Bread, Brie, Bikes, Beach, Brother and Chair?

Happy January 29th. Today was a mixed bag.

We’ve got a carload of stuff to bring to the kids on our next trip. Some of the stuff needs work or cleanup. So today I did some of that. We recently replaced our computer chair because it no longer supported my back correctly. We offered the old chair to K&T. I then took a look at it and found that the back of the chair had broken free from the armrest and that is why it wasn’t supporting the back correctly. So this morning I fixed the chair. Now it sits right again. I think If I had looked at it before I bought the replacement I would have kept it. The price of the new chair was very good, however, so everyone wins. K&T get a decent chair and we get a new one.

Inspired by my Dad and Christian, I once again ventured into the world of baking bread. I like a nice crusty bread to eat with soup or have toasted for dinner in the evenings. Store-bought crusty bread goes for 5-6 dollars a pop so I figured I’d see what I could make myself. I got a simple (very simple) crusty bread recipe off the web and mixed up the dough last night. After letting it rise last night I refrigerated the dough overnight and shaped it and baked it this morning. I even shed some blood in the process. Yes, me, the guy who is always cautioning others demonstrated why professionals cut with their fingertips pointed away from the blade. My crusty bread was , well, crusty and the serrated bread knife I was casually slicing away with slipped down the rounded slope of the loaf an nicely cut the tip of my left index finger. It’s not a bad cut but it is a reminder to be more careful when I slice the bread.

We had it at lunch with homemade pasta figioli. It was good. I was pleased with my first try at this recipe. It’s easy enough and versatile enough to mix up once a week and bake as needed. The dough can stay in the fridge up to 2 weeks before baking.

Another item to bring to C&C are 2 bikes that have rusting in my backyard for years now. Christian expressed interest in them so I dug them out of the vines they were entangled in and took a look at them. The basic frames look OK but everything that can rust is rusted. They were halfway decent bikes but a lot of time and money would be required to resurrect them. I need to talk to C&C again before we cart these things over to them.

In between tasks I like to take a break and flop in my lounger for 20 minutes to relax and consider what is the next thing I should do to use my time effectively. I had been relaxing for 10 minutes when I felt 2 paws on my arm an saw Brie inspecting the area to make sure it was clear to jump up. If you read my blog or Penny’s blog you know it is a rare event for brie to actually lie in your lap. She curls up with Penny with a blanket in between her and Penny and she will flop beside us in bed again with a blanket in between. But she rarely curls up in your uncovered lap. I was surprised when she jumped up, gave my jeans a good once-over sniffing everywhere and then actually settled down. Now I had a dilemma. It was approaching 3PM—apple snack time. I couldn’t yell to Penny and tell her I was tied up (I usually prepare apple snack) because it would spook the cat. So I just relaxed and enjoyed the rare event of Brie curled up on my lap. She stayed an hour and a half.

After Brie got up I checked the sky and it looked good for a beach walk. So I set off to the beach. Penny ended up missing apple snack and having to make her own dinner while I ran off to the beach.

The cold weather once again provided for an empty beach—3 miles of sugar white sand all to myself. The sunset was nice and I did get some walking in today. Of course, I had my camera an took pictures. For some reason there were a number of feathers washed up on the beach. It’s not unusual to see 1 or 2 but there were about a dozen in the stretch of beach I walked.

I got a call from my brother while I was driving to the beach. He arrives in town on Feb 4th and would like me to pick him up at the bus station and take him to the church. We will probably do lunch with him before we drop him off.

Slumdog Millionaire

Today began with Brie waking me by standing on my chest. She then curled up in my armpit. I noticed the rain had arrived—it was pouring outside. I didn’t do any morning exercises this morning. Instead I just enjoyed the fact that Brie was wanting my attention.

The reason Brie was with me was that Penny was sleeping in the den. That means she had trouble sleeping and left so she wouldn’t disturb me. She’s considerate like that.


When I finally got up I made pecan pancakes topped with raspberry syrup.

Penny and I went off to do productive stuff for a while. She made sauce to have with the ravioli she made over the weekend.

Although the rain was long gone we still did the rainy day movie thing. We saw Slumdog Millionaire—a great movie. It deserves all the hype it’s getting.

Right now I’ve got dough rising for a batch of crusty bread. It’s a recipe I’m trying for a first time. I’ll bake it in the morning and we will have it with the pasta fagioli that we have in the fridge. Are we food-oriented or what?

The roof work I did appears to have fixed the problem we were having. Before the work water would continue to drip on the back patio for hours after rain had stopped. I would end up with wet footprints on me from the kitties when I fed them. Tonight the patio was dry. Meredith did not leave little wet footprints on me.

Ready for Rain and Cold Weather.

Today was another warm, sunny day. I used it to put the almost finishing touches on my roof job. Basically hook the rain gutter back up to the drainpipes on either end. I still need t o caulk and paint.

The other job I did finish was hooking up the new safety valve for our fireplace. It’s back in operation for the expected cold weekend. I’m sure glad I’m not experiencing the ice storm sweeping across the center of the country.

2 upcoming projects are working on kitchen storage and (maybe) putting in a work deck in front of the workshop. We are thinking it’s time to get the building materials before a wave of inflation washes over us.

I’m about all caught up with my backlog of podcasts. Tomorrow ii may get back to an audio book. It is supposed to rain—maybe a movie is a better idea. Slum Dog Millionaire is finally in town.

Couple and Kayak.

We saw the FOCCUS couple for the 2nd time today. This time we have a couple that needs to do a great deal of work on their relationship. I don’t know if we are getting through to them or not. We will get some idea when they show up next time.

Penny made lunch for them—chicken potpie—and it was good. Last night she also made ravioli for us to have this week. I’m lucky to have such a talented partner. She counsels people—she cooks and much more.

After the couple left I went outside to put some mail in our mailbox. I discovered that rather than being cloudy and ugly as predicted it was beautiful. There was a blue sky, 70 degrees, a bird singing, a mild breeze and it smelled like spring. I decided to take advantage of retirement mode and take the kayak out. Penny wanted to work on a project she had so I loaded my kayak on the CRV and headed for the bayou.

This is the first kayaking of 2009 for me. I had a good time. I was able to paddle with minimal thumbs involvement. I found when I got to the head of the bayou that the water was too shallow for me to get up into the stream there. It’s not unusual for the water level to be down in winter. We haven’t had as much rain as we normally have in January, too.

I had the bayou to myself and I stopped paddling a couple of times, leaned back and closed my eyes and just soaked it all in. I saw a couple of osprey and a couple herons. I also heard a loon make its loon song. It was an enjoyable paddle.

How it’s going to be

I’ve been trying not to get too political in my blogging. Not completely as Karen has done but mostly. After Obama’s first week I can’t help myself.

Issue 1; Iraq. I’m for getting our troops out of harms way as expediently as can be done safely. But anyone who possesses an ounce of military sense knows you don’t set a firm timetable. Goals are fine. I fear that Obama will sacrifice most of what our military has accomplished with blood sweat and tears by setting an arbitrary politically nice date. Now the bad guys know they can act nice for a while and we will pull out our combat troops and air support and surveillance. Then they can chop up the remnants that are there for the taking.

Issue 2: Transparency. The headline today was Obama’s closed-door meeting on the economy. H-m-m.

Issue 3: Obama quote: “The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president."

Well, there is this former lobbyist for a big defense contractor called Raytheon. His name is William Lynn.

President Obama wants him to be deputy defense secretary. So, the Obama administration wants a waiver to its own rule.

That basically means they are saying, we will mostly put tough new restrictions on lobbyists, except when we won't. (Thanks to Campbell Brown for this tidbit)

Issue 4: Bipartisanship. While discussing the stimulus package with top lawmakers in the White House's Roosevelt Room, President Obama shot down a critic with a simple message.

"I won," he said, according to aides who were briefed on the meeting. "I will trump you on that."

The response was to the objection by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to the president's proposal to give a tax rebate to low-income workers who haven’t paid any income taxes. (remember--spread the wealth)

Issue 5: dissent. Obama has said that he will listen to dissenting views and make his decisions. However, President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

I’m sorry to say that after only 1 week I’m losing the hope I had. As long as the republicans agree with the Democrats we have a bipartisen effort. I won, he says. We lose.

Obama still has high popularity. He can go above congress straight to the people like Reagan did and get things done. I don’t like the way he is beginning. I’m waiting to see if his approach to the economy feeds money quickly to productive venues or just lines the pockets of his friends and backers.

Plier it forward

On Jan 13th I checked out WOOT.com as I do most mornings. It was their 2-fer Tuesday. They usually sell things in pairs on Tuesday. The item for sale was a 2-pack of locking-grip pliers. The price was $9.99.

I checked them out at other sites and they were well-rated and sold at $19.99 for the 2-pack. I said to myself that they would be useful and would make a great gift so I ordered 3, 2-packs. 1 for me and 1 for Tim and Christian.

The box from WOOT arrived today. Penny received it. The box was heavy. She opened it to find 6, 2-packs of wrenches not 3. I thought I understood the woot offer so I checked my receipt. It clearly said that I was getting 3, 2-packs. Evidently woot had made a mistake. I figured someone in their warehouse misunderstood the order and I would hear from them.

This evening I checked our e-mail and had this message from woot:

Good day, special friend gugliepb

-Sometimes, the biggest mistakes can yield the biggest gifts. We somehow managed to fumble our own 2-for-Tuesday sale a couple of Tuesdays ago. But before our very eyes, that boneheaded blunder transformed itself into a gift. A gift of caring. A gift of sharing. A gift of free pliers.

That's right - that extra Lockjaw Self-Adjusting Locking Plier set is yours to keep... to hold... to cherish.

Or, if you're all taken care of in the holding-and-cherishing department, we ask that you share this gift. Let the sparkle of its chrome molybdenum steel bring light to the life of someone you love, or at least don't actively hate.

Share with them the delightful story about how this totally awesome web site totally gave it to you totally for free.

And then they'll order from us, and we'll screw their order up, and they'll have extra stuff to give people, and so on until everybody's really happy and we're completely broke.

We say "Plier it forward!"

Inspirationally yours -Woot.com

I don’t know who writes their stuff but it is always fun to read.

So now after giving Tim and Christian their 2-packs I have 4, 2-packs left. That’s 1 for the shed, 1 for the house and 1 for each car! In the future I should never have to search for a pair of vise-grips, er, locking pliers.

Keep the Newspaper?

I used to keep newspapers from events which I thought were momentous. People still do it but it doesn’t seem important to me anymore. With the electronic age old data is readily available and newspapers are slowly becoming a relic—which I guess could make them worth keeping. You don’t see people printing out a web page as a keepsake.

I have papers for hurricanes hitting our area and I know I’ve got one from Christy’s birthday—I’m not sure about Karen’s. I heard a story yesterday that Obama winning the election set off a run on newspapers that caught them by surprise. For his inauguration they printed up extras hoping to make some extra money while they can.

It was cold today. My old body was too lazy to brave the cold and go outside and work. I spent the day on indoor stuff—laundry, the photo book and clearing a pile of paperwork. Tomorrow should be a little warmer.

The Ellen Show had a country artist on today and his song had the poignant message that even though your life may seem to be a hassle; someday you will miss this.

Here is one verse of the song sung by Trace Adkins:

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater

Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'

One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'

And she keeps apologizin'

He says "They don't bother me.

I've got 2 babies of my own.

One's 36, one's 23.

Huh, it's hard to believe, but...

You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this"

That verse hit home with me. Each time we visit the kids and see them living their lives and working through similar issues, I do miss those days. For me those days are gone. For them, I hope they can see through the work and inconvenience and enjoy their lives as best they can. Like me, someday they’ll miss this.

An American Tune

As I watched BO’s Inaugural Address I actually teared up a little. Not because I was moved so strongly by his words but because of the desperate desire I have for a leader to actually act for the good of the nation and not his or his party’s interests.

Paul Simon’s American Tune comes to mind:

“Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I'm all right, I'm all rightI'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's all right, it's all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of theroad we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of LibertySailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
and sing an American tune
Oh, and it's alright, it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest”

As with a song, people interpreted Obama’s words in many different ways. A major theme in the talk was for the individual to sacrifice for the betterment of the whole. Some of that is necessary but it has a strong Socialistic flavor. We work hard and sacrifice in America to better ourselves and our children and the net result is a benefit for all. We don’t sacrifice as individuals remaining where we are for the country to benefit.

So as this song says I may be mistaken or confused and I truly hope I am but I still see the “spread the wealth” message in his talk. In the meantime we as a people are currently so down and desperate for change that the politicians are salivating.

I’m hopeful that BO will do what this country needs. I’m worried that Washington will take advantage of our crisis and destroy the American Dream. We will see how strong a leader he is and how clear his image of government “working” is.

Low Knee or High Knee

That’s the question I always asked the kids when they said they hurt their knee. Iam starting my walking program today—I’m on the treadmill as I type—and I thought that my foot might cause problems. Today as I was finishing up my roof job I squatted down to pick up a tool and my right knee was suddenly very sore. Nothing went pop and I hadn’t bumped it. It just hurt and felt like it was beginning to swell.

I quit working and went inside and put a cold pack on it and relaxed for a while. Penny made fried green tomatoes (from my bumper winter crop of green tomatoes) for lunch and after that my knee, while still sore felt much better. So I went back out and finished up the job. Everything is back up including the rain gutter. I did quit without cleaning up. I left that for tomorrow in order not to stress the knee.

So far the knee isn’t bothering me while walking and the foot is hanging in there.

I’m actually looking forward to Obama’s speech tomorrow. I was part of the new generation of Americans receiving the torch when JFK was sworn in. Now I am part of the generation passing the torch. I’m somewhat hopeful that BO will actually be able to unite the country and set us off on a smart course for the future. But I am also cynical and pessimistic. I’ve seen politicians promise change and get elected and then just continue the same old stuff. I’ve been impressed by his cabinet choices and the initiatives he is promising. The investment in basic research and science is so important for this country to be on top. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he doesn't get swallowed up by Washington.

A Day Indoors

It rained all morning as promised by the weather prognosticators. I didn’t sleep well last night so I slept in until past 7 AM. We got up and had a leisurely breakfast read the newspaper, watched Sunday Morning and worked on paperwork.

We had a nice steady rain and although my work outside isn’t finished all the shingles are back in place. This was a good test to show that the roof was now shedding water properly and it was. I still have some wood, flashing and the gutters to put up and then some painting to cover the new wood that went up.

A good portion of the afternoon was spent looking at the pilot light safety valve for our gas fireplace. It stopped working yesterday so I looked at it to see if I could tell what was wrong. It either needs a new thermostat or to be replaced. I found replacement parts on-line so tomorrow I will probably first get a thermostat and see if it fixes the thing. If not then I’ll order a replacement.

Penny and I screened all our pictures from 2008 last night. It would have been nice to have the fireplace working for that. We are considering making a 2008 picture book since Winkflash again has their picture book special going. We are looking at a combination of family pictures and scenery apart from the pictures we used for our Las Vegas, Montana and Vermont trips. We’ve picked about 60 pictures so far but haven’t actually started putting the book together yet. We’ve got until the 23rd.

The only time I spent outside today was getting the paper and going back and forth to the shed to get tools to use with the gas valve. It feels strange staying in all day when I’m not sick.

Tomorrow the weather will be better so I’ll try to finish up the roof work. Then it will be on to whatever demands attention next. One would think that in 3 years of retirement all those pesky maintenance jobs would be done. They aren’t though. In a way that’s OK because it means we’ve been doing a lot. But it also reflects some poor time management on my part. That’s the way it works. Regardless of whether you use time wisely or waste it, it still disappears at the same rate never to be had again.

I got a flyer in the mail yesterday about running events in Jacksonville. The Gate River Run is on March 14th. It’s time to begin training if you haven’t yet. I think my foot will be ok but I haven’t tested it yet. I’m planning to start walking again tomorrow (you know, mana'na) . If my foot gets sore I’m not going to make the River Run.

Kitty Update—Marmalade spent the whole rainy day sleeping in the cage ouside the sliding door. At feeding time all 4 cats showed up as they have been now for the past 4 nights. That usually means it is time for us to go out of town again but, surprise, we have no plans to do so.

My Obamicom

OK Karen - Here's mine.

Chilly Roof Work and Chili

After our normal Friday Target run and a trip to the grocery store, I braved the cold and continued with the roof work. I made good progress today and got the new underlayment (felt) in place. Now if it rains it won’t hurt anything. Tomorrow it will be replacing the shingles and flashing (drip edge) and maybe putting the gutter back up. The gutter may wait till Sunday if I’m not real productive tomorrow.

I had a nice break for lunch. Penny made a big batch of chili for lunch and it was perfect on this chilly day.

This is my first venture into roofing and it really isn’t that complicated. I would never take on reroofing the house. The work may not be complex but it is hard work and running around on a roof is dangerous. I found lots of good and helpful information and advice on the web. I checked that I knew how to do this job before starting .

Tomorrow is Waffle House and then back to the chilly roof work. Tonight it will be a nice soaky bath. I'm a little stiff and sore from going up and down the ladder all afternoon.

A Chilly Sunset

I did more work on the roof today and noticed the clouds looked right for a sunset beachwalk. So I quit a little early and headed for the beach. I got there at about 5PM and sunset was just beginning. All I was wearing for a jacket was a hooded sweatshirt and it wasn’t enough to protect me well from the wind and cold. My beachwalk was envigorating. The sunset wasn’t spectacular, just nice. Once again I had the beach to myself for as far as I could see in both directions. Tonight will be our coldest night of this winter and the cold and wind were keeping folks off the beach. I found 4 whole sand dollars and froze my little tootsie. It was worth it though, to hear the sand squeak as I walked and to see a pretty sunset. There were no birds on the beach this time.

While I worked on the roof I had some help from Velcro, who hung around all day. He sniffed at my hammer and inspected my work from his perch above me on the roof.

The work on the roof went more slowly today than I thought it might but I made good progress. Ideally the time to do this work is when it is nice and warm so the roof tiles and roof cement are easier to work with and adhere more easilly. But the damage would only be worse if I waited.

Roof Repair

I finally took a look at the rain gutter on the back of the house that always dripped when it rained instead of catching all the water and funneling off. I should have looked sooner because the problem wasn’t the gutter. Water was leaking behind the gutter and had damaged the underlying roof bed and some other wood at the edge of the house.

The only way to fix it was to remove and replace the damaged wood. So today was taken up in removing shingles and bad wood. The affected area is about 16 ft long.

Tomorrow I will put up the new wood, replace the shingles and hopefully finish up the job. I’ve actually got until Sunday before it’s supposed to rain here.

I don’t think I have any other areas with a problem on the roof but after I finish this task I’m going to do a roof inspection. I’ve been putting off doing some repair of the siding on the house and painting. Maybe this job will get me off the dime and get into doing that job also.

4 kitties showed up tonight. I thought that all the clutter and change on the back patio might scare them off for tonight but it is cold and they are hungry.

Where to Begin?

I haven't blogged in a few days and lots has happened.

We just finished another great weekend in Jacksonville and High Springs.

Of course, I cherished all the special time I had with Sophie. She’s in a particularly precious stage of her life—beginning to communicate with us and learning new associations each day. I didn’t take any still pictures on this trip but I did shoot video of Sophie. I thought that video was more appropriate to capture her at this stage of development. We were able to watch her for K&T, 1 day because she ran a fever and could not go to day care and also because K&T had to go to Orlando with the drum line. That provided a full day with Sophie. We then watched her on Saturday evening to give K&T a night out together without the kid. They did dinner and a movie.

Sunday we went to High Springs and took Christy on a clothes shopping spree as part of a late Christmas present. We had a good time and Christy got some neat stuff.

We had to drive back home Sunday evening because we had a FOCCUS couple to see today (Monday). This is our first session with them. They seem nice but they will have some work to do before they marry to understand each other better.

When we first arrive in Jacksonville on Thursday evening Sophie surprised me by remembering something I showed her on our previous visit at Christmastime. I made that popping sound that sounds like a champagne cork popping by snapping your finger out of the side of your mouth. At Christmastime she tried to do it but couldn’t—but she did try. On this visit when we first walked in the door she recognized us as her grandparents. She looked at me and excitedly stuck her finger in her mouth to try to make the popping sound. I didn’t know that it made that big an impression on her and I was amazed that she even remembered it and associated me with it.

She also pulled a mechanical pencil out of my pocket at Christmas time. It has a sharp point so I touched it to her arm and said “ouch”. Ouch became the name for the pencil. On this visit she found that pencil in my pocket again, looked at it and said “ouch”.

I guess that’s my allotted 5 minutes to write about Sophie.

I’m sitting in a new computer chair that I purchased on line from Office Depot on Saturday night. The chair listed for $200 and was on sale for $79.99. The reason I bought it was because I found a coupon at the Ben’s Bargains site (http://bensbargains.net) for an additional $25 off. I was getting a backache sitting in our well-used chair so at that price I figured even without sitting in the chair that it probably would be better for my back. The reviews written about the chair were good, too. The chair shipped for free and I could pick it up at our local Office Depot the next day. So far it seems to be good for my back.

Internet buying has come a long way. It was only about 10 years ago I made my first wary internet purchase—a book from Amazon.com. At that time Amazon was primarily a book store. The first electronics I bought were 3 Hot Shot 1-cup water heaters. That was Christmas 1998. I know that because I wrote that date on the back of the Hot Shot to be able to tell how long it lasted when it failed. This was our 2nd Hot Shot and it is still going strong after 10 years.
Now we purchase stuff on the internet at least weekly and in addition pay bills, download podcasts and keep in touch with the family through blogs. It’s becoming more prevalent that couples meet each other on the web. The couple we saw today got together after the guy, being so impressed by her but not knowing how to get in touch after meeting her, spent an entire evening tracking her down on My Space. Can you imagine where we will be in another 10 years?

Kitty Update—Last night when we returned 2 kitties showed up. The feeder worked fine. It has been very reliable now long enough that we can comfortably go away for 2 weeks and barring raccoons know the cats have a continuous food supply. I haven’t figured out a way to feed them soft food every day when we are gone but I’m thinking about it.

Tonight all 4 cats showed up at feeding time.

Deep Thoughts

As I’ve been piddling around catching up and keeping up with stuff and helping Penny with her projects I’ve been listening to podcasts of Fresh Air, Car Talk, Science Friday, Things you should know and a few others. (There’s even a podcast to learn Italian.). Fresh Air did an end of the year show with their favorite interviews. It was interesting because one interview was with an animal surgeon who could not communicate to the animals why they were going through a procedure and that it was for their good. Another interview was with the researcher who taught a parrot to communicate with her. I found the contrast interesting.


The animal surgeon, Nick Trout, was very aware of the emotional attachment people have with their pets. Veterinary medicine has advanced to the point where every procedure, treatment and diagnostic tool that is available for people is available for pets. The limitation is not the procedure but the cost.

Although euthanasia is not widely accepted for humans it is still accepted for pets. He’s learned the hard way that he must thoroughly prepare people when their pet is euthanised. People are surprised at how quick and painless the procedure can be. Nonetheless he has to warn them that dogs may take a last deep breath, sort of a final sigh, when they pass on. They may paddle or lose control of bodily functions. When our dog, Annie, died she took that final breath. I was holding her and actually told her she was a good dog and that it was all right for her to go. She took that last breath and died.

Dr Trout went on to discuss how many people are as close to pets as to their children. He didn’t find any problem with that. He talked about one man who changed his middle name to his pet’s so that that name would be on his gravestone. Another woman was horribly allergic to her pet yet she endured twice-weekly injections and an inhaler because she sleeps in the same bed and even shares a pillow with it.

He said that people knowingly embrace their pets with all that love and commitment fully knowing that they would probably have to let them go and live without them. Children should outlive their parents but that’s not he way it is with pets. I often wonder why God does things in this manner. Dr Trout talked about one woman who just got a dog but still lives with the anticipatory grief every day, knowing that she will have to cope with losing the animal even though that event may be 17 years in the future. I can identify with that woman. That thought is always in the back of my mind with Brie.


On a less somber note Penny found a sweepstakes for the movie The Reader where you submit a short love story to enter.

http://www.cnnpromos.com/TheReader/register.aspx

After reading the rules I found that they don’t really judge the story by content so anything would work as an entry. They just draw at random to determine a winner. So I wrote a love story and entered. The story had to be very short to fit their criteria. Here is my love story:

I was alone. I didn’t know love. She came into my life 39 years ago. She would greet me after class with a big smile and a lollipop. She gave me a teddy bear on my 21st birthday. Through her child-like approach I learned the essence of unconditional love. We married 35 years ago, raised 2 daughters and now are empty nesters. We love being together. She made me promise not to die first because she doesn’t want to live without me. I cherish every day we have together. I’ll try to keep my promise although I can’t imagine my life without her in it. I don’t want to be alone again. But now I do know true love.

So those are my deep thoughts for today. Cherish your partners and your pets. You never know …

Relax—it’s Sunday

That about describes the day. It had a leisurely start with me sleeping in until almost 7AM. I got the Sunday Paper and had a simple breakfast. I even watched most of Sunday Morning while I cleared the E-Mail and did some web research.

I did do a few small tasks—cleaned out any loose pieces of thread from Penny’s machine and moved the 2 thread spool racks from our guest room (the room formerly known as Karen’s) to Penny’s sewing room (the room formerly know as Christy’s).

When lunchtime came I grilled a couple of the Omaha steaks that Kathy gave me for my birthday. I cooked the most expensive cut, the beef tenderloin steaks. They were GOOD! They were nice and tender and had great flavor. I also used some of the potatoes au gratin that came with the steaks. That stuff is good too.

Now that a relaxing Sunday mode was firmly established we decided to continue it into the evening. Tonight would be movie night with wine and popcorn and cheese. I went into town and got 3 movies at Blockbuster. The video store we used to rent from, Network Video, went out of business so now we have to drive across town if we want to rent a movie. We don’t watch them consistently so getting them through the mail or paying extra for on-demand service doesn’t make sense. Anyway I got Hancock, WALL-E and Tropic Thunder. We’ve got all week to watch them.

I also got some groceries at the Publix next to Blockbuster. As I approached the store I noticed that the sparrows had built nests in the lettering “FOOD STORE” below the big Publix letters. Nests were only in the letters “O” and “D”, I assume because they had no openings. The nesting sparrows were noisily defending their territory. One of Penny’s favorite fruits, Clemintines, was on sale so I brought home a box of them. I also bought a quarter of a small watermelon that I plan on juicing. I like watermelon—it runs a close second to my favorite food—ice cream, so I wanted to see what the juice tastes like. I’ll use Kathy’s Christmas gift to make the juice.

The most stressful part of the day will be deciding which movie to watch. Life is good!

A Moving Day

Not emotionally moving—saw moving. I finally had the shop ready for the saw. Now I had to move the 270 lb 3 ft by 4 ½ ft thing to the back yard and get it into the shed. It is fortunate that the saw has a great built-in dolly system (they call it Herculift). I rolled it around the house to the backyard on a “road” of plywood, rolling it from one piece to another and then moving the back piece up ahead again. The rolling road worked fine. Now I had to get it into the shed door which is about 18 inches high.

I used the ramp from the trailer for a ramp into the shed. Then I used plywood to cover it and make a smooth surface. A couple of pulleys and a ratchet provided the mechanical advantage I needed and I pulled the saw up the ramp and into the shed with no issues.

We made it to church tonight—the first Saturday night mass in 3 weeks. Just before the end of the service I let out with a big sneeze (covered in my sleeve but still quite loud). Besides Penny’s “God bless you” I got several others from all over the church. I couldn’t help but laugh.

I just fed the outside cats and now we are in the middle of some heavy rainfall. It was a warm day today with fog in the morning and evening. Now it’s supposed to rain on and off through Tuesday. When the rain started the noise of the heavy drops hitting scattered the cats. They did come back and polish off the food, rain or no rain.

After moving the saw I unhitched the trailer from the CRV and moved it to its place beside the driveway. Now, after all the lifting and pushing and pulling I’ve done my poor little body is achy all over. It didn’t seem like a lot of work as I was doing it but I guess it added up.

I talked with brother Lou today. He goes to Mesa AZ on the 19th. After that he may come back to Niceville where he says they may have free housing for him or he may go to Connecticut. He wants me to check air fare versus bus fare to Mesa from Portland.

…And a Smokin’ New Year

The year started off nicely. No, it wasn’t the fact that I finally washed the casserole dishes from the dinner Penny cooked at C&C’s last week. And it wasn’t the trip to the mall to take advantage of a 50% off sale. It started nicely because Penny and I had lunch at our favorite restaurant.

Penny has wanted to go to Harbordocks all week. I thought that she just wanted to have lunch out and that’s what our Slick Mick’s lunch was about on Monday. But as we were walking into the mall today she again broached the subject. She really wanted to go to Harbordocks. So we did.

It was cold and mostly cloudy but the view from the restaurant was still interesting. There were several cold cormorants; each perched on its own pier piling, a half dozen sparrows feeding in a hanging basket and I even spotted a dolphin swimming in Destin harbor. The food, as always was perfect. Yes, I had cheese grits.

Once we were back home I prepared the 10 lb pork loin and 2 big chickens for smoking. This was the first use of the new smoker I got on Black Friday. The smoker is extremely easy to use. I’m never going to want to go back to the old style smoker. Here’s what it looked like loaded.

The smoker is insulated. It has electronic controls and turns off automatically when the set time is reached. It did a great job smoking the meat and right now our house is full of the tantalizing aroma of smoked meat.

Penny cooked up our mandatory ration of New Years Day black-eyed peas and ham hocks. We also got a small serving of black-eyed peas with our meal at Harbordocks. The waiter explained it was for good luck. I thought that was nice for them to do. Somebody has to teach their cook how to prepare the peas, though. They weren’t up to the standard of food you get at the restaurant.

One year when we made the black-eyed peas a cat showed up at our back door. It loved the peas and stayed at our place after that. It was an orange cat that sounded like a rusty door when it meowed so we named him doorknob—only kidding—we named him Rusty. I gave some peas to Brie; she just looked at them and walked away. I gave some to the outside cats. They sniffed them and then went on to the chunks of ham hock and ate them. Rusty was a strange cat indeed.

Now I have to get that meat put away.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!