I'm sure i reeked when i got in on Friday night: i hadn't bathed since Thursday morning, and i had slept in my clothes. indeed, in the last couple of hours of bus travel, i realised my mouth tasted like road kill for some reason, so i started downing altoids, eclipse gum, and listerine strips to little effect. once i got home, i immediately brushed my teeth, but i didn't feel like bathing--too much work. didn't get to it saturday either, so it wasn't until this morning that i finally washed florida out of my hair! yesterday and today it has been in the upper 80's here in ohio, hotter than it ever seemed in my 2 weeks in florida.
both dave and a neighbor told me the lid to the fill cap of my car was flipped open a few days ago, so they wondered if someone hadn't stolen some of my gasoline! i haven't started my car yet, but i did turn on the ignition to look at the fuel gauge and the tank still seems full.
i took 17 packs of cigarettes with me and brought 8 back so i only smoked 9 packs in 15 days: that's smoking in a non-smoking world.
i should have gone back to Huntington WV today to see Emily's dance recital but i just didn't feel like making the 2-hour drive. if someone would only invent transporters for real i'd have been there--but i'd also go to Florida more often!
i've already been shopping online! i'm a news junkie disgusted with cnn and headline news lately because there are long stretches when neither is showing breaking news, which is just wrong, so i ended up watching forensic files all evening. when they started repeating, i watched--twice--a tape of Celtic Woman A New Journey, a music performance that i had recorded from PBS, which features 4- and 5-part harmony on several songs, including "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", and decided i needed the dvd, so i found one on eBay. i had hoped to find the 1st season of Banacek on dvds while in Florida but didn't, and the second season of Mission:Impossible is released on Tuesday (O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!) so i've shopped but haven't ordered them yet. life is getting back to normal...that's depressing! i think i'll go for a walk.
3.6.07
2.6.07
Saturday 2 June 2007
here's a few more pictures.
here's kris and i having a send-off breakfast at perkin's with mom & dad while she tries to convince them to try the diet she is using. i try in vain to say "don't worry, be happy."
here's a picture of me, bud, and kris, and a picture of bud, miranda, and joyce, taken at the graduation party on saturday 19 may.
here's kris and i having a send-off breakfast at perkin's with mom & dad while she tries to convince them to try the diet she is using. i try in vain to say "don't worry, be happy."
here's a picture of me, bud, and kris, and a picture of bud, miranda, and joyce, taken at the graduation party on saturday 19 may.
1.6.07
Friday 1 June 2007
got home around 830p. my lawn mower guy greeted me before i got in the door, wanting to get paid for mowing while i was gone. took about a half hour for my kitties to come out and welcome me home. got my computer set back up 1st thing, back online by 930p. bee-ull (bill) is a bald guy who i travelled with, he got on in fort pierce and was going to toledo. i bought my tickets a month ago, bill bot his thursday, and he was dismayed to find he had to wait for a later bus, a layover of 5:25 at orlando, for example--perhaps the greyhound booking system thought the timely buses were full. he told the driver about his schedule and mine, and the driver got his changed: i saved him over 10 hours of wait time! after i get off the bus, bill says, he continues to columbus, then after a long wait, catching a bus to cincinnati, then after another long wait, riding another bus to toledo, arriving 8-ish tomorrow morning. apparently greyhound doesnt go from columbus directly to toledo. i asked bill earlier about shaving his head, because i can't imagine liking shaving so much that one chooses to shave about 4 times more area. he said yes he lathers his head up about once a week and it takes about an hour but sometimes he treats himself to a barber for a stropped razor shave which seems to last longer.
Columbia SC
Bathroom out of order! Smoke break. Gave panhandler 15¢. gave 25¢ to another in Jax. Guard told me i shouldnt, he'd cut my throat. No seatmate from Savannah till now
Smokers
About 25 smokers on bus of 55, 1 drunk woman has lit at least 3 cigs on bus, being thrown off
31.5.07
Thursday 31 May 2007--2
Farewell from the family. Kris met Mom and Dad and I at Perkins for my send-off. Now i'm back at M&D's to gather my stuff: we leave for the bus stop in an hour! i was going to post pictures but they won't go. Here goes my computer!
Comments
linda, i replied to your questions in the comments, but just in case you didn't catch them, here are my replies:
Saturday 26 May 2007:
this is a manufactured home community (trailers) of about 1500. over 250 were destroyed by hurricanes francis and jeannie in aug, 2004. those are still being demolished, only 16 have been replaced but by concrete block homes the same size as a trailer. mom & dad have a double-wide.
Friday 25 May 2007:
that is Kris' in-laws with me in the picture taken at Kris' 50th birthday party last year, Ed and Marcine. Marcine passed away last fall.
Saturday 26 May 2007:
this is a manufactured home community (trailers) of about 1500. over 250 were destroyed by hurricanes francis and jeannie in aug, 2004. those are still being demolished, only 16 have been replaced but by concrete block homes the same size as a trailer. mom & dad have a double-wide.Friday 25 May 2007:
that is Kris' in-laws with me in the picture taken at Kris' 50th birthday party last year, Ed and Marcine. Marcine passed away last fall.
Thursday 31 May 2007
Today i head home. i could have joined Dad for prayer breakfast but decided getting up that early wouldn't fit my schedule. i'm supposed to meet up with Kris and maybe Nat for one last visit, then we have to be at the bus stop by 130p. i may not get another chance to write in this blog from Florida, but i intend to blog/log the trip home with emails from my cell phone, so my progress can be tracked in something resembling real time!
i'll probably be adding things i forgot to put in here after i get home, so interested parties should continue to check it for a while.
see ya, florida! it's been fun!
i'll probably be adding things i forgot to put in here after i get home, so interested parties should continue to check it for a while.
see ya, florida! it's been fun!
Wensday 30 May 2007
Sadness and despair! Today is my last full day in Port St. Lucie!
M&D and i started it out with their regular Wensday routine: Mom goes to her weight watchers meeting while Dad and i get a cup of coffee, then check out staples. we did go to m&d's bank for them to make a deposit and get some cash to pay me back for yesterday's boat trip. then we went to wal-mart, where i got a 1 gig sd card for my new camera, so now at it's lowest resolution it will hold 2,850 pictures! i really didn't want much storage capacity. my old camera has a 64 meg card and i leave pictures on it for years! but this 1 gig card was only $5 more than a 256 meg card, 1/4 the capacity. ah, well, if i ever use it to shoot video, it will hold more than the seconds that the onboard memory would hold.
then we deviated from their routine by stopping at a beall's outlet, a beall's full of all their clearance stuff, mostly clothes. i talk myself into a few polo shirts that seemed a bargain. normally m&d would eat lunch out, but we were planning to eat supper out so we went home for lunch, which included yet another bowl of homemade vegetable soup that mom makes, apparently by the gallon! after lunch, mom and i went shopping at big lots and a different beall's outlet; at big lots i found they had some super-sticky post it pads that i had almost bought a handful of when they were new at staple's several months ago! we get home and within minutes mom, dad, and i are headed for their church to count last weekends receipts. i just hang around reading: now i'm trying to finish the 3rd mrs. jeffries mystery before i have to leave town without the book. they take me to IHOP for supper, because i had said i had never been to one...and they let me pay, Mom coming up with the tip.
I watch medium with mom, then news and leno, before going to my room to try to finish this last mystery in ernest.
I did finish it, and still have time to finish up this blog.
M&D and i started it out with their regular Wensday routine: Mom goes to her weight watchers meeting while Dad and i get a cup of coffee, then check out staples. we did go to m&d's bank for them to make a deposit and get some cash to pay me back for yesterday's boat trip. then we went to wal-mart, where i got a 1 gig sd card for my new camera, so now at it's lowest resolution it will hold 2,850 pictures! i really didn't want much storage capacity. my old camera has a 64 meg card and i leave pictures on it for years! but this 1 gig card was only $5 more than a 256 meg card, 1/4 the capacity. ah, well, if i ever use it to shoot video, it will hold more than the seconds that the onboard memory would hold.
then we deviated from their routine by stopping at a beall's outlet, a beall's full of all their clearance stuff, mostly clothes. i talk myself into a few polo shirts that seemed a bargain. normally m&d would eat lunch out, but we were planning to eat supper out so we went home for lunch, which included yet another bowl of homemade vegetable soup that mom makes, apparently by the gallon! after lunch, mom and i went shopping at big lots and a different beall's outlet; at big lots i found they had some super-sticky post it pads that i had almost bought a handful of when they were new at staple's several months ago! we get home and within minutes mom, dad, and i are headed for their church to count last weekends receipts. i just hang around reading: now i'm trying to finish the 3rd mrs. jeffries mystery before i have to leave town without the book. they take me to IHOP for supper, because i had said i had never been to one...and they let me pay, Mom coming up with the tip.
I watch medium with mom, then news and leno, before going to my room to try to finish this last mystery in ernest.
I did finish it, and still have time to finish up this blog.
Tuesday 29 May 2007
Today mom & dad & i took a boat trip from north palm beach out around peanut island and back. we didn't see much wildlife, except for 1 pelican, and didn't actually get multi-million dollar home of the stars pointed out like i had expected (but hadn't actually desired!), but it was still fun. here's a picture of a condominium i thought looked pretty cool. captain bob said, tho, he understands the builders of this condo face accusations of shoddy building materials. we had a good time.before the trip we had lunch at a genuine tropical-type bar called panama hattie's. i treated mom and dad to lunch, which would have been reasonable, except that dad had a pina colada and i had a sunchaser (a drink with banana rum and banana liquor) and an earthquake (a drink that's half pina colada and half frozen strawberry margarita)--these 3 drinks cost more than $20...and i didn't even get a buzz off them! after the boat trip, mom & dad tried to pay for it with plastic (they were treating me!), but captain bob pulled out a 2-decades-old charge card imprinter (remember the machine the merchant put your card in, then ran a roller over it to capture an impression of your card's raised letters on carbonpaper-interleaved charge receipt?) but it was a shambles and he could not keep it together long enough to imprint it; then panama hatties totally modern electronic one would not work either...so i had to pay for it with my cash!
when i mentioned my "smoking section" here at the house, i meant to comment on the lizards all over the place here but forgot. there must be hundreds around my sister's house!
i mentioned last year about my mother putting out her model car collection for my amusement in the bathroom i use here. she's doing it again this year: attached is 2 pictures of the display only a few days apart, notice the cars changed! so i come by it honestly!
clearance sale! everything must go! with only a hundred or so hours of my vacation left as i write this, i'm throwing in all the leftovers! here's 2 pictures of mom and i working on her jigsaw puzzle on monday 29 may.in the evening, after a spin around the development with mom driving her golf cart, i borrowed my father's car, much to his consternation, to drive the 2 miles to Kris' to watch the season finale of House, M.D., with her and Natalie. they are big fans of the show too, and this finale was pretty good! Nat seemed just a little better but she is still sick. i stayed for a little more vist, and a cup of tea, before getting Dad's car home around 1130p. Mom recorded veronica mars for me, on opposite house, in case it was the finale, but when i watched it later this evening, it was a repeat. i may have missed the season finale :-(
here's mom & dad in "uniform" for yesterday's civilian observation patrol.
30.5.07
Monday 28 May 2007
this is how i start every day here: i wake up and make a cup of coffee and go to the smoking section to break my fast from nicotine.
Today we pretty much just hung around the house, until in the afternoon, we went to see a planned community in Port St. Lucie called Tradition. It is trying to be a complete town, with a Town Square, Tradition Station, Tradition Park, etc. we walked around the square, where the trees are lighted year-round and music/muzak is piped everywhere. we had an expensive cup of coffee at one of those starbucks-like coffee bars, i got a latte with raspberry flavoring, forgetting that i had decided i don't like fruit flavors in my coffee the last time. mom & dad got cafe au laits, so mine was stronger but not as hot :-(M&D did their regular shift as Citizen Observation Patrol from 10p-1a while i puttered around on the computer and almost finished reading my second Mrs. Jeffries murder mystery since i've been here. (i first read an agatha raisin murder mystery, finishing it last week. dad read it after i did, in only 1 day.)
28.5.07
Sunday 27 May 2007
This morning Mom & Dad went to church, reluctantly leaving me home despite the offer of free donuts! i just puttered around until they returned, then we went shopping at petsmart, office max, office depot, and bj's warehouse club: i managed not to buy anything! (i did get mom to buy a few groceries.) 
mom & dad's new hobby is their 55-gallon aquarium. while they were doing some weekly maintenance on it, they accidently got the background of the tank wet and were taken aback by how beautiful it looked. they checked at petsmart and a clerk told them indeed to wet the back of the tank before applying the background, so the picture here is in fact taken tomorrow (is that cheating?) after they stuck the background to the wet glass.
after shopping we went to another ribs place, norris', to join chuck, ed, and charley for dinner to celebrate ed's birthday. kris did not join us because natalie was still sick and had spent the day in bed (they're thinking tonsilitis) and also because there is little at norris' her diet allows her to eat. i had a grilled hamburger with mushrooms and onions because i had already had ribs. so we repaired after dinner to Kris' house for birthday cake and presents.
we had a good visit, i recovered my ashtray left on kris' patio, and got in around 830p.
mom & dad's new hobby is their 55-gallon aquarium. while they were doing some weekly maintenance on it, they accidently got the background of the tank wet and were taken aback by how beautiful it looked. they checked at petsmart and a clerk told them indeed to wet the back of the tank before applying the background, so the picture here is in fact taken tomorrow (is that cheating?) after they stuck the background to the wet glass.after shopping we went to another ribs place, norris', to join chuck, ed, and charley for dinner to celebrate ed's birthday. kris did not join us because natalie was still sick and had spent the day in bed (they're thinking tonsilitis) and also because there is little at norris' her diet allows her to eat. i had a grilled hamburger with mushrooms and onions because i had already had ribs. so we repaired after dinner to Kris' house for birthday cake and presents.
we had a good visit, i recovered my ashtray left on kris' patio, and got in around 830p.
Saturday 26 May 2007
Today was a calm day. we didn't get out and do anything until 330p: mother and i went to see Spider-Man 3! i don't watch many movies; i should put it that i am highly selective about the movies i watch. i come by it honestly: my dad refused to come to the movies with us! he had seen one of the earlier spider-man movies and thought it very silly. i loved the movie! i have been a big spider-man fan from the beginning. i saw a sign once that said
because I (and my brother) had the number 1 issue of spider-man once! this movie may not be an end like some critics have wondered. there could be more movies made. this one introduced Gwen Stacey who was spidey's 2nd girlfriend after betty brandt, jjj's secretary, and before mary jane watson, whom peter parker would actually marry in the comix, so all 3 of pete's major girlfriends are in this movie. i don't know the fate of gwen in future movies; her fate in the comix wasn't too good! i texted my brother, who had already seen sm3, and he said it was good but pirates was better! kris hasn't seen sm3 but said pirates was "ok." so we have opinions all across the board. i'm unlikely to see pirates, as i haven't seen 1 and 2 yet.
After the movie, 2-1/4 hours long, we met back up with Dad who had hung around the mall, had dinner at the food court, and went home.
Mom and i took a long walk around the development (their house is in the center of the picture, with a white kia in the carport), then sat outside gabbing for a while, before going in at 10p.
I was a millionaire once...
then my mother made me get rid of my comic books!
because I (and my brother) had the number 1 issue of spider-man once! this movie may not be an end like some critics have wondered. there could be more movies made. this one introduced Gwen Stacey who was spidey's 2nd girlfriend after betty brandt, jjj's secretary, and before mary jane watson, whom peter parker would actually marry in the comix, so all 3 of pete's major girlfriends are in this movie. i don't know the fate of gwen in future movies; her fate in the comix wasn't too good! i texted my brother, who had already seen sm3, and he said it was good but pirates was better! kris hasn't seen sm3 but said pirates was "ok." so we have opinions all across the board. i'm unlikely to see pirates, as i haven't seen 1 and 2 yet.
After the movie, 2-1/4 hours long, we met back up with Dad who had hung around the mall, had dinner at the food court, and went home.
Mom and i took a long walk around the development (their house is in the center of the picture, with a white kia in the carport), then sat outside gabbing for a while, before going in at 10p.
Friday 25 May 2007
Now that the graduation activities are over, Laura and Bud's family have gone home, and Natalie's family is concerned with her being sick (still!), the days here are less hectic. I just hang out with Mom & Dad and go shopping with them. 
Today we went back to Wal-Mart, i returned the keychain camera and bought a real camera, a samsung s630. 6 megapixel, 2.5' lcd screen, advanced shake reduction are the features it brags about right on the camera, and it is better than the camera i left at home, for $100! i didn't get an sd memory card for it cuz i have one at home, and i figured i'd be uploading my pix daily to my computer. the default size of pix on this camera meant it only had room for 8, but i changed it to the smallest size available, 1024x___ i always forget the 2nd number, so now it holds 42 pics. i spent the afternoon figuring out how to use the camera; luckily it has an auto mode that allows me to use it for regular pictures without thinking much about it. This software installed on the first try! and when the camera is plugged in to my puta, it becomes a drive letter so the pix can be accessed without any additional software.
We also went shopping at a Florida department store called Beall's. their logo has a bell in the middle that looks like an A so i always wanted to pronounce it "be-alls" but would get corrected "bells" so looking for it on the web i was surprised it really does have an A in it. i found a shirt i actually liked better than the shirt mom bought for my birthday the other day at dillard's at the mall, so it was agreed she'd buy this shirt for me and give the dillard's shirt to chuck's father ed who was turning 85 on sunday.
sadly, since my last vacation here 15 months ago, chuck's mother marcine had passed away, at the age of 81, and her absence is keenly felt.
In the evening Dad goes to bed early so he can be up for his weekly observation patrol, late-night friday/early saturday 1-4a. i watched my usual friday night tv shows, ghost whisperer, close to home, and numb3rs.
Today we went back to Wal-Mart, i returned the keychain camera and bought a real camera, a samsung s630. 6 megapixel, 2.5' lcd screen, advanced shake reduction are the features it brags about right on the camera, and it is better than the camera i left at home, for $100! i didn't get an sd memory card for it cuz i have one at home, and i figured i'd be uploading my pix daily to my computer. the default size of pix on this camera meant it only had room for 8, but i changed it to the smallest size available, 1024x___ i always forget the 2nd number, so now it holds 42 pics. i spent the afternoon figuring out how to use the camera; luckily it has an auto mode that allows me to use it for regular pictures without thinking much about it. This software installed on the first try! and when the camera is plugged in to my puta, it becomes a drive letter so the pix can be accessed without any additional software.
We also went shopping at a Florida department store called Beall's. their logo has a bell in the middle that looks like an A so i always wanted to pronounce it "be-alls" but would get corrected "bells" so looking for it on the web i was surprised it really does have an A in it. i found a shirt i actually liked better than the shirt mom bought for my birthday the other day at dillard's at the mall, so it was agreed she'd buy this shirt for me and give the dillard's shirt to chuck's father ed who was turning 85 on sunday.
sadly, since my last vacation here 15 months ago, chuck's mother marcine had passed away, at the age of 81, and her absence is keenly felt.In the evening Dad goes to bed early so he can be up for his weekly observation patrol, late-night friday/early saturday 1-4a. i watched my usual friday night tv shows, ghost whisperer, close to home, and numb3rs.
27.5.07
Thursday 24 May 2007
[Updated Monday] Today we went shopping! i've been here almost a week and haven't been to Staple's, Office Max or Depot yet! We get to Staple's and i find the calligraphy felt-tip markers that i've been looking for at Walgreens and Wal-Mart so i can write in Dad's new bible...which he bought with several years worth of gift certificates from me! They understandably find that amusing. I also found some xmas super-sticky post-its for 50¢ and some spring holders for pop-up post-its also 50¢. Come to think of it, the last pop-up post-it dispensers i bought were here in port st. lucie too, last year!
We had lunch in a Checker's, a cheap hamburger restaurant chain called Rally's back in Ohio, then go to Wal-Mart again, where i pick up a cheap tiny VGA camera for $30,
a suprema keychain digital camera, intended for pre-teens, because, even tho an hour before leaving Hillsboro i went to the store to get AA batteries for my 3.3 megapixel camera, when i got on the bus i realised i had the batteries in my backpack but had forgotten the camera! At the family graduation dinner last sunday, my brother had confessed the exactly opposite thing: he had put his camera battery in the charger and then left home with the camera but without the battery.
I took the car while m&d went to bible study at their church, and went to the store where i bought those pop-up post-it dispensers last year, a K-mart that has Sears' name on it, called a Sears Essentials. I looked around at the shops but didn't buy anything (to quote the moody blues). actually i sat down on a bench and figured out how to use the tiny camera. i took a few pictures of the Sears Essentials with palm trees in front just to see how it would do. Then i went farther down the street to Goodwill and Walgreens but didn't buy anything there either. I get back to the church in plenty of time to meet Mom & Dad but while i'm waiting i get a good look for a long time at one of the ospreys that they know nests in the woods behind the church.
Back at home, I'm having a problem. even tho it was cheap, even tho it was intended for pre-teens, i can't get the software for the tiny camera to install on my laptop! it requires the software to access the pics. i try for a couple of hours, installing, uninstalling, reinstalling, rebooting...nada. i have to face the fact i'm not as smart as a kid when it comes to computers and i give up.
In the evening, I watched the current CSI (repeat) with Dad. I had called my mother from the bus to have her record season finales of Medium and CSI, and she just recorded them on her everyday video tape that she records her soaps (the And Soaps: Y&R and B&B). Unfortunately i think she recorded Medium on Wensday, then rewound the tape, recorded her soaps on Thursday and set it to record CSI...and taped over Medium, probably my favorite show on for the last 3 seasons. So i watched the season finale of CSI on tape late-night, then i went to my bedroom and worked on my computer for a while. All of a sudden i recalled that whole episodes of some tv shows were available over the internet, and a trip to nbc.com showed i could watch the finale online! this streaming video probably works great with a cable connection, but with m&d's dsl connection i found it could not download fast enough to keep up. to be precise, i could watch 20 seconds of tv show, then the picture would freeze for about 15 seconds to download the next batch. an hour-long tv show without commercials would be what, about 49 minutes? it took an hour and 20 minutes to watch! but i got to see the finale, which was good enough until i get the entire season on dvd. so i'm watching a tv show on my computer in my bedroom, and at 4a dad knocks on the door and tells me it woke him up! Busted!
We had lunch in a Checker's, a cheap hamburger restaurant chain called Rally's back in Ohio, then go to Wal-Mart again, where i pick up a cheap tiny VGA camera for $30,
a suprema keychain digital camera, intended for pre-teens, because, even tho an hour before leaving Hillsboro i went to the store to get AA batteries for my 3.3 megapixel camera, when i got on the bus i realised i had the batteries in my backpack but had forgotten the camera! At the family graduation dinner last sunday, my brother had confessed the exactly opposite thing: he had put his camera battery in the charger and then left home with the camera but without the battery.I took the car while m&d went to bible study at their church, and went to the store where i bought those pop-up post-it dispensers last year, a K-mart that has Sears' name on it, called a Sears Essentials. I looked around at the shops but didn't buy anything (to quote the moody blues). actually i sat down on a bench and figured out how to use the tiny camera. i took a few pictures of the Sears Essentials with palm trees in front just to see how it would do. Then i went farther down the street to Goodwill and Walgreens but didn't buy anything there either. I get back to the church in plenty of time to meet Mom & Dad but while i'm waiting i get a good look for a long time at one of the ospreys that they know nests in the woods behind the church.
Back at home, I'm having a problem. even tho it was cheap, even tho it was intended for pre-teens, i can't get the software for the tiny camera to install on my laptop! it requires the software to access the pics. i try for a couple of hours, installing, uninstalling, reinstalling, rebooting...nada. i have to face the fact i'm not as smart as a kid when it comes to computers and i give up.
In the evening, I watched the current CSI (repeat) with Dad. I had called my mother from the bus to have her record season finales of Medium and CSI, and she just recorded them on her everyday video tape that she records her soaps (the And Soaps: Y&R and B&B). Unfortunately i think she recorded Medium on Wensday, then rewound the tape, recorded her soaps on Thursday and set it to record CSI...and taped over Medium, probably my favorite show on for the last 3 seasons. So i watched the season finale of CSI on tape late-night, then i went to my bedroom and worked on my computer for a while. All of a sudden i recalled that whole episodes of some tv shows were available over the internet, and a trip to nbc.com showed i could watch the finale online! this streaming video probably works great with a cable connection, but with m&d's dsl connection i found it could not download fast enough to keep up. to be precise, i could watch 20 seconds of tv show, then the picture would freeze for about 15 seconds to download the next batch. an hour-long tv show without commercials would be what, about 49 minutes? it took an hour and 20 minutes to watch! but i got to see the finale, which was good enough until i get the entire season on dvd. so i'm watching a tv show on my computer in my bedroom, and at 4a dad knocks on the door and tells me it woke him up! Busted!
Wensday 23 May 2007
Bud and family were intending to leave Port St. Lucie early, around 8a, but they didn't actually get going until 920a. They were driving back to Orlando and spending the night there after a day at an "amusement" park called the Holy Land Experience.
It was my intention to move back to Mom & Dad's and free up Kris' leather couch (tough to sleep on) by catching up with them 10-ish while Mom was at her weekly Weight Watchers meeting where she is a greeter and Dad is having a cuppa next door at a restaurant, but since Bud had left later than scheduled, M & D didn't go. Instead Kris and I joined Mom and Dad for lunch at 1230p at R. J. Gator's where we all had 5-way chili and onion strings, except Kris who is following a low-carb diet. My high school buddies know that i regularly rage about the lack of science in the state of nutrition information and the so-called "healthy" lifestyle these days, but i am continually surprised that no one, like my mother and sister, views the facts that diets don't work very well and can be unhealthy as liberating. Kris insists that diets do work but only if they are followed rigorously which people have a tendency not to. My pointing out that Dr. Atkins was not a scientist when he wrote his first book and had not--and still hasn't--conducted large-scale controlled tests published in peer-reviewed journals falls on deaf ears. So she has some low-carb chicken nuggets, what she always gets there, and eschews the appetisers. I'm sure they're good.
We transfer my suitcases in the parking lot and Kris gets to go back to work (she does research for her husband's business.) Mom and Dad go to their lutheran church to count the money in the collection plate from last sunday while i stay home and unpack my things and spread out my computer for the first time since i've been here. i get the internet on my laptop simply by unplugging the network from Mom's computer and plugging it into mine.
Mom warmed up leftovers from the R. J. Gator's lunch for dinner, plus soup and other things, a fairly large dinner dispite the fact that dad and i claimed to be still full from lunch.
Mom takes a few spins around the block on her motor- scooter, then we take the cart to the clubhouse for some jigsaw puzzling. working off to the side, i get 2 sections going pretty good but it was Mom who figured how they fit in the puzzle.
It was my intention to move back to Mom & Dad's and free up Kris' leather couch (tough to sleep on) by catching up with them 10-ish while Mom was at her weekly Weight Watchers meeting where she is a greeter and Dad is having a cuppa next door at a restaurant, but since Bud had left later than scheduled, M & D didn't go. Instead Kris and I joined Mom and Dad for lunch at 1230p at R. J. Gator's where we all had 5-way chili and onion strings, except Kris who is following a low-carb diet. My high school buddies know that i regularly rage about the lack of science in the state of nutrition information and the so-called "healthy" lifestyle these days, but i am continually surprised that no one, like my mother and sister, views the facts that diets don't work very well and can be unhealthy as liberating. Kris insists that diets do work but only if they are followed rigorously which people have a tendency not to. My pointing out that Dr. Atkins was not a scientist when he wrote his first book and had not--and still hasn't--conducted large-scale controlled tests published in peer-reviewed journals falls on deaf ears. So she has some low-carb chicken nuggets, what she always gets there, and eschews the appetisers. I'm sure they're good.
We transfer my suitcases in the parking lot and Kris gets to go back to work (she does research for her husband's business.) Mom and Dad go to their lutheran church to count the money in the collection plate from last sunday while i stay home and unpack my things and spread out my computer for the first time since i've been here. i get the internet on my laptop simply by unplugging the network from Mom's computer and plugging it into mine.
Mom warmed up leftovers from the R. J. Gator's lunch for dinner, plus soup and other things, a fairly large dinner dispite the fact that dad and i claimed to be still full from lunch.
Mom takes a few spins around the block on her motor- scooter, then we take the cart to the clubhouse for some jigsaw puzzling. working off to the side, i get 2 sections going pretty good but it was Mom who figured how they fit in the puzzle.
26.5.07
Tuesday 22 May 2007
This morning i woke up at 7 to find that Laura and Chuck had left at 630a without waking me, so i spent a rather somber morning contemplating love and life.
Laura did tell Kris to say goodbye to her Uncle Norm.
At 11a Dad drove Bud and Miranda and I to the ocean while Mom and Joyce visited some antique stores. B & M wanted a little tan before they headed back home tomorrow, so they applied a little sunscreen and laid out on the beach, hoping to get an hour on each side. i do not lay out so i went in the ocean. The Ocean: where the water comes to you! i only waded in hip deep but got wet all the way up to my neck! then i walked along the beach gathering a few seashells while appreciating a few young bikini babes. i sat down to wait for bud and miranda to finish tanning, then the 3 of us took about a 2-mile walk up the beach then had to walk back while Dad stayed with our things. you'll notice i didn't say anything about me putting on sunscreen: i didn't. i figured i had already had some sun, and i could tell when i'd had enough. indeed, for the long walk up the beach i put back on my tee-shirt. all i can say is i'm glad i was wearing a ball cap the whole time, because, friends, i got fried! i feel like an idiot! my shoulders are burned bad, my lower legs are red, but especially my feet are baked, cuz they had already had a lot of sun through my sandals. plus i got sand under the sandal straps and with all the walking--i had walked a half mile looking for a restroom too--i wore a little hole in my ankle! so, sadly, as soon as we get back to civilization, i had to borrow dad's car so bud and i could go get some sunburn lotion. bud was burned some, and miranda was burned on places she had missed putting sunscreen, but i was in some pain!
In the afternoon we had a family meeting, just the 5 of us, so Dad could update our knowledge of their finances and their "estates." the last one of these i remember was in november, 1994, in Kris' house on Catalina Island, but they all say it had been updated since then. We sat around chatting till Natalie arrived, then had meatloaf--a family favorite, particularly of Bud's--for dinner, Joyce and Miranda returning from the Mall after we had begun. Natalie was still sick, but she didn't make a big deal of it as is her wont.
After dinner Joyce and Miranda decide to go back to the mall to look at dresses for a friend, Miranda having a large and varied wardrobe that she shares with friends.
Miranda, i must say, has matured consid- erably since the last time i spent any time with her, she's a confident, poised, and attractive 18-year-old who starts at John Brown University, a christian college in Arkansas, i think as a sophomore next fall in art. (In the pic, Joyce, Mom, and Bud are at a showing looking at a portrait Miranda drew of her father and a cousin.) Mom and I go with J & M to the mall, and go shopping separately but only get as far as payless where mom buys a pair of shoes. We go back to Dillard's to met J & M and shop for a shirt for Bud's 54th birthday on Saturday, and Mom finds a good deal and buys a shirt for me and Dad too. On the way home, Joyce lets me stop at Wal-Mart. When we get home, we find Bud and Dad watching a movie on tv, so i wait until 11p to be taken back to Kris's house for the night, where everyone's already in bed and i don't see anyone for a while.
And remember, my tin-plated friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.
The Wizard of Oz to the Tin Woodman
Laura did tell Kris to say goodbye to her Uncle Norm.
At 11a Dad drove Bud and Miranda and I to the ocean while Mom and Joyce visited some antique stores. B & M wanted a little tan before they headed back home tomorrow, so they applied a little sunscreen and laid out on the beach, hoping to get an hour on each side. i do not lay out so i went in the ocean. The Ocean: where the water comes to you! i only waded in hip deep but got wet all the way up to my neck! then i walked along the beach gathering a few seashells while appreciating a few young bikini babes. i sat down to wait for bud and miranda to finish tanning, then the 3 of us took about a 2-mile walk up the beach then had to walk back while Dad stayed with our things. you'll notice i didn't say anything about me putting on sunscreen: i didn't. i figured i had already had some sun, and i could tell when i'd had enough. indeed, for the long walk up the beach i put back on my tee-shirt. all i can say is i'm glad i was wearing a ball cap the whole time, because, friends, i got fried! i feel like an idiot! my shoulders are burned bad, my lower legs are red, but especially my feet are baked, cuz they had already had a lot of sun through my sandals. plus i got sand under the sandal straps and with all the walking--i had walked a half mile looking for a restroom too--i wore a little hole in my ankle! so, sadly, as soon as we get back to civilization, i had to borrow dad's car so bud and i could go get some sunburn lotion. bud was burned some, and miranda was burned on places she had missed putting sunscreen, but i was in some pain!
In the afternoon we had a family meeting, just the 5 of us, so Dad could update our knowledge of their finances and their "estates." the last one of these i remember was in november, 1994, in Kris' house on Catalina Island, but they all say it had been updated since then. We sat around chatting till Natalie arrived, then had meatloaf--a family favorite, particularly of Bud's--for dinner, Joyce and Miranda returning from the Mall after we had begun. Natalie was still sick, but she didn't make a big deal of it as is her wont.
After dinner Joyce and Miranda decide to go back to the mall to look at dresses for a friend, Miranda having a large and varied wardrobe that she shares with friends.
Miranda, i must say, has matured consid- erably since the last time i spent any time with her, she's a confident, poised, and attractive 18-year-old who starts at John Brown University, a christian college in Arkansas, i think as a sophomore next fall in art. (In the pic, Joyce, Mom, and Bud are at a showing looking at a portrait Miranda drew of her father and a cousin.) Mom and I go with J & M to the mall, and go shopping separately but only get as far as payless where mom buys a pair of shoes. We go back to Dillard's to met J & M and shop for a shirt for Bud's 54th birthday on Saturday, and Mom finds a good deal and buys a shirt for me and Dad too. On the way home, Joyce lets me stop at Wal-Mart. When we get home, we find Bud and Dad watching a movie on tv, so i wait until 11p to be taken back to Kris's house for the night, where everyone's already in bed and i don't see anyone for a while.
25.5.07
Monday 21 May 2007
[Edited Sat 1p] Today Bud, Joyce, Miranda, Mom, and I went to Chuck's ranch. Natalie or Kris may have gone too, but Nat is in fact sick, has been for days! Kris thinks she's got swollen tonsils or glands or something. She is going to take Nat to the walk-in clinic and stay home with her.
Chuck's Bluefield Ranch Mitigation Bank (i mentioned how it works in a 2006 post here) is coming along pretty well. It is about 2,000 acres of what seems mostly prairie and wood lands that Chuck is trying to restore to it's primordial glory. He and his workers have planted more than 100,000 plants that used to be there but aren't any more, and another 20,000 plants arrive today. He is also trying to restore the wildlife that used to be there, which means destroying all the wild hogs, and reintroducing quail and big turtles. The area, once a part of a 40,000 acres tract owned by 2 brothers, used to have a major trail go through it, and once had a 80' square fort on it, a sawmill with narrow-guage railroad back to the woods, etc. most traces of those things are now gone, and he allows archaeologists in to dig through it all. i think he said they found a huge number of bottles buried near the fort that will be excavated. we spent several hours driving around looking at it. we saw dozens of quail, including 2 little baby quail, several scoford tortices, and 2 eagle's nests and a mexican eagle. the neatest bird was a northern shrike, which Chuck was saying has adapted to living with humans to the point of catching bugs and impaling them on barbs of barb wire, then coming back later to eat them. just then we saw a shrike sitting on a fence post, drove up to where he was, and sure enough, there was a grasshopper impaled on a barb!
For dinner we all were supposed to go to Sonny's Ribs for dinner but Kris' family cancelled because Natalie was sick, so it was just M&D and Bud's family and me. For 50¢ more i could have changed my rib order to "all you can eat" like my father and brother did, but i'm actually not such a fan of big hunks of meat so i settled for 1 helping which i knew would be sufficient. it was good but not spectacular; i guess i ordered to wrong kind of ribs because would prefer "fall off the bone" type rather than solid meat you have to gnaw off. this dinner was supposed to be a send-off for Laura, who leaves early tomorrow morning.
When we got home, it was decided by Bud's family to get some movies from this development's clubhouse, who keeps a supply donated by residents. the library would have been closed but Mom had a key as she is on the board. i did not pick a movie but each of the 3 of them did...but then i reminded Bud and Miranda that the season finale of Heroes was on tonight, so unbeknownst to the others, it was resolved that we would watch that and movies would not start until at least 10p. i haven't mentioned Mom's jigsaw puzzle yet. Bud, Miranda, and I walked to the clubhouse and we looked at her current jigsaw puzzle while we waited for Mom and Joyce to drive there in the golf cart. The clubhouse has all sorts of rules, some of which are nutty; for example, no one under 35 is allowed to play pool, and non-members are never ever allowed to swim in the deluxe pool or play a round on the golf course. one rule is that for any guest to use the facilities, he or she is supposed to have a guest badge. since i was staying longer, we had got me one, perhaps friday evening, the first time i worked for a little while on her jigsaw puzzle, but bud's family didn't really intend to. so when Mom caught up with us, she about had a heart attack finding Miranda shooting pool, with her a board member and all! so we got our movies and tried to sneak out on the down low.
Bud and Mom took me back to Kris' after the Heroes finale (which was a bit disappointing) and went in with me to visit with Kris, Nat, and Laura, and we had a good time chatting. Mom and Bud got to hug Laura one last time before she left, but i put mine off since i was spending the night there. after Bud and Mom left and the girls finished the movie they were watching before we arrived, Laura and i had a cigarette together, but again we put off a farewell hug, as her cat Chaka, a big black cat with white whiskers and toes who now lives with Kris, was comfortable on my lap.
Chuck's Bluefield Ranch Mitigation Bank (i mentioned how it works in a 2006 post here) is coming along pretty well. It is about 2,000 acres of what seems mostly prairie and wood lands that Chuck is trying to restore to it's primordial glory. He and his workers have planted more than 100,000 plants that used to be there but aren't any more, and another 20,000 plants arrive today. He is also trying to restore the wildlife that used to be there, which means destroying all the wild hogs, and reintroducing quail and big turtles. The area, once a part of a 40,000 acres tract owned by 2 brothers, used to have a major trail go through it, and once had a 80' square fort on it, a sawmill with narrow-guage railroad back to the woods, etc. most traces of those things are now gone, and he allows archaeologists in to dig through it all. i think he said they found a huge number of bottles buried near the fort that will be excavated. we spent several hours driving around looking at it. we saw dozens of quail, including 2 little baby quail, several scoford tortices, and 2 eagle's nests and a mexican eagle. the neatest bird was a northern shrike, which Chuck was saying has adapted to living with humans to the point of catching bugs and impaling them on barbs of barb wire, then coming back later to eat them. just then we saw a shrike sitting on a fence post, drove up to where he was, and sure enough, there was a grasshopper impaled on a barb!
For dinner we all were supposed to go to Sonny's Ribs for dinner but Kris' family cancelled because Natalie was sick, so it was just M&D and Bud's family and me. For 50¢ more i could have changed my rib order to "all you can eat" like my father and brother did, but i'm actually not such a fan of big hunks of meat so i settled for 1 helping which i knew would be sufficient. it was good but not spectacular; i guess i ordered to wrong kind of ribs because would prefer "fall off the bone" type rather than solid meat you have to gnaw off. this dinner was supposed to be a send-off for Laura, who leaves early tomorrow morning.
When we got home, it was decided by Bud's family to get some movies from this development's clubhouse, who keeps a supply donated by residents. the library would have been closed but Mom had a key as she is on the board. i did not pick a movie but each of the 3 of them did...but then i reminded Bud and Miranda that the season finale of Heroes was on tonight, so unbeknownst to the others, it was resolved that we would watch that and movies would not start until at least 10p. i haven't mentioned Mom's jigsaw puzzle yet. Bud, Miranda, and I walked to the clubhouse and we looked at her current jigsaw puzzle while we waited for Mom and Joyce to drive there in the golf cart. The clubhouse has all sorts of rules, some of which are nutty; for example, no one under 35 is allowed to play pool, and non-members are never ever allowed to swim in the deluxe pool or play a round on the golf course. one rule is that for any guest to use the facilities, he or she is supposed to have a guest badge. since i was staying longer, we had got me one, perhaps friday evening, the first time i worked for a little while on her jigsaw puzzle, but bud's family didn't really intend to. so when Mom caught up with us, she about had a heart attack finding Miranda shooting pool, with her a board member and all! so we got our movies and tried to sneak out on the down low.
Bud and Mom took me back to Kris' after the Heroes finale (which was a bit disappointing) and went in with me to visit with Kris, Nat, and Laura, and we had a good time chatting. Mom and Bud got to hug Laura one last time before she left, but i put mine off since i was spending the night there. after Bud and Mom left and the girls finished the movie they were watching before we arrived, Laura and i had a cigarette together, but again we put off a farewell hug, as her cat Chaka, a big black cat with white whiskers and toes who now lives with Kris, was comfortable on my lap.
24.5.07
Sunday 20 May 2007
I should add, about staying here with my sister, that my real choice was between sleeping on Kris' couch or sleeping on our parent's couch! still, i can sleep about anywhere; for example, the first night after the ice storm in December, 2004, i slept on the floor of my office without benefit of blanket, pillow, or toiletries, because my car was still a cake of ice! Today I was volunteered to help Kris put on the family's graduation party for Natalie, an opportunity for the whole family to get together, since Natalie and Laura decided to go to the beach that morning instead of helping! That was okay because Laura was going back to Arizona on Tuesday and the 2 girls had not had much time together.
Kris was ready to get going just as i was waking up! I felt like getting out after i got dressed so i took off for a walk, ended up about a mile or so away at the closest grocery store, Publix, and met Kris loading up her car with groceries, just in time! I didn't know that was where she went, just guessed! If i had missed her i would just have had to walk back which wouldn't have been a big deal.
The party was a big success. M&D, BJ&M, KCLC&N, i and natalie's grandfather Ed were all there, plus Joe's son Victor, and--here we go again!--my 1st cousin once removed Gabe, his wife Tammy, and his children my 1st cousins twice removed, Kelsey, Jerrod, Dalton, and baby girl Madison, born while Gabe was stationed in Iraq. I hadn't seen Gabe since he was 2 years old, and i've never met his sister, my 1st cousin once removed Edna, who was invited, lives in Florida, but was unable to come. Laura, Charley, Natalie, and Miranda met their 2nd cousin Gabe and their 2nd cousins once removed, his kids, for the first time! Got it?
We got some pictures of everyone but Mother is bemoaning the fact that we did not get a picture with all 11 Neubergers in it, since one of them was taking the picture. This pic has everybody in it but Chuck.
After everybody left, including Nat for some more graduation parties with friends, Kris and I settled down in the frontroom, but she felt like a movie and i didn't, so she watched a PBS mystery with me, Rosemary and Thyme, but then retired to her room. I tried her MacBook computer, which had been an xmas present from her husband the previous year, and eventually got enough of a hang of it to get this blog started; I also checked eBay on it! i had to use a browser called safari, which i had never heard of.
Kris was ready to get going just as i was waking up! I felt like getting out after i got dressed so i took off for a walk, ended up about a mile or so away at the closest grocery store, Publix, and met Kris loading up her car with groceries, just in time! I didn't know that was where she went, just guessed! If i had missed her i would just have had to walk back which wouldn't have been a big deal.
The party was a big success. M&D, BJ&M, KCLC&N, i and natalie's grandfather Ed were all there, plus Joe's son Victor, and--here we go again!--my 1st cousin once removed Gabe, his wife Tammy, and his children my 1st cousins twice removed, Kelsey, Jerrod, Dalton, and baby girl Madison, born while Gabe was stationed in Iraq. I hadn't seen Gabe since he was 2 years old, and i've never met his sister, my 1st cousin once removed Edna, who was invited, lives in Florida, but was unable to come. Laura, Charley, Natalie, and Miranda met their 2nd cousin Gabe and their 2nd cousins once removed, his kids, for the first time! Got it?
We got some pictures of everyone but Mother is bemoaning the fact that we did not get a picture with all 11 Neubergers in it, since one of them was taking the picture. This pic has everybody in it but Chuck.After everybody left, including Nat for some more graduation parties with friends, Kris and I settled down in the frontroom, but she felt like a movie and i didn't, so she watched a PBS mystery with me, Rosemary and Thyme, but then retired to her room. I tried her MacBook computer, which had been an xmas present from her husband the previous year, and eventually got enough of a hang of it to get this blog started; I also checked eBay on it! i had to use a browser called safari, which i had never heard of.
Saturday 19 May 2007
Today I am "moving" because my brother Bud, his wife Joyce, and daughter Miranda are getting in this evening, and Mom & Dad don't really have room for all of us, so I'll be staying at Kris' house for the time Bud and family are here.
This is graduation day for Natalie! We get there around noon for the 100p ceremony, and friends, let me tell you, the crowd was beautiful! i've never seen so many gorgeous people--of course i'm paying most attention to the distaff side--in one place before! lots of skirts and dresses and long legs and high heels of the sort i usually only see on tv, and bare shoulders and cleavage and long hair, wow! one woman, perhaps 30-ish, walked by several times in a v-neck blouse with magnificent cleavage, and clamdigger slacks (do they still call them that?) and about 3-inch heels, those kind that look like they are made of wood! i don't know where she was going all those times.
We were all wearing genuine leis made of real orchids. A woman who had been friends with Natalie's paternal grandparents when they lived in Hawaii still lived there and had sent fresh leis as a congratulatory gesture, like she had for the other 2 grandchildren. It made it easy looking for the family as we were the only ones wearing flowers!
After the ceremony, who's valedictorian speaker had a weighted gpa of 6.7!, we went to the house of one of the parents of Natalie and her 3 girlfriends to have a party. there was tons of food, wine, beer, etc. and a large crowd of gorgeous people! Nat and her BFF's are gorgeous and all their sisters are too! I told the 4 girls about you all, some of the people who may be reading this, my high school buddies, and how we've been friends for some 37 years! My niece Laura drove me and my nephew Charley to the party, i mention Laura because she and i were the only smokers i saw there, tho there may have been more. Kris brought a huge cake with a picture of the 4 BFF's mugging for the camera in homemade "Seniors" tee-shirts.
After the party, Kris and I went to visit their old horse, Jessa. I am supposed to be allergic to horses but i really don't seem to have any reaction, even when i fed jessa some carrots. there was a big puppy at the stables who took a liking to me, and followed me around with a toy in his mouth hoping i'd throw it for him as i met all the other horses stabled there, some of whom i'd met before.
Then Kris took me to M&D's to gather up my stuff. They were alarmed that i packed up completely but there was no sense leaving anything behind and i wouldnt know what i would need at Kris'. We heard that Bud and family were about to land, would rent a car and drive down from Orlando and get in about 1030p.
I hung out with my brother-in-law Chuck and a long-time friend of his, Joe--originally from Ohio--while his son Victor, and Laura, Charley, and Kris watched a movie. Joe, who in his opinion has been badly treated by a wife and a girlfriend after the relationships broke up, told me i was better off not having a relationship. i could have my 1,000s of post-its and "rent" an attractive woman for as long as i want! Most of the time Chuck and Joe talked about hunting, which is a subject i have no empathy for. Even Charley says he is obsessed with hunting wild turkey. Joe and Victor had been out to Chuck's ranch, Bluefield Ranch Mitigation Bank, trying to kill all the wild hogs running around the place, and had got some that day. Hogs are mean, destructive, and not native to the area, so they have to go.
This is graduation day for Natalie! We get there around noon for the 100p ceremony, and friends, let me tell you, the crowd was beautiful! i've never seen so many gorgeous people--of course i'm paying most attention to the distaff side--in one place before! lots of skirts and dresses and long legs and high heels of the sort i usually only see on tv, and bare shoulders and cleavage and long hair, wow! one woman, perhaps 30-ish, walked by several times in a v-neck blouse with magnificent cleavage, and clamdigger slacks (do they still call them that?) and about 3-inch heels, those kind that look like they are made of wood! i don't know where she was going all those times.
We were all wearing genuine leis made of real orchids. A woman who had been friends with Natalie's paternal grandparents when they lived in Hawaii still lived there and had sent fresh leis as a congratulatory gesture, like she had for the other 2 grandchildren. It made it easy looking for the family as we were the only ones wearing flowers!After the ceremony, who's valedictorian speaker had a weighted gpa of 6.7!, we went to the house of one of the parents of Natalie and her 3 girlfriends to have a party. there was tons of food, wine, beer, etc. and a large crowd of gorgeous people! Nat and her BFF's are gorgeous and all their sisters are too! I told the 4 girls about you all, some of the people who may be reading this, my high school buddies, and how we've been friends for some 37 years! My niece Laura drove me and my nephew Charley to the party, i mention Laura because she and i were the only smokers i saw there, tho there may have been more. Kris brought a huge cake with a picture of the 4 BFF's mugging for the camera in homemade "Seniors" tee-shirts.
After the party, Kris and I went to visit their old horse, Jessa. I am supposed to be allergic to horses but i really don't seem to have any reaction, even when i fed jessa some carrots. there was a big puppy at the stables who took a liking to me, and followed me around with a toy in his mouth hoping i'd throw it for him as i met all the other horses stabled there, some of whom i'd met before.
Then Kris took me to M&D's to gather up my stuff. They were alarmed that i packed up completely but there was no sense leaving anything behind and i wouldnt know what i would need at Kris'. We heard that Bud and family were about to land, would rent a car and drive down from Orlando and get in about 1030p.
I hung out with my brother-in-law Chuck and a long-time friend of his, Joe--originally from Ohio--while his son Victor, and Laura, Charley, and Kris watched a movie. Joe, who in his opinion has been badly treated by a wife and a girlfriend after the relationships broke up, told me i was better off not having a relationship. i could have my 1,000s of post-its and "rent" an attractive woman for as long as i want! Most of the time Chuck and Joe talked about hunting, which is a subject i have no empathy for. Even Charley says he is obsessed with hunting wild turkey. Joe and Victor had been out to Chuck's ranch, Bluefield Ranch Mitigation Bank, trying to kill all the wild hogs running around the place, and had got some that day. Hogs are mean, destructive, and not native to the area, so they have to go.
21.5.07
Friday 18 May 2007
I got to Mom & Dad's house a little after 1a. Dad went right to bed but Mom and I stayed up to gab till 3a, then I watched news until 4a. I was up by 830a and finally washed the road grime off with some brunette shampoo i found in my mom's bathroom. Mom and i went to the grocery store while Dad went to a car wash--Port St. Lucie is under a water emergency due to the drought they are having, they are about 9" of rain below normal--and i bought beer, wine, and got a card and cash for my niece Natalie who's high school graduation was the inspiration of this trip. Kris and Laura stopped over at M&D's for a quick greeting. after dinner, M&D take me in my first ride in their golf cart to go to the clubhouse for this senior's development's weekly mixer. They treat me to a pina colada, and eventually i buy myself 2 more for $1 each (bargain!). M&D each just had 1 (cheap dates!) then Dad walks home because he has to take a nap before doing his shift as a Citizen Observation Patrol, or C.O.P., from 1 to 4a. Mom and I stay a little longer, then she drives the golf cart home. Then I get to drive the new Kia as Mom and I go over to Kris's for a visit. Dad gives me his traditional warning: you damage that car, just keep on going! My mother is also traditional: a traditional backseat driver! She screams about every stop light and oncoming car and then resumes her sentence without interruption! After we get back to M&D's and Dad goes on his beat, I get on the internet on their computer for the first time since Wen's'day and start working on this blog! At 3a i decide i'd better stop with the blogging and get to bed before Dad gets home and finds me still up--old habits die hard!
20.5.07
Thoughts from the Road - 2
[I am now staying at my sister's house, and unfortunately, my WinXP computer won't connect to her wireless network. Her house is all Apple, could that have something to do with it? So i am writing this entry on her Apple MacBook!]
In Columbia SC, i got a quick smoke at noon, then right back on the bus. Our stop at Walterboro SC at a McDonald's for an official lunch break was supposed to be at noon, but we were still running an hour late. i spent the stop eating a Big Mac and didn't get a smoke. I discovered my mother had called twice in the past hour but i had been asleep and missed them.
At this point i notice that the driver has a seat belt! none of us get a seat belt!
Between Beaufort SC and Savannah GA we went over one very long bridge and a whole lot of water. I'm going to have to check an atlas when i get a chance. I notice my first palm trees around Savannah. We weren't supposed to change buses until Jacksonville, and we were supposed to get a half-hour break in Savannah, but as soon as we get in, the driver tells us quick, move over to the next bus for a non-stop Jacksonville Express. Twelve passengers moved and we took off immediately, and by 6p we were in Jacksonville FL and back on schedule but at the cost of no stop in Brunswick GA and no smoke breaks since Savannah GA at noon. Like a dummy, i get to the smoking area and find my pack is empty except for a leftover half-cigarette. I had another pack on the bus but we weren't allowed back on while they cleaned it, so i ended up having to find a curly-haired hispanic fellow traveller to bum another smoke, which was okay cuz he had been borrowing my lighter all day. We got our scheduled hour break in Jax before hitting the road again. I get a seatmate again, a scrawny guy who had rented an apartment in Daytona by mail and hoped to find work there.
We had run into a few sprinkles in South Carolina but here in Jacksonville it is storming big-time, lightning and thunder. The driver predicts we are going to run late again after looking at the traffic on the interstate, but he must have found a way around it, because we made our quick stop in St Augustine FL on time. We were supposed to get a smoke break in Daytona at 830p and we were on schedule but for some strange reason, they told us to stay on the bus. My seatmate debused and I got to spread out for the rest of the trip.
At Orlando we had our last break at 945p (2 smokes) and got back on the road at 1030p. I got another half-hearted security check in Orlando--the first was a more thorough one at Jacksonville, but in both places they just checked my person, my suitcase and backpack were still on the bus. I chatted for a few minutes with a guy wearing a "Cincinnati Bearcats" tee-shirt, turned out he was from Dayton. A lady I talked to was returning to Miami from Las Vegas and would be travelling for 4 days!
Got in to Ft. Pierce FL a few minutes ahead of schedule at 1222a. My parents were waiting when i de-bused, but i made them wait for a few minutes while i got a latte and a few hits on a cigarette before getting in their new Kia to head for their home.
If this part seems to over-emphasize the smoke breaks, 1. i was interested to record how many i got in 28 hours (10), and 2. smokers really do get obsessed with smoke breaks when they are rationed like this.
This MacBook's battery is really lasting! i'm impressed in spite of myself!
In Columbia SC, i got a quick smoke at noon, then right back on the bus. Our stop at Walterboro SC at a McDonald's for an official lunch break was supposed to be at noon, but we were still running an hour late. i spent the stop eating a Big Mac and didn't get a smoke. I discovered my mother had called twice in the past hour but i had been asleep and missed them.
At this point i notice that the driver has a seat belt! none of us get a seat belt!
Between Beaufort SC and Savannah GA we went over one very long bridge and a whole lot of water. I'm going to have to check an atlas when i get a chance. I notice my first palm trees around Savannah. We weren't supposed to change buses until Jacksonville, and we were supposed to get a half-hour break in Savannah, but as soon as we get in, the driver tells us quick, move over to the next bus for a non-stop Jacksonville Express. Twelve passengers moved and we took off immediately, and by 6p we were in Jacksonville FL and back on schedule but at the cost of no stop in Brunswick GA and no smoke breaks since Savannah GA at noon. Like a dummy, i get to the smoking area and find my pack is empty except for a leftover half-cigarette. I had another pack on the bus but we weren't allowed back on while they cleaned it, so i ended up having to find a curly-haired hispanic fellow traveller to bum another smoke, which was okay cuz he had been borrowing my lighter all day. We got our scheduled hour break in Jax before hitting the road again. I get a seatmate again, a scrawny guy who had rented an apartment in Daytona by mail and hoped to find work there.
We had run into a few sprinkles in South Carolina but here in Jacksonville it is storming big-time, lightning and thunder. The driver predicts we are going to run late again after looking at the traffic on the interstate, but he must have found a way around it, because we made our quick stop in St Augustine FL on time. We were supposed to get a smoke break in Daytona at 830p and we were on schedule but for some strange reason, they told us to stay on the bus. My seatmate debused and I got to spread out for the rest of the trip.
At Orlando we had our last break at 945p (2 smokes) and got back on the road at 1030p. I got another half-hearted security check in Orlando--the first was a more thorough one at Jacksonville, but in both places they just checked my person, my suitcase and backpack were still on the bus. I chatted for a few minutes with a guy wearing a "Cincinnati Bearcats" tee-shirt, turned out he was from Dayton. A lady I talked to was returning to Miami from Las Vegas and would be travelling for 4 days!
Got in to Ft. Pierce FL a few minutes ahead of schedule at 1222a. My parents were waiting when i de-bused, but i made them wait for a few minutes while i got a latte and a few hits on a cigarette before getting in their new Kia to head for their home.
If this part seems to over-emphasize the smoke breaks, 1. i was interested to record how many i got in 28 hours (10), and 2. smokers really do get obsessed with smoke breaks when they are rationed like this.
This MacBook's battery is really lasting! i'm impressed in spite of myself!
19.5.07
(Interruption)
i have to stop this part now as it is 3a and i need to go to bed: i have to be ready to go to my niece's high school graduation at 10a. later, gator!
Thoughts from the Road
This being somewhat off-season for travel to Florida, as it was about 80° at home the day before leaving Ohio, the buses were not very crowded the whole trip. The schedule said we stay on the same bus the entire trip down to Jacksonville FL and only change once for the last leg of the journey.
The Ashland KY greyhound station is also an amtrak station, but for the first time we were there when an amtrak train pulled out, seriously the first train i've seen in a little while, and the only amtrak train i've ever seen. We got a quick smoke break and then, after we got back on the road, i realised i was about to miss the season finale of Medium, so i called my mother and had her record it for me.
Naturally i start worrying now. I had given Dave a key to my backdoor so he could get in and take care of my cats. When i went home i retrieved a backdoor key from outside so i could get in; hanging my car keys on a hook, i noticed another single key hanging nearby, and it too was a backdoor key, so riding down the road in the dark and quiet, i start wondering, how did i get 3 keys to my backdoor? maybe i didnt give Dave the right key! i bought the doorknob myself and replaced the old one just in the last year or two, but what door comes with 3 keys? the outdoor key was now indoors, and i took the 3rd key with me. oh my, what'll i do if Dave can't get in? another worry is that every once in a while an upstairs bathroom faucet doesn't shut off entirely and drips water all over the floor. it hadn't done that since February but what if it did that just as i am going on vacation, and Dave gets there to find my house flooded and my cats about drowned! okay, so i worry too much!
a young man boarded in Ashland KY, pulls out his Dell laptop computer, and proceeds to start watching a slasher movie! i am taking my Dell laptop but i'm too nervous to use it on the bus, so i had left mine in my suitcase.
We cross the state line at Huntington where the sign says "Welcome to West Virginia...Open For Business" even tho it is 1030p and most things look closed! i suppose they meant it figuratively.
at Charleston WV, i get to talking to the man with the Dell computer, and he turns out to be a pleasant guy working in the cable industry. we talk more on the bus about computers, but it turns out his real passion is cars, and he wants to talk about race cars, but i tell him what i know about cars he could put in his eye! we talk a little more while smoking 1/2 a cigarette in Beckley WV, but after the bus got back under way, every body went to sleep and i didnt get to talk to him again.
We had a long stop at Whythville VA but it is now 330a, McDonalds and the BP station are closed, so i walk about 1/2 a block to the only open gas station in this interstate exit, fill my own mug with a machine-made latte, and the counter girl says she doesnt charge for refills. i walk back to the bus, stand in the chilly evening weather drinking my latte and getting in 2 smokes, and all of a sudden a pregnant woman comes barrelling out of the bus, makes a beeline to the bushes, and has morning sickness all over them! after she goes back in, a grey kitty cat comes to me out of nowhere and lets me pet him.
i get my first little bit of sleep of the evening before we get to our next stop. Winston-Salem NC has a really fancy bus station run by the W-S Transit Authority, i know because a history of W-S buses is etched on the glass of the office! i got in a smoke while reading it at 530am, but after i reclaim my seat, they start letting in new passengers, the bus pretty much fills up and i get my first seatmate so far in the trip, a 66-year-old woman travelling with a very old man, who takes a seat across the aisle.
His seatmate debarks at the next stop, Shaaa-let NC, which i found out was actually Charlotte, so my seatmate goes over to sit with him, and again i get to spread out. I get in a couple of smokes and give one to a black man who complains while he was sleeping on a bench somebody stole his wallet and bus ticket...but not his nice-looking suitcases! he actually asks to borrow my cell phone so he can call his mother or brother, and i actually let him! he didnt get ahold of anyone and i retreat to another area, the bus station is full of phones that make collect calls. the pregnant girl gets some fruit for breakfast as it is now 8a but she gives me the grapes out of it. all i got there otherwise was coffee. we leave Charlotte a 1/2 hour late waiting for a connecting bus--that we didnt get any passengers from!
The Ashland KY greyhound station is also an amtrak station, but for the first time we were there when an amtrak train pulled out, seriously the first train i've seen in a little while, and the only amtrak train i've ever seen. We got a quick smoke break and then, after we got back on the road, i realised i was about to miss the season finale of Medium, so i called my mother and had her record it for me.
Naturally i start worrying now. I had given Dave a key to my backdoor so he could get in and take care of my cats. When i went home i retrieved a backdoor key from outside so i could get in; hanging my car keys on a hook, i noticed another single key hanging nearby, and it too was a backdoor key, so riding down the road in the dark and quiet, i start wondering, how did i get 3 keys to my backdoor? maybe i didnt give Dave the right key! i bought the doorknob myself and replaced the old one just in the last year or two, but what door comes with 3 keys? the outdoor key was now indoors, and i took the 3rd key with me. oh my, what'll i do if Dave can't get in? another worry is that every once in a while an upstairs bathroom faucet doesn't shut off entirely and drips water all over the floor. it hadn't done that since February but what if it did that just as i am going on vacation, and Dave gets there to find my house flooded and my cats about drowned! okay, so i worry too much!
a young man boarded in Ashland KY, pulls out his Dell laptop computer, and proceeds to start watching a slasher movie! i am taking my Dell laptop but i'm too nervous to use it on the bus, so i had left mine in my suitcase.
We cross the state line at Huntington where the sign says "Welcome to West Virginia...Open For Business" even tho it is 1030p and most things look closed! i suppose they meant it figuratively.
at Charleston WV, i get to talking to the man with the Dell computer, and he turns out to be a pleasant guy working in the cable industry. we talk more on the bus about computers, but it turns out his real passion is cars, and he wants to talk about race cars, but i tell him what i know about cars he could put in his eye! we talk a little more while smoking 1/2 a cigarette in Beckley WV, but after the bus got back under way, every body went to sleep and i didnt get to talk to him again.
We had a long stop at Whythville VA but it is now 330a, McDonalds and the BP station are closed, so i walk about 1/2 a block to the only open gas station in this interstate exit, fill my own mug with a machine-made latte, and the counter girl says she doesnt charge for refills. i walk back to the bus, stand in the chilly evening weather drinking my latte and getting in 2 smokes, and all of a sudden a pregnant woman comes barrelling out of the bus, makes a beeline to the bushes, and has morning sickness all over them! after she goes back in, a grey kitty cat comes to me out of nowhere and lets me pet him.
i get my first little bit of sleep of the evening before we get to our next stop. Winston-Salem NC has a really fancy bus station run by the W-S Transit Authority, i know because a history of W-S buses is etched on the glass of the office! i got in a smoke while reading it at 530am, but after i reclaim my seat, they start letting in new passengers, the bus pretty much fills up and i get my first seatmate so far in the trip, a 66-year-old woman travelling with a very old man, who takes a seat across the aisle.
His seatmate debarks at the next stop, Shaaa-let NC, which i found out was actually Charlotte, so my seatmate goes over to sit with him, and again i get to spread out. I get in a couple of smokes and give one to a black man who complains while he was sleeping on a bench somebody stole his wallet and bus ticket...but not his nice-looking suitcases! he actually asks to borrow my cell phone so he can call his mother or brother, and i actually let him! he didnt get ahold of anyone and i retreat to another area, the bus station is full of phones that make collect calls. the pregnant girl gets some fruit for breakfast as it is now 8a but she gives me the grapes out of it. all i got there otherwise was coffee. we leave Charlotte a 1/2 hour late waiting for a connecting bus--that we didnt get any passengers from!
Here we go again!
Hi, gang, welcome back!
So i'm just going along, minding my own business, and around the end of April my mother writes an email telling about her aches and pains and also a few health problems my father is having. then my sister Kris writes me and our brother saying, we ought to seriously think about visiting more often now that our parents are getting up there in years, and my brother Bud immediately announces he's coming down with his wife and daughter for a visit! Right away i start getting pressure to come down too. Mother says she already has too many pictures of "everybody but me" so i should come down too, while Bud is there. The ostensible occasion is the graduation from high school of her youngest grandchild, Natalie. Natalie's brother Charley and sister Laura announce they are coming to Florida too for Natalie's graduation. I missed seeing Laura on my last visit some 15 months ago so that really clinched it for me, and besides we're not very busy at work. On the downside is that i may not have enought paid time off coming, it takes me 2 years to save up enough time to make a trip worthwhile, having always prefered fewer but longer visits over shorter visits more often. And to top it off, another CAD draftsman at work announced his health is bad and he's going to retire, which he did last Friday. Still, i talked myself into it and the bosses were willing, even if i have to take a few days without pay (our bookkeeper will sometimes allow one to borrow vacations days from the future, which is the way i put it on my timesheets).
This trip, starting in only 2 weeks, seems very impulsive. Normally i do more planning than this, and for the most part even my spontaneous moments are well planned! I decided right away that i would go down by greyhound bus again, they require only a 7-day advance notice to save about half, so i got a round-trip ticket for $140, leaving Wen's'day 16May @ 820p from Chillicothe OH and arriving in Ft. Pierce FL @ 1230a Friday 18May: 28 hours on the bus!
My friend Dave at the office, however, couldn't take me to Chillicothe on Wen's'day, so i managed to corrale another friend, from the Lions Club, who got me to the bus stop on time to check in, and after Lion Jeannie and I had dinner at Wendy's right across the street, i got on the bus and it departed on time
So i'm just going along, minding my own business, and around the end of April my mother writes an email telling about her aches and pains and also a few health problems my father is having. then my sister Kris writes me and our brother saying, we ought to seriously think about visiting more often now that our parents are getting up there in years, and my brother Bud immediately announces he's coming down with his wife and daughter for a visit! Right away i start getting pressure to come down too. Mother says she already has too many pictures of "everybody but me" so i should come down too, while Bud is there. The ostensible occasion is the graduation from high school of her youngest grandchild, Natalie. Natalie's brother Charley and sister Laura announce they are coming to Florida too for Natalie's graduation. I missed seeing Laura on my last visit some 15 months ago so that really clinched it for me, and besides we're not very busy at work. On the downside is that i may not have enought paid time off coming, it takes me 2 years to save up enough time to make a trip worthwhile, having always prefered fewer but longer visits over shorter visits more often. And to top it off, another CAD draftsman at work announced his health is bad and he's going to retire, which he did last Friday. Still, i talked myself into it and the bosses were willing, even if i have to take a few days without pay (our bookkeeper will sometimes allow one to borrow vacations days from the future, which is the way i put it on my timesheets).
This trip, starting in only 2 weeks, seems very impulsive. Normally i do more planning than this, and for the most part even my spontaneous moments are well planned! I decided right away that i would go down by greyhound bus again, they require only a 7-day advance notice to save about half, so i got a round-trip ticket for $140, leaving Wen's'day 16May @ 820p from Chillicothe OH and arriving in Ft. Pierce FL @ 1230a Friday 18May: 28 hours on the bus!
My friend Dave at the office, however, couldn't take me to Chillicothe on Wen's'day, so i managed to corrale another friend, from the Lions Club, who got me to the bus stop on time to check in, and after Lion Jeannie and I had dinner at Wendy's right across the street, i got on the bus and it departed on time
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