Barr meeting Katie for the first time.

"I really like you, have some of my hay!"

Friday I moved Katie over to Barr's pasture. We had a little trouble getting Katie to load up into the horse trailer, but finally (after and hour and forty-five minutes) she stepped right in. I have moved a lot of horses over the years. Upon arrival at the new place, you have to make sure the new horse gets familiar with the pasture. You do this by walking them around the perimeter a couple of times, so they know the boundries. After a couple of hours, you can bring in the other horses. Usually there is the dominance dance, when they sometimes, squeal, bite and kick. They will run for a while, then eventually settle down. When I brought Barr in, I have never seen such love. It was a true Valentines Day meeting. He loved her at first sight. He sniffed her, she made a little squeal, and kicked her back legs. That was it. No running or biting. They took to each other like bread and butter. He even let her eat grain out of his bucket. If Barr had a thumb, I would have gotten the "thumbs up" from him.

Gator aka "KATIE"

They sent me some more photos of the new horse. She is a real sweetie!

Lottery winner!

I went out to my friends pasture to look at the horses. She has five horses and needs to give away three of them. I am interested in taking an eight year old mare, named "GATOR" (who the hell gave her that name?) She is a sweet horse, in good condition, and I think she will make a nice friend for Barr. Sorry, I forgot to take my camera, so this photo from my cell phone will have to do. I think I will name her "Katie" because it is more of a girl's name, and it sounds a little like Gator, so the horse won't be confused! The horse is brown with a white face, light brown mane and tail, and one white stocking on the left rear leg. She is pretty, with a nice disposition, I think Marion will like her. When Stormy died, Marion's brother said the nicest thing. He said "somewhere a horse has won the lottery", referring to the fact that any horse who ends up being cared for by Marion will never want for anything! I think Katie is the winner.

bloggin' 'bout joggin'

The boys are jogging everyday after school. I take them down to the bridge, they jog over it, I wait on the other side. Everyday I make it a little longer. Yesterday they did a mile and a half. I am glad Preston is building up his stamina. Matt goes jogging for the exercise, but always has to be the winner. I explained to him that it is all about the exercise and breathing, but he is very competitive, and has to get back to the car first! I wish I could jog with them, but walking is about all I can do at this point! The weather has been so beautiful lately, it is enjoyable to be outside. So think about me everyday at 2 PM, I am down at the river, taking in some sun and waiting for the joggers.

Horsie shopping

I went out to the "ranch" again this morning to un-blanket Barr (the horse). It only got down to 44 degrees F. last night, but Marion insists on blanketing that horse! She is quite the over-protective horse mum! It is so quiet out there, makes you want to stay! Barr was an asshole about letting me take his blanket off. He took the apple that I gave him, and when it was finished, he decided that he had enough of me, and walked away. I got a lead rope out and coaxed him over with some sweet feed, then hooked him up. I got the blanket off, then took him for a walk around the pasture - just to show him "who's boss"! I think Barr is just lonely since Stormy died. Tomorrow morning I am going to look at a mare for sale. If she is sound, I might get her for a companion for Barr. It is nice to have at least two horses together if you want to go on a ride. Barr is a wild mustang, he originally came from the adopt-a-horse program at the Bureau of Land Management. I tamed him, then trained him and I had him for about 8 years, then I gave him to Marion about 10 years ago. She loves that horse as if he were her child! I will try to remember to take my camera tomorrow when I go horse shopping!

Crime scenes re-visited

I took an early disability retirement in 2004 because of cardiac problems. During the extensive medical examination to determine if I was disabled, the doctor told me that I have post tramatic stress disorder. At the time, I sort of dismissed this diagnosis as "crap". PTSD in my mind, was something that soldiers got after being in heavy combat. You know, they jump when a firecracker goes off behind them. My problem was different, I had sleep difficulty. I kept dreaming about my cases, and after a while, I wasn't getting much sleep. A slide show of all my cases would play over and over in my head. I took the medication prescribed by the doctor for this, and it seemed to go away. I took the meds for about six months, then quit, just one more medication I didn't think I needed. It worked. I was sleeping better and no further symptoms. Yesterday, I was driving in my car, and I started thinking about one of my cases. It is weird, I guess they will always be with me. Maybe the doctor was right, I do have PTSD. So far it hasn't effected my sleep again. Just like my cardiac problems, this is something I will have to live with. I guess it is really the least of my problems!

Not so busy today

It rained today. I hate to do housework on rainy days (or any other day, but it is a good excuse!) I decided to organize the keys. Like everybody else, I have keys. We hang our usual car keys or house keys on a cute little hook thing just inside the front door. I encourage everyone to use these hooks, and get in the habit of hanging up their keys, so they won't lose them somewhere in the house. Weird keys have collected there over the years, and some of them are obscure. I decided to catalog them, and throw away the ones that I don't need anymore. This process took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I figured them all out, and labeled them all with key tags. I discovered that I still had some keys from work! OOPS!

Sandhill Cranes

I saw these birds in the man-made lake behind a shopping center. They continue to survive, even as we encroach on their habitat. I usually see them in pairs, sometimes with a chick or two. As soon as the baby loses his yellow down, and looks like a small adult, they fly off and leave him. Try as he may to come around them, they fly away each time (not gonna let him move back home) The young one cannot fly as fast as the adults, and they leave him quickly. He flies along behind, squawking for them to let him come along.
The chick eats from mama's beak.











Sandhill Cranes are large. The adults are about three feet tall.

Could it be?...

Do you think that the roofing company could be in cahoots with the tire shop? I can't believe how many flat tires I have gotten since they re-roofed my house. On the last day they were here, the roofers went around the yard with a magnet thing, picking up (allegedly) all the lost roofing tacks. I have had three flat tires on the ride-on mower, and two flat tires on the cars. I just saw another roofing nail in the back tire of the car. I didn't pull the nail out yet, but tomorrow I will have to change the tire, take it to the shop, then have it put back on the car. Good thing I am retired, so I can go have the car re-tired. hahahahaha, well, on the good side, at least I didn't step on it - so I won't have to go for a tetnus shot!

What does it mean?

Recently in Umatilla, Florida I tried to figure out where they came up with that name. I asked three different people, who had no idea. They all looked at me like I had lost my mind for asking. Anyway, my son came up with this theory - Two rednecks are talking to each other, one says, "What the heck's the name of that thing that you steer your boat with?" The other redneck replies, "UMMM- a tiller???" Hence they named the town.

I guess I could Google the name, but I am scared homeland security will knock on my door.

Mapquest was WAY wrong!

I was travelling to the middle of Florida pulling my trailer the other day. I had the mapquest directions with me, that I had printed out for the trip. My son was reading them off to me as we got close to our destination. "Turn left on Lake Gibson Drive". I turned and said, "Are you sure this is right? This is a skinney dirt road." That's what the directions said. OH GOD! I am at the end of this road that is a private dead end drive to someone's house. Worse, I have a 31 ft. trailer behind me! Can I back out of this narrow road, about an eighth of a mile? I noticed that the driveway was circular, needle eye at the end, tall bushes and trees on both sides. I made a BIG turn taking out a lot of bushes and tree branches in the driveway as their dog went crazy barking at me. Thank God no one was home, I did no real damage, but they are going to think a tornado blew thru the driveway! I guess I need to write to mapquest!

Modern technology

As I have said before, I love all the wonderful new inventions. This is a tiny disk that plugs into that bigger one (the "big" one shown bigger than actual size). This tiny disk goes in my cell phone and allows me to take photos with the built in camera. Now isn't that neat? I always have a camera with me now! The camera in the phone takes amazingly good photos too. I am also awestruct with the new heart operation machine, the DAVINCI, that can do minimumly invasive heart surgery instead of the "crack your chest open" type of coronary by-pass surgery. I may have to get that surgery someday, so I hope I live to tell about it first hand!

For My Son

When you were little, sometimes you would fall and scrape your knee, you would cry and come running. I would comfort you with a "Spiderman" band-aid and a hug. Now that you are older, there are different kinds of pain. The heart ache when your feelings are hurt, the insecurity of being a teenager, the pain when you are failing at a difficult task. I want to rush to your side and comfort you. I want to brush the hair out of your eyes, and hold you close to me. I can't. I must hold myself back, watch you suffer from afar, hold back the tears. If you are to grow into the man that you are meant to be, I must stand back and let you feel the pain. I have to tell you to press on, and tell you that "what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." I will tell you that you will succeed, because "what one man can do, another can do!" I hope I have the strength to do these things, because I love you more than anything in the world.

Hell in Umatilla

This is January band camp with The Magic.

The facility in Umatilla, Florida is beautiful. It is the Florida Elks Youth Camp, several hundred acres with new buildings and dorms, a beautiful place to stay. The band wasn't there to enjoy the scenery though, they were all, work, work, work. The weather was excellent, a little overcast, but 70-80 degrees. There are many fewer members this time. Many have dropped out. It is very difficult work. By Saturday night, Preston had enough. He called me to come pick him up. He said that his muscles just would not work for him anymore. We talked about it later, and most of the problem was "failure to properly hydrate". You have to drink water when you are exercising that much. Preston vowed to work hard this month and get in shape for his next camp. This will involve exercising every day, lifting weights, going to the gym, running, and lifting the "heavy metal" at least once a day. Time will tell if he can make it.


It is difficult to watch your child when he is in pain.

Gone camping

I am heading out this weekend to Umatilla, Florida. I have no idea where they came up with that name, but I will find out and get back to you. It is most likely and indian name, or the name of a lake, that is what most things are named after in Florida. My son will be at his second band camp for the whole weekend, and I will be camping nearby. I might see the sites in the local area of Mount Dora, a place famous for "Renningers" antique market. I don't camp in the traditional sense, no "roughing it" for me. I take my 31 ft. travel trailer, my home away from home. It has everything I need in it. After I stay in it for a few days, I wonder why I need a house and a yard! It is nice to get away from home, even for a weekend, because then it is nice to come home again.

Dressed up horsie!

The road to Marion's ranch.

Last night my friend Marion called me about the cold weather. It was gonna be down in the 40's (cold for Florida) and she wanted to blanket the horse (Barr). Marion was worried that Barr would get hot today and that he would be uncomfortable. Marion had to go to work, so she asked me to go out and undress him this morning. When I got there Barr was standing in the shadow of the barn cause he was hot as soon as the sun came up. When I went to take that contraption off his head, I thought I had all the catches unclipped, so I started to pull it off. I didn't realize that I had missed the velcro throat latch. So Barr steps back when I am trying to pull the hood off over his head, and it gets stuck and covers his eyes. He freaks and runs a few steps, before I start talking to him to calm him down. It scared me for a minute, cause I could just see him running blind and crashing into something. I remembered the apple in my pocket and I tempted him with it as I talked him down. He finally let me get near him and food won out over fear. I got the hood off him, then the blanket. He was happy and finally cool. "Whew".

DOGS VS. EYE GLASSES

You can't leave anything laying around at my house. We have already lost a wallet, leather cell phone case (luckily the case protected the phone inside - it only has a few teeth marks) and a TV remote control (that belonged to the cable company). Today I was mowing the grass, and saw something just as I ran over it with the lawn tractor, something shiny. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed as I recognized my glasses just as the wide back tire rolled over them. I haven't seen them in a while. Now I know why. Who knows how long they have
been laying in the yard. That's
not dirt on the lenses, those are
doggie teeth marks. The people
at the eyeglass place sell these
"titanium" frames with "poly carbonate" lenses that will hold up under any conditions. Lets see if they can explain this! I hope I got the extended warranty!

When I marched into the house and confronted the culprits by saying "WHO DID THIS?" - they all just looked away in an effort to avoid any pending punishment. I would imagine that they all had a paw in it. Dogs, ya gotta love 'em, they don't know the difference between our "stuff" and toys. (or do they?)

Death of a Microwave

I was warming up some soup the other day in the microwave. All of a sudden I heard "hummm-POP" and it was over. Dead. No lights, no clock, nothing. It was dead. I have had the appliance for about ten years, and I know when they go, there is no recall. The "magnatron" or some such contraption dies (like the heart of the thing) and it costs less to buy a new oven than replace that part. When we remodeled the kitchen a few years ago, we left the cabinet over the range "short", so we could one day buy an "over-the-range microwave". Today was that day. I went to Sears and bought a new one. Now $249. is enough to pay, but now I must pay another $250. to have it installed! I can't lift stuff anymore, so I have to pay someone to install it. Well, that's life I guess, I am lucky to have the money, but that is not what I wanted to spend it on!

Martin Luther King Day Parade

The band director tunes up the all the horns before the parade.
Our boys marched in the King Day parade. It was real windy today, and in the 60's, but the day turned out nice. One of the shakos (hats) rolled under my truck and as I was leaving - it got "squished"! I had to transport the big horns over to the starting point, hence my truck's nickname, "Mom's Tuba Taxi". It was not my intention to march with the band today. I was just going to shoot a few photos and wait in the car. By the time I caught up with them, got ahead of them enough for the shot, we were halfway through the route, so I walked it anyway. Good exercise for me.

WOW!

This computing thing never ceases to amaze me. I have taken over 2,000 digital photographs of my son's high school band. I have stored them on my hard drive (whereverthehell that is). I discovered Shutterfly.com, and I can store all these photos on their site, (free!) and give the band kids a password. The kids can look at the photos, or order prints. Now that is cool. Soon I will have to start another collection for THE MAGIC, my son's other band. We were just going to digital photography at work when I retired. Imagine all the money saved in mug shots and crime scene photos. The courts could just upload anything they want (so could the press). In Florida the press has the right to request any crime scene photos, so I expect before long you will see photos of all kinds of dead people and crime scenes in the newspaper.

Next month makes two years of retirement. I am glad that I am still alive, I did not expect to survive this long. Now I am hopeful that I can make it ten more years at least, I am not so scared everyday anymore. Sometimes it feels like a long vacation, like I should be going back to work. When my health is really good, and it has been lately, I almost feel quilty for not working. Now, don't get me wrong, I have plenty to do, but it is mostly housework and chores. When my line of duty disability was approved, I walked away and didn't look back. I have talked to a few of my friends, but for the most part, I have had no contact with anyone from the PD. I don't miss always having to be teathered to my pager. I don't miss the phone calls in the middle of the night. I don't miss the lights & siren trips out to a crime scene. Occasionally, I miss solving a case, comforting a victim, tricking a suspect into confessing. Maybe I should be a "consultant" (or even better - a "sultan".) It is weird to miss a job, but after 25 years, I got comfortable with it, I felt like I was good at it. Now it is just a memory. When I was a young cop, old farts used to come up to me and tell me that they used to be "on the job". I hope I never do that!

The gym

My son and I started going to the gym. He needed to get a couple of muscles since he has never been athletic, and he is as "skinny as a rail". He has to be in shape to carry that big tuba. The fitness center had a two for one membership, and I was going as his coach anyway, so we signed up. I had forgotten that there is pain involved. Self induced pain, you know - "no pain - no gain". It has been years since I have been in a gym, but all the hate of the place quickly returns! I have been grunting through the torture machines, and encouraging my son to do "just one more rep". He is working on his upper body, and starting to show some muscles in his chest and arms for the first time in his life. He has gained about four pounds since we started, so it is doing some good. We just have to keep going every other day.

Beautiful music

To hear an excerpt from the December audition camp go to www.magicoforlando.org - click on directors corner, and a short video about The Magic will load. At the end of it, you will hear the beautiful music that they learned in just one short weekend. They will have a wonderful show this year. Preston is training everyday and looking forward to January camp.

"Stormy", the horse, I am sorry to say - has died

"STORMY" (the white one)
Last Friday my friend, Marion, asked me to come out to her place because her horse was sick. I went out there and encouraged a very sick, lethargic horse to eat a little bran, while we waited for the vet to arrive. The vet came and looked at the horse, then took a lead rope and walked her around in a circle. He determined that the horse might have West Nile Fever, or possibly some sort of liver damage. He took blood and a stool sample to confirm this, and said he would call with the lab results the next day. Saturday, Stormy took a turn for the worse, and had difficultly breathing, then could not stand, and subsequently died.
My friend, Marion, is an animal lover. She was already grieving over the recent loss of her dog, "Miles". Marion is the kind of person that treats her pets like children. Not only is she saddened by the death of Stormy, she is worrying about her other horse, the gelding, "Barr". She is wondering what pain he must be experiencing with the loss of his girlfriend / stable mate, Stormy. All animals should be lucky enough to have "Mums" like Marion. What a wonderful life Miles and Stormy had, thanks to Marion.

the "easy button"

For those of you who are not familiar, Staples, an office store, has several television commercials featuring the "easy button". It shows people in offices trying to figure out how to get office supplies, then shows the button, indicating that if you choose Staples, that the job will be easy. I thought the easy button was cool, and I thought that there should really be an easy button. Turns out there is one, and I got it for a Christmas present. Cool, you push the button and a voice says, "That was easy!" I love it!

From my house to yours. . . .

Merry Christmas!

Almost ready

I have a tangerine tree in my back yard. Not a grove, just one. It is loaded with fruit this time of year and the weary branches are hanging low from the weight. I tried one this morning, but they are still a little sour. It will be about the first or second week in January when they are ready. The first cold snap somehow sweetens the fruit. I have so much fruit that I have to give it away. Tangerines are very good. I like like them better than oranges, they are sweeter, and easy to peel, the skin comes right off and they section into bite-sized pieces. Sometimes there is so much fruit that we squeeze it and make juice. The juice tastes so good.

Car lot

Matt got a truck. Actually, his mother got a truck - for him to learn to drive. Our yard is starting to look like a car lot. Four cars in the family now. It is a 1995 Nissan pick-up truck, very clean. Both boys are learning to drive. The teacher? That would be ME! I am now Mom, driving instructor, music facilitator, laundress, weightlifting coach, cook, counsellor, and money tree. Who said retirement was going to be easy? We decided that it would be good for our boys to have their own cars to drive. Most people think we are spoiling these kids, giving them too much. Most people would be right. We think that they will be better off in the real world if they drive to get there! Actually, when they are 16, they will take over the responsibility of paying for insurance, gas, etc. Preston bought his car with money that he had saved, and Matt will have to repay his mother for the truck. We only hope that the boys recognize and appreciate the help that we have given them. (yeah - right!)

Afternoon practice

Sounds like there is a moose in the yard when he practices every afternoon. A young kid road by on his bike and said, "I like your trumpet, it sure is a big trumpet!" Preston is wearing gloves, but not because it is cold. (it was 67 degrees) They are part of his uniform, and he has to practice with them. He gets better everyday.

I dig it! - Far out!

Yeah, that's the shit we would say in the 70's when we thought something was COOL. I just have to say that this blogging thing is WAY COOL, and I dig it, I really do. It connects you to people that you never knew before, and never would have met in a million years - and all of a sudden you feel like they are your friends (you know who you are - Laura, Hiro, and the little guy). We come into each others lives in a strange way, through a computer, but somehow I feel close to you. Even those of you who have moved away, or moved on with your lives (you know who you are - Lois, Steve) and I know you are still with me in spirit, and that you read this blog once in a while. Occasionally I surf the blogs, but I have three favorites, and I read them everyday - now they are my friends, even though I have never met them. I dig it - far out!

Most of you who know me, know that I am a tech nut. This new toy is cool. It is a Kodak Easy Share Picture Viewer. It is a little storage card that you can carry with you instead of a picture album. It is supposed to hold about 150 photos (but I already have 158 in there) It will hold more if you want to add and SD card to the memory slot. I like it, I carry my favorite photos around with me, and show them to whoever will look at them! It comes in this cute leather

carry case. I got it at tigerdirect.com. There is a $20. rebate on it, so it was a good deal. Just a little present for my self. I deserve it. I have been good this year!

Surveillance moms

We were at the K-Mart tonight, killing some time and doing some Christmas shopping. Our teenage sons were at their friends "16th" birthday party, or so we thought. Leaving the store, we see the "party girl's" car pass us. I point, yell and wave. No reply. They drive past. I immediately revert back to "police mode" and drive to the back of the parking lot to observe. We see eight teenagers get out of two cars and go into the K-Mart. We hide in the shadows and wait. I felt like I was on a stake-out again. (by the way, the only reason I ever wanted to be a cop is because I thought that they had "steak out" - but I was incorrect as to the real meaning of this). Anyway, in about 10 minutes the little rebels came back out with one bag. All eight got into two cars and left. We followed (a loose tail!) them back to the party location. All is well that ends well, or so I thought. About 15 minutes later, my son called and asked if he could "spend the night" at the party location. At a girls house? Is he kidding? I said, NO WAY - I will pick you up at midnight! Times have changed since I was a teenager.
*We found out later that they bought "Twister Dance Party" (any excuse for teenagers to touch!)

Perfect practice makes perfect

My son is practicing everyday with his tuba. He has many exercises and songs to commit to memory before his next band camp on January 20th. We keep the tuba case in the garage (because it is the size of a small car!) so he practices in the front yard. Every afternoon we go outside with the horn, a black towel (to set it down on) and a music stand. I tell him not to just practice, but to "practice perfect." Keep going until he gets it right. We live in the back of our neighborhood on a dead end street, so you would not think there would be much traffic, but there is! People walk and drive by and stare at us when they hear the bellowing sound of the tuba. My son is quite self-conscious and embarrased about this, and says, "What are they staring at?" I tell him that he would stare too if he saw such a sight, and to just get used to it because soon enough a stadium full of people will be staring at him. He says it's not the same, there will be a whole band with him. We are also working on his physical strength. He does not want to go through another painful weekend of lifting that horn and holding out in front of him. We have been going to the gym twice a week and working out on the machines, then doing weight training, stomach crunches and push-ups in the evening. He is beginning to develop muscles for the first time in his chest and shoulders, and is very proud of this! Next week starts winter break from school, and we will really step up the training, adding jogging around the block. It is nice to see a teenager interested in something other than video games. I am proud of his progress and I will encourge him to keep up the good work.

Brrrrr! It is cold!

I live in Florida. While the rest of the county is freezing, we are still warm here. I have nothing to complain about. This morning I had to turn on the heat for the first time this year. It was 48 degrees this morning! That may sound nice to some of you - but that is cold for me. Some years the temperature doesn't even get down low enough to freeze here, I am hoping this is one of those years. It is almost noon, and now it is 66 degrees outside, with the sun shining - another nice day. This is the ideal climate for me. All the hurricanes we have had the last couple of years aren't so nice, but you have to take the good with the bad. I still think this is the best place to live!

Made it another year

I am so happy that I have made it through another year. This makes five years since my heart problem and I am feeling better every day. We all hope to live a long time and we should each cherish every day. My illness has caused me to think long about this, and everyday I am happy to be alive. I remind my son all the time how lucky we are, to have all that we have, but mostly because we have love in our hearts.

OOPS!

I was cleaning my travel trailer and I decided to put deodorant into the toliet. I poured the blue stuff in while I held the lever opening the trap - then I dropped the bottle in! Great. How the hell am I gonna get that out of there? I guess I was lucky that the tank is empty (except for the blue stuff) I will take it to the dump station and see if I can flush it out, after all, it was small enough to go in. I guess I will flood the tank with water, then flush it all out at the dump station. I hope the bottle does not turn sideways and plug up the opening. If that doesn't work, I will have to remove the whole tank - that sounds like fun! Who says that retirees are bored and have nothing to do?

The Magic audition

I took some video with my fancy Nikon camera of the audition. I will try to publish it - if I can. It shows how much the kids learned in just three days. They are learning the show music, "Some day I'll fly away" from the movie "Moulin Rouge". The brass section sounds wonderful, and the music brings a tear to my eye, I know how hard they worked. I love the big brass sound, especially the lower brass. I also watched the snare drummers practice. There were forty drummers trying out for about eight positions. I felt sorry for the ones that didn't make it - they were all good. This is a big deal, he will be gone on tour for eight weeks this summer. What a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That is the only reason I will let him be away from me that long!

OH - YEAH! TUBA MAN!

"THE MAGIC" Drum Corps International
Audition camp
Tuba man! makes the cut and is now a member of "THE MAGIC"
He spent the weekend hoisting 30 pounds brass up to his shoulder
His mama is SO proud!
He almost quit on Saturday, said he wasn't good enough, that it was too hard. He was really depressed and exhausted. I told him to just hang in there one more day, and he did - so he made it. His summer tour schedule is posted on dci.org - click on 2006 schedule - then member corp - The Magic. More later, I am tired, haven't slept in two nights!

Here we go!

We are off today to Kissemmee, Florida for my son's audition for "THE MAGIC". I hope he gets in, the audition could be really tough. I think I am more nervous than he is. Keep your fingers crossed and pray a lot for us. I've got to go hook up the travel trailer, so I will post more when I get back on Sunday.

Finally. . .

The tuba is here. . .finally. It was suposed to be here ten days ago, but "OH" they were "busy" and didn't mail it on time. (f**k-heads!) Now the boy only has three days to get used to playing with a 30 pound chunk of metal on his shoulder. Buddy says, "What is it?" and Ransome thinks something is hiding in the case - he keeps walking around it and smelling it. He will just "guard" it until something pops out. I can't lift the thing, good thing the case has wheels. I have no idea how the boy is gonna carry this thing on his shoulder all weekend, much less, march with it, play it, and hold it in front of him at parade rest. He is determined to be successful, and I am proud of him for trying so hard. Audition camp is this weekend in Kissemmee, and he will be "camped out" on a high school gym floor from Friday night until Sunday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed that he passes the audition.

Now I understand

An old lady I know used to say, "I wouldn't have him for him", when talking about some useless person that she didn't like. I used to think this was a strange comment, and I didn't quite understand it. Lately, the comment has become crystal clear to me. It refers to the persons egocentric personality, and their attitude about how the world owes them a living. A selfish, self centered person, who always has to be the center of attention, and who can't get enough of themselves, who is always right. They are the smartest, best, most good looking person in the world - in their mind. This over inflated ego is further enhanced by the person constantly having to berate or belittle other people around them to make them look even better and more important to themselves. Most often this person does not know how they are perceived by others, how ridiculous they appear to the rest of us. To paraphrase R.D. Lang, "one of his problems, is that he does not know he has a problem".

Lost elephant

You are not gonna believe this. In a previous post I told you how I bought a tuba, and how I was waiting by the door everyday for it to arrive. Well, guess what? Yup, lost in the mail. How do you lose a tuba? I have ordered almost everything in the mail, by UPS, FEDEX, DHL, and never (too late to knock on wood) lost anything. It was supposed to be here in five days. It was sent on November 17th. We NEED it by Friday next week to leave for the audition. When I talked to guy who shipped it, he said, "How could they lose it?, it is like losing an elephant!!!" He assured me that they would find it on Monday, or ship another one. The problem I have now is that my son has never even held this type of instrument, and next weekend he has to audition with it.

Holy Crap!

Domino Bob was on Letterman tonight. He takes hours setting up dominoes just to knock them down in a matter of minutes. I guess that is entertainment. It seems like it is just more crap in the world. How much more stuff can we have? I cleaned out about half of my closet today. There were clothes in there that I don't even remember having. The older I get, the more annoyed I get with all this junk. Of course it is the time of year that we are all buying more "stuff" for each other. The Christmas shopping frenzy is about to begin, and we will all end up with more junk that we don't need. Several years ago I had a fire in my garage. It destroyed most of the extra stuff that I didn't need that was stored out there. About $2500. worth of stuff. When I got the insurance check, I bought new stuff. Now I have so much stuff, that I don't know where it all is, and when I need it - I can't find it! So, when I need something, I have to go out and buy it - even though I know that I have it here somewhere. If this sounds wasteful, it is. If this is sounding like I am working on a New Years resolution, I am. I am gonna need a dump truck to unload all this crap!

"IF" by Rudyard Kipling - one of my favorites!

If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies;
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster,
and treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken,
twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
and stoop to build them up with wornout tools;

If you can make a heap of all your winnings
and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
and lose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
to serve you long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you,
except the will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes or loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Christmas tree

Most people do not put "the tree" up until Thanksgiving or after. Ours is up already, maybe because I whined last year that it wasn't up long enough. I love the holidays. I am thankful that I have a nice home and family. I am very content and happy with my life. I am lucky, good fortune has smiled on me! Let me be the first to wish you - "Happy Holidays".

The cost of things

I just purchased a used King convertible tuba. (I am eagerly waiting by the door for it to arrive) It occurred to me that my son's first car did not cost as much as the tuba. Maybe this is because the tuba is all metal, while cars these days are made of mostly plastic! Anyway, if he abandons the car, I can always drive it or sell it......but the tuba?

Just wait by the mailbox

If you haven't started Christmas shopping, you should get busy with it now. I sent my mother a new 6 ft., pre-lit Christmas tree. She was complaining last year that her tree was too difficult to put together so the new one has "hinged" branches, already attached, that just fold out. It takes about ten minutes to set it up - then you just plug it in and add ornaments. Anyway, I bought the tree online from target, free shipping, delivered in two days. I am a fan of internet shopping. You don't have to leave the house, and this time of year many of the online retailers have free shipping, and most have no sales tax. There are professional Christmas shoppers, who shop for people who are too busy/lazy/selfish to do their own shopping. This could be a great internet business - have them list their desired gifts, then you could search for the best deal, order for them and have the gifts send directly to them. You could charge for this service, and never leave your computer. Just another one of my "get rich quick" ideas.

HP is cool

Hewlett-Packard may sound like a 50's car, but it is a pretty cool company. I have purchased many products from them. I have gotten two digital cameras from them, a laptop, and two printers. Some of these items have been purchased from their online store. I love the photo print quality of both my printers, one is a scanner-printer. I print a lot of photos, for the band and for photo books I keep. I also give away alot of photos to people. I like ink-jet printers, they have always worked well for me. There may be something better, but I don't know about it. The ink for these printers is quite expensive, and you can spend up to $60. replenishing both ink cartridges. HP has an online special going on right now - color & photo cartridges, 100 sheets of 4x6 photo paper, and free NEXT DAY shipping - all for $39.99. I ordered this yesterday, and FEDEX was knocking on the door with it at 9 AM this morning! Great deal! (I think I will order another batch!)

Be the first on my "blog!".........

......to contribute to my son's tuba fund! Yes, you heard it here first. My son is auditioning in December to march with "The Magic", a DCI band that tours the county in the summer. For more info see www.dci.org and click on the left side blue button "about us". Only problem with all this is that he currently plays the sousaphone, and this band plays a convertible tuba (see photo). Instead of wrapping around you like the sousaphone, these tubas (affectionly known as "buicks" because of their weight and size) are carried and played on your left shoulder - all this while you are marching. The Magic will provide a tuba for him if he gets in - but he really wants one to practice with at home. These big brass babies start at about $5000. I have been shopping around and found a used one, only 2 years old for $2500. Any suggestions about how I can beg, borrow or steal money for this project will be appreciated. Also, to all my friends everywhere - if there is anything I own that you want - call me - let's make a deal. I have no idea how I will pull this off, but some how, some way - I will get that boy his tuba!

Bird "whew"

Earlier today I was outside in the shed (which we call "the studio") which is adjacent to my homing pigeon coop. I had let the pigeons out to fly earlier, and some had returned, others were outside on the roof sunning themselves. Suddenly I heard a noise and wings flapping. I looked up and saw a flash, a hawk with one of the pigeons in his talons flying away. I ran towards the noise and the hawk dropped the heavy pigeon just inside the fence. The poor bird was stunned and not moving. It had a small spot of blood on it's head, and feathers missing, but no visable injuries. The pigeon appears to be recovering. I hope when it is my time to go, that it will happen that quickly; but I guess there is not a hawk big enough to carry me away - ha! I have about 30 pigeons now. I started about six years ago with 8. They are a lot like rabbits - if you get my meaning.

Endorsement

I am not one to endorse products, but I have found something that "does what it says". I am the ultimate slob. I love to be neat and clean, but lately, I can't keep food in my mouth. Maybe there is a hole in my bottom lip or something, but I can't eat anything without "wearing" it. I try to tuck a napkin in my collar (oh that looks good). Anyway, the other night I was in a restaurant eating a steak. Even though I haven't had steak in a while, I remembered that it is not usually sloppy. WRONG! Soon I had it all over the front of my shirt. I remembered that I had bought some "TIDE TO GO" stain stick, but had not tried it yet. I decided to try it on the greasy stain. It is the size of a pen, and you depress the marker type tip on to the stain. Unbelievable. It works. The stain on my white shirt COMPLETELY disapeared. I am gonna buy stock in the company. I will never leave home without it!

. . . and one more thing

The uniforms are done, but before I go, I want to tell you about a bumper sticker that I dreamed up today. How about this-

"Holster your gun, comments or gestures made by this driver are for entertainment purposes only, and not meant to offend you - please - don't shoot!"

I have to think about these things, after all, I do live in the "Gunshine" state.

"Banding together"

We had an away game Friday night, and this is the band performing at the half-time show. The show is getting better all the time, too bad we are at the end of the season, it went by fast. Tomorrow is the last competition, so I am up this late because I am washing their uniforms. OH! the life of a band parent! I pull the equipment trailer to all the band functions. Tonight, when I pulled in, a parking lot lady with no sense told me to park it on the field next to the stadium. When I drove in with the "HEMI" towing that 24 foot trailer, I felt it sink into the sod. After the game, it was hell getting out of there. My tires kept spinning and throwing mud onto the trailer. I finally got out of there. The trailer was covered with spin off mud, or so I thought until I got to the carwash and saw this! Yes, that is green grass all over the trailer! I am glad I washed it off (grass stain) right away.The turf at that field must be really torn up. There is NO dirt in this photo, that is all SOD! I hope they didn't get my tag number!

Blogs I love to read

Since I have discovered blogging - there are several sites worth mentioning. I have surfed the blogs - mostly on blogspot, and now there are some blogs that I read everyday. There are some incredible writers out there. Some of my favorite are "Matthew's Blog", the daily story and photos of a very ill little baby named Matthew and how his parents are dealing with his illness - I check it out almost everyday, to see how he is progressing. His daddy reports on him daily, usually with photos of his smiley little face. Little Matthew brightens my day. Another great blog is "Epiphenita", a wonderful and witty writer of contemporary thoughts that will keep you thinking and laughing all the time. I have also discovered "texas2tennessee", the blog of a woman living at a retreat who is quite a descriptive writer and photographer. Check these out, they are worth the read. On the other hand, I have also surfed through some real crap, written by psychos.

r-e-a-l-l-y part-time

My son quit his part time job this past weekend. He told me that he was really tired of smelling like fast foods, and that he really didn't want to work anymore. He only worked on weekends since last summer. He saved all of his money and put it in the bank. His argument was that he really didn't need to work, so he would rather not. Since I told him in the first place that I just wanted him to work for a while for the experience, I couldn't really argue the point. I explained to him that this was probably the last time in his life that he would have the "choice not to work". I reminded him how lucky he was that he didn't have to. Childhood is such a short time in our lives, I want him to enjoy it. I also want him to have a sense of responsibility. He knows he will have to keep a job when he is sixteen, that is - if he wants to have a car and drive. His sixteenth birthday is less than six months away - then he will have to join the rat race like the rest of us. I hope he enjoys the next few months off.

Is is just me or does this tree look like it has several eyes and a nose with a mustache and goatee? I parked in front of it the other day and looked at it for a while. Pretty soon it was looking back. I think I will shine a light on it for Halloween. Freaky huh?

Point of view

On the passing of Rosa Parks I was commenting to my son how she helped start the ball rolling in the civil rights movement in the 1950's. I have always tried to tell my son to look at the other person's point of view, listen to their argument, then make his own decisions. I have also always lectured him about obeying the law, doing what is right, even if you don't like it at the time. He told me that he had heard a commentator on television talking about Rosa Parks, how she was held up as a hero to young children. The commentator said that maybe this was not someone we should teach our children to look up to because, after all, she broke the law. I was happy that my son is exploring other opinions (than mine) but I was sad (in a way) that he is so young that he did not experience such intense racism. I have never questioned that Rosa Parks did the right thing by breaking the law, I never even thought about it. My son pointed out to me that if we don't like a particular law, that doesn't give us the right to break that law. I was befuddled. I am lucky that my boy goes to a school that has black, white, hispanic, and gay students. Interacting everyday with each other has made many of them color blind, and this is a good thing. This gives me hope that the younger generation are actually judging each other "by the content of their character" and not the "color of their skin".

Made it through another one. . .

Well, Wilma wasn't so bad for us. It passed south of us and we got wind and rain, but no damage or flooding. We did not even lose power. The worst was that I found a dead rat in the back yard, and had to race with the dogs to get to it first. I got it in the garbage bag before they could get it in their mouths. Truth be told, even though the rat didn't have any visable injuries, Buddy the "ratter" dog may have killed him. Buddy was out last night even during the rain, so he was after something. Thank God he didn't bring the rat though the doggy door. Now it is time to take the boards down from the windows. I hope this is the last hurricane this season. I am getting real tired of this. The weather has cooled down and it is 67 degrees today, feels nice for a change.

Hurry up.....and wait

We are boarding up the house, possibly leaving to evacuate hurricane Wilma. I went out to the trailer today, to jettison some stuff I won't need. When I took off the tire covers, I realized one of the tires was flat. It was split in the middle of the tread, about six inches long, catastrophic failure (glad it didn't happen on the road). I changed it, and I just went out there again to lock it up for the night, and I noticed that the spare is slowly going flat. These tires were new last year. Too late to complain now. In the morning, I have to get the trailer out of the yard, then take it to the tire place. Hope they have some trailer tires, I might just replace ALL of them. The trailer weighs 7600 pounds, I don't want to take a chance that the other tires are defective. Anyway, if we have to leave, it is nice to pull a place to stay behind you. I just hope I can escape the Florida pennisula without getting stuck in traffic. I am planning to take the back roads. If there is a gas shortage I will just go as far inland as I can. This is gonna be a bad one and I hope it passes quickly. I want to at least get as far north as Gainesville or Ocala. I believe that everyday of your life is an adventure. You can get through adversity with a strong will and a good attitude. I guess this weekend will be just another journey. I hope I will have as much strength as people of New Orleans. Easy for me to say, I'll just be driving down the road, not treading sewer water with no place to go.

New camera

I just got my new camera yesterday. I didn't need a new camera. I just wanted one. That's the beauty of being my age, you can do whateverthehell you want! I justified it to myself by saying that I had to have a camera with a better zoom, since most of my photos are at band competitions in a large stadium. I got the NIKON COOLPIX 88OO! I already had the HP945, which is a nice camera with a effective zoom. The Coolpix has a 10x optical zoom, and VR (vibration reduction), so when you are "zoomed" on a shot across the stadium, you can hold the camera instead of using the tripod, avoiding blurry photos. This camera has 15 scene modes, including "fireworks" and "backlit" mode. Each scene mode is indicated by a little icon. I will have to study these so I know what to use. I am not a real photographer, so I just buy fancy cameras and use the automatic mode. The beauty of digital photography is that you can take as many photos as you want. Somewhere in there, you have to get a good shot! I will most likely carry both cameras with me, just in case! Soon, I will need a backpack to carry all my equipment.

Here we go again . . . .

Boards up, boards down, boards up - on the windows that is. We are again faced with another impending hurricane. There is so much to do to prepare, but we know the drill by now. We can have all the boards put up on the windows in about and hour. We have pre-cut plywood, with plylock clips. We put all the stuff in the yard away. Lawn chairs, clothlines, garbage cans, and anything that can fly into your house in a strong wind. Only problem is, if the neighbors don't put their stuff away, it flys over into your house. Then there is always the "when to leave". When you live on a pennisula like Florida, you need to leave about a day before they tell you to, to avoid the exodus traffic. Imagine being stuck in traffic in 100 mph winds! If you work, you have to ultimately decide between your job and your life. If you want to evacuate, you have to wait for some boss to give you the time off, and then it may be too late to leave. I am ready to leave on a moments notice, but now "Wilma" has stalled, and is gonna take a few more days to get here.

Amtrak auto train

Last summer my son and I took the auto train to Virginia. It was a really neat experience. The train runs everyday from Sanford, Florida to Lorton, Virgina. Lorton is just outside of Washington, D.C. You have to get to the train station about an hour before and they load your car in the special car carrier rail cars. These cars are "triple decker" and hold a lot of cars. The car carriers are backed up to loading ramps, and a team of loaders drive each of the cars on. They put a magnetic number on your car, so they can call it out at the other end when your car is unloaded. Our train had 148 autos loaded on it, and with the engine, dining car, coach cars, and sleeper cars, the whole train was almost a mile long. The train leaves at 4 PM and arrives in Lorton at 9 AM the next morning. We were in a two person sleeper (they also have bedroom & family sleepers) and our bathroom was down the hall. The passenger cars have two levels, with bathrooms and showers on the first floor and the bedrooms are upstairs, so you are about 25 feet above the tracks. Shortly after you get under way, the porter assigned to your car comes by to welcome you aboard, and tell you where everything is, and all about the lounge car and dining car. Our compartment was really cool. It had a large picture window, and sliding glass door (with curtains)on the hallway side. Two reclinder type seats face each other, and there is a fold down table in the middle. There is room to hang clothes, and bring a small carry on bag. There is a plug in (we brought the laptop and watched a movie) or you can go to the lounge car where they have two showings of a current movie. Dinner is served at 5:30, 7, or 9 PM, and the porter calls you on the intercom in your comparment when it is your time. The food was comparable to any good restaurant, and they have silverware, linen table cloths and napkins. You may choose from three different entres, but all were good. You may have wine with dinner, but we didn't - it is difficult enough to dine then walk on a moving train! At the time of your chosing, you can go to bed for the night. The porter comes by and turns those recliners into a bed, then pulls down an upper bunk, and makes that into a bed. Getting used to sleeping on a moving train is difficult at first, but soon the "clackiety-clack" lulls you to sleep. We awoke in the night because the train stopped, but we found out later that this was a normal stop to change engineers. We got up about 7 AM and headed down to the dining car for a continental breakfast, they had everything you could want from fruit to bagels, and GOOD coffee. When we finished breakfast we returned to our compartment and our beds were put away and back to our sitting room. Before long we were at the station in Lorton, and just had to wait for our car to be unloaded. It made a long trip more bearable, and it was WAY better than flying. Plus, we had our car with us when we got there.

Just like the real thing

I have a new screen saver called "Marine Aquarium". It is really neat. For years I had a real aquarium, and I considered getting another one. Initial cost was not the problem, but the fact that I would have one more thing to do, maintain the water quality, and have someone take care of it if I go on vacation. So this works out for me. I am amazed how lifelike and animated the fish are. You can decide on the kind of fish that you want in the tank, or the computer will pick them at random. It is really like looking at a real aquarium, bubbles, shadows and all. A lucite, see through clock can be added - that keeps the current date and time. Check it out at serenescreen.com. Now I am considering buying a larger monitor, so I can have a bigger "tank"! Hmmm, what's next? Animated children, that don't make a mess or cost you a fortune? And the best part, you could turn them off if they got on your nerves! I wonder. . . .

New Florida gun law

In a lot of ways I like the new Florida gun law. You are not required to retreat if a perpetrator threatens to do you harm, you may take the first agressive move toward him, before he can hurt you. For the law abiding citizen, this is a good law, but I worry about what is going to happen with the lunatics. There are people who believe that if you look at them funny, that you are a potential threat. They will be able to shoot you, with no fear of prosecution. A few weeks ago, I attended our local gun show. I was suprised to see the number and variety of people in the concealed permit class. There are a lot of people in Florida carrying guns. We have been dubbed the "Gunshine State". Please follow what I have always subscribed to, "be nice to everyone, don't give them an excuse to shoot you".