Last week in July.


Not a lot to blog on this week. I’ve been finishing up the TV cabinet for Christy. This is the first time I used medium density fiberboard (MDF) for a project. It is the material of choice for all those” trading spaces” type of shows on TV. The stuff is very heavy! But it is easy to cut and does not splinter. I built the bottom cabinet and fixed and painted the upper unit. I painted it a color called “bark” per Christy’s specifications.
Here is the final product:



Now I’m finishing up on the coffee table for her.


I was reading an interview of Tom Hanks about his new movie “Ant Bully”. In it he was asked if he ever burned ants as a kid. I guess burning ants is common. Before I reached the enlightened conclusion that ants are living creatures and their life should be respected (like mosquitoes and cockroaches?) I used to play a game with the ants. I was a mean alien. When I found a bunch of ants feasting on some food I would use my parents magnifying glass to focus the Sun on them. It was my death ray. My goal was to leave no survivor to go warn the other ants. Eventually, after my enlightenment, I got to the point where I tried not to run over ants when I was riding my little tricycle or step on them when walking. The ants in Connecticut were basically 3 varieties; Red, Black and little. No fire ants like we have here in Florida. If you dropped a red ant in a black ant nest, or vice versa, a fight would ensue.

Drawer Archeology

It started with a search for a furniture touch-up stick and turned into a review of the last 6 years or so. We have a couple of catch-all drawers in our kitchen that get stuff tossed into them but rarely get stuff taken out of. One of those drawers was where we thought the touch-up stick was.

The search turned into a drawer clean out. Here are some of the things we found:

A temporary checkbook from 2001, when we needed to change our bank account because someone stole our mail.

An old 4-function calculator with corroded battery gook seeping from its seams.

A can of dried-up neutral shoe polish.

A Florida Turnpike toll receipt from April 4th 2001.

A 4 watt lightbulb.

A tip from a tube of caulk.

An old tube of Blistik (soothing berry) bought from Eckerds.

A pair of reading glasses minus one arm.

The paper top of a Harry and David’s bag.

An alcohol cleaning pad for Velcro.

An old watch.

Several dry erase markers.

A little wind-up walking toy.

3 Breathasure capsules.

Clothing tags.

Batteries.

Pencils.

A short role of plastic tape (red) .

A compass.

A plastic ruler.

A small pack of silica gel .

A wad of gauze that looked like it had been wrapped around a thumb.

Thank-you candy from Blockbuster Video.

A matchbook with 3 matches in it.

A cats-eye marble.

A jingle bell.

A chip clip.

Easter egg stickers.

A small sheet of felt circles.

A candle.

A baby picture of Leidon Fale (who is now 15-18 yrs old).

A floppy disk labeled “screen antics”.

A Contac capsule.

A sheet of paper with “Tim & Karen Feagins July 28, 2001” on it. (Happy Anniversary Tim and Karen!) .

A blue ribbon.

BUT NO PAINT STICK! - Oh, by the way, this is just the stuff that was thrown out. The drawer is still quite full of "stuff".

Another Milepost

In 1969, for the first time in my life, I remembered experiencing a news event that happened a whole decade ago! It was the big tainted cranberry scare of 1959 – some cranberries grown in Oregon were tainted with an insecticide, aminotriazole, and nobody wanted to have cranberry sauce that Thanksgiving.

Later it was 20-year-old, 30, 40, and now today July 26th 50-year-old stories. Today is the anniversary of the collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm in the North Atlantic.

I’m feeling old. My daughter, Karen, is feeling old at 28. All I tell her is just wait.

There is an article in this week’s Newsweek about author Nora Ephron and her book about aging "I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman".

Some of her quotes are:


“Childbirth is no fun, but at the end you get a big present.”

“For the last 15 years I’ve been reading pieces about how much happier you’re going to be when you get older and wiser and I just keep thinking, are they nuts? Are they not looking in the mirror? Are they not trying to hit their forehand back over the net without their shoulder going out?”

“Savor your neck, because I’m not kidding-it’s only a matter of seconds. Keep walking around in things that show it off, because soon you’re going to have to give them to Goodwill.”

“Anything you think is wrong with your body at the age of thirty-five you will be nostalgic for at the age of forty-five.”

“At the age of fifty-five you will get a saggy roll just above your waist even if you are painfully thin.”

“This saggy roll just above your waist will be especially visible from the back and will force you to reevaluate half the clothes in your closet, especially the white shirts.”

“Write everything down.”

“Keep a journal.”

“Take more pictures.”

So as I sit here this evening at age 57 ¾ with my shoulders aching and my butt sore, not wanting to get up because it hurts to move around, I wonder just how good my planned “30 good years” of retirement will be. Somehow, however, I am optimistic.

Sunday, Sunday

We had a normal Sunday.

Marmalade and her kitten were outside this morning. They had both disappeared for the last 4 days.

We went to church at 7:15 - We had a priest we’ve never seen before. Hurlbert Chapel does not have its own priest anymore so each week it is a scramble.

After church it was back home to work on Christy’s TV Stand. Today it was a little sanding and the first coat of paint over the primer. Tomorrow will be coat #2 and Tuesday I should put a layer of polyurethane finish on it. When it’s finished I’ll take pictures.

Since Brie wakes me up each day precisely at 5 AM – her internal clock is incredible. (either that or she has learned to read the clock.) I was tired and put my head on penny’s lap and took an hours nap.

Next I walked 4.5 Miles on the treadmill to keep with my 10K walking training schedule. From the treadmill I can see our birdbath in the back yard. Since we have had very little rain here for months now it is the source of water for a bunch of back yard critters. First up was Marmalade and the kitten. The kitten barely can get up there but just makes It. After that a constant procession of birds and squirrels came by to drink. After I finished my walk I went outside and filled the birdbath to the brim. I also use this time to do some blog writing. Time passes very quickly when you are not thinking about the fact that you are walking. Typing is a little difficult, so I'm glad there is a spellchecker.

Christy made her daily call and sounded good.
I (oops) forgot to make my Sunday night call to my sister!
Right now we are back in the bedroom, Sunshine is sleeping beside me and Brie is at the foot of the bed.
So nothing exciting - probably more of the same tomorrow

Nana

Nana left today. Penny and I stopped by last night for a tearful good-bye. With her health issues we don’t know if we will see her again. When we left, her daughter Jody walked with us out to the car. She gave Penny and me a big hug and through her tears said, “You know how I feel about you guys.” She paid us a big complement. She said that she found herself a husband just like me because she liked the relationship Penny and I have.

Nana is the head of he McClure clan, our surrogate extended family here. Since neither Penny nor I have family close by we were fortunate to have the McClures around.

The McClures came into our lives in 1973 by way of a friend at work, Charlie Yates. He was renting a small house on Poquito Bayou and his landlord, Grandmarnie McClure was looking for someone to rent a small cottage they had at 3 Poquito Rd. They wanted safe renters and since I was getting married he thought it would be a fine place to spend my first years of marriage.

I was able to get out of my lease on my apartment on Don Drive and the McClures rented the cottage to me for the same amount I had paid for it, $130/ month-for a waterfront cottage!

Penny and I spent our “honeymoon” moving in to 3 Poquito. Penny took on the task of watching over Grandmarnie.

About 6 months later Nana Papa Bear Jody, Ricky and Kelly moved down. Nana’s daughter, Meme was already in the area having married Tommy Nelson. Rita was off at school. Penny immediately became part of the family as only Penny can do.

On our first anniversary we found a bottle of champagne and a card on our kitchen table when we got home that the McClures left us. Penny and I used their Jon boat and I fished and swam in the bayou. Coffee, our dog liked being on the water. I had a garden in the back yard, and Penny began her adventure into breeding Himalayans. Many Saturday evenings everyone would get together and we would play volleyball in the driveway. Jody became like a daughter to Penny. We became as close to being family as possible without actually being related.

We lived there 2 years until we bought our house on Rodney St. We would come by weekly for dinner and volleyball. Karen and Christy came along. For Christy, Penny had to stay in bed with her legs elevated for the last month of pregnancy and have somebody with her. Nana graciously let us stay with her and she watched Penny while I was at work. She propped up the foot end of Penny’s bed on bricks to keep her legs elevated.

Poquito Bayou was still available to us any time and when Karen and Christy got old enough they joined in the volleyball games. Whenever we needed someone to watch our pets Meme was there. We celebrated all of their birthdays-Nana usually made angel food ice cream cake topped with her caramel sauce. Christmas was absolute bedlam. They didn’t wait until the morning to open their gifts so we always left with our gifts in big plastic bags.

Nana always had animals, cats dogs birds and the whole family has carried on the tradition. It is normal to have at least 4 dogs over there whenever we visit. Eventually they built another house further down Poquito road and Grandmarnie moved into the house where Charlie Yates used to live.

Saturday nights at Nana’s were a regular event now. We would go over early in the summer and swim. In late August there were Scuppernong grapes to feast on growing on their fence.

Grandmarnie died, Papa bear died. Karen and Christy got a lesson that I never did growing up, that death is part of life.

All the kids have grown up and scattered. Nana’s house is up for sale. Penny and I will have to learn to lean on our neighbors when we need support.
Ricky and Tracy drove Nana up to NC in a big Winnebago so she won’t be stressed too much by the trip. We just got a call – they made it safely.

Advice Given

I’m currently reading Gilda Radner’s book “It’s Always Something”. In it she tells the story of her experience with ovarian cancer. In the book she seeks and is given advice by many people. It started me thinking about some of the advice I got during my life.

We are given advice from many sources. Some is good, some bad. But some advice comes from the heart. Hopefully it is heeded. Other comes from experience and is given to make things easier or to prevent making the same mistake.

In the latter category fall things like my mother advising me on the proper way to iron a shirt just before I left for college. Or my father’s friend showing me it is smart to screw the lampshade holder back in place after removing the lampshade – that way it doesn’t get lost.

The more significant advice involves personal decisions. When, in 8th grade, it was time to decide whether to go to Bassick High and take the college course or go to Ludlow trade school, most of my neighborhood friends, including my best friend, Robert Mester, were going to trade school. I was leaning that direction too, until Mrs. Seward, my science teacher, pulled me aside one day and advised me to go take the college courses. She said I would waste my talent if I didn’t. Besides she had been there when my mother went to school and knew she did not have the opportunity I did. She was looking out for me.

Then there was Alan Vogel one of my roommates in college. When I had to decide whether or not to work out at Cape Kennedy (not really a difficult decision). Alan bluntly advised me that any of my classmates would give their left nut to work out there.


When I failed my first college course one term from graduating I got really upset. Penny came to see me and told me it was OK to cry. As silly as it sounds it was advice I needed to hear.

When I was getting ready to graduate from college there was the question of how it would affect my relationship with Penny. One day as I was parking my motorcycle, a good friend, Vic Petillo, started talking to me about Penny. He looked me in the eye and said if he ever had someone like that, who cared for him, he wouldn’t leave her. (I didn’t follow his advice immediately but it stuck with me.)

When Karen started school at Kenwood we had a teacher’s conference with one of her teachers, Mrs. Brown. She told me that Karen really loved her Daddy and put me up on a pedestal. Before that could go to my swelling head, she went on to explain the awesome responsibility that came with this. She warned me not to let her down. She was looking out for Karen.

I can’t leave out my mother’s advice. One day she handed me a piece of straw from the “baby Jesus’s manger.” She told me to carry it with me and I’ll never be broke. I smiled and stuck it in my wallet. I know this is superstition, but it meant something to her. Now after decades of changing wallets and Mom not being here any more, I still carry it. It is a little ragged but still together. In fact, I consider it one of my prized possessions. (And I never went broke!)
Looking back over this blog it stands out that two significant pieces of advice came from teachers. They can have real effect on students' and parents' lives.

Laundry Room Chatter

I’ve been censoring what I put out in my blog because, while interesting or important to me, I had a hard time thinking anyone else (Kathy and Karen) would care and would be bored. For my last topic-Nana- I had written up a history of our relationship with the McClures and then philosophized about the huge effect chance (or is it?) plays in our lives. On my energy efficient washing machine topic I deleted a short rant about the good use of bad data in tying greenhouse gases to global warming. I may reconsider and publish these words. I’ve got to decide whether my blog is happenings and feelings or that plus some life experiences, history, and some personal philosophy (and written for me). It’s my engineer technical side fighting my sensitive, feelings side. We will see which I wins.

Now on to the technical stuff. Since I have run about 10 loads through the new washing machine I have a good idea about its features. Having not purchase a new machine in a while I was pleased with the way this one works. As you know if you got my E-mail I built a 15” platform for the washer and dryer and with the front-loading washer it works out very nicely.

For those of you who are interested here are some of the features:

You put laundry detergent, fabric softener and bleach in separate compartment in a little drawer that slides out on the top of the machine. These are diluted and dispersed at the optimum time during the cycle. The machine decides how much water to use for each load so there is no water level to select. It has 5 cycle settings ranging from whitest whites, an 85 min cycle; down to express wash (for 2 or 3 items when you are in a hurry) which is a 30-minute cycle. Water temperature for the wash and rinse is automatically selected depending on the cycle and you can override it if you don’t like its selection. The only thing you can’t do in the machine is soak clothes. I guess they don’t trust the door seal with standing water. The machine counts down cycle time so you know how long is left and you can set it for delayed start if for some reason you want it to do a load at a later time. The clothes are washed by being tumbled through the water, switching direction periodically to assure even cleaning. I watched a good portion of the first load I washed and you never really see a water level. Most of the water is tied up in the clothing. I know this is gentler on the clothes because I accidentally left a couple of paper towels in the pocket of a pair of jeans I washed. In the old machine this meant torn bits of paper towel all through the wet clothes. In this machine they came through the cycle whole (and clean). There are 3 spin speeds to remove the water. It won’t let you spin delicates at the highest speed. After the spin it gently rotates back and forth tumbling the clothes so they don’t stay wrinkled and crushed against the side.
It’s working out that for most loads the dryer runs about 10 minutes longer than the washer so there is a much smoother flow of laundry through the machines than I thought there would be. Both machines have finished alarms loud enough for me to hear in the house – the dryer is buzzing right now – so I have to go.

Times Changes Things

This Sunday marks the end of an era in our lives. Nana is leaving to go to North Carolina. I had no idea when I rented the cottage at 3 Poquito back in 1973 that I was joining the McClure clan. I also didn’t foresee the role this family would play in our lives.

The McClures became our surrogate extended family. Birthdays, weddings, Saturday get-togethers, swimming in the bayou, scuppernongs, pet watching, hurricane evacuations, animals, ice cream with caramel sauce, volleyball, Papa Bear, Grandmarnie, crazy Christmas gatherings, Gugimonster, funerals, broken arms, animals, animals, animals. Now everyone has grown up and scattered around the country and the last vestige, Nana and Rita, are going away.

It’s just not going to be the same around here.

Murphy’s Law

Everyone knows Murphy’s Law; “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong- at the worst possible time.” Our washing machine breaking is a good proof for the law.

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been concentrating on building a TV stand for Christy. When I work on a project I normally let my other duties, housework, laundry, dishes, yard work, automobile upkeep, etc go. With our relaxed schedule and no one visiting in this timeframe it’s no big thing.

We finally reached the point where I needed to do laundry (running out of underwear) so what happens? The washer breaks on the first load. The quantity of laundry was larger than normal because the last time I did it I missed a whole basket of clothes that we had used in New England. I thought they were clean.

Since repair would not be cost effective it is time to buy a new machine. We did that last night. The dilemma here was how much to spend. I could replace our old machine with a similar top-loader for $300-$400 or go to an energy / water-efficient front loader. Ringing in the back of my head was Karen’s blog “Move you feet” which she concluded with the desire to go out and replace her appliance with new energy efficient ones. She had just see Al Gore’s movie about global warming and was inspired. The best price on a front loader for us was in the $700-$800 range – essentially double that of the top loader. In its favor, the front loader uses 1/3 the power, 1/3 the water. It spins the clothes at 1100 rpm thus squeezing out much more water than the 450 rpm top loader and making them easier to dry (thereby saving energy and gas in our gas dryer). The front loader also does not go out of balance when spinning because the spin is in the vertical not horizontal plane. On the downside you have to use low suds, high energy detergent, which can cost 5-10 cents more per load ( so you save energy and water, but not money) negating the “it will pay for itself” argument. I really haven’t done the math here, but nickels add up. The cycle time is much longer than a top loader so the laundry task would also take longer. So, which did we get?

Karen will be pleased because we got the energy efficient machine. We don’t pick it up until Thursday, so a trip to the laundromat is likely in our future. So we have begun to do our part for the environment. Instead of sending the old unit to the landfill, I’m going to salvage what I can use from it (the pump for a water feature? The basket as a planter? Switches and timers for a future solar water heater? Who knows?).

Oh, by the way, Lowes was getting rid of some lighting yesterday morning and we bought 8 compact florescent light bulbs. Are we getting environmentally conscious or what?

That’s one small step…

Today, July 16th, is the date that Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the Moon, was launched. I was fortunate enough to be there as part of the work force that made the mission possible. Because of my status as a lowely engineering aid I had no responsibilities on the actual launch date. I did have access to everywhere but Firing Room 1 where the countdown was conducted. It was better than being a VIP because I didn’t have to stay with any group.

My day began early, riding my little Yamaha 100cc “motorcycle” to work at 4:30 AM. I wanted to get there in time to see the crew walk out of the crew quarters and get in the transport van that took them to the launch pad. It was quite a sight. They walk out to the cheers of all the workers. All suited up, the crew each carry a portable air conditioning unit in one hand (to keep the suit comfortable) and wave with the other. It is by no means graceful, but these 3 guys were going to try to go to the Moon! Everyone watching shared the same hope for the mission and fear of the great risk involved.

NASA, being always redundant, had Firing Room 2 manned and tracking the countdown in case it was needed. That meant I was able to go there and listen to the launch team’s chatter as the countdown progressed

When launch time approached I walked out in front of the VIP stand to watch it. I didn’t own a camera . A secretary friend of mine was taking a picture of the rocket and I just happened to walk into the edge of the picture. So purely by accident I have a picture of me (barely recognizable) with the rocket in the background.

The closest you can get to the launch pad is about 3 miles away. I stood on the dirt road in front of the VIP stand to watch. From there the launch vehicle is visible across a lake and only looks about 1 inch tall.

As the countdown got into seconds I was thinking about the whole space program and how interested I was in it. In 3rd or 4th grade I was drawing rockets on the launch pad with little men on work stands painting them. I tracked all the launches from Vanguard through the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Programs. I even snuck a transistor radio with an earphone in to school to listen to a mission back when they covered them from launch to splashdown. Now here was the culmination of that logical progression of dress rehearsals. We had demonstrated all the technology and procedures worked – except for that landing and return thing. Now the time was here. A decade of work, 3 men’s lives, and there it sat on the pad, venting oxygen, ready to go. 10-9-8-7-engines start- 6-5-4-3-2-1---. If you have never seen a manned launch it is hard to understand what emotions are felt. It is a personal experience and a group experience. The Saturn 5 launch is much different than a shuttle. The shuttle leaps off the pad and accelerates rapidly. The Saturn 5 sits on the pad for 7 seconds with all 5, 1st stage engines running 100%, generating a huge exhaust and steam cloud. Then at T-0 seconds the hold down s are released and the rocket slowly rises taking, I think, 7 or 8 seconds to climb the first 350 ft and clear the tower. The Saturn is much louder than a shuttle, too.

At T-0 seconds the rocket is released. At this point it is a visual experience since the sound has not yet reached us. The crowd is also silent. You can feel the collective will of thousands of people wishing that thing into the air. Slowly it rises. I could feel my heart pounding and I realized I’m saying out loud “go baby, go baby”. I also realize that half of the people around me are saying that too. So far so good, the lift-off is right on schedule at 9:32 AM with no delays. Optimism spreads. Some people shout.The sound wave is visible as it crosses the lake and disturbs the surface of the water. When it hits you feel it deep in your chest. It is a constant rumble with some sort of deep popping sound mixed in. The rocket rises right into the Sun so everyone has one hand up blocking the sunlight. The exhaust of the rocket appears as bright as the Sun. The rocket continues rising picking up speed as it goes. Soon all you see is the white exhaust plume capped by a bright spot in the sky- but you watch it till it disappears. All this time the crowd is cheering. Finally, all that’s left is a crooked exhaust plume being blown out of shape by the wind.

Appliance Revolt

Now that the computer is working our clothes washer has decided to go south. It makes wonderful grinding noises, throws circuit breakers and fills the room with an interesting ozone smell. It is at an age where repair is not cost effective – so we are going to replace it. Besides, now we can do something for the environment and get an energy efficient model. – and send the one we’ve got to a landfill.
We will now test the “things happen in threes” theory.

Dumpster Diving

We keep our eyes out for junk that people throw out or leave on the side of the road. One of my retirement activities is woodworking and if we find something relatively nice we pick it up and refurbish it. Then it will usually go to Karen or Christy.

We bought a sleeper sofa for Christy for $75 in a furniture store next to Winn Dixie and when were out behind the store loading it into our trailer we noticed a set of 3 dining room chairs in the dumpster. We took those too.

That dumpster is now a regular stop for us when we go by Winn Dixie. We drive around back and check it out. Usually there are 3 or 4 square, stacking dairy crates there. I use them as platforms for cutting plywood or for painting. I’ve got about a dozen of them now. Over time we’ve also found several yards of a linen-cotton material, a small patchwork blanket, 2, 6-inch thick uncovered foam sofa cushions and yesterday the dumpster was full of hundreds of fabric samples. Evidently the store is getting out of custom fabrics for sofas and windows business. Each cloth sample is 12x 18 inches with a grommet in one corner. There were also 20 or 30 12-inch square leather samples. I don’t know yet what we will do with these, but with Penny’s interest in quilting who knows.

If nothing else, I’ve got hundreds of classy paint rags.

Marmalade

For the past few months there has been a skinny orange cat in our back yard. Since Penny and I feed the strays in our neighborhood we leave food out for Marmalade each day. At first she would disappear as soon as we came into sight but now she waits outside the back door for us to feed her. Since that is a sliding glass door both of our indoor cats interact with Marmalade and she responds by rubbing up against the glass in front of them. Marmalade is by no means tame. She won’t let you get closer than about 6 feet. She doesn’t run away now when we feed her. She backs off, sometimes hissing, and waits for us to go back inside before she eats.

About a month ago, as she was lying on the patio I noticed a well-defined set of nipples on her. We suspected kittens, but had not seen any sign of them. She disappeared for a couple of days this week. She showed up Tuesday morning ravenous, ate a lot of food and then camped out on the patio and slept for about 6 hours. Then, yesterday (Wed) morning she was waiting to be fed and there behind her was one kitten. We think it is about 6-weeks old. It has similar color to Brie except its back is solid instead of mixed colors. As soon as I went outside to feed, the kitten ran off and we didn’t see her for the rest of the day. Later that day Marmalade brought us a present, a rat she had killed. Marmalade is an excellent hunter. She is keeping the area under my shop clear of critters.



Today mother and child were again there. Before I went outside I watched them. Kittens sure are cute, but try to take a picture of one in low light! It’s impossible - they are in constant motion. I watched as Marmalade led the kitten to the birdbath and leapt up to get a drink. I didn’t think the kitten could jump that high, but it followed suit and mom and kitten drank side-by-side. I fed them and the kitten stayed around. It is still nursing and Marmalade seems to feel safe on our patio with it.

So, there is at least 1 new cat in the neighborhood and 1 less rat.

Beach Walking

In the summer 0f 1969 and 1970, I lived in Cocoa Beach and worked at the Kennedy Space Center. Having then spent 4 years in Florida I found I really enjoyed just being at the beach. No need for surfing or sailing or fishing; just the beach. My ambition was to become a professional beach bum, but I couldn’t figure a way to make a living on the beach. Since my little efficiency apartment ($65/month) was only a 5-minute walk from the beach I could easily get there and on any given weekend it wasn’t unusual for me to spend most of my time there.

The real world finally won and for the past 36 years I’ve gone to the beach often, but there was always the need to be back by a certain time and take care of responsibilities.

So now I find myself retired, living only a 15-minute drive from a beautiful beach and I am taking advantage of it. One requirement if I am to enjoy retirement is to get myself in at least reasonable shape. Unfortunately the past few years have not been good for me. Problems with my back and shoulders have made it difficult to do both strengthening and aerobic exercise. It’s taking a while but these are being fixed. An exacerbating side effect of some of the medication and the lack of exercise (while continuing to eat well) is weight gain. But barring some new problem (the right hip comes to mind) in about a year I should be in reasonable condition to do all the things Penny (Penny has health issues too and that’s another consideration.) and I want to do

That’s where beach walking comes in. I’ve described my beach walk routine in an earlier blog. With the walking I am able to be at the beach and work on getting in better shape at the same time. The beach is different at each visit even when I go on consecutive days so it stays interesting.

I told Penny that I am going to do this until I get burned out for the beach. Since, as I am walking, I don’t see any regulars I think the routine must get old after a while. We shall see. Penny has been very understanding, even encouraging on this issue. I don’t think I’m going to beach walk in cold weather. It will likely be back to the treadmill then. For now I will hit the beach as often as is reasonable (once or twice a week) after all, I’ve waited 36 years for this!

Computer Repair - Update

Success! Windows, Office and virus protection are loaded and working. I am now loading AOL.

After all the frustration you get an enhanced sense of accomplishment when the darn thing starts working correctly again.

Computer Problems

“Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth.”
-Dave Barry

It is always an adventure to add, delete, modify, or fix the computer. Our desktop was starting to act funny. It started going off into that big blue unknown for 30 minutes or more when given a command. If I was patient and didn’t click the mouse or do control-alt-delete the proper function would be accomplished. But we can’t wait 30 minutes for every operation. It also took that long to start up.

I couldn’t use the CD drive either. I was able to get online and web functions worked. I downloaded a repair program and while it didn’t fix the problem I now had the capability to write to the CD. I backed up all our documents and photos and important files before the computer became inoperable.

Microsoft tech support told me the computer manufacturer was my best recourse so I called Dell. Dell pleasantly surprised me. The tech support person, Margaret, Ran me through several procedures and after about 45 minutes on the phone decided my XP disk was bad. So she sent me replacement software for everything on the computer – sound, DVD, CD writer and of course XP. I wrote a complimentary E-Mail to her supervisor. So here I sit trying to reload XP and it is still taking a long time. More in another blog.

In one of my E-Mails to Christy I mentioned the computer problem and ended my mail with “Wish me luck”. In Christy’s typical witty manner she wrote back “Good Luck” and nothing else.

Do unto others…

Last Monday after my beach walk I found a wallet with $250+ in it and turned it in to the sheriff’s office. Then on Wednesday I dropped my credit card from my wallet outside Lowes. I didn’t know it until I arrived home where a phone message informed me that someone had found it and turned it in. It makes me wonder if the outcome might be different if I had kept the wallet. I know it doesn’t work that way but the timing was interesting. I’m using the “throw away” wallet I bought for the Italy trip. It is made out of nylon and the first pocket, where I keep the credit card has stretched to the point where it was not secure. Thus the loss of the card.
I’m just glad the world still has a good number of honest people in it.

Aunt Margaret

We got a phone call from Aunt Margaret today thanking Penny for sending her pictures of the Memorial and family gathering. At 95 her mind is clear, but her legs are bad. She sounded good, but frail. Her voice and intonation reminded me of my Mom.

I asked her about when she came over from Europe. Here is what she told me.

She came over in 1921 when she was 11 years old. She traveled with her mother. Her father was already here and had been for 10 years. She had to wait because of the war. She left from Trieste. She had to wait there for 3 weeks because the boat’s coal supply was on fire and smoldering. I’m not sure if they got another boat or waited for the fire to burn itself out. She can remember buying oranges from the people on shore while they were waiting. She came over on the Belvedere (at least that’s what it sounded like), an Italian ship and came through Ellis Island. She was in 3rd class, which means they slept on bunk beds. I asked what she did on the voyage and she said just talk to people. She said it was a slow boat and took 30 days. She remembered she ordered chicken soup and it came with the chicken head, feathers and all, in the soup. She was laughing at this, so it was funny to her. She had long hair and was afraid that it would be cut off at Ellis Island if they found lice. Since she was 3rd class she had to pay to have her hair washed so they would not cut it. Her hair was not cut.

They went right to Bridgeport to live, in the ‘West End’ section. Nine months later my Mom (Helen) and Uncle George were born. (Since they were born Dec 31st, that makes her arrival in the March 1921 timeframe.
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So we followed up on the Ellis Island site and found that she actually arrived here on March 30th 1921. Her passenger record shows her name as Margit. The best we can figure her mother was named Mihaly. The site gives the history of the ship they came on also.

In addition I copied records for her Father, my Grandfather, my Grandmother Siverina and my Aunt Ersillia.

Family tree stuff doesn’t fascinate me, but I do find it interesting learning the circumstances that led to me.

Mind vs Body

Retirement gives me more time to do things but, so far, my body won’t let me take full advantage of it. I did get started on Christy’s TV stand. All the major pieces are cut and primed. Today I began sanding the existing unit to prepare it for the primer. But I get ahead of myself.

The day began as usual, up at 5:30, breakfast while listening to Karen on the radio -reading any E-Mail, placating the cats vying for attention. Then a trip to both Home Depot and Lowe’s - seeking hinges for the TV stand. Then mow the lawn. It is cloudy today so I didn’t beach walk. Per the 10K schedule I needed to walk 35 minutes today so I figure the hour behind the lawnmower satisfies that. I used to have to rest between doing the front yard and back yard. Now I can do both again before needing a break. At least that is some progress. At this point my shoulders are beginning to ache. After a rest and lunch it was out to the shop to do some sanding. I made it until only 2:30 before both my shoulders said it was time to stop. I then did my daily physical therapy (PT), iced my shoulders and now I am writing my blog. When I was remodeling I would not finish many days until at least 8PM; a better sense of accomplishment but also the cause of my shoulder problems.

There are some positive sides to this routine. Now that I have the shop I can just leave every thing in place and pick up right where I left off. I also am currently reading (listening to) 3 books. In the shop I am reading John Grisham’s “The Broker”. In the book the main character has to learn Italian real fast and it actually is a good refresher for the Italian I learned for the trip to Italy. While mowing and doing yard work I am reading Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger”. I haven’t read much of him since my King phase probably 15 or 20 years ago. This book is a much different style – a touch of the Lord of the Rings – mixed with a western – and of course some supernatural. I’m actually enjoying it. The 3rd book is by James Lee Burke. Penny and I listen to that in the car. It features one of our favorite characters, Dave Robicheaux, and if I remember the title I’ll add it in later.

So in my personal battle of mind vs body the mind is doing OK (as far as I know) and the body is hoping to recover at least some of what’s been lost.

Aphelion

Today the Earth is at aphelion, its farthest point from the Sun. I’ve always thought it interesting that this happens in summer in our hemisphere. You would think we would feel a little colder.

I’ve determined that retirement is not good for procrastinators. Where it used to be that most things would come up against a deadline, now the old saying “it will still be there tomorrow” comes into play on a broad scale. In some ways it is a luxury to be enjoyed. In others there is the danger of letting time slip away and not accomplishing much. Retirement doesn’t change ones way of doing things, but there is a danger of drifting or spending more time on some things that don’t warrant it.

Today was not wasted. It started with a beach walk – nothing exciting this time, but very enjoyable. Penny made chimichangas today for the McClure’s. I was supposed to start on the base for the TV stand we are making for Christy today. I didn’t want to get all messy before going over there and I wanted to be available if Penny needed help. (This is what got me thinking about procrastination.) Penny also wanted me to go into town with her to get birthday presents for Meme, Tommy and Terry. After that it was lunch time (BLTs with homegrown tomatoes.) Then I did my physical therapy. Then time to shower and get ready to go over to the McClure’s. This is how the days are going. Rather than a rigid plan, a flexible day filled with decision points.
So Christy’s TV base didn’t get started today. Maybe tomorrow - when the Sun is a little closer.

Killer Angels.

I just finished listening to a book about the battle of Gettysburg, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it was historically accurate and written from the standpoint of the Generals on both sides of the battle. It reminded me of the movie Gettysburg. So I went on line to see what others thought of this book and - DUH !– It won a Pulitzer, was written in 1974 and was considered by one critic as one of the worlds great books.
But don’t take my word for it : http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/705

Today, July 2nd, is also the birthday of my sister Patty. Having just had the memorial service for her and putting her ashes in the ground I thought it was worth mentioning. Now she and my Mother, who cried so many times wondering "Where my baby is" are together again .

Beware the fearsome watermelon!

Today was a normal Saturday. We are into a weekly routine where our Target run is on Friday and on Saturday we go to breakfast at Waffle House and then go to Lowe’s to see if there are any bargains out. This week we found nothing at Lowe’s, but did get two solid wood chairs at Target for $17 a piece. After Lowe’s we go grocery shopping.

Last week I got a watermelon at Winn Dixie and have “drunk a glass of watermelon’ with Penny when she has tea. It is a very good watermelon, but I didn’t finish it off during the week. Hoping that this weeks melons were just as good, I bought another. There was no room in the fridge for it – I have to finish melon #1 first, so I put it out of the way in the sunroom next to the treadmill.

We have a rather skittish cat named Brie (after the cheese, but that’s another story).
I caught her as a feral kitten with a fishing net and through a complicated set of circumstances and two round trips to Gainesville she became our cat. She retains, however, that feral quality of being ever alert for danger and suspicious of change. She also is very jealous of our other cat Sunshine and will place herself between Sunshine and Me or Penny and try to keep her from getting to us.

This is what I thought she was doing when I saw her lying in the doorway to the sunroom, but she looked a little strange. I walk over to her and I see that she is staring wide-eyed at the watermelon across the room. She hadn’t seen it go in there and to her it looked like a little blimp-shaped green critter (cats do see color, right?) had snuck in on her. I went over and sat next to the melon and called Brie. She started for me then turned and scooted. She came back again when I continued to call and reassure he. She approached in a wide circle staring intently at the melon. After a lot of coaxing and patience she finally got close enough to sniff it and that seemed to help.

Later in the day I was assembling the 2 new chairs in the sunroom and Brie was helping every bit of the way. She has that cat instinct to find the place where she can interfere with what you are doing the most. I got the chairs assembled and put them against the outside wall. Now there was new territory to explore and Brie was ready to do it. As she was gauging her jump from an old chair to one of the new ones she raised up for a clear view and suddenly that watermelon came into view on the other side. All I saw was her tail as she flew from the room.

Brie has brought a lot of fun and laughter into our house. Penny and I spoil her, probably too much. I have a running joke about whether you love animals or not, but Brie came along shortly after we lost our dog and one cat. At the same time one of our outside cats, BYC, decided it was my cat. He would come and greet me whenever I was outside, raise off the ground to meet my hand when I pet him and absolutely loved to be picked up and hugged. When we returned from one of our retirement trips BYC was nowhere to be seen. Our neighbor found him dead in the schoolyard and it looked like someone had caused him a painful death. I surprised myself with my reaction to that cat’s death. I didn’t realize how attached I was. The fact that this cat that was so sweet to me probably suffered hurt a lot. So with Brie I have a sense of protecting her from that dangerous world out there. But sometimes I fail and a watermelon slips past our defenses.