What’s in a Name?

We no longer have a war on terror, oops man-made disasters.

Cheating on taxes is an honest mistake (unless you are someone we don’t like).

We are not drifting to socialism with Obama.

The economy will turn around this year.

We will not have a huge wave of inflation caused by the government spending, oops stimulus package.

The government will not decide what salary is appropriate for you.

The government will still allow you to buy the car you want to have.

Government can manage the health care system—just like they handle the DMV or social security.

Iran isn’t going nuclear- we will talk them out of it.

North Korea wont launch a nuclear weapon- we will talk them out of it.

It doesn’t matter what the constitution says—I’m right so I can do it.

This is what happens when we elect leaders on hope and feelings instead of performance and record. Then again who is out there to elect on performance and record? I just don’t like where they are taking us and why people are going willingly.

Maybe today they will just say “April Fool” and then start doing what is good for this country to survive. Maybe another “man made disaster” will bring us back to our senses –or push us off the cliff. ( the bad weather really has me ranting today!)

There Will Be Rain III - Taking It to the Streets

I actually did some outside stuff today until about 10AM when the rain began. The threat of bad storms made Kitty postpone her lunch with Penny so I substituted myself and we went to lunch.

We went to Harbordocks and although the weather was iffy the view from the restaurant windows was still interesting. Pelicans and cormorants sitting on posts balancing against the wind.

We ran some errands on the way home. Penny isn’t having a good day health-wise and although she did enjoy the restaurant when we got home she had to lie down for the rest of the day.

The crummy weather has affected my motivation and I had a difficult time being productive today.

Technical Illiteracy

I’m sitting here checking E-mail while waiting to head out to Harbordocks with Penny. The TV has The View on it and I’m actually cringing at the lack of technical and common sense the women on the show display. It worries me to think of how much of the population can’t think any more deeply on issues.

Here are the issues they talked about:

Bird strikes on airplanes—“Why can’t they just put a big hair net on the engine. It would get sucked in. Well they could make it out of steel.”

“How can salmonella get in pistachios? They are in a shell!”

“ If you have your Blackberry with you - you could find your car in a parking lot with Google Earth.”

It hurts to hear this stuff from a supposedly well-informed and educated panel.

An Outside Day

I took advantage of the nice day we had today. 2 days ago the forecast for today was rain but Mother Nature changed her mind and gave us another sunny spring day. Yesterday I spent the day cleaning up the front yard. Our big Sago Palm in the center of the yard now looks like a palm tree. I cut out all the dead fronds and then dug out all the babies and adolescent palms that were growing under them. I ended up with a half-dozen medium-sized plants and about 20 single or double frond plants still growing from a seed. I planted 3 of the larger ones on the West side of our yard. For now the rest are all sitting together in a pot while I decide what to do with them. I’ve got sufficient small pots and soil to start all of the small ones. I guess I’ll have a little Sago garden going.

Today was my day to set up the vegetable garden. Last year I just put the containers on top of decking that just laid on the ground. Taking a cue from my deck building I used last year’s garden decking and other materials that I already had and Made a 10’ x 7’ platform for the container garden. Next to that I used 4 pallets that I had and covered them with some plywood.. This will be a platform for the crawling plants—cucumbers, watermelons and cantaloupes. I plan on making a trestle for them to grow on and keep them off the ground. Last year I made adjustments to the garden on the fly—especially the irrigation set-up. This year I’m planning ahead. The gardens going to have to take care of itself in August (prime growing time) because we plan to be concentrating on helping K&T with baby Timmy(no, we don't know the sex yet. I'm just having fun.). By the end of last year I had a good system in place to automatically water the plants. It’s an efficient set-up, too, using drip irrigation on some plants and a bottom reservoir on others. All the watering goes to the roots and no sprinkling is needed. Next step for the garden is to make the mix to fill the tomato pots.

Penny wanted to try the new Quisno’s torpedo sandwich for lunch so that’s what we did. We coupled that trip with a grocery shop. Then it was back to the outdoor stuff.

All day I watched the sky. We have a 100% chance of rain tomorrow and sunsets are usually good when there is a change in weather on the way. With daylight savings time and the lengthening days sunset is now at 7PM. At 5:30 I headed to the beach. In the winter with sunsets being around 4:30 – 5:30 the drive to the beach is a little hectic. Everyone’s on the road going home from work. Now with the later sunset, traffic is light and the drive is easy. In 15 minutes I’m at the beach.

The drive is easy but the sun with its gradual climb to more northern latitudes is now setting right at the coastline. In another week or so it will again be setting over land and the over water sunsets will not be back until winter.

The beach walk was fun. I was surprised to find only a few people there. It is spring break here. The beach had very few shells on it and had been washed quite flat by the bad weather and big surf at the end of last week. Although shells were scarce the wave pattern in the sand was quite interesting. I don’t understand the mechanism that cause these shapes.

After about a half-hour walk I came to a portion of beach that had lots of shells. An ultralite seaplane flew over and it made me think of C&C. The sunset was now beginning and while it wasn’t spectacular it was nice.

I enjoyed this walk, probably because it’s been a while since I’ve been to the beach. It was a pleasant evening to be there.

Kitty Update—I went to go out and feed the cats tonight and Slash was out there. All 4 of the regulars started to arrive when they heard me and Slash scooted off to the edge of the patio while I pet the cats. Slash started to come back but Velcro went out and confronted him. They swatted at one another but it was more jockeying that harmful. Slash seems to want to join the group. He’s not aggressive with the others. I don’t know if the others will accept him or not.

Tomorrow will likely be an indoor day.

Rain, Waffles, Hot/Cold Water, Coupons and a Renegade Cat

The day began with a rainy trip to Waffle House. We watched the sky grow dark and the pouring rain from our nice dry booth. I like my waffle crispy and Penny likes her hash browns very crispy. Is there any meaning in that besides the fact that our teeth are good? We stayed there longer than usual and watched 3 sets of weather role through. We also had 3 cups of coffee each. The coffee was good today and we didn’t want to get wet. We usually only have 2 cups. Waffle House was nice and relaxed—lots of staff and only a couple of customers. We returned to the house without venturing out any further. The weather wasn’t getting better.

Back at the house I set up Penny’s new water cooler/heater. We got it at Target yesterday for 75% off. Penny’s been wanting one for a long time. We had a little adventure into town to find a bottle of water for it and ended up getting one at Sam’s. I later found out they have them at Lowe’s and Winn Dixie. So the unit is in place next to the Den bathroom and we have hot and cold water on tap instantly any time we want it.

Setting that unit up is about the only productive thing I did today. We spent a lot of time at Belk’s trying to spend $50 so we could save $10. They had so many restrictions on what qualified that it would have been easier and cheaper to just buy clearance items (which didn’t qualify). Penny did get some nice stuff for Olivia and Sophie.

The good news is that this is when the rain finally stopped. Our drive to Church a little later in the day was made on dry pavement. The priest at church was a visiting one. He has been here 5 times now. He was the teacher for our current priest at seminary. I commented to Penny that he was like Yoda to our priest.

Tonight when I feed the cats outside they were a little worked up because another cat was out there. I needed a can of cat food so Penny got one and passed it to me through the sliding door, which I left open about 4 inches while I settled the cats down and went to feed them. Before I opened the food I did a head count and there were only 3 cats—no Meredith. I looked inside the house and didn’t see her. Looked around outside—not there either. So I looked back in the house and—there, across the sunroom by the treadmill(which I still haven’t been on) was the cat rubbing up against everything she could as if she owned it. I had to cautiously get her back outside without sending her deeper into the house. I think she would like to stay inside.

Meredith is also the cat that stands on my lap with wet paws on rainy days. I thought I had the problem of little wet footprints (cold footprints) licked by putting a towel on my lap. No such luck. Meredith has now taken to stretching out and putting her paws (little WET paws) on my chest.

I forgot to take my pills this morning and didn’t realize it until I was at church this evening. That’s the first time I’ve done that in years. All day I couldn’t explain why my thumbs and butt were hurting so much. I certainly hadn’t stressed them in the past couple days but that’s what it felt like. The bottom line is I found out that the anti-inflammatory and pain pills are actually doing something and I’d be a lot more miserable without them.

The sun will be out tomorrow and we are going down into the 50’s tonight and maybe the 40’s tomorrow. Then it’s supposed to cloud up and rain again next week. I guess I need to do my outside stuff tomorrow while it is dry.

There Will Be Rain—The Sequel

Day 2 and even more rain! We had tornado warnings this morning and lots and lots of rain.

We did our usual run to Target after the worst weather passed. It’s quit rumbling now but it has been raining all day.

In between doing stuff in the house I’ve been watching the woot-off that is currently in progress. This is the time of day they usually offer their hard-to-get bag-o-crap so I’m staying close to the computer for the next half-hour or so.

When we were in NC we found out Jody was burning through audio books at a rapid rate with her long commute. We have a bunch of books on CD that we have read and are just taking up space so I said we would send her some. The CDs were not in order so I spent some time today gathering complete books. I gathered 3 tall CD spindles and half a small one in about an hour. That’s over 325 CDs at 80 minutes each.

The bag-o-crap came up and I hit the order button right away—and still didn’t get one. Better luck next month.

It looks like we are in for a wet trip to Waffle house in the morning.

There Will Be Rain

That about sums up the day.

Tax Day

The rain never arrived today but it did threaten all day. As planned I did inside things. Some housework and then our taxes. It wasn’t an exciting day but I did get caught up with some things.

Tomorrow should also be an indoor day. I haven’t walked since the river run and I need to crank that up again. I got a good workout building the deck and by the end of the day I didn’t have the energy to walk. I’ve got no excuse now.

My thumbs are happy today to get some rest. I pushed them to the limit with the deck and they seem to have come through OK. Sore, but OK. My foot is doing OK too.

All 4 kitties are here tonight.

4 Days; 1 Deck

The weather cooperated and I finished up the work on the deck this morning. No pictures today, it looks the same as it did yesterday. It just has all the screws in now.That freed me up to get on to other things like planting the flowers we got almost a week ago and getting started on this year’s garden. Of course the housework also needs doing.

It’s supposed to start raining on and off tomorrow through Saturday so doing indoor chores is probably where I will be. I haven’t done my taxes yet so that needs to be done also.

A couple of weeks ago Kerry told me I was looking more like my mother every day. Today Kitty told me I was looking more distinguished. She said she meant that in a good way. All I know is that I’m changing noticeably as I continue into my 60th year. That’s life.

There were no signs of any other raccoons last night so we should be OK for a while. There are 3 cats outside waiting to be fed so that’s what I’ll do.

Looks Are Deceiving

This is the deck as it stands tonight.

It looks finished but each of the rails has only1 of 4 screws required. At least it is all together. If the weather holds I should be able to finish tomorrow.

Noon Update

Unlike yesterday I got up early today with the first order of business (after breakfast and putting the trash out) being the transport and release of the 2 raccoons .

I moved them and slid them into the CRV on my lumber mover. It worked OK. I used it as a ramp to slide the trap into the CRV. This was much Easier than lifting them in.

When I arrived at the lake the water had a layer of mist rising from it. In the early morning sun it looked as if we had arrived at raccoon heaven.

I went to my usual release point, opened the trap and with no hesitation the 2 critters took off.

The rest of the morning I worked on the deck and finished all of the top rail that will support the 100+ little rails. The neat part of the job was that I was able to use the deck in the process of building it. I set up my miter saw on the deck and did all my cutting there. I think the deck will work well.

After lunch it’s back to railing.

It’s All Over But The Railing.

I spent this beautiful breezy day working on the deck. Being Sunday I really slept in. I didn’t get started on the deck until about 9:30 but apart from a water break and lunch I stayed at it until about 6:30. I finished the deck and now have all the 4x4 posts in place. Tomorrow there will be railing. I’ve got approximately 120 rails to cut, predrill and put in place (2 screws each) along with the 2x4s and 2x6s that top the rail. I’m into my second 5 lb box of 2 ½ inch deck screws now. I haven’t done the math yet but I’ve put in a lot of screws.


I had no raccoon action last night. They apparently are coming by later than they used to. Slash, the cat that showed up again yesterday after being gone for a couple years showed up again today and hung around the yard. He seems to like Velcro. He isn’t aggressive toward the other cats so I don’t mind him being around. The past few days when I’m working in the yard Marmalade has been following me around. She positions herself where she can see me and just watches. Velcro got up on the deck today and started to enter the shed. No amount of yelling or calling dissuaded that cat. I had to jump up and shoe the cat away.

While I’ve been working on the deck I’ve let the house go to pot. I’m going to have to spend a couple days catching up inside once I finish the deck.



FLASH! ---Just as I was about to post the blog I heard a munching sound over the raccoon listening device. When I got to the door and looked out 1 raccoon was entering the trap and 1 was foraging around for food outside. I waited. The second one finally poked his head in the trap grabbed a piece of food and backed out. He did this several times. I waited. He reached in deeper and deeper for food. Meanwhile his partner was munching away inside. Eventually the second one stepped up into the trap. He turned sideways in the door then reached in for more food. Eventually all of him but one foot was beyond the trap door. I waited. The foot went in and I dropped the trap door. I now have 2 raccoons trapped. If the trap holds them all night they will go join Rocky and his friends in the morning.

Pleasant Saturday

This was a typical Saturday for me when I’m working a project. We did our Waffle House breakfast and I spent the rest of the day working on the deck—that is until it was time for church.

I made good progress today getting all 24 cement supports in and not quite 1/3 of the deck boards on..


The weather has been great and it’s supposed to continue through Tuesday.

The raccoons didn’t show up last night before my bedtime. The cat food was cleaned out in the morning so at least I know they did come by. I will try once again tonight.

Tomorrow I’ll see if I can finish the basic deck.

Doing Our Part

We followed our President’s instructions this week and did our share of spending. Now it’s your turn.

It started with the material for the deck and grew from there. Today we made our Target run and ended up spending $100 on various items—some we needed, others were just terrific buys. After that Penny wanted to go out to the Oneida store at the outlets here because the store is closing and everything was 50-75% off. The store had been picked over pretty well but we did get a set of serving utensils and a 10” covered sauté pan for us and one for K&T.

Next stop was Hank and Dave’s where we sampled some of their chips and coffee but found everything too expensive to buy. No Moose Munch for anyone this time.

We usually look at the Sony outlet but rarely buy. I decided not to go there but Penny said we should. Inside she seriously suggested we get a 37” Bravia HDTV because they were having a fantastic sale. I’m not ready to make that plunge yet especially when we need a new set of tires on Penny’s CRV. It was tempting though.

We wandered through the store and came to the Blu-Ray players. They had one marked at $99.99 which was a good price for that model (it sell for 200-250$ new). We considered it and when we couldn’t find one in a box we asked if they had one. The salesgirl said that the display was the only one and that it would be reduced 10% because it had no box. That cinched it. Penny said we will take it before I could even open my mouth. The girl tried to sell me a 3-year warranty and when I didn’t bite at that she tried a 2-year warranty, I didn’t get that either—just the blu-ray for$90.

We weren’t done helping the economy yet. The Haggar store had everything 60% off or more and although I really didn’t need them I got 3 short sleeve shirts. I also had an e-mail coupon that took another 15% off.

Being a Friday in Lent we sacrificed and had a deep-dish cheese pizza at Ciao Bela. It was time for us now to back away from the outlets and go home. It is Spring break time here and the traffic was thick. I considered going home over the Bay Bridge but didn’t think Destin would be that bad. Boy, was I wrong. We were in bumper to bumper traffic almost all the way through Destin. Once we got to the bridge we were greeted with a beautiful view of Crab Island with many shades of light blue in the clear water. Spring is definitely here—there were several boats at the island.

Back at home I was able to put 3 or 4 hours work into the deck. I got it squared and level and have all the 16 ft boards in place. Tomorrow I will place the remaining cement supports in place.


I did crank up the Blu-Ray and watched some of the Planet earth discs we have and they look fantastic. I ran the HDMI cable directly through the monitor we have so the video was great. I need to work the audio ou because the speakers on the monitor leave much to be desired. I did establish that the player works properly which was my goal.


Kitty Update—Yes, thar be raccoons. Last night I set up the trap and about 9:15 the listening device indicated a critter. I went to look and as I did I saw the raccoon leave the cage and sniff the air. I figured I’d watch until he maybe went back in. To my surprise, a second raccoon then exited the cage. There are 2 of them. The first is big and lanky, the second big and round. I waited and watched and both of them went inside the cage. I shoved the door to release drop the trap door and the door didn’t budge. The noise caused one raccoon to come out and look around. He then returned and I shoved the door hard. It still didn’t budge and this time both critters ran off. Some how the door latch had engaged.

Tonight as I write it is approaching raccoon time. I’ve double checked that the trap will spring. Now all I need is for the 2 to show up again.

I got another surprise today as I came back to the house from working on the deck. A big black and white cat with a white slash going up between his eyes was in the backyard. I think it is Slash one of the kitties I named a long time ago. I can’t be 100% sure but the slash is right and the age of the cat was appropriate also. This was one of Mustache’s kittens. He’s the guy that got us started with the outside cats.


Well, it’s 9:30 and still no raccoons. I’ll provide an update in my next blog.

Leverage

Yesterday we went to Lowe’s and ordered all the materials we need to make a 16x12 deck for the shed. I had a 10% off coupon to help pay for the stuff.

This morning the lumber was delivered and most of my day involved moving it from the front yard to the back.

The delivery man unloaded everything and had the paperwork ready for me to sign but I didn’t order the 42 2x6x16 pressure treated boards that he had set down next to the stuff I did order.. That was probably $300+ worth of lumber that he was going to leave. I told him everything on my list was there and kept the wood. Only kidding. I told him that was not in my order and he put it back on his truck.

I went about the task of moving the lumber and cement blocks to the back yard. I got a good workout. I had to take my time and rest after each move. I also had to concentrate on not stressing my thumbs, hands, foot or back during the task. It’s nasty growing old.

I put my knowledge of physics and mechanics to use with the tools I had at hand to move the wood (with the least effort) and the results were very good. I used a sheet of plywood that was once part of our neighbor’s house to lengthen one dolly and make it the platform for the long pieces of wood. Then I used a second dolly at the end of the plywood to act as a lifting force and front wheels. This worked out well because the long pieces of wood hanging over the back actually helped lift the front. The only force needed was that required for motion. Pulling the forward dolly translated into lift and motion all-in-1 and moving the lumber was surprisingly easy. It was harder to load and unload the wood than it was to move it. Here’s a picture of my wood mover.


Here’s the lumber moved.


Tomorrow construction begins. I have no idea how long it will take to finish.

Last night just before I went to bed I checked the cat feeder only to find every piece of food gone. It looked as if I had vacuumed the area. That has meant raccoons in the past. So tonight I have the trap set up again and have a listening device (baby monitor) out there to alert me if the critter shows up. I haven’t seen this one yet so I’m still going on the assumption that it is in fact a coon. More on this as the story develops.

More Sophie Smiles

Sophie went for her 18 month (actually 19 month) pictures. She tried on her dresses before going and here are some pictures of that session.

After the photo shoot and dinner out we went to Jax beach just in time to see the shuttle launch.

Sophie didn't want to leave when it was over!

River Run 2009

A fog lay over the land as 20,000 crazy human beings converged on the Jacksonville Fair Grounds starting point for the 2009 15K (9.3 mi) Gate River Run. I being one of the crazies was arriving with Karen in her car. A cold wind was blowing with the fog and the first decision was whether to wear a jacket or not. I decided not and although it made for a chilly start I was comfortable throughout the walk. The weather couldn’t have been better for the event. Last year we were almost blown off the final bridge. This year it was comfortable and foggy for the whole run.

Karen and I set out in search of C&C to give them their race chips and race number. Karen heard the song that is my ringtone and I realized I had just missed a call. I had the cell phone on the mall of my back and the weight of the phone pulled it away from contact with my body—thus I didn’t feel the vibration and the noise level was high from all the other crazies so I didn’t hear the ringtone. Penny had called so I called her back.

Karen and I found ourselves passing the port-a-potties with short lines so we hit those. We finally linked up with C&C, let them hit the potties and went over to the starting point with about 10 minutes to spare. There were all ages of people there and every manner of running outfit from tiny bikini-like garb to firemen in full gear (which I found later weighs about 40 lbs).

The runners naturally start in the rear of the mob. It was a full 2 minutes after the starting canon before we began to move. We passed the starting line at about 4 minutes and were told the leaders had just reached the first mile mark. For inspiration “Chariots o0f Fire” was blasting from the speakers at the starting line.

The first part of the walk took us through some of downtown Jax and across a blue colored bridge (no I don’t know its name). The bridge had grating on it and the clear view of the water below disturbed a few people. Karen decided to take the sidewalk. Karen had been taking pictures but her batteries died. Somewhere around mile 3 we found a store and the 4 of us piled inside. I was the only one with cash so I loaned Karen the money for batteries. When we entered the store the clerk said, ‘You are going the wrong way, the bathroom is in the back.” She didn’t realize we were actually there to make a purchase. Christian and I did decide to use the facilities.

Karen now was full of batteries and did a great job of cataloging the remaining 6 miles of the run. People line the route as they do for parades. Homeowners set up chairs on their lawns and sit and shout encouragement to the runners as they sip various beverages. One homeowners was providing mimosas for the lucky few who got there before they ran out. Everywhere you looked there were dogs, children and bands. Every mile or so the runners were treated to live bands playing good music to walk/run by. It’s a nice touch.

We passed a Catholic Church and 2 priests were sitting out front with a “bless the feet” sign.

There was a man who obviously had too many Mimosas with an Irish Wolfhound on a leash.

We enjoyed looking at the different types of landscaping and architecture along the way. After the water stations the runners just drop their empty cups on the road. Since we were walking and made a stop at the store people were beginning to clean up by the time we reached them. We passed one little girl who had gathered a stack of paper cups as tall as she was—and she looked very pleased with herself.

Finally we approached the final bridge. It’s a big one and we reached the 9 mile marker on the upslope side of the bridge.

We stopped at the peak for pictures with a foggy Jacksonville in the background. Then it was down the other side and on to the finish line.

We all grabbed hands and raised them up as we crossed the line. We picked up our medals and headed to get a banana only to find none there. There was no beer, no bananas and only water and power drinks. We picked up bananas on the way home.

We averaged about 17 minutes a mile so we were walking about 3 hours.

We all went back to K&T’s for a lunch of Penny’s lasagna and some family time.

Last Thursday and Friday

After returning from NC on last Wednesday we had 2 days before the river run to relax and “recover” from the trip.

Thursday found Penny and I breakfasting at Famous Amos followed by a visit to a quilting shop in orange park. The shop had a bin of scrap material that sold for 75 cents an ounce. Penny and I pulled up chairs and looked through all the material. Penny picked out some pieces she thought she could use.

We made a Target run and ended up buying ourselves a new griddle. We wore out the one we have and this new one flips to select either a smooth surface or a grill surface. It also has 6 little warming pans that slide under it to keep portions warm.

We were in the neighborhood of our favorite Jacksonville restaurant, Sorbello’s, so I suggested we lunch there. Penny used to take her mother there often and the owners usually recognize her.

I was going to be economical and order their meatball and sausage parmesan. Penny pushed for me to get the “fruit of the sea” dish. It was a combo of shrimp, clams, squid, scallops and mussels with a spicy tomato sauce. I did. They were out of mussels so I got extra clams. The dish was great all the way down to sopping up the sauce with bread at the end. There were a dozen small clams, half-a-dozen shrimp and plenty of everything else. I haven’t enjoyed a restaurant meal that much in a long time. Once again on this trip I had Penny to thank for pushing for that menu selection.

The rest of the day was spent back at the Feagins. Penny was still feeling the effects of the stress from the accident and needed to rest.

On Friday evening we all went to the Jacksonville fairgrounds to pick up our race packets. I was able to get C&C’s packets for them. My next blog will cover the river run.

Kitty Update—All 4 cats showed up tonight. Meredith seemed happy to see me.

12 Days, 1787 Miles, 4 States and Only 1 Accident

We are back home after a mostly enjoyable trip. We went to Jacksonville to baby-sit for K&T. Next it was a drive up to North Carolina to see Nana and the whole clan up there. Then it was back to Jacksonville to participate in the Gate River Run with the added bonus of seeing a shuttle launch from long distance. The only down side was an accident we had on I-95 in Georgia. Now some random details:

I already blogged some about the first part of the trip so I’ll try not to repeat myself. I used our GPS to guide us to Lenoir, NC and on the way north it took us on the blue roads for about half the trip. We saw some nice SC and NC countryside and the drive itself wasn’t bad. The GPS maps in my Garmin are outdated and we found a couple of intersections that did not agree with what the GPS had. The unit quickly adjusts with alternate routes and it didn’t present a problem. When we were in Lenoir Penny wanted to go to a quilt shop and we found that the major road we were on had been changed. The GPS quickly rerouted us but we had to again disobey its directions when it told us to go the wrong way on a one-way street. The 3rd adjustment got us there. For the trip back to J’ville the GPS took us on the interstates so we missed all the scenery. We didn’t miss the woman who cut me off at 65 MPH on I-95 in Georgia.

There we were tooling down the highway on cruise control listening to the latest adventure of Myron Bolitar when Penny stiffens up in her seat and says something like, “MY GOD SHE’S COMING OVER!” This was one time where Penny’s propensity for watching all the other drivers and yelling at the idiots paid off. She alerted me to the car a split second before I noticed it and gave me that small advantage I needed to avoid a bad collision. The problem I had was that I had no idea whether another car was sitting right next to me in the left lane (I was in the center lane) and I had no time to check—I had to move from this other car’s path. I swerved to the left expecting to feel a hefty crunch, as I slammed into a car in the outside lane. As I turned the wheel the expected impact did not come. I very quickly flashed on my side mirror and it was filled with the headlights of a car that was in the process of passing me and whose nose was beside my rear wheel. I had no choice but to swerve back to the right hoping that the car there had moved back to the right lane. No such luck. The lady driving kept coming into the lane so I tried to steer such that I wouldn’t hit her. As it turned out the best I could do was to get my car parallel with hers and the 2 cars bumped moving about the same speed and separated. I had run the guy on my left off the road but his quick reaction and willingness to leave the highway saved us from hitting each other. He did not damage his car. We had just come off an overpass where there was nowhere to run off the road. If the timing was slightly earlier we would have all been going down the highway sideways or worse.

We all got the cars under control and pulled over on the left shoulder. The guy I ran off the road stayed with us as a witness. After checking that Penny was OK (she was OK physically but was a nervous wreck—actually shaking. After all she had a ringside seat of 2 cars coming together at highway speeds.) and checking that everyone else was the same I called 911. I can’t remember calling 911 before so that was a first. We had 3 cops show up. 2 state and 1 local. We provided the necessary info for the accident report; I took pictures and thanked the guy in the 3rd car profusely for not hitting me and we all went on our way. The damage to my car was a crescent shaped dent across the 2 passenger doors from her wheel well. Her car was dented around the wheel well. Significantly there was no scraping involved indicating the 2 cars just kissed one another and separated.

Penny felt the effects of the stress of the accident for the rest of the trip.

I filed a report with my insurance company. They now take a recorded statement of the details of the accident from everyone involved. That’s another first.

That’s all my blogging time for today—to be continued tomorrow.

Kitty Update—The feeder worked fine for the 12 days—the tray had the daily ration in it when I checked it. Only Buzz showed up for feeding but he made up for the lack of cats. It is raining. Buzz really acted as if he was glad to see me meowing constantly and rubbing my nose with his until my nose got itchy. Buzz even stayed around after he ate for a second session of petting. When I tried to close th sliding door he grabbed it with his paw so I couldn't close it. He didn't want me to go away.

Shopping With Nana.

Nana only gets out of the house once in every 3 weeks or so. When Penny mentioned that she had to go to the grocery store Nana said, “I want to go”. We were happy to take her and it turned into a neat adventure.

Nana needs an oxygen bottle with her and she gets around in a wheel chair, so the logistics for going anywhere is complicated. The CRV had room for the chair and all of us.

We went to Ingles, a rather nice and large supermarket about 3 miles from her home. Penny went in to get an electric cart but couldn’t figure out how to work it so I went in and got it. The secret was to unplug it first and then try to move it. After getting Nana into the cart Penny and Nana went off into the store while I parked the CRV.

When I caught up to them in the store Nana already had a box of sticky buns in her cart. Nana has quite a sweet tooth and Rita and Jody have their hands full. They can control her because there is very little that Nana can get for herself. She does have a snack drawer within easy reach but everything else has to be brought to her. Nana saw this trip to the store as an opportunity to stock up and she did.

She got oatmeal cookies, ice cream, gumdrops and a few other things. Penny got the stuff she needed to cook the chimies and to make lemon cake.

We ended up with 2 shopping carts and Nana in the electric cart when we left the store. Penny and I loaded the bags into the CRV and when It was time for Nana I turned to find her chomping on one of the oatmeal cookies. She put (read hid) the rest in her purse so Jody and Rita wouldn’t find them.

I drove Nana around her neighborhood to see the spring blossoms on the trees and bushes.

We came up here to see everybody and especially to spend time with Nana. We’ve succeeded. Both of Penny’s meals went well. It really was nice to see everyone. The trip to the supermarket was a real kick.

Thankful

The economy may have gone to pot. But the important and meaningful things in my life are going well. As I sat in church today watching Sophie charm everyone around us I said a prayer of thanks that my life is this way.

I have a wonderful wife. Our daughters have grown up to be good people and each has a partner that loves them and cares about them. Penny and I are enjoying retirement with no lack of things to do and so-far sufficient health to do most of what we like. Our family is close and likes being together.

Today Penny spent the whole afternoon making 2 meals for us to bring to Nana; lasagna and chimichangas. She also made extra for K&T to have. Tomorrow we will deliver the meals and Penny will cook.

I taught Sophie to say, “Oh boy!” and “Oh my!” today. Her “oh my” is really cute.
We all also made chalk drawings on Karen’s sidewalk with Sophie.

Jax Rounds

We ran all over town today beginning with our Friday Target run.

Next it was down to Penny’s favorite fabric store here where we purchased some of her birthday present. We got some apples at Fresh Market and then headed for the Woodcraft store to use my gift card Karen gave me for Christmas.

I got some neat stuff for my shop. I got a very fine grit wheel for my grinding wheel. It will allow me to keep my cutting tools nice and sharp. Next I got a set of drill bits that will cut smooth holes in wood. No more torn up edges due to using hole saws or regular drills. Finally I got a set of push pads and what’s called a feather board. Basically the stuff will allow me to be safer when using the table saw and router table.

I found out at Woodcraft that my credit card wasn’t in my wallet. The last use of it was at fresh market so I called them. They had it and said they would put it in their safe and I could get it any time. I still don’t know how I left it there. I usually check that it is in my wallet when I put the receipt in my wallet but I messed up this time. I’m just glad it was easy to get back.

Knowing the card was safe, our next stop was the library downtown to stock up on audio books for our travels.

Since it is Friday during lent we had a cheese pizza for lunch before returning to Fresh Market to get my card. This gave Penny a second shot at the fabric store and she got some more birthday present.

With the card back in my possession it was now time to get Sophie and begin our period of babysitting. Sophie was once again in a Grandpa mood and wanted me to carry her out from daycare. She looked a little confused when I put her in the car seat in our car. She looked around taking in the new view and gave a little laugh (which meant, OK I’m good with this). We sang songs,” the wheels on the bus”, if you’re happy and you know it” and “the itsy bitsy spider”.

The rest of the day was devoted to Sophie and she wore us both out. She was a little more moody this time and actually threw one of her tantrums for a reason we never understood. I did teach her to rub her chin and say h-m-m-m when we were looking for her dolly and were thinking about where else to look.

She went to sleep tonight with less of a fight than normal. I rubbed her back and she settled down and stayed asleep.

Happy Birthday to Penny

Happy March 4th, Happy Birthday Penny.

Penny still isn’t feeling well. As a treat I started the morning bringing her breakfast in bed. Today it was egg-in-a-basket with bacon. After that to make the morning really special we both went to our 7:30 dental appointment. The couple that dentists together…(I can’t rhyme this). The dentist is bad for Penny because they play around in her mouth scraping on her teeth. The teeth are at the end of the part of her nervous system that flairs up. So the dentist usually causes her to have a bad day—and it did.
, sort of.

But Penny said, Dang it it’s my birthday and she didn’t give in. Instead she chose Cantina Laredo to have her birthday lunch at and off we went. The lunch was great, the service great and Penny enjoyed a rare Margarita. She kept saying “I like Margaritas”. I think she really enjoyed herself.

We stopped briefly at the outlets and Penny bought a couple of outfits for Sophie and then we went home and Penny took a nap.

I tried to put some stain on a small table we are bringing to K&T for Sophie. It was too cold in the shed and the stain didn’t dry overnight. I set it out in the sun today and it finally dried (mostly). Some of it came of when I put a clear topcoat on the table. Hopefully the clear coat will dry overnight. The table looks OK. It is obviously used but that’s OK. I did succeed for the most part in making the table browner and darker than it was. It will match K&T’s place better than the yellowish brown color it was.


Kitty Update—I’m on the treadmill right now and a couple of hungry kitties are outside the sliding door watching me. The other night all 4 were there and when I opened the door Meredith just scooted right inside about 10 feet acting as if that was normal. I had to chase her down and put her back outside while keeping Velcro from following suit.

Take the Money and Run

We moved some of our investments into fixed interest accounts today. I don’t see the Government doing the right things to bring us out of this recession headed toward depression. Congress passes a “stimulus package” that essentially repeals the hard won welfare reforms—no longer requiring welfare recipients to seek work, pays back the organizations that got them elected and has spending occurring mostly 2 years out when it's too late.

The government is basically working to make more and more people dependant on it—and it is succeeding. I liken it to an alcoholic who hasn’t hit bottom yet. Washington is carrying out a political agenda rather than an economic one. It’s going to take the economy falling a lot more before they sober up and maybe do something that is good for the country(assuming they care about the country).

Meanwhile Mr Obama says wonderful words but takes terrible action. How long are we going to give him the benefit of the doubt? He is pushing socialism. I found it amusing that he mimicked what the socialist Soviet Union used to do. The USSR claimed to have invented everything. Mr Obama claimed that this country invented the automobile! I can’t believe his handlers let him say that. I wonder how many believed him.

Once again I hope I’m wrong but I think we are not going to see things turn around for a long time.

Frozen Fisher

Lou got dropped off by a friend at Shalimar Bridge a 6:30 this morning to do some fishing. The plan for the day was for me to pick him up around 10 and take him to lunch and the bus station to get his tickets.

Did I mention that the temperature was freezing and there was a strong wind? Lou called me after he discovered his hands were frozen and I brought him home until it was time to go to lunch.

Penny joined us for lunch at Harbordocks.

Kitty Update—There were no cats the past 2 nights. Tonight all 4 showed up. Go figure.

Sunday Indoors

We have a crummy weather day today. It started out at 39 degrees, overcast and a stiff wind. Right now at 2 PM its still the same except the temperature is up a tad. Not a day to go outside and have fun. In a pre-recession era this would be a movie or shopping day. Now it was catch-up day. I’m seeing Lou tomorrow so moving catch-up day to today makes sense.

Penny’s not feeling well today so the day started with breakfast in bed. I spent the rest of the morning clearing my desk of paperwork and tracking our budget. Lunch in bed was Penny’s ravioli with meat sauce from the freezer. And now I am on the treadmill continuing my training for the 20K.

After this it’s back to catch-up stuff. I’ve got a lot of crap out of p[lace due to my kitchen cabinet storage shuffle and even last weeks laundry to put away. Retirement can sure be exciting.

Our county is going through a scandal of it’s own right now. The county sheriff was arrested in Las Vegas on money laundering and other charges. He was skimming funds by awarding phony bonuses to employees that they would then contribute to his gambling habit enabling “ charity”. We also have the city of Niceville suing the Air Force to stop them from bringing the F-35 to Eglin AFB. They claim it will be too noisy. I’d much rather put up with the noise (which is here
already and has been worst in the past) for the boost to the local economy.

Hey, did you know that hitting the f5 function key automatically refreshes the web page you are on?