Thinking Out Loud

Judy went for a walk, she did some laundry, and she cut out some more fabric.  I serviced and cleaned the air conditioners and then I sat around looking stupid.  Say what?  Not really, just wanted to see if you were paying attention. 

Yesterday afternoon Miss Judy got her hair cut; I took a book and read while I waited.  Normally Judy would drive herself, but we wanted to check out the katt “fude” inventory at Tractor Supply.  After that, we toddled on up the road to Camping World where I got a new filter for the air conditioner and, just for fun, we went out and kicked the tires on a few motorhomes.

In this economy I almost hate to do that because there’s always a hungry salesman who tags along behind you like a lost puppy asking when you’re thinking about buying.  It’s as bad as a little kid riding in the back seat asking if we’re there yet.  I know they have to make a living, but when we tell them right up front that we’re not buying and that we’re only killing some time you’d think that they would just give us their card and say, “I’ll be inside the air conditioned office should you have any questions”.

Poor fellow didn’t look hungry (he was my size), but he really wanted to sell something – anything!!!  He tried to sell us every motorhome we looked at.  We finally had to go leaving him behind whimpering like a small child being left at the wicked babysitter’s.  For a while I thought we’d have to bring him home with us – “Mom, Mom, look what followed me home!!!  Can I keep him?”

Bottom line, we didn’t find anything on the lot that had the “It” factor.  There were a couple of smaller units that would “fit the bill” once we “come off the road”.  Both were made by Itasca – a 25 foot class A built on the Sprinter frame with a Mercedes diesel and the other a 26 foot class A “gasser”.  So far we haven’t found anything that we like better than the Airstream 24 foot class B+ built on the Sprinter frame with a Mercedes diesel.

Fun, isn’t it?  Yesterday we tell you how broke we are and today we tell you about buying a motorhome.  The reason we’re broke is because we are saving our shekels for the transition from wheel estate to real estate.  Once we’re situated in a house, we’ll trade our truck for a car, sell our fifthwheel, and buy a smaller motorhome for traveling.  That’s the plan, Stan!!  For now, anyhow!!

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

And The Storms Rolled In

Yesterday morning Judy began the “man quilt”.  With the cutting process now underway I’m beginning to feel the warmth of my very own rag quilt wrapped snuggly about my pudgy little frame as I recline back in my easy chair during those long winter nights of January and February.  Yep, our newly acquired southern blooded bodies don’t respond well to temperatures below seventy degrees which feels downright cool.  I look forward to my very own rag quilt to provide the added warmth needed to get through those times.  Yay, the “man quilt” is a coming!!!  The “man quilt” is on its way!!!!

We were planning to go to the fair yesterday afternoon.  It was senior’s day with free admission.  The fair didn’t open until noon so we figured a one o’clock arrival time would fit ever so nicely into our otherwise busy schedule.  Just as we were “fixinto” depart the premises, the old black clouds rolled in bring with them some thunder storms.  The storms lasted all afternoon and right into the evening hours thereby rending a day at the fair pretty much a mute.  Oh well, we’ve seen cows before!!!

Being that the rain moved in, Judy J. took a short katt knap whilst I continued with my reading. I’m currently reading three different books (no, not all at one time, silly!) - The Prophet by Francine Rivers (a historical fiction based on the Old Testament book of Amos), Firestorm by Nevada Barr (a mystery novel), and The Rising Tide by Jeff Shaara (a historical fiction novel based on World War II). 

Both Miss Judy and I are avid readers and are extremely happy with our Nooks, however,  I borrowed the three books mentioned above from the library.  Not everything has been converted into digital books.  However, Judy is reading in her Nook.  She likes Debbie Macomber, Karen Kingsbury, Sheryl Woods, and similar authors.  Obviously, reading is our main source of entertainment.

Last night we headed out for our home group gathering.  We jumped into the truck, between the rain drops, placed the key into the ignition, turned it, and heard “erh”.  Tried it again with the same results.  Dead batteries.  How come?  We have no idea.  The batteries are only two or three years old.  We charged the batteries over night and will have to test them later today.  Sheesh, just one more issue to deal with.  Poor truck; it needs an oil change (NBD-No Big Deal), coolant is leaking from somewhere whenever the pressure builds up, it needs wheel bearings replaced, and now we either need to replace batteries or we have an electrical problem.

Twenty eleven is proving to be an expensive year for us.  With Judy’s medical, our electronic issues (coffee pot, computer, television, microwave failures), Alex’s surgery, and now the truck issues, we’re facing a four to five thousand dollar of unplanned expenses for the year.  Ouch!!  The ol’ emergency fund has taken some hefty hits over the past three years. 

“Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go!!!”  It’s now just a matter of where and when.  Do we want to get part-time jobs here while we’re in ‘Bama or take on another summer gig somewhere.  We’ll just have to see what comes up.  I’ve even thought about coming out of retirement and getting a real job for a couple of years – yuck, say what?  Oh well, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do!!!

Before you feel too bad for us, just remember that this is somewhat self inflicted.  After the financial meltdown of 2008, we decided that we wanted to preserve our 401Ks for life after fulltiming (that maybe sooner than we anticipated).  So that means that we’ve tried to reduce our annual budget by six grand.  Being that we had (note the word “had”) a fairly healthy emergency fund, we were able to do just that.  But now the emergency fund has been just about depleted.  We could start drawing off our 401Ks like originally planned, but have decided not to do that unless absolutely positively necessary (we don’t want to go to the old folks home when we get old).  So that is why we are where we are.

Although we haven’t done any traveling out west, we have had a good five years.  It’s all about priorities and our family has been our number one priority.  Fulltiming has allowed us some good quality time with our kids, grand kids, bothers, and sisters.  So I hope you don’t think we’re whining.  It’s all about decisions and we are happy with the ones we’ve made.  Now we just have to decide where we go from here.  Stay tuned.      

That’s enough for today.  Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Just Another Routine Day

Good News, good news!!!  Judy’s biopsy results are negative.  Now that she and Alex have clean bills of health, we can rest easy.  Now both Judy and I have to work on our numbers; our triglyceride numbers that is.  We’re not pre-diabetic yet, but the numbers have been going up over the past year.  Therefore, we must start watching our diets and getting in more exercise.  Oh, that is sooooo easily said, but not so easily done.

Speaking of dieting, after Judy’s doctor appointment we made a bee line for Big Daddy’s where we had a nice Philly Cheese Steak sandwich with french fries and coffee.  See what I said, “Easily said, not so easily done”?  That’s the first trip to Big Daddy’s since we returned to the Plantation.  It was a huge sandwich and I had the half and half side (half fries, half onion rings) while Judy had the sweet potato fries.  The sandwiches were six bucks each and the coffee was 75 cents (that’s a thirty three percent increase over last year).  It was all so yummy.

It was a tad bit warm outside yesterday afternoon so we “stood” inside and read.  We had planned to go over to the pool but wimped out.  We did go for a walk around the park last evening after the sun set and it had cooled off a tad bit.

Last night we did watch television; Tuesday is NCIS night so we tuned in.  We watched NCIS Los Angeles from bed and I watched a new show, Unforgettable.  It was alright, but just another cop show.  Where’s Ed Sullivan when you need him? 

Well, that’s it.  Just another routine day in the life.  Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - -

Another Day At The Ranch

What can I say?  Yesterday was a work day.  I mowed the lawn, Judy did the laundry.  Then the two of us worked on our 2012 budget; we’re not the Gummint, so we have to make the thing balance.  We’re still about three grand over our projected income.  So, is there some workamping in our future?  Maybe, because, as the old farmer said, “I don’t just want the ends to meet, I want them to overlap a little!!!”  Anyone know where we can get our hands on a nice printing press?

Anyhow, the weather continues to be warm and a little muggy.  We’ll sit outside a little, but end up coming back into the nice air conditioned wheel estate.  Our biggest form of entertainment is reading.  We were hoping for some decent television viewing this year, but it doesn’t look promising.  Just more of the same – rape, murder, and cop shows.  When is enuff enuff?  We do enjoy the Sing Off, NCIS, and History Detectives (unfortunately History Detectives is on at the same time as NCIS).  Otherwise there’s not really anything that we care to watch on the boob tube.

Just to let you know, Alex is getting pretty much back to normal.  He makes his rounds across the bed each morning around 5:00 looking for someone (his Momma) to get up and tend to him and his sister.  After having little to no response from the grown ups, he lays down on Momma’s pillow and purrs loudly.  Then he’ll crawl up on top of Dad and lay down while purring loudly.  Finally, he settles down at the foot of the bed and waits for the humaniods to get up.  What a katt, remarkable feline!!!

Katie is having fun watching the humming birds.  We have a humming bird feeder that attaches to the window with suction cups.  She sits on the back of the sofa and chatters to the birds.  If she isn’t there, all we have to do is say, “Birds, Katie!!” and she comes running.  She spends a lot of time watching them, I guess we’ll need to get her a bird book for Christmas.

We’re not completely sure what we’ll do today.  Judy has another doctor’s appointment this morning, we have some books to return to the library, and there are a couple of chores that needs to be accomplished.  Tomorrow is Senior Day at the fair; seniors get free admission.  But, we’re not senior citizens, we’re junior citizens.  Senior citizens are those who are older than we are!!!  Hope they let us in free.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Electronic Marriage Counseling

Yesterday morning we headed out for church.  We worked the first service with the Connection Team and worshipped during the second service (our church has three services on Sunday morning).  Then it was home for some nice piece of crab meat pie and a bowl of fish chowdah.

I spent the afternoon reviewing everything that I could possibly find on the Cradlepoint / Pantech marriage.  It’s nice when you buy something and it works as advertised, but that has not been the case with this 4G setup.  It’s impossible to figure out where the problem lies; both the modem and the router function as they are supposed to, they just don’t work together.  So, which one do you fire?????   I want to do something but don’t have money to just throw at the problem; therefore, I’ve spent hours upon hours trying to isolate this problem and come up with a solution.

We almost bought a new router from Amazon.com yesterday, however, there is no guarantee that Pantech would get along with the new router either.  But the Pantech modem works just fine when plugged into my computer – continuous 4G connectivity.  When plugged into the router, we only get 3G connectivity (which isn’t bad) with continual disconnects (which is aggravating).

So, I have been reviewing both the Pantech and Cradlepoint settings to see if there isn’t something that can be adjusted so these two would get along together (this is equivalent to an electronic marital counseling session -I’m not getting a hundred dollars an hour to do it).  Currently I have the router set to 3G only, which locks out the 4G signal, and we seem to be getting decent speeds and haven’t been disconnected from online yet this morning.  I’m not going to spend to much more time on this issue before I kick both of these guys out of the house!!!

Oh well, enough of that.  Last evening we returned to church for Evangelism Team training required so we can volunteer at the Hope Center.  As we shared yesterday, the Hope Center is manned by local doctors and nurses who volunteer their time.  There are Medical Doctors, Dentist, and Counselors on hand to care for the needs of low income / no insurance families.  It’s not a handout as people are expected to pay for their services, just at a greatly reduced rate. 

The Evangelism Team is made up of volunteer spiritual counselors who conduct a spiritual survey.  The survey is the starting point of a client’s visit to the Hope Center where any spiritual needs are addressed.  This is a Christian ministry so the Gospel is presented and each person is given the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Follow up is done to ensure that “they” get plugged into a church family somewhere (not necessarily our church) where they can grow in their faith.

This is a great ministry that is meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of the community.  We look forward to spending an afternoon each week supporting this effort.  Maybe we should consider taking our modem and router in for marriage counseling!!!

Well, the sun is shining and the lawn needs mowing.  I had better get to it before the heat of the day rolls in.  Then there’s a couple of indoor Ta Do List items that need tending to.  That list is growing faster than we can work.  At least we have full time jobs to go to each day.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - -

South Meets North

Man!!  Judy and I were beginning to get tired of all this southern cooking – grits and fried chicken and fried “oprah” and all – so we went to stirring up a nice New England Seafood Chowdah and a crab meat pie for dinner.  Norm, Linda, Rich, and Diane were kind enough to come over and help us eat it up.  Not nearly enough though; we still have enough chowdah left over for a few more days, but it’s always better the next day ya know!!

Anyway, we had a nice evening of visiting, sipping wine, eating seafood, and smacking our lips over a nice dish of ice cream with cookie sticks and chocolate sauce for dessert.  What a great way to spend the evening with friends and it was all so yummy for the tummy.  Even Alex came out to join in all the fun (hoping to get some chowdah); Katie stayed curled up on the bed until everyone left – party pooper!!!

Judy J. was feeling much better by day’s end.  That biopsy thang is painful enough all by itself, but the emotional stress both before and after the procedure is wearing on the body and soul.  She felt physically dragged out through out most of the day, however, she wasn’t tired enough to nap.  All I can say is, “What a friend we have in Advil!!!!”

For those of you who are curious about my rag quilt, here is a picture of the flannel fabrics that we picked out.  I, being the anal particular guy that I am, also designed the quilt.  Judy is good at following patterns so it shouldn’t be too many more moons before I’m wrapped up in my very own cuddle quilt.  It will be 49” by 70” with each square being 7” – and it will be, “Oh so snuggly!!!”

 

Today we are looking forward to another fine day of worship.  This evening we’ll go back to church for training to be part of the Evangelism Team at the Hope Center.  The Hope Center is a medical facility, at our church, for low income families and/or those without health insurance.  There is counseling, medical, and dental staff available to meet the mental and physical needs of the patients.  The Evangelism Team is on hand to help meet the spiritual needs as well provide administrative support to the center.  Once we complete the training, we’ll find a place to volunteer in the Hope Center Ministry. 

Well, it’s time to go get our glad rags on and head out the door – can’t keep the Lord waiting.  Be sure to thank the Lord for all your blessings, the greatest being your family and friends.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - - -

Naval Aviation Museum

We left “camp” at around 9:30 AM with the Naval Aviation Museum as our destination.  After making a stop at A&E (fabric store) in Pensacola, we made tracks to the Museum where we were meeting up with Norm, Linda, Rich, and Diane.

Once the six of us gathered in front of the Information Center, we set a time to meet at the Cubi Bar Café for lunch and then journeyed off by ourselves touring the Museum.  There are cockpits to sit in -

 

And plenty of static displays to view, so many that it’s hard to see the airplanes through the displays -

  

A model of the USS Reagan and the first plane to cross the Atlantic are on display as well.  The NC-4 crossed the Atlantic in 1919, some eight years before Lindbergh made his historic flight -

 

Marine One that was used by Presidents Nixon and Ford is on hand for a visit -

 

There are outside displays and crashed plane displays -

 

We can’t leave out the Navy’s contributions to the Race into Space and the Moon Landing -

 

At 12:30 the six of us congregated in front of the Cubi Bar Café for lunch after which we went back to Wandering About.  Here are a “bunch” of pictures that we snapped along our tour -

  

As you can tell, we had a good day.  The Naval Aviation Museum is one of our favorite places and we generally visit at least once a year.  There are walking tours inside with a guide and a trolley tours outside, also, with a guide.  We didn’t do either of these on this trip.  Also, there is the I-Max theater and simulator rides.  We’ve done a couple of the movies in the past and our stomachs are up to the the simulators.

Yesterday Judy had her biopsy done and she’s recovering quite well.  It is both stressful and, as Judy says, feels like contractions during labor – it hurts!!!  It will be about a week before she gets the results.  One more doctor’s appointment next week and, hopefully, she will have all her medical issues behind her.

Uh Oh, I hear the breakfast dishes clanging – gotta go!!!!

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

The Ol’ Man Is Snoring

Alex here and I’m telling.  Dad’s in the the dawg house.  He didn’t do his homework and he was gonna tell y’all that the dawg ate it.  But that dawg ain’t gonna hunt.  There are two reasons why that dawg ain’t gonna hunt.  First of all, we don’t have a pooch and, secondly, if we did have a pooch, we don’t have any homework for the pooch to eat ‘cause dad didn’t do it.  So there, the katt’s out of the bag.

On top of that, dad stayed up until after midnight last night (the real midnight, not the Rainbow Plantation midnight).  So he is still upstairs cutting timber – lot’s of timber by the sounds of it.

Now, what does all of that mean?  It means that there are no pictures and no story from yesterday’s outing at the Naval Aviation Museum.  Being that that’s the case, I decided to take computer in paw and pussy foot around the keyboard for awhile.  I’ll make sure that dad does his homework today and brings you up to date tomorrow.

Not to rehash old news, but I’m feeling much better now that that old cyst is off my back and the report said it wasn’t cancerous.  Now, it will be nice when my fur grows back and covers up my nudity.  But it’s only a little nudity, I don’t want the word to get out that I’m a flasher.

The last couple of days we’ve had thunder storms pass through.  On Wednesday, lighting hit in the field right next to us – it flashed and thunder cracked loudly at the same time.  Katie and I made a bee line for Mom and Dad.  We don’t care much for thunder storms, but like it even less when it shakes the whole house.  That’s enough to make our fur stand straight up!!!  What’s even worse is when we are left home alone and a thunder storm passes by like yesterday.  Then we don’t have Mom and Dad to run to.

Uh oh, Mom’s pouring some fresh food and water into our dishes – gotta go!!!

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Trouble In Paradise

A lot of marriages are in trouble these days so it shouldn’t be any surprise that our household is among the the fifty percent experiencing not so martial bliss.  Lack of communication is a horrendous problem and hard to rectify.

She:  “We’re don’t seem to be communicating anymore!”

He:  “Why do say that?  I talk to you all the time, you just don’t understand a thing I’m saying.”

She:  “I’m listening, you just don’t make any sense.  And besides, it would be a whole lot easier to hear you if you’d speak up and quit mumbling.”

He:  “I don’t mumble.  You just don’t care.”

She:  “What’s that supposed to mean?  I’m around you almost 24/7 and you’re always preoccupied with something else.  You don’t take any interest in the things that are important to me.”

He:  “Preoccupied?  What do you mean preoccupied?  I’m not preoccupied.  You know exactly what I mean, you just choose to ignore me.”

She:  “Huh?  You’re mumbling again.”

He:  “See, like I said, you just don’t care.”

She:  “Oh, get over it.  All we seem to do is argue all the time.”

He:  “This ain’t working!!!!!!!”

And on, and on it goes until someone heads for the other room and slams the door shut.  What it has come down to is a total lack of communication which is definitely leading to a separation and possible divorce.  We’ve tried everything we know to fix the problem and the communication just hasn’t gotten any better over the past few weeks.

Huh?  What?  You think I’m talking about me and Miss Judy?  Heaven forbid!!!  I’m talking about the relationship between Mr. Pantech and Mrs. Cradlepoint (our 4G Pantech UML290 USB Modem and our Cradlepoint CTR500 Router).  It’s just not working out.  Mr. Pantech is young and viral while Mrs. Cradlepoint is more mature and refined. 

Mr. Pantech even attempted an affair with one of our Rainbow Plantation’s neighbor’s younger Miss Cradlepoint, but she totally blew him off.  Yesterday afternoon I loaded Mr. Pantech into the passenger side of the truck and took him over to Norm’s house to introduce him to the young sleek looking Miss Cradlepoint, but they didn’t get along at all – couldn’t maintain connectivity. 

Next I need to take our Mrs. Cradlepoint over to Norm’s and introduce her to Mr. LG Modem to see if they can get along.  The results of that get together will help us determine what action to take.  Basically one of them, Pantech Modem or Cradlepoint Router, needs to be fired.  The question is, “Which one?”  If the router works fine with Norm’s modem, then we’ll have to go to Verizon and trade modems.  If the router doesn’t perform well, then we’ll need to fire it.  But that brings up a whole ‘nother question, “What combination will work?” 

It may come down to starting all over with a new modem and a new router – good grief, Charlie Brown!!!  All we want is the arguing to stop and to be able to get online whenever we want with decent speeds and without getting booted off line every few minutes.  Is that too much to ask?  “And the beat goes on!”

Well, other than that, we are heading with Norm, Linda, Rich, and Diane for a day at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola which means pictures tomorrow.

So Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - - -

What Goes Around, Comes Around

Rule Number 79 Comes Into Play

You remember Rule Number 79, don’t you?  Rule Number 79 states, “Always Listen To Your Wife!”  Remember the last time I didn’t pay heed to Rule Number 79?  I ended up with a hole in the rubber roof!!  Well, this time I must pay real close attention to Rule Number 79.  Wifey says that the weekly blog posts are too long.  She suggests something between a weekly post and a daily post.  Oh well, ya win a few and ya lose a few, so I think that I’ll just go back to daily posts and keep ‘em short.  That way Mikee will have something to digest with his coffee each morning.

So starting tomorrow, which follows on the heals of my two week vacation from the daily blog, we’ll restart entertaining you with “almost” daily posts once again.  I should be able to scrape up enough dirt to write about something and the katts have, also, promised to write a few “Katt Tales” entries here and there.  Maybe we can force Miss Judy out of retirement and into her corner to scribe a few verbiages occasionally as well – no promises on that one.  Anyhow, check in again tomorrow to see what words of wisdom we have to share with you.

Alex Katt Returns To Normal – Almost

Alex was a good kitty in that he let us remove his stitches without medicating (either him or us).  We did get some sedatives from the vet, but decided to try removing the stitches without administering them.  Judy kept him occupied while I removed the first four stitches.  He got fidgety, so we waited awhile before removing the last three.

We got the results of the biopsy and the cyst was benign; that was welcomed news.  The only other issue was that Alex aspirated some of the antibiotics when I squirted it into his mouth.  This caused him to develop a cough which lasted for several days.  He’s over that and we know that he is feeling much better because you hear the phrase, “Alex, no!” a lot more often.  Yep, he’s getting back into his routine of getting into everything again.

Friends Arrive At The Plantation

Rich and Diane Emond, fulltime RVing and world traveling friends of Norm and Linda, arrived last Thursday.  Norm and Linda invited Judy and I over to join the four of them for an appetizer travel day meal.  We stayed until waaaay past midnight (remember when midnight is for Rainbow Plantation inhabitants?) while chatting, chewing, and chuckling the time away.  It was good to see them again; hard to believe it’s been almost a year. 

Rich and Diane are just returning from a trip to Budapest and Paris (hence the world travelers part) and will be spending about three weeks here at Norm and Linda’s site before heading back to their winter destination of Port St. Lucie, Florida (Rich hates the cold and loves his golf so Florida becomes their winter hangout).  So, we look forward to having some fun times with them while they’re here. 

If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

As you all know, back in May we upgraded to the new Verizon 4G modem (air card).  There was several reasons for doing this:  1. Verizon lowered the monthly fee from $60 to $50 per month.  2. On top of that, they allowed the veteran discount of 15% (making it a total savings of$17.50 per month).  3. Further, they now only charge $10 for each additional “gig” should we go over our monthly allotment of 5 “gig”.  4. The increased speed of 4G is superior to 3G; that is, if you are in a 4G area.

Well, the bottom line is that in two and a half years with the old 3G we never exceeded our monthly allowance and we always had fairly decent coverage; slow at times, but seldom were we “booted off line”.  Not so with this new fangled 4G hook up.  We are getting booted off line several times a day and, not only that, even though we are in a 4G area, we have slower speeds than we did last year with the 3G system.

So what’s the problem?  Is it the Pantech UML290 USB Modem or the Cradlepoint CTR500 Router.  Right now all indications are that it is an issue with the interface between the Modem and the Router.  The router is now three years old (that’s 126 in electronic years) and Cradlepoint is no longer writing updates for that router, however, I haven’t been convinced that buying a new Cradlepoint router will resolve the problem.

I packed up all my toys and headed for Norm’s house.  He has a new Cradlepoint Router and we were going to plug the Pantech Modem in that to see if the speeds improved, however, wouldn’t ya know it?  Verizon decided to experience problems with the 4G system at that time.  So that means that I’ll have to take my toys back to Norm’s house again (later today) to test the speed.

Both Norm and Rich have the LG VL600 Modem and while the three of us had our modems plugged directly into the computers we were all getting the same speeds on 3G.  But, when Norm and I were plugged into our routers, Norm experienced only a minimal drop in speed where as I experienced a significant drop – even getting booted off line.  So it’s definitely in the router interface, so, the question remains, “Will the Pantech Modem work with a newer Cradlepoint router?”  We shall soon find out!!!

This Week’s Outings

We had two outings this week, although small in stature.  The first one was to Silverhill for their Heritage Day.  Yes folks, Silverhill is so small that they only have a Heritage Day (not days).  Actually, it could be named Heritage Hour because that’s all it took us to watch the parade and to see everything else.  They did have a walking tour around town that took an hour and a half which we elected to pass on (they must have spent about fifteen minutes at each place).  But, to be fair, Silverhill is a unique little community with a lot of spirit.  We had fun and purchased some really sweet yummy tomatoes at a farm stand along with some Viper BBQ sauce at another booth.  Here are some pictures of the festivities. 

There were craft booths -

 

And kiddy rides -

 

The Parade included the Grand Marshall and the Parade Princess -

 

Marching Girls and Pretty Girls -

 

Old Cars and Tractors -

 

And who can forget the Fire Trucks -

 

“They” threw out lots and lots of candy as they passed by which kept the kids (and me) quite busy and occupied.  As you can see, everyone was having a good time.

The second outing was to the Road Kill Café with Norm, Linda, Rich, and Diane.  We always love their down home style buffets.  There is always fried chicken which is some of the best we’ve ever eaten (not greasy and not dried out – just plain yummy).  For less than sixteen dollars we had two great buffet meals with salad bar, drinks, desert, taxes, and tip.  Ya can’t beat that with a stick.

What about the Naval Air Museum?  That trip is planned for tomorrow with Norm, Linda, Rich, and Diane.  As I understand it, Marine One will be on hand in hanger one for a tour – neat.  We’ll take pictures if they let us; maybe some high tech sensitive “stuff” on board.  I don’t think it’s the one that President Obama is currently using; it’s most likely one from an earlier president. 

Rounding It Out

We’ve stayed busy over the past week with our hobbies, exercising, swimming, reading, and working on the Ta Do List.  That dang Ta Do List is growing.  We no sooner than knock one item off and two more show up at the door.  It’s a bottomless pit!!!  Oh well, it keeps us off the street and out of trouble (is that akin to “barefoot and pregnant”?).  Here is a picture taken from our patio of last nights sunset – it was much prettier than the picture portrays.

Once again, in the morning we’ll go back to the “almost” daily posts, so toggle in again tomorrow to see how I make out with the Modem/Router issue among other things.  In the meantime, remember Rule Number 79 (by the way, Rule Number 231 is “Listen To Your Husband – Maybe, Sometimes”).

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

The Wandering America Weekly Report

Alex Is On The Mend

First of all, let’s start with Alex.  He’s acting much better now.  The first few days after his surgery he was rather skittish.  He would lay under the dining room chairs or slip in behind the recliners.  Mom and Dad wanted to hold him and comfort him, but, he is not a child, he’s a katt.  Katts don’t like to be comforted when they are sick or hurt.  They just want to be left alone.  So we were forced to watch him suffer and “lick his wounds” on his own. 

I’m still haunted by his screams of anguish when he was being administered the tranquilizer shots.  I’ve never heard such a cry like that come out of an animal – it was a scream.  The scream was so loud that it could be heard from one end of the veterinarian hospital to the other.  It broke my heart.  Then, after the shot took it’s effect it was even more haunting.  There he lay totally immobilized.  Unable to move or speak.  His eyes were fully dilated, but he was aware of what was going on around him – he just wasn’t able to do a thing about it.  I just stood their and petted him hoping that he could feel the love. 

Our main concern, after it was all over, was that Alex’s kattonality would be changed forever.  We were afraid that he would be skittish around Mom and Dad for the rest of his life, but that seems not to be the case.  He is returning to his old self and we’re glad see it.

Anyway, we are glad that it is all over with and pray to God that we never have to put either of our fur kids through that again.  The biopsy results came back showing that the cyst was in fact benign.  Now just one hurdle remains, Alex needs his stitches out.  We have decided that rather than taking him back to the vet’s, we’ll remove them ourselves.  If he even sees that building, he’ll go berserk.  Dr. Julie is going to give us a “magic pill” that will hopefully calm him down and make him drowsy.  That will enable us to remove his stitches without requiring any for ourselves.  That will happen on Friday morning so, y’all be sure to pray for us, ya ‘ear?

Miss Judy Gets Scrappy

Yes folks, you heard it first here.  I know that those of you who know her can’t believe this, but it’s the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  She tore into her quilting supplies with a vengeance and came out with all her quilting remnants (scraps).  Then she began cutting and laying out squares for a “scrappy quilt”.  Yep, this will accomplish two things:  1.  Clean out her closet of excess quilting material, and  2.  Make herself a nice “cuddle quilt” for wrapping up in during the colder winter nights. 

Now, you maybe wondering whatever happened to my “rag quilt”?  Well, I’ve decided that I want one more color in the quilt and we haven’t found the right one yet.  We’ve looked a couple of times, but nothing has jumped out and said, “Take Me Home!!!”  Miss Judy will get started on that just as soon as I have my third piece of flannel in hand.  I’m looking for a green with some sort of a pattern in it.  Don’t ask me to describe it beyond that, I’ll just know it when I see it.

The “Ta Do List” Strikes Back

Other than our katt drama, we worked around the house.  Both the RV and the truck have had a nice warm bath and are ready to play outside in the dirt again.  Now comes the task of hand waxing both of them; that is, if I can catch them and hold them down long enough.  There are some maintenance issues that cropped up while washing the rig.  Some screws that need to be tightened, some paint touch up work that needs to be done, and a couple of repair items to take care of (the biggy - replace all the rubber gaskets around the slides).  Also, it’s time for an oil change on the truck; it’s always something.

So, that’s two items scratched off and two items added to the Ol’ Ta Do List.  At least I’m not going backwards, yet anyhow!  But I’m not making any progress either and we have a long “Ta Do List” for both outside and inside projects.  Oh yes, the lawn needs mowing again – Sheesh!!!

An Update On The Non-Routine Routine  

How’s the “Non-routine routine” going?  Pretty hit or miss right now.  Like we said, life seems to get in the way from time to time.  But, we are keeping on, keeping on.  Judy has been working on her quilting while I haven’t been doing any painting – where, oh where, does the time go?  Before we can hardly blink another week flies on by.  It’s hard to believe that we’ve been back to the Plantation for over two weeks now.  Anyhow, I do want to get back to painting again – soon.

I have managed to do some Bible reading and exercise over this past week; especially swimming.  Judy and I have been going to the pool quite frequently, however, I have only be treading water for a half hour and not swimming laps.  I’ve used the elliptical a couple of times as well this past week.  The goal is a half hour each morning on the elliptical and then a half hour of swimming laps.  It takes time to establish daily habits.

Life Gets In The Way From Time To Time

If you remember, from way back when, we cut our summer travels short so we could return to Alabama so Judy could get some medical issues attended to.  Well, yesterday was her doctor’s appointment (she had to get some lab work and a mammogram done first).  The doctor conducted another ultra sound to compare with the one that Judy had done in Maine last June.  After the comparison was completed, Dr. Wells is recommending that she has a biopsy done – that’s scheduled for a week from Friday.  We’re praying that the biopsy will come back benign with no signs of cancer.

This Week’s Outing

Can you believe it?  This week’s outing was a trip to Spanish Fort, Alabama to visit Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, Home Depot, Lowes, Michael’s, PetSmart, and Barnes & Noble with a stop at Allegri’s Farm Market on the way home.  I know, I know, that’s not much of an outing, but as you read from the last two articles, we are still struggling to get control of our non-routine routine. 

An attempt was made to come up with that illusive third piece of fabric for my rag quilt; we struck out.  I did buy a book on mixing acrylic and oil paint colors; gotta produce a painting pretty soon before it becomes an item on the Ol Ta Do List.  The katts have been asking for some more Blue Spa Indoor Katt food, but PetSmart was all out; we struck out again.  We were, also, looking for a couple of hanging plants to place outside the shed; we struck out on that one too.  But we did get some items for completing a couple of Ta Do List items so the day wasn’t a total wash out.

After the Amish produce stands in Michigan, our stop at Allegri’s Farm Market was anticlimactic.  We did pick up a few veggies, but, to be honest, I think Bruno’s and/or Publix has just as good of produce as the “Farm Market”.  We did pick up a couple of ears of corn and they were decent; not quite as yummy as the Amish corn, but tasty none the less.

We were planning a trip to the Naval Air Museum, but Rich and Diane Emond are arriving on Friday and they would like to go, so we postponed the trip until this coming week.  At least six of us will be going – Norm, Linda, Rich, Diane, Judy, and I.  We’ll see if we can round up another couple to join in with us.  Hopefully, we’ll have a real outing to share with you next week. 

The Girls Head Out  

The Rainbow Plantation women have been rather active in spite of the fact that it’s still early in the season for a lot of activities.  They have been going on weekly outings of some sort; if you remember, last week it was a shopping trip and luncheon.  Today there were twenty of them that headed for the Derailed Dinner in Robertsdale (Lord have mercy!!)  Babs mixed things up with a numbering system that would ensure that each lady sat with women other than the ones they rode with.  This way new friendships would be developed (I think most of them already know each other anyway).  I sure hope that she (Babs) called this place ahead of time to let them know of the invasion about to take place or else there would be nothing short of utter confusion and mayhem taking place.

Whilst Miss Judy was off herding with the ladies of the park, I worked on this Weekly Report and knocked a couple of small inside items off the Ol’ Ta Do List.  It’s too humid to do much outside today; although, I did a couple of outside chores earlier this morning and came back inside totally drenched.  Talk about working up a sweat!  It didn’t take hardly any work at all and I was soaked. 

Wrapping It Up

After Judy returned home, we meandered over to the pool for a “cool down” dip; it was so warm that it was like swimming in bath water, but it did cool us down a little bit. 

Then we headed out to visit Ruth in the hospital.  She just had her left shoulder replaced.  However, on our way to the hospital, we passed Ron coming home and noticed that he had Ruth with him.  So we did an about face and stopped by their house for a quick visit.  Everything went fine, but she’s recuperating and will be sore for a little while yet.

Tonight is our 242 home group gathering so time is nearing to get underway.  Hope this finds you all well and in good spirits.  Take Care Until Next Week  - - - - - - -

Alex And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I guess that pretty much sums it up from Alex’s point of view.  It was a traumatic day for him to say the least.  He’s home now but can’t write because he’s pretty much slurring his meows.  He is slowly waking from his sedatives and walks about like a sailor on leave coming out of a bar after six months at sea. 

We arrived at the Vet’s just before 10:00.  After a little confusion, they got him right into the surgery room.  The first item on the agenda was a sedative shot.  Because of his size and attitude toward needles, an attempt was made to give him a shot through the holes in the katt carrier.  It was a miss.  A second attempt was made with partial success, but he managed to pull the needle out before the full injection was administered.  Being that he was a little subdued, we took him out of the carrier and I held him with a towel over his head.  He screamed like a banshee, however, within ten minutes of the third attempt he was out like a light.

While we were waiting, I groomed him a little and one of the nurses cleaned his teeth.  Dr. Julie drew some blood for his lab work.  It was a little after 11:00 when I finally left the Vet’s.  Alex still had his surgery ahead of him.  Before surgery, he was “gassed” so that he wouldn’t feel any pain and then the cyst was removed.

The office called just after 2:00 saying the patient was awake enough to pick him up.  Everything went well and Dr. Julie said the cyst was just under the skin.  It didn’t have any roots into the body fat so she’s quite confident that it’s not cancerous.  He has to be on antibiotics for 10 days and will need to get his stitches out in 7 to 10 days – I’m sure that’s going to be a lot of fun. 

He looks a mess right now and won’t allow any pictures to be taken.  Hopefully he’ll have a better day tomorrow.  In the meantime he’ll continue on his Rocky Mountain High for a few more hours.  So that’s it for now.  Thanks for checking in.

It’s A Wrap

Wow, what a beautiful day.  We spent most of it outside, but first Judy had to go to the lab for some blood work.  After she returned home, I called the Dr. Julie for Alex.  He has a growth on his back which it started about three months ago.  It didn’t appear to be anything at first, however, over the past month it has been getting larger.  The doc was able to see him at 10:15 so we packed him up and off we went.

Dr. Julie doesn’t think that it is anything to worry about, but there is a cyst underneath the growth which is most likely benign.  However, the Doc recommended that we have it removed and analyzed to make sure.  So, Alex is scheduled for surgery at 10:00 this morning.  It will be out patient as the doc feels it would be too stressful for him to have to stay overnight.  We’ll make a special post this evening to let you know how Alex is doing.

Once we all returned back home, I went up and “fetched” the lawn mower and weed whacker out of the shed to take care of the yard.  Then we sat outside to do some reading – we even watched the evening news on our outside television.  Alex came out and joined us for awhile.  Sis Katie doesn’t seem interested in sitting outside in our laps – snob!!!  After dinner, we went for a short walk about the park doing a little visiting here and there along the way.

Well, this is the last daily blog entry, at least for awhile.  We will do a weekly blog posting on Wednesday afternoon/evenings.  Several of you have stated that you’ll miss the daily entries and we appreciate that.  It’s just that there is not a whole lot to share and we feel like we’re just repeating ourselves – you know, got up, brushed our teeth, drank our coffee, sat in our recliners, did some reading, worked on the Ta Do List, ya da, ya da, ya da.  Hopefully, with at least one outing a week, a little volunteering here and there, and some of the happenings around the Plantation, we’ll have something interesting to share each week. 

As stated before, once the Wandering America website has been updated, we’ll start publishing travelogues on there.  Again, if you want to be notified when we make updates to the website then drop us an e-mail at Wandering(dot)America(at)Yahoo(dot)com and put “add to list” (or something like that) in the subject line so we’ll know it’s not spam.

Again, we’ll post an Alex update later today for those of you who are interested in how our little fur kid is doing.  If everything goes well, he should be home by four or five this afternoon.

So, I guess it’s a wrap, so Take Care Until Next Week  - - - - - - - -

Lee Is Gone – Finally

Ding Dong the storm is dead, the mean old storm, the wicked storm.  Ding Dong tropical storm Lee is dead.  We managed to get through it all pretty much unscathed.  There was around 13” of rain over the past four days here at the Plantation.  It was a little windy yesterday but finally the storm passed on by.  Once that happened, the temperatures dropped into the low 70’s.  We were able to sit outside for a little while yesterday afternoon.

I began the work on updating the website yesterday.  Man, I forgot a lot about using KompZer (the program we use for developing the website).  Once the “Home Page” is rebuilt, we’ll go back and begin updating the travelogues from January 2010 up to now.  Tomorrow will be our last daily entry on this blog.  After that we’ll up date once a week and publish on Wednesday afternoon/evening.

Today, I need to get the lawnmower from the ERPU shed and mow our lawn.  While we were sitting out yesterday afternoon, we watched the grass grow a whole inch so it’s time to cut it.  We needed the rain and now everything looks so nice and green, hopefully we can maintain a good balance from here on out – rain at night and sunshine during the day (at least that’s what we’re ordering from Mother Nature’s Weather Store).

So, I guess today will be a Chore-Ta Do List kinda day.  We are thinking about an outing of some sort for this week, just haven’t decided yet.  It maybe something as simple as sitting on the beach enjoying the peace and quiet or maybe a museum or historical site visit somewhere.  In any event, you’ll be able to read all about it in next Wednesday’s edition of the Wandering America Blog.

Again, if you want to be put on our notification list for the Wandering America Website updates, please e-mail us at Wandering(dot)America(at)Yahoo(dot)com and put “notification list” in the subject line.    

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Almost A Typical Sunday

We’ve not blown away yet.  Actually, Tropical Storm Lee has been a real strange storm.  We’ll have periods of rain and then the sun just might come out for awhile.  So far, we’ve had almost 10 inches of rain over a three day period, but the ground was so dry that it has absorbed it all.  Also, we’ve had very little wind, however, today is supposedly going to be the worst of it for our area.  We’ve had worse wind and rain with thunder storms in the past; keep in mind that we’re speaking of Rainbow Plantation not Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi as a whole.

It was nice to be back in our home church.  We’ve missed it.  We donned our “Connection Team” shirts and went right back to work as if we hadn’t been away at all.  So many people came up to us and said, “Glad you’re back” – the welcome made us feel good.  We’re not sure where we’ll get involved next.  I just might get involved with facility maintenance and Judy is looking at volunteering in the Hope Center; we’ll both continue working on the Connection Team.  There will be some slots for us somewhere, I’m sure.

We did manage to get in a walk about the Plantation and attended the Ice Cream Social last evening.  It was a small group of us at the social.  Well, that’s about it.  Hopefully this will be the last day of the Lee Intrusion and “the sun will come out tomorrow, tomorrow!”

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - -

Getting Aired Out

It’s been doing a lot of raining here over the past couple days.  The rain is a welcomed sight for this area after a summer of drought.  So far the ground has just absorbed the water.  Today and tomorrow promises to be the worst of it as tropical storm Lee passes just north of Mobile.  We will be on the southeast side of the storm, the most ferocious side.  “They” are predicting torrential rains (10 to 15 inches) with winds in excess of 40 MPH and some flooding in low lying areas; it could be an interesting two days.

We just had to get out of the house so yesterday, in between the rain drops, we took a drive over to Fairhope and walked through the park.  It’s so pretty and peaceful there.  The park overlooks Mobile Bay, you can see Mobile across the bay,  and has a beautiful sandy beach as well as biking and hiking trails.  Judy and I look forward to taking our lawn chairs, some drinks, and, maybe, a sandwich along with our Nooks over to spend an afternoon of reading and relaxing at the park.  We can even take a stroll or two around the rose gardens as well as walk about downtown Fairhope.

After lunch we just hunkered down inside and watched a little college football while doing some reading.  I wish that they would have two sound tracks with ball games.  One where you could get the sounds of the game and the second for those who think they need to listen to the commentators telling you what you just saw.  Guess which sound track we would choose?  The pitter patter of rain on the roof coupled with the drone of a football game and reading has away of putting one to sleep so, needless to say, a short nap crept into the mix.

While we were in Maine, we found a real nice pizza dough made by the Portland Pie Company so we bought four and froze them.  We, also, bought a couple packages of frozen Maine shrimp.  With those with a nice garlic sauce and some mozzarella cheese, we had a nice shrimp scampi pizza for dinner last evening – just as good as the Cabin’s in Bath, Maine.  After a some more reading and football, we found our way to bed calling it the end of another fine day in the life.

Just another reminder that come Wednesday we will be going to a weekly posting of the blog.  Also, we will be rebuilding the old Wandering America website for posting our travelogues.  The website will be updated and published randomly, so if you would like to be notified when we update please e-mail us at Wandering(dot)America(at)Yahoo(dot)com and put “Notification List” in the subject line so we’ll know that it is not spam.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - -

One Down, Three To Go

Tropical Storm Lee is slowly passing through the area.  It was an “off again, on again” rainy day yesterday.  It began around 9:30 with some real downpours as Lee is making tracks toward land.  It is moving at a whole two miles per hour and promises to dump lots of rain along its path.  Come Sunday and Monday we’ll will be receiving our “dumping” so, one day down with three more to go.

Yesterday morning we gathered our wares into the larder.  As always, it was sticker shock for our first shopping trip after returning to Rainbow Plantation.  The price of food is higher here plus we get to pay sales tax of around 8% on top of that.  We managed to gather our nuts into the tree between storms thereby staying relatively dry.

Other than that, we just “stood” inside and played with our indoor toys.  That is, we managed to keep ourselves busy with a few chores, putting the groceries away, and getting some quality reading time.  That sounds a lot like riding our recliners, doesn’t it?

Today looks like a lot of the same.  We will go to the “Bagels and Coffee” time at the clubhouse in a half hour just to get some social time and see if there are really any other people in the park.  We’ve heard that there are, but haven’t seen too many.  So that’s it for today.

Remember that next week we are going to a weekly format for the blog and will be updating the Wandering America website.  If you would like to be put on the notification list for when we update the travelogues in the website, please e-mail us and put “notification list” in the subject line so we’ll know that it’s not spam.  The e-mail address is Wandering(dot)America(at)Yahoo(dot)com.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Settling In For The Long Haul

We are getting settled in and it’s a good thing.  Beginning today a tropical front is moving in and plans to hang out for the next five days – or more.  The farmers need rain, but this is going to give them way too much.  “They” are predicting the flooding kind of rain.  We’ll see what happens, but we are ready to hunker down.

This morning we’re making our grocery run to Bruno’s and Walmart.  Once we get home, I’ll fill the potable water tank.  We’ve gotten caught with our “pants down” (water tank empty) three times this year so that’s not about to happen again.  It’s doubtful that things will get that bad around here, but, like the Boy Scouts say, “be prepared”.

For the past two days I’ve been swimming laps; yesterday I added a half hour on the Nordic Trac Elliptical that’s at the clubhouse.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get this chubby little bod of mine in shape – just maybe.  Also, I’ve started reading through the book of Romans in my Bible.  Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get this little mind of mine in shape – just maybe.

Judy J. managed to get her hair cut and has been working on setting up housekeeping for the long haul.  She changed out some pictures in the bedroom and wants to update the grandkid pictures in the livingroom.  Then there’s my rag quilt to get started on plus the quilting project that she’s currently working on.

We’ve both spent some time reading.  Those Nooks were a great investment; I’ve read at least two dozen books this year and Judy has read over a dozen.  It’s a good thing we enjoy reading ‘cause there ain’t nuttin’ on television worth watching’. 

I have two favorite shows, NCIS and History Detectives.  Wouldn’t you know that “they”, who ever they are, have decided to air them on the same night at the same time.  We don’t have all that sophisticated equipment so that we can watch one show and record the other – just another one of lives little disappointments.  Oh well, more time for reading.

We were looking forward to a beach day this coming week, but with all this rain in the forecast we’ll have to plan something else.  The Naval Air Museum has doubled its size so maybe we’ll just take a day trip to Pensacola for a look see.  That’s a nice indoor thing to do and something that we enjoy doing.

Well, the time is winding down.  Beginning next week this blog will go from a daily publication to a weekly publication.  As a child, my dad worked for a weekly newspaper and they published on Wednesday afternoon so that seems like a good tradition to continue.  So, we’ll continue a daily entry until next Wednesday and then switch to a weekly entry from then on. 

I’ve downloaded the KompZer software onto my “new” computer.  That is what we use in the creation and the maintaining of the Wandering America website.  The plan is to update the website and start publishing the travelogues there beginning in January.  So, if you want to be put on a notification list for when we update the website, please e-mail us.  Be sure to put something in the subject line such as “notification list”, “add to list”, “website list”, etc., so we’ll know it’s not spam.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - - -

Shaking Up The Routine

What an optimist I am!!  Yesterday I stated that we could work outside until eleven or twelve; well, that was before God added humidity (and a little humility as well).  When it gets humid, like yesterday, you’d better plan on getting your outside work done before nine (maybe even eight).  A better idea would be to hit it at first light so you could get in a few hours before breakfast, but, not so fast there Maverick, that just ain’t gonna happen!!!

Okay, now that that is out of the way (confession is good for the soul), let’s move on.  We are looking for a new daily routine that’s not a routine; at the very least a mixture of the routine and the non-routine.  There are some things that need to be done daily: spiritual growth time, exercise, and household chores to name a few.  Then there are shopping trips, Ta Do List items, hobbies, volunteering, and special outings that aren’t necessarily daily items.  Now, how do we “mix it up” so that we don’t get into a rut and become stale?  That is the sixty four thousand dollar question.

It would be nice to tell you that we got it all together, but we haven’t – not yet anyway.  But, here is an immediate proposal.  Part I - Roll out of bed at revelry, fetch a cup of coffee, and hit the Bible for some early morning reading/meditation time.  Then take a morning dip in the pool to swim laps.  Next get the household chores out of the way.  Hopefully, Part I can be completed by nine o’clock.

Part II – Chose one or two items from the following list to add to each day:  Ta Do List Items, or hobbies, or an outing, or volunteering at church, or a shopping trip.  We want to do at least one weekly outing to get us out of the house (and/or Plantation) as well as spending at least one day a week volunteering at our church’s Hope Center.  Then by sprinkling in “hobbies” and “Ta Do List” items, and “shopping” items throughout the week, and voila, you have a fun filled week while “taking care of business”.  At least that’s the concept (just because I said it was a good idea doesn’t mean it’s going to work).

We all know that sometimes life gets in the way.  There’s always doctors appointments, hair cuts, and other unexpected events that crop up with schedules of their own which interfere with our plans.  However, the goal remains the same – “Don’t Get Into A Rut!!!”  It’s a balancing act and sometimes it’s easy to loose our balance.  But, “Don’t Give Up”, “Keep On Keeping On”, “Hang In There”, “Push On Through”, “Keep Your Eye On The Ball” – can you think of anymore cliches?  The point is that if we really want to remain vibrant, then we are going to have to take action and keep working at it.

Well, that gives us something to chew on for awhile while we sort it all out.  Otherwise, we are just going to sit in our recliners while holding hands and gazing into each other’s baby blues.  And you can only do that for so long before someone blinks.

Take Care Until Next Time  - - - - - -