meant.


I went to PT on M-W-F this week and can measurably feel my shoulder getting better each day. It is back to the doctor tomorrow to see if I lose my sling and start driving again. The trip up north is riding on my being able to drive.


On Wednesday my auto cat feeder Mod II quit working reliably. I’m going to have to start from scratch with a new design. The problem is not that the thing doesn’t work. It does great for 3 days and then by design, I guess, turns off. So tomorrow it will be Mod III. I’ve got an idea that involves a bicycle wheel, electric drill, and a rotating dispenser. We will see if I can get something to work reliably for more than 3 days. Rube who?


Our homeowner’s insurance bill came this week. It is 2 ½ times what it was last year. I guess that’s the price we pay for living in paradise. It is interesting that the monthly bill for just insurance is almost equivalent to what our mortgage payment was and that included insurance and property taxes! I’m beginning to worry more about insurance cost in retirement than medical costs. Just keep those hurricanes away!

I E-mailed the folks up north and told them our plans. Both Donna and Heidi offered to put us up. We are staying with Donna this time. Penny is going to cook dinner for everyone on Saturday evening when we are there. Donna and Heidi are going to try to gather up the relatives for the dinner. We are less than two weeks away from our trip. The leaves are just beginning to turn up there now. If the Vermont foliage web site is correct we should be up there for peak color from 10-12 Oct. Maybe this year we will see the Sun and not a yellow sky.

9/11

September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). There are 111 days remaining.

1906 - Mahatma Gandhi starts Non-Violence movement

1941 - Ground broken for the construction of The Pentagon.

1962 - The Beatles record their debut single, Love Me Do.

BIRTHS
1967 - Harry Connick, Jr., American singer
1977 - Ludacris, American rapper



There is a lot of media coverage on this 5th anniversary of the terrorist attack. I would have been happier if the most remarkable thing about this day remained as the day that the Beatles recorded their first single – “Love Me Do”- in 1962. It’s also interesting that they broke ground for the Pentagon on this day.


The Media are asking if we are any safer. There is no way to answer that question. The only real information we get is filtered by whoever is spinning the data. The whole topic has been so politicized with the upcoming elections. I would rather see a unified patriotic front in this war. There are people out there who simply want to kill us because we don’t think like them. There really is no room to negotiate here. But I am a dreamer if I think our “leaders” will put our country’s security above their political and financial ambitions. They don’t know how to do it.


There is total agreement that 9/11 changed us forever. There is no more going back to normal – this is normal. On 9/11 we went from a people who, upon seeing and airplane intentionally crash into a building, wondered what technical problem could cause that, to being immediately suspicious of any anomaly as being caused by terrorists. On that day it took the 2nd airplane hitting the other tower for it to sink in that we were under attack.

They that know no evil will suspect none. ~ Ben Johnson
In a way I am pleased to see the replays of planes hitting the buildings and the towers falling. It is uncomfortable to see, but we need to be reminded about the type of people we are dealing with. They simply want to kill us. They are smart, patient, well financed and numerous. The 9/11 terrorists, learned to fly commercial aircraft. They studied the airline’s procedures and learned how the crew would likely respond. They trained in how to most effectively kill in a confined space with a small sharp instrument. Most of the teaching came from the infidels they planned to kill. The letter of inspiration they carried instructed them to make their weapon sharp so as to not discomfort the animal (infidels) they killed. They waited for a day when Allah provided perfect conditions. They used our commercial aircraft and brilliantly executed a successful attack – finally bringing down the towers they hated so vehemently. They have no government, no territory or population to protect and their enemy provides them with the training and weapons.



There are confusing issues in the mix. Why are we in Iraq and Afghanistan? Nobody really gives a logical explanation. Are we there for oil? Are we trying to “box in” Iran and have our forces in the area if needed? Are we simply teaching our troops how to fight this type of war? Are we safer because we are there? Every day some of the cream of our American youth is lost. I often wonder how different the world would be if those who were killed in WWII, for example, lived out their lives, made their contribution to society, had more children and passed their values to this Boomer Generation. Would it be any different? Ah, but I wander from the topic.


Are we safer? I don’t know. No one really knows. Our leaders try to reassure us, but if we have learned anything from history we know they will hit again. They waited 8 ½ years to hit the trade center again. Any attack will likely be something we didn’t expect. It will be more spectacular than 9/11. It will be well planned and unless we get lucky more effective in hurting this country. President Bush said we have to be right 100% of the time to prevent another attack and they only have to be right once. There are so many ways that a clever enemy can take advantage of our open society and freedom that it is impossible for us to protect ourselves completely.


So besides feeling hopeless what can we do? As in so many issues the only answer is “have faith”; faith that we will prevail; faith that the American people once again will defeat a difficult enemy, faith that there are a sufficient number of good people to defeat the terrorists and faith that much good will eventually come from this. Some good has come already. Most of us have a deeper appreciation for our loved ones. We better understand just how precious they are.

Happy September 11th!