This has been a busy busy week. Some of it good and some of it just downright hellish and busy. We started out by getting home from our Transatlantic Cruise on Saturday the 20th. Saturday was the day from Hell to begin with. We landed in Miami at around 6:00 am Sat morning, disembarked and after standing in the "Line from Hell." I can't imagine what took us so long to get through this line and get our suitcases but finely made that hurdle. We got a porter to take our suitcases out the bus which was another adventure. Had trouble finding our bus but finely saw our people getting on a bus so we figured this is our bus. When we got there they put our suitcases in the bus but some guy standing there kept telling us it was not the discovery travel bus. Don't get on! Well I finely just got on as our suitcase were there and everybody else from our group was there. We got to the airport and found another porter who helped us with our suitcases then walked around to our gate. We decided to get something to eat but all that was there was a pizza place so Lee & I, Jim & Alma caught a people mover and went to another gate. Had a wonderful meal of an American Burger, fries and a beer. We were standing by the place to catch a people mover to take us back to our gate when some of our people came by telling us that they had changed our gate and here we were right by it so that was lucky. Then we had a long wait. Our plane wasn't until around 4:00 or sometime thereabouts. So we settled in for the long wait. Then a very short flight to Tampa and another bus to Strawberry Ridge.
Since Thursday was Thanksgiving we decided not to put up any Christmas Decorations this year. That was until I talked to Linda. Seems some of her friends want to come around and visit every ones villages so ......... that is what we did for the rest of the week. We drug heavy boxes down from the shed, cleaned the floors in the living room, moved around all the furniture, and set up the village. What a job that all was.
Mingled in with all the Village activity on Monday evening we discovered the dishwasher wasn't working so we called our trusty faithful and speedy repair man, Brian who came right out on Tuesday morning. Brian said it would cost almost as much to fix this dishwasher as to get a new one. Well I said to Lee "Gee we won't be able to get it by Thanksgiving. You will have all those dishes to wash by hand Why can't you Brian says? We can??? I asked in amazement. Sure Let me see what I can do and I'll call you back." Well long story short. Brian was back on Wednesday Morning, brand new dishwasher in tow and I was just finishing up my village. Then we had a wonderful meal and visit with all the children, and grandchildren who were in town and not committed elsewhere. Yesterday and today we have been chilling out and recuperating. So ends the week.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Ingleby Village
Ingleby Village
By Jeannie Lewis
The village of Ingle sits high on a cliff in the northernmost area of Maine overlooking the ocean. In the town there is a high meadow pond where the townspeople skate in the winter and fish in the summer. In the lower valley farmland is a beautiful little stream runs through with a mill house and pond. Ingleby maintains its early American charm with its quaint old buildings and early American Dress. Progress has passed Ingleby by in many ways. Mr. Ingleby still rides around in a horse and buggy even though motor vehicles have been on the market for quite some time now. Ingleby is run with the iron fist of Norman Ingleby who is the banker of the town and holds mortgages on all the properties. Norman is the descendant of a Frenchman named Guillaume Couture who came to New France in 1641. Guillaume has quite an interesting story of his own but for now we will concentrate on Norman Ingleby. Normans’ family has always had wealth and privilege but Norman who was the rouge of the family has quite a few skeletons in his closet. In the early 1920’s young Norman went to New York City where he met a young man named Santos Trafficante. Since his Fathers death Santos was the head of the Tampa Mafia in Florida. Santos and Norman hit it off from the start. The young Mafia Don told Norman of his rum running and drug dealings with Cuba. Norman had never imagined going to Cuba but became convinced this was the thing to do. He and Santos made plans to form a partnership and off Norman went to Cuba where he experienced the high life of the Cuban clubs. Norman spent many hours roaming from club to club with Santos and his friends. Norman hand a romantic fling with a dark eyed beauty in Cuba forgetting all about his family at home. After 3 years of the high life Norman Senior arrived in Cuba dragging his son home to settle down and get married to the town beauty and take over managing Ingleby Village.
After his fling Norman settled into the quite life of Ingleby but still maintained his wild life. He had an affair with the beautiful housekeeper Lyla who became pregnant. Lyla married the postmaster who had always loved her and they had their child who they named Jamie. Jamie was always the town clown. Everyone said he would never amount to anything but the year of the big fishing tournament came and Jamie entered the tournament. Jamie rented a small rowboat and rowed out to sea. Toward the end of the day Jamie snagged onto a fish. The fish was the monster of all fish. Jamie fought and struggled with the fish for two days being dragged further and further out to sea. On the third day the fish gave up the fight and Jamie pulled him in onto the boat. The fish was so big his head hung over one end of the boat and his tail over the other end. Jamie rowed and rowed and was finely spotted by the lighthouse keeper who had maintained vigil throughout the ordeal keeping watch for Little Jamie. Jamie won the contest and bought his mother, who was now a poor struggling widow, a Bed and Breakfast with the winnings. Jamie settled down and married the little girl who sells Christmas wreaths in front of the town cafe.
In the meantime Mr. Ingleby had maintained a running feud with a local farmer named Trent Carrillo. Ingleby felt the farmer was encroaching on property that belonged to him. Ingleby did all sorts of dastardly deeds such as cutting off the water supply to the farm. Trent built a mill house and diverted the creek to water his crops. Still Ingleby persisted. Trent hired some help from a close by village of Peyton Place in Riverview and they managed to fend off Ingleby. Little did Ingleby know but young Trent was his son by the dark eyed Cuban beauty. Trent had stowed away on Ingleby’ last rum ship out of Cuba. Trent sailed into the port of Tampa and set about becoming an American. Trent worked on the railroads up and down the coast. Trent was an avid gambler and made his fortune playing poker in the caboose of the trains. When Trent was well established and had money in his pockets he arrived in the town of Ingleby and bought his farm land. Ingleby was outraged that this interloper had gone behind his back and laid claim to the best farmland around. Inglebys’ wife had made the deal while Ingleby was laid up with a bout of the flu.
Seems like Ingleby constantly has his share of woes. Now came the year of the Gypsies. One dark night a group of Gypsies came into town and set up their carnival without permission or permits. Ingleby was to say the least outraged. He went into town shotgun in hand to confront the Gypsies and shut them down. Well Norman had a change of heart this Christmas. He came down on his buggy and looked around. "His People" were having such a great time at the carnival that he put away his shotgun and negotiated with the Gypsies. He had a piece of land way down in the hollow and if they would promise to give him a 75% cut of the profit he would lease the land to them for 99 years. The Gypsies being pretty shrewd agreed to a 50% cut and a 150 year lease. Since he (Ingleby) figured he may lose a lot of business in the town by the townspeople who threatened to go to Peyton Place to do all their Christmas Shopping, agreed to the Gypsies terms. Ya know Ingleby is a finagler anyway and always looking for a way to line his pockets. Also by doing this deal with the Gypsies he doesn’t have to deal with all the County’s red tape and put out all that money for the big Urban Renewal project he planned for next year. He is saving a bunch PLUS pocketing 50% of the Gypsies take. The piece of land he leased to the Gypsies is pretty ragged looking right now we had to wait for a big snowfall to hide some of the debris left by the construction of the Carnival. But the carnival is up and running and everyone is having a grand time. As for Ingleby he is up in his mansion drinking eggnog and counting his take from the carnival.
All was going pretty well until this shyster Mayor of Peyton place decided he wanted the carnival so he hired a lawyer to stir up the Gypsies. The lawyer came into town in a hot air balloon well can you imagine Mr. Mayors surprise when the lawyer landed and found some of his own relatives from the old country were the Gypsies in question. The lawyer was Jewish and the Gypsies are Jewish Gypsies. So the lawyer Mr.Linskey severed his contract with the Mayor, joined his kinsman and set his balloon up as a ride. His is now representing the Gypsies pro bono.
By Jeannie Lewis
The village of Ingle sits high on a cliff in the northernmost area of Maine overlooking the ocean. In the town there is a high meadow pond where the townspeople skate in the winter and fish in the summer. In the lower valley farmland is a beautiful little stream runs through with a mill house and pond. Ingleby maintains its early American charm with its quaint old buildings and early American Dress. Progress has passed Ingleby by in many ways. Mr. Ingleby still rides around in a horse and buggy even though motor vehicles have been on the market for quite some time now. Ingleby is run with the iron fist of Norman Ingleby who is the banker of the town and holds mortgages on all the properties. Norman is the descendant of a Frenchman named Guillaume Couture who came to New France in 1641. Guillaume has quite an interesting story of his own but for now we will concentrate on Norman Ingleby. Normans’ family has always had wealth and privilege but Norman who was the rouge of the family has quite a few skeletons in his closet. In the early 1920’s young Norman went to New York City where he met a young man named Santos Trafficante. Since his Fathers death Santos was the head of the Tampa Mafia in Florida. Santos and Norman hit it off from the start. The young Mafia Don told Norman of his rum running and drug dealings with Cuba. Norman had never imagined going to Cuba but became convinced this was the thing to do. He and Santos made plans to form a partnership and off Norman went to Cuba where he experienced the high life of the Cuban clubs. Norman spent many hours roaming from club to club with Santos and his friends. Norman hand a romantic fling with a dark eyed beauty in Cuba forgetting all about his family at home. After 3 years of the high life Norman Senior arrived in Cuba dragging his son home to settle down and get married to the town beauty and take over managing Ingleby Village.
After his fling Norman settled into the quite life of Ingleby but still maintained his wild life. He had an affair with the beautiful housekeeper Lyla who became pregnant. Lyla married the postmaster who had always loved her and they had their child who they named Jamie. Jamie was always the town clown. Everyone said he would never amount to anything but the year of the big fishing tournament came and Jamie entered the tournament. Jamie rented a small rowboat and rowed out to sea. Toward the end of the day Jamie snagged onto a fish. The fish was the monster of all fish. Jamie fought and struggled with the fish for two days being dragged further and further out to sea. On the third day the fish gave up the fight and Jamie pulled him in onto the boat. The fish was so big his head hung over one end of the boat and his tail over the other end. Jamie rowed and rowed and was finely spotted by the lighthouse keeper who had maintained vigil throughout the ordeal keeping watch for Little Jamie. Jamie won the contest and bought his mother, who was now a poor struggling widow, a Bed and Breakfast with the winnings. Jamie settled down and married the little girl who sells Christmas wreaths in front of the town cafe.
In the meantime Mr. Ingleby had maintained a running feud with a local farmer named Trent Carrillo. Ingleby felt the farmer was encroaching on property that belonged to him. Ingleby did all sorts of dastardly deeds such as cutting off the water supply to the farm. Trent built a mill house and diverted the creek to water his crops. Still Ingleby persisted. Trent hired some help from a close by village of Peyton Place in Riverview and they managed to fend off Ingleby. Little did Ingleby know but young Trent was his son by the dark eyed Cuban beauty. Trent had stowed away on Ingleby’ last rum ship out of Cuba. Trent sailed into the port of Tampa and set about becoming an American. Trent worked on the railroads up and down the coast. Trent was an avid gambler and made his fortune playing poker in the caboose of the trains. When Trent was well established and had money in his pockets he arrived in the town of Ingleby and bought his farm land. Ingleby was outraged that this interloper had gone behind his back and laid claim to the best farmland around. Inglebys’ wife had made the deal while Ingleby was laid up with a bout of the flu.
Seems like Ingleby constantly has his share of woes. Now came the year of the Gypsies. One dark night a group of Gypsies came into town and set up their carnival without permission or permits. Ingleby was to say the least outraged. He went into town shotgun in hand to confront the Gypsies and shut them down. Well Norman had a change of heart this Christmas. He came down on his buggy and looked around. "His People" were having such a great time at the carnival that he put away his shotgun and negotiated with the Gypsies. He had a piece of land way down in the hollow and if they would promise to give him a 75% cut of the profit he would lease the land to them for 99 years. The Gypsies being pretty shrewd agreed to a 50% cut and a 150 year lease. Since he (Ingleby) figured he may lose a lot of business in the town by the townspeople who threatened to go to Peyton Place to do all their Christmas Shopping, agreed to the Gypsies terms. Ya know Ingleby is a finagler anyway and always looking for a way to line his pockets. Also by doing this deal with the Gypsies he doesn’t have to deal with all the County’s red tape and put out all that money for the big Urban Renewal project he planned for next year. He is saving a bunch PLUS pocketing 50% of the Gypsies take. The piece of land he leased to the Gypsies is pretty ragged looking right now we had to wait for a big snowfall to hide some of the debris left by the construction of the Carnival. But the carnival is up and running and everyone is having a grand time. As for Ingleby he is up in his mansion drinking eggnog and counting his take from the carnival.
All was going pretty well until this shyster Mayor of Peyton place decided he wanted the carnival so he hired a lawyer to stir up the Gypsies. The lawyer came into town in a hot air balloon well can you imagine Mr. Mayors surprise when the lawyer landed and found some of his own relatives from the old country were the Gypsies in question. The lawyer was Jewish and the Gypsies are Jewish Gypsies. So the lawyer Mr.Linskey severed his contract with the Mayor, joined his kinsman and set his balloon up as a ride. His is now representing the Gypsies pro bono.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Final Installment of Cruise
November 11, 2010
This is the 5th day of our cruise at 6:00 am and woke up early for a change. I decided to order room service coffee and try a bit of writing. We have had a wonderfully restful cruise. Lee and I have not stepped off the boat since we got on. We had decided that this was going to be just a cruise with no ports of call. The ship stopped at three ports and so far a day at sea. We have done nothing but eat, drink (in more moderation than we expected) and gambled. So far the machines have been very good to me. I have already put my money that I brought along to gamble with and $200 extra in the safe. And I have in my pocket $135 to gamble with now. Lee hasn’t been so lucky this trip he is feeding the machines. That is normally the reverse with us. Yesterday, our day at sea, we had a fun filled day. We enjoyed breakfast with Jim, Alma slept in) then played bridge with Lucille and Norma, hit the slots a bit then went to a wine tasting. By then it was time for Lunch. After lunch tucked into a quiet nook to read a bit, gambled some more then time for dinner. Ah what a “chore” shipboard life is. After dinner we did a fun thing. Lee and I. Jim and Alma went to the Martini Bar and had a flight of martinis. A flight of martinis is a sampler of 6 of their different martinis. You get a small glass of each. The drinking of it is not what's fun. It is the watching of the mixologist prepare the drinks. He takes all the shakers, mixes the drinks in each then stacks up 12 of them together. Then he hops right up on the bar and tips them over so that the drink pours into each of the glasses. It was amazing to watch. I wasn’t all that fond of the drinks but it sure was fun to watch.
We have had some really rough seas. Waves were up to 18 feet. Really difficult to walk around. Good time to find a quiet nook to just sit. Or a good hot machine in the casino. As I am writing this we have pulled into Funchal Portugal. It is just beautiful! It is still dark and the mountainside is like a black velvet cloth strewn with jewels. It is spectacular. The sun will be rising shortly and we should have a marvelous sunrise. The weather is cool and clear. But not so cool you can’t step out on the veranda without a sweater. I am sure Lee with have to wrap up like a mummy as he tends to get colder than I do. As for right now I am just sitting here with the door open and enjoying the morning.
Adendum
The remainder of the trip was pretty much the same every day. I would get up early, order my coffee on the veranda then wake Lee up to go to breakfast. Many people like to go up to the buffet but we enjoy going to the main dining room, sitting and be waited on. So much easier than carrying those trays to the table. After breakfast we would play bridge until time to eat lunch. Again in the main dining room. After lunch time to read a bit then maybe a movie if they had something good. Not a real good selection of movies on the ship I have found. I also spent time watching Grey’s Anatomy season 6 on my iPod. Next is afternoon cocktails, sometimes on our veranda with Jim and Alma and sometimes in the Martini Bar. Then Dinner, a show, maybe some gambling then to bed to read. On the cruise I read 6 books and Lee read 5 so the Kindle really came in handy. Surprisingly enough I gambled away the $135 that I kept out of the safe but the rest I actually brought home. So unlike me.
Once we got out into the Atlantic the seas became calm so smoothing sailing all the way across the Atlantic. It was just so beautiful every morning I would get up early and watch the sun rise over the ocean. I will be posting some pictures later as soon as I download from the camera.
This is the 5th day of our cruise at 6:00 am and woke up early for a change. I decided to order room service coffee and try a bit of writing. We have had a wonderfully restful cruise. Lee and I have not stepped off the boat since we got on. We had decided that this was going to be just a cruise with no ports of call. The ship stopped at three ports and so far a day at sea. We have done nothing but eat, drink (in more moderation than we expected) and gambled. So far the machines have been very good to me. I have already put my money that I brought along to gamble with and $200 extra in the safe. And I have in my pocket $135 to gamble with now. Lee hasn’t been so lucky this trip he is feeding the machines. That is normally the reverse with us. Yesterday, our day at sea, we had a fun filled day. We enjoyed breakfast with Jim, Alma slept in) then played bridge with Lucille and Norma, hit the slots a bit then went to a wine tasting. By then it was time for Lunch. After lunch tucked into a quiet nook to read a bit, gambled some more then time for dinner. Ah what a “chore” shipboard life is. After dinner we did a fun thing. Lee and I. Jim and Alma went to the Martini Bar and had a flight of martinis. A flight of martinis is a sampler of 6 of their different martinis. You get a small glass of each. The drinking of it is not what's fun. It is the watching of the mixologist prepare the drinks. He takes all the shakers, mixes the drinks in each then stacks up 12 of them together. Then he hops right up on the bar and tips them over so that the drink pours into each of the glasses. It was amazing to watch. I wasn’t all that fond of the drinks but it sure was fun to watch.
We have had some really rough seas. Waves were up to 18 feet. Really difficult to walk around. Good time to find a quiet nook to just sit. Or a good hot machine in the casino. As I am writing this we have pulled into Funchal Portugal. It is just beautiful! It is still dark and the mountainside is like a black velvet cloth strewn with jewels. It is spectacular. The sun will be rising shortly and we should have a marvelous sunrise. The weather is cool and clear. But not so cool you can’t step out on the veranda without a sweater. I am sure Lee with have to wrap up like a mummy as he tends to get colder than I do. As for right now I am just sitting here with the door open and enjoying the morning.
Adendum
The remainder of the trip was pretty much the same every day. I would get up early, order my coffee on the veranda then wake Lee up to go to breakfast. Many people like to go up to the buffet but we enjoy going to the main dining room, sitting and be waited on. So much easier than carrying those trays to the table. After breakfast we would play bridge until time to eat lunch. Again in the main dining room. After lunch time to read a bit then maybe a movie if they had something good. Not a real good selection of movies on the ship I have found. I also spent time watching Grey’s Anatomy season 6 on my iPod. Next is afternoon cocktails, sometimes on our veranda with Jim and Alma and sometimes in the Martini Bar. Then Dinner, a show, maybe some gambling then to bed to read. On the cruise I read 6 books and Lee read 5 so the Kindle really came in handy. Surprisingly enough I gambled away the $135 that I kept out of the safe but the rest I actually brought home. So unlike me.
Once we got out into the Atlantic the seas became calm so smoothing sailing all the way across the Atlantic. It was just so beautiful every morning I would get up early and watch the sun rise over the ocean. I will be posting some pictures later as soon as I download from the camera.
November 7, 2010
So home with my laptop today I decided to start it up and see what the problem was with blogging on it. Lo and behold the menu bar is right on top where it belongs. Must be something with the shipboard Internet. So maybe we won't blog on the ship. I just hope when we travel to Alaska in May, everything will work. I will add the posts that I did in Word on the Trip
November 7, 2010
Today is Sunday and day 2 of our Journey. Yesterday was a bit as I had predicted on my last blog with a few minor differences. We of course had the bus ride to the airport, long wait at the airport, short jaunt up to Atlanta and then the differences begin. We had signed up for me to have a wheelchair in Atlanta and Barcelona. Well is seems that my experiences with wheel chair travels have gone south. I had problems with them on my last trip and they have continued to be problematic on this trip. Upon arriving in Atlanta they didn’t have me on the list but eventually produced a chair for me. The young man assigned to push me took me to a handy dandy elevator where he was greeted by a female attendant who informed him that the elevators on the “T” concourse (where we were heading) were out of order so he had to take me back up the elevator and then had to call someone else to push me all the way over. There I sat watching the rest of our group being pushed by on their way to Concourse T. Presently someone came pushed me to the end of this concourse where we took one of the people movers to our destination. We had a 4 hour wait for out next plane so our plan was to stop at a restaurant and have a hamburger and French fries. We stopped at Samuel Adams and finely were waited on after several people who came in after us. We ordered our burgers and watched the couple who had come in directly ahead of us be served burgers. At that point the waitress came over and told us they were out of burgers and would we like to try the buffalo chicken sandwich. Well we did and it was good but the point of this story is that the two who were ahead of us were eating our burgers. Good thing I am a pleasant person or I would have gone right over and grabbed the burgers away from them. Ok, nuff about the damned burgers. We finely caught our plane and after a long 9 hour flight (they had told us that it was only going to be 6 hrs but it was 9) we arrived in Barcelona. Then the fun began with the wheelchairs. There were 24 of us in wheel chairs and a most unorganized system I have never seen. I only wish I had had a video camera to capture this entire production on video. We all had to sit and wait for the rest of the passengers to disembark then we all moved to the front of the plane. They loaded us onto a people mover truck which elevated right up to the door of the plane. It only fitted about 7 of us at the time. Then they road us over to a door where one person would wheel one of us at the time, park us by the door and then go back and get the next person. Next move was to line up at the elevator (which only held one wheelchair) So he moved one person at the time and put us in a line then run back get the next person and line them up and so on and so on. Finely some of us got the idea and wheeled ourselves. This moved things along a little quicker. Presently Lee decided to wheel me and I drug the wheelie suitcase along. It was all quite comical. We all relayed ourselves through immigration and out to the area where Brenda, Leonard and Tom were waiting for us with our suitcases that they had pulled off the belt for us. We exited out through the door and the Celebrity (Cruises Ship) people were waiting for us. For some unknown reason this person and our wheel chair man whisked 7 of us away from the pack (we must have looked dangerous or something) and took us out to this enormous waiting area where no one was so we couldn't do any damage to anyone. We waited and waited and waited until finely someone came and got us and took us to the bus. A 30 minute bus ride got us to the ship where we had this long check on process. Then a long long walk up the gangway to the other end of the ship. We were able to drop off our hand luggage and got back off the boat to go to the duty free store and grabbed a couple of bottles of wine. Our state rooms were now ready for us so we collapsed for a short nap. By the time we got up our luggage had made it to our door and we unpacked and “feathered our nest.” Now we are all settled in We had a cocktail in the Martini bar then went to dinner, the show, a bit at the casino then finely made it to bed at 11:30. By now it had been something over 36 hours without sleep and I was so wound up I just couldn't sleep. That is until my head hit the pillow then I slept like the dead.
Until 9:00 Sunday morning. Now we had missed the sit down breakfast at San Marco restaurant so had to go up to the Buffet. I normally hate the buffet. I like to be served not have to grab a tray and carry it to the table. But I must say the meal was perfect. The eggs were cooked to perfection and everything else was just great.
Today is going to be the day for running into know it all, big mouthed old ladies. We were in the Captains Club area waiting for someone to come help us when this crazy lady came up and started asking about getting here boarding pass printed. She just kept on about it so I finely asked her what she was talking about. What boarding pass did she need? Well she was going to Ft. Lauderdale and had to fly home from there so she wanted her boarding pass. I said you mean to the plane. Yes that is what she wanted. I told her she couldn’t get that here she had to get that from the airport. The ship has nothing to do with that. She said oh yes she has had that done before. We finely figured out she meant getting the pass online so I told her she couldn’t get that until 24 hours before her flight. OH no she knew better. So I finely just walked away. The next crazy lady we ran into was in the lounge upstairs where we were trying to read when this loud mouth lady came in complaining well If they are going to have this they should have it when people weren’t all ashore. I say what are you talking about? Have what? Well the party she says. I said no there is no party going on here. We are just us trying to read. Lee said maybe she is in the wrong place. NO SHE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE SHE IS. She has been on the ship many times before. You get this invitation to the elite club party. I said well do you have your paper with the invitation and it should have the time and place on it. She just kept going on about this special invitation party blah blah blah. Finely got tired of trying to talk to her so I buried my head in my book and ignored her. How do I attract these crazy people?
November 7, 2010
Today is Sunday and day 2 of our Journey. Yesterday was a bit as I had predicted on my last blog with a few minor differences. We of course had the bus ride to the airport, long wait at the airport, short jaunt up to Atlanta and then the differences begin. We had signed up for me to have a wheelchair in Atlanta and Barcelona. Well is seems that my experiences with wheel chair travels have gone south. I had problems with them on my last trip and they have continued to be problematic on this trip. Upon arriving in Atlanta they didn’t have me on the list but eventually produced a chair for me. The young man assigned to push me took me to a handy dandy elevator where he was greeted by a female attendant who informed him that the elevators on the “T” concourse (where we were heading) were out of order so he had to take me back up the elevator and then had to call someone else to push me all the way over. There I sat watching the rest of our group being pushed by on their way to Concourse T. Presently someone came pushed me to the end of this concourse where we took one of the people movers to our destination. We had a 4 hour wait for out next plane so our plan was to stop at a restaurant and have a hamburger and French fries. We stopped at Samuel Adams and finely were waited on after several people who came in after us. We ordered our burgers and watched the couple who had come in directly ahead of us be served burgers. At that point the waitress came over and told us they were out of burgers and would we like to try the buffalo chicken sandwich. Well we did and it was good but the point of this story is that the two who were ahead of us were eating our burgers. Good thing I am a pleasant person or I would have gone right over and grabbed the burgers away from them. Ok, nuff about the damned burgers. We finely caught our plane and after a long 9 hour flight (they had told us that it was only going to be 6 hrs but it was 9) we arrived in Barcelona. Then the fun began with the wheelchairs. There were 24 of us in wheel chairs and a most unorganized system I have never seen. I only wish I had had a video camera to capture this entire production on video. We all had to sit and wait for the rest of the passengers to disembark then we all moved to the front of the plane. They loaded us onto a people mover truck which elevated right up to the door of the plane. It only fitted about 7 of us at the time. Then they road us over to a door where one person would wheel one of us at the time, park us by the door and then go back and get the next person. Next move was to line up at the elevator (which only held one wheelchair) So he moved one person at the time and put us in a line then run back get the next person and line them up and so on and so on. Finely some of us got the idea and wheeled ourselves. This moved things along a little quicker. Presently Lee decided to wheel me and I drug the wheelie suitcase along. It was all quite comical. We all relayed ourselves through immigration and out to the area where Brenda, Leonard and Tom were waiting for us with our suitcases that they had pulled off the belt for us. We exited out through the door and the Celebrity (Cruises Ship) people were waiting for us. For some unknown reason this person and our wheel chair man whisked 7 of us away from the pack (we must have looked dangerous or something) and took us out to this enormous waiting area where no one was so we couldn't do any damage to anyone. We waited and waited and waited until finely someone came and got us and took us to the bus. A 30 minute bus ride got us to the ship where we had this long check on process. Then a long long walk up the gangway to the other end of the ship. We were able to drop off our hand luggage and got back off the boat to go to the duty free store and grabbed a couple of bottles of wine. Our state rooms were now ready for us so we collapsed for a short nap. By the time we got up our luggage had made it to our door and we unpacked and “feathered our nest.” Now we are all settled in We had a cocktail in the Martini bar then went to dinner, the show, a bit at the casino then finely made it to bed at 11:30. By now it had been something over 36 hours without sleep and I was so wound up I just couldn't sleep. That is until my head hit the pillow then I slept like the dead.
Until 9:00 Sunday morning. Now we had missed the sit down breakfast at San Marco restaurant so had to go up to the Buffet. I normally hate the buffet. I like to be served not have to grab a tray and carry it to the table. But I must say the meal was perfect. The eggs were cooked to perfection and everything else was just great.
Today is going to be the day for running into know it all, big mouthed old ladies. We were in the Captains Club area waiting for someone to come help us when this crazy lady came up and started asking about getting here boarding pass printed. She just kept on about it so I finely asked her what she was talking about. What boarding pass did she need? Well she was going to Ft. Lauderdale and had to fly home from there so she wanted her boarding pass. I said you mean to the plane. Yes that is what she wanted. I told her she couldn’t get that here she had to get that from the airport. The ship has nothing to do with that. She said oh yes she has had that done before. We finely figured out she meant getting the pass online so I told her she couldn’t get that until 24 hours before her flight. OH no she knew better. So I finely just walked away. The next crazy lady we ran into was in the lounge upstairs where we were trying to read when this loud mouth lady came in complaining well If they are going to have this they should have it when people weren’t all ashore. I say what are you talking about? Have what? Well the party she says. I said no there is no party going on here. We are just us trying to read. Lee said maybe she is in the wrong place. NO SHE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE SHE IS. She has been on the ship many times before. You get this invitation to the elite club party. I said well do you have your paper with the invitation and it should have the time and place on it. She just kept going on about this special invitation party blah blah blah. Finely got tired of trying to talk to her so I buried my head in my book and ignored her. How do I attract these crazy people?
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Trans Atlantic Cruise
We just got home last night. So Sorry I was unable to blog while at sea. I spent big money so I could have Internet service for the entire trip and lo and behold for some reason when I tried to add a new post I had no menu buttons at the top of my blog page. I need to remedy this situation as I want to be able to blog the Alaska trip coming up in May. As I said we just go home and lots of stuff to do for the next day or two but I have some pictures and post that I saved on the laptop and will be posting the cruise within the next day or two.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
TransAtlantic Cruise
The big day is almost here. We have waited for this cruise for a year and are so excited. Tomorrow will be a very long day. We leave Strawberry Ridge at 9:00 am for the airport. There we have to wait until 12:30 for our flight but due to the long lines that is fine with me. Sure don't want to miss this plane. A short flight to Atlanta and then another long wait. Again I don't mind as we will have a chance to grab a bite in the airport. Then the 6 hour flight to Barcelona. Once in Barcelona we will have a long bus ride to the cruise terminal where there will most likely be another long wait to get checked in and board. Once on the ship we will be taken to our room and drop our carry on bags . Can't do much there until our luggage finds its way to us then we unpack, feather our nest then can take off and explore the ship and watch it sail out of the harbour. Well that is my take on how the day will proceed but we will see how close I am to it all. Stay tuned for out adventures on the trip.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Off to the North
Before I get started with this blog, for those of you who are following Lees progress I will be updating his page today.
Last Thursday, Oct 14, I left for Massachusetts for my Grand Niece's wedding. Using my frequent flier miles I was flying first class for the first time except for the very few occasions that I was bumped up to FC due to over booking and those flights were few and far between and usually for very short jaunts. Well this was going to be all the way there and all the way back. Well the first leg of the journey was Tampa to DC. A rather small plane and FC was sort of unimpressive. I was in a bulkhead seat so not any room to store my bags except overhead. But not too bad. Was supposed to have a wheel chair in DC. It never showed up so I walked up the gangway and the lady said I had to sign in for this service at the check in counter. Well I thought I had checked in on all this when I checked in online. Guess not! Next leg was DC to Providence RI. Well it was a very small plane, had to walk out and clime up stairs to get to the plane, it was raining (from watching West Wing and JAG I have determined it constantly rains in DC) so I had to scurry along or get wet. Well I don't scurry well. And I am lugging my super heavy purse, a computer bag and a coat. Get on the plane and discover there is NO first class. All seats are the same. Arriving in Providence and again of course no wheel chair and lugging all this junk. Why I didn't bring my wheelie bag I do not know. Some where along the way I determined that when I packed this time I must have had my head up my behind. I forgot my iPod and really wanted to watch some TV shows I had downloaded on it. I forgot my charger for my kindle and forgot my charger for my phone.
So here I am in Providence and my niece Pam is here to meet me and has invited me to stay at her house. She, Bob and their daughter Julie who lives at home made me feel very welcome. And the good news is that Pam has the same phone, and Kindle as I do so I used her chargers to charge up my stuff. Way to go Pam!
The wedding was lovely and I was very happy to see all my nieces and nephews who I hadn't seen since the last time I had gone up there to see my sister Bette. It was a little sad for me though being there and no sisters. We did a lot of reminiscing and lots of funny stories about the two sisters that I had always spent time with when I went up there. My sister Doris had already died by the time I started going to Massachusetts so basically I just spent time with Claire and Bette. Lots and Lots of funny stories involving Claire and I with Bette playing the roll of the disapproving big sister to some of our hijinks's. We were constantly doing things to drive her to her limit of patience. Like the time she left us at home and emphasized NOT to put her cups with the gold rim in her microwave. Well didn't I (quite absentmindedly) put one of the damned things in the micro. Sparks are flying and I am jumping up and down shrieking: Claire, Claire what do I do? What do I do? She yells at me and after a few choice swear words at me said turn off the damned Microwave! Bette was a bit upset with us on that one. And there were many many more such stories of here two "bad little sisters"
The weather up there was cold for me coming from 80+ deg weather. But I survived it. Think I caught a cold tho cause my head is now all stuffed up and I am coughing up gunk. But again I will survive this.
So while I was staying at Pam's, she introduced me to her new coffee pot. I actually don't know how new it is but it was sure new to me. It is a Kuerig single cup brewer. It is the neatest thing. You just pop one of the little "K cups" in and bingo in a mater of seconds you have a fresh brewed cup of coffee. Now the really good thing about this is you can get many, many flavors and blends of coffee. For example Lee likes mild coffee and I like really strong coffee. My daughters all like weak coffee too so now every one can have just what they want. There are different flavors and hot chocolate and also you can make a cup of tea. Well of course don't you know I had to come right home, go on the computer to see where I could get the best deal and off we went on Monday to buy our coffee pot. At Walmart we picked up a bunch of K cups to tied us over until we can get a shipment of several varieties that I ordered online. The one thing that concerned me is Pam's coffee was very very mild and I was afraid I wouldn't get a good strong coffee but I really found lots of good strong blends and ordered several of them along with some hot chocolate and breakfast blends. So I am really enjoying the new coffee maker. With my old pot I would make a pot in the morning and have 3 cups Lee would have one and unless I decided to heat up a cup in the micro in the evening the rest would get thrown away. Lots of waste. Here there will be no waste. It averages about $0.42 per cup.
Last Thursday, Oct 14, I left for Massachusetts for my Grand Niece's wedding. Using my frequent flier miles I was flying first class for the first time except for the very few occasions that I was bumped up to FC due to over booking and those flights were few and far between and usually for very short jaunts. Well this was going to be all the way there and all the way back. Well the first leg of the journey was Tampa to DC. A rather small plane and FC was sort of unimpressive. I was in a bulkhead seat so not any room to store my bags except overhead. But not too bad. Was supposed to have a wheel chair in DC. It never showed up so I walked up the gangway and the lady said I had to sign in for this service at the check in counter. Well I thought I had checked in on all this when I checked in online. Guess not! Next leg was DC to Providence RI. Well it was a very small plane, had to walk out and clime up stairs to get to the plane, it was raining (from watching West Wing and JAG I have determined it constantly rains in DC) so I had to scurry along or get wet. Well I don't scurry well. And I am lugging my super heavy purse, a computer bag and a coat. Get on the plane and discover there is NO first class. All seats are the same. Arriving in Providence and again of course no wheel chair and lugging all this junk. Why I didn't bring my wheelie bag I do not know. Some where along the way I determined that when I packed this time I must have had my head up my behind. I forgot my iPod and really wanted to watch some TV shows I had downloaded on it. I forgot my charger for my kindle and forgot my charger for my phone.
So here I am in Providence and my niece Pam is here to meet me and has invited me to stay at her house. She, Bob and their daughter Julie who lives at home made me feel very welcome. And the good news is that Pam has the same phone, and Kindle as I do so I used her chargers to charge up my stuff. Way to go Pam!
The wedding was lovely and I was very happy to see all my nieces and nephews who I hadn't seen since the last time I had gone up there to see my sister Bette. It was a little sad for me though being there and no sisters. We did a lot of reminiscing and lots of funny stories about the two sisters that I had always spent time with when I went up there. My sister Doris had already died by the time I started going to Massachusetts so basically I just spent time with Claire and Bette. Lots and Lots of funny stories involving Claire and I with Bette playing the roll of the disapproving big sister to some of our hijinks's. We were constantly doing things to drive her to her limit of patience. Like the time she left us at home and emphasized NOT to put her cups with the gold rim in her microwave. Well didn't I (quite absentmindedly) put one of the damned things in the micro. Sparks are flying and I am jumping up and down shrieking: Claire, Claire what do I do? What do I do? She yells at me and after a few choice swear words at me said turn off the damned Microwave! Bette was a bit upset with us on that one. And there were many many more such stories of here two "bad little sisters"
The weather up there was cold for me coming from 80+ deg weather. But I survived it. Think I caught a cold tho cause my head is now all stuffed up and I am coughing up gunk. But again I will survive this.
So while I was staying at Pam's, she introduced me to her new coffee pot. I actually don't know how new it is but it was sure new to me. It is a Kuerig single cup brewer. It is the neatest thing. You just pop one of the little "K cups" in and bingo in a mater of seconds you have a fresh brewed cup of coffee. Now the really good thing about this is you can get many, many flavors and blends of coffee. For example Lee likes mild coffee and I like really strong coffee. My daughters all like weak coffee too so now every one can have just what they want. There are different flavors and hot chocolate and also you can make a cup of tea. Well of course don't you know I had to come right home, go on the computer to see where I could get the best deal and off we went on Monday to buy our coffee pot. At Walmart we picked up a bunch of K cups to tied us over until we can get a shipment of several varieties that I ordered online. The one thing that concerned me is Pam's coffee was very very mild and I was afraid I wouldn't get a good strong coffee but I really found lots of good strong blends and ordered several of them along with some hot chocolate and breakfast blends. So I am really enjoying the new coffee maker. With my old pot I would make a pot in the morning and have 3 cups Lee would have one and unless I decided to heat up a cup in the micro in the evening the rest would get thrown away. Lots of waste. Here there will be no waste. It averages about $0.42 per cup.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The story of the Frog
This story predates Lee by many years but it is a funny one so decided to put it on the main blog since not everyone knows about the other blog.
Friends on Facebook talking about frog stories made me think of this one involving a frog many years ago. My girls were 9, 8, 5, and newborn. Being the tyrant of a mother that I was, I put a lot of responsibility on the two older ones. Well they weren’t afraid of frogs per se however at the time we were living in West Palm Beach. I don’t know if it was something in the air, water or what but they had the biggest frogs I have EVER seen anywhere on the face of this earth. My first husband was working shift work at the time and was due home at 12 or 12:30 or somewhere there about. I remember going into my closet without putting on the light and something (or so I thought) fell off the shelf. But when it fell it fell horizontally not vertically. I says to myself, “Self this is not right! Things do not fall horizontally they fall straight down.” So I put on the light, looked around and on the wall there sat the biggest green rain frog I have ever seen in my life. Well as I said my girls weren’t afraid of frogs so I rousted them out of bed and said come catch this frog and throw him out the door. The two older girls got up and came into my bedroom. We were living in a small trailer at the time. Sort of camping out while their Daddy was working out of town. Well they looked at the frog had a summit conference and decided it was indeed the biggest frog any of us had ever seen. So the oldest one snuck up on the culprit and he jumped. Well when he jumped I would venture to guess from his snout to his toes all stretched out he must have been a foot long. They shrieked and ran back. I said look I’ll give you $0.50 to get him out of here. NO WAY! I upped the ante to $1.00. NO WAY. I went all the way to $5.00. NO WAY! At this point I was getting frantic. It was only around 10:00 and Daddy wasn’t due home for 2 – 3 hours. I can’t stay in this house with this GIANT FROG. I shrieked at the kids. Look you get this frog out of this house or I am going to beat your butts. As I said I wasn’t a model mother (but ya know I raised some pretty darned good kids) Well they thought and discussed and somewhere along the way they decided to get the mop bucked and trap the frog against the wall. As luck would have it by now he was sitting on my bedroom curtains. They were the little café rod kind of curtains. So one of the girls (don’t remember which one) trapped him in the bucket. Then she said what do I do now. I said you are going to hold him prisoner until your Daddy gets home to deal with him. She wailed I can’t hold this frog for 2 hours. So we put our heads together and after telling her to hold him tight I went up, took the curtains, rod and all off the hooks, wrapped it down around the bucket, the other one opened the door and we threw him out the door. When my husband came home he asked what a bucket and a curtain was doing out in the yard. I said never mind. Just go out, shake the curtain out real good and bring it all back in the house. Sometimes I wonder how my poor kids survived me as a parent and if my husband ever wondered at the strange things that happened when he was at work.
Friends on Facebook talking about frog stories made me think of this one involving a frog many years ago. My girls were 9, 8, 5, and newborn. Being the tyrant of a mother that I was, I put a lot of responsibility on the two older ones. Well they weren’t afraid of frogs per se however at the time we were living in West Palm Beach. I don’t know if it was something in the air, water or what but they had the biggest frogs I have EVER seen anywhere on the face of this earth. My first husband was working shift work at the time and was due home at 12 or 12:30 or somewhere there about. I remember going into my closet without putting on the light and something (or so I thought) fell off the shelf. But when it fell it fell horizontally not vertically. I says to myself, “Self this is not right! Things do not fall horizontally they fall straight down.” So I put on the light, looked around and on the wall there sat the biggest green rain frog I have ever seen in my life. Well as I said my girls weren’t afraid of frogs so I rousted them out of bed and said come catch this frog and throw him out the door. The two older girls got up and came into my bedroom. We were living in a small trailer at the time. Sort of camping out while their Daddy was working out of town. Well they looked at the frog had a summit conference and decided it was indeed the biggest frog any of us had ever seen. So the oldest one snuck up on the culprit and he jumped. Well when he jumped I would venture to guess from his snout to his toes all stretched out he must have been a foot long. They shrieked and ran back. I said look I’ll give you $0.50 to get him out of here. NO WAY! I upped the ante to $1.00. NO WAY. I went all the way to $5.00. NO WAY! At this point I was getting frantic. It was only around 10:00 and Daddy wasn’t due home for 2 – 3 hours. I can’t stay in this house with this GIANT FROG. I shrieked at the kids. Look you get this frog out of this house or I am going to beat your butts. As I said I wasn’t a model mother (but ya know I raised some pretty darned good kids) Well they thought and discussed and somewhere along the way they decided to get the mop bucked and trap the frog against the wall. As luck would have it by now he was sitting on my bedroom curtains. They were the little café rod kind of curtains. So one of the girls (don’t remember which one) trapped him in the bucket. Then she said what do I do now. I said you are going to hold him prisoner until your Daddy gets home to deal with him. She wailed I can’t hold this frog for 2 hours. So we put our heads together and after telling her to hold him tight I went up, took the curtains, rod and all off the hooks, wrapped it down around the bucket, the other one opened the door and we threw him out the door. When my husband came home he asked what a bucket and a curtain was doing out in the yard. I said never mind. Just go out, shake the curtain out real good and bring it all back in the house. Sometimes I wonder how my poor kids survived me as a parent and if my husband ever wondered at the strange things that happened when he was at work.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
A Dry Spell
Since I am having a bit of a dry spell of things to do I pulled out a couple of funny stories from my file "Only in this Family"
A Trip to my Sister Bette's
It was the early part of September and Lee was incapacitated with a sprained ankle when I decided to take my semi-annually trip to visit my Sister Bette. The Flight up was long and un-eventful until I got to Providence RI where “All hell broke loose”. Normally I would fly into Boston and take the Bonanza/Peter Pan (depending on to whom you are talking) shuttle bus to Foxboro MA where someone would pick me up. This works fine. However this time I discovered they have a Peter Pan shuttle bus from Providence. Foolish me, I just assumed it would be from the airport. Not So! To get to Foxboro MA one must leave from the “Terminal”.
Well here I am standing at the airport with no Peter Pan Bus and much weeping, wailing, and shrieking. Finely this lady who is trying to get from point A to point B hears my plight. She tells me to follow her on this bus that she was standing by and she would take care of me and see that I get the right bus to the terminal. Also the bus driver explains something about getting to Kennedy Plaza where there is a Peter Pan bus. Now I am quite sure that in this enormous barrage of information I was getting from the lady and the bus driver (all in their New England accent which my ears were not yet in tune to) that Kennedy Plaza and “The Terminal” were NOT one and the same. One must take a Peter Pan Bus to the Terminal from Kennedy Plaza. This fact however escaped my already frazzled brain. Consequently when we got to Kennedy Plaza, the lady who was going to “help” me ran ahead while I am struggling with my two bags getting off the bus. I look up ahead through the teeming throng of people and my lady is standing there flagging me on. We went into the ticket place to find the Peter Pan bus had gone and the next bus would be in 2 hours getting me to Foxboro God willing somewhere around 5ish.
Now let me digress for just a moment and get back to this bus that I rode in from the airport. This was quite a different story. My lady and the bus driver are telling in me to get onto this bus and all would be well I asked somewhere along the way if this was a “free” shuttle. As I said I was pretty frazzled by now. No, it is not a free shuttle so I get on and ask the price of the ride and am told that it is $1.50. All I had were $20s. Driver couldn't make change. I am near tears by now. Another “lady” on the bus makes change for me (Bless her heart) and I pay the driver. Well at long last it dawns on me I am on a city bus. The said city bus wandered all through the ghetto and undesirables were embarking and dis-embarking left and right. By now I am getting a bit concerned about all the gold I am wearing about my neck so I tucked it in.
We presently arrived at the Kennedy Plaza with the Peter Pan bus that had gone and the proposed 2 hr wait for the next bus that is just getting me to the “Terminal.” I am struggling with two rolling bags and my shoulder bag. I find a place to sit and give Bette a call and explain the situation and that I would be very late getting in and would call her if and when I finely get underway. Now I go and look for something to eat. All I could find was a doughnut shop. I asked the lady in charge if she had anything besides doughnuts. Yes says she there were also sandwiches. I enquired as to what kind of sandwiches she had. Well she had egg, bacon and egg, and ham and egg. None of these sounded appealing so I said just give me a doughnut. She asked if I wanted anything else and I said well I better have something to wash it down just give me a cup of coffee. “Hot or cold” she replies. I said give me hot. So she did and boy was it hot! I asked if she had any of those things to put around the cup to protect your fingers. She didn’t but she gave me another cup. Well here I am now struggling with two rolling suitcases, a shoulder bag, a bag with my doughnut and my scalding cup of coffee. I am thinking now how in the world am I going to get moving. So I devise this devious plot where I move one suitcase, come back and get the other one etc etc. Well at this very point “All hell breaks loose once more.” A street person approaches me and starts yammering (have no clue what he was saying) my phone starts to ring and I can’t get to it with all this stuff, I am struggling to find the phone the street person is still there finely I shrieked at hem “Get away from me, Get away from me” Probably scared the hell right out of him. He left, I found my phone and it was my sister. She said “Get a cab and come there right now and she would pay for it” Well I still have the problem of getting all this stuffed moved. I turned around and there was the street man. I shoved the scalding coffee at him and took off out the door. There was the cab and I was saved from Part one of this dreadful saga. And all this cost me was $50.00. Well worth it.
Finely I am as my sister’s house. This was the very best visit we have ever had. We had a wonderful time. The visit consisted of several trips to various Doctors where we got results from various tests that she had previously had. All results were wonderful we were very happy with that. We went to an Eastern Star Past Worthy Matrons meeting where I was allowed to remain. This was great as the last time I went with here she banished me and another lady into another room. I was actually even allowed to speak, of course it cost me a dollar. Well actually it was her dollar, no on second thought it was Doreen’s dollar but that’s another story. We also went to a Christian Ladies luncheon. Good entertainment and a good speaker although somewhat longwinded. It was great food and there was plenty of it. At this point we were bringing so many “scraps” home to Ralph I am sure he must have begun to feel like a puppy dog.
Now we have the return home and all leading up to it. Somewhere along the way we told Bette’s friend Dottie about my ordeal in getting from Providence to Plainville. Well what a sweetheart, she offered to just “run me into Providence when I was ready to go home.” Not wanting to put her out I told her I really appreciated it but let me find out what the story was as to the bus line and if I needed to I would give her a call. First I went to the old trusty computer and checked the rout from Foxboro MA to TF Green airport and found that it looked promising. Not wanting to trust the computer I gave a call to Bonanza/Peter Pan bus lines and talked to a very rude man but after a fashion we muddled through our cultural differences and his information seemed to satisfy me. Yes according to him, I could get right to TF Green airport. I would go to the “Terminal” and another bus would take me to TF Green. Now keep in mind no where in this conversation was it even vaguely discussed that there may be a connection and/or timing problem. Yes I could definitely “get there from here.” Sooooooo on Friday after noon off I go to Foxboro to catch the bus. I have a Ticket in hand that says from Foxboro to TF Green airport. Still no word from the ticket agent there may be any sort of problem with timing or connection. The bus comes and the driver loads up my suitcases. I asked him how I find the TF Green bus at the terminal. Will there be someone there to help me or what. He says “You’re looking at him.” “Oh”, says I, “Will I be continuing on your bus?” “No”, says he “I will take care of you.” Hummmmmmm, where have I heard that before? We arrived at the Terminal. The bus driver is busy loading new passengers. He has totally forgotten I exist. I go up behind him and interrupt him with and “Excuse me, can you tell me where my bus to TF Green would be?” He points to the man pulling luggage off the bus and promptly turns his back on me. So much for “Taking care of me.” I ask the luggage man who is of another different culture and everything out of his mouth is totally unintelligible garble. By now I am beginning to think I need to send my “white – southern” ears out for some diversification training because I am sure having problems with all these different speech patterns. How did I work for Hillsborough County all these years? I guess this is what retirement has done for me I am now living in my own little Strawberry Ridge Cocoon. Any how what I get out of him is “The next bus over.” The next bus over was going to somewhere in New York. Back to the man. No it is the number 2 bus and he points to the next “bus bay” over. So I stand and wait, and wait, and wait. Presently a bus comes to this bay but it is going to Boston Logan airport. By now I am getting a bit nervous. But I wait and wait some more. Then I go back to my trusty luggage man and ask again about the TF Green bus. This time the garble that came out was something to do with, Friday, bus late leaves at 2:30 or 3:30 really can’t make out exactly what he is saying but it is now 3:29 so I wait and wait a bit more. Finely I go into the building (where I should have gone to begin with) and ask at the counter. It is now 4:00 Next bus to TF Green is 5:00. Yikes my plane leaves at 5:59. Now I don’t know at this point how far it is to TF Green but we are in the middle of a city it is Friday afternoon and there is no way I am going to get to the airport, check in and catch this plane. Now we have some heavy duty weeping wailing gnashing of teeth and almost in tears (I am beyond shrieking.) I lament to the ticket agent “This can’t be happening to me! Not again! I explained me last ordeal and how carefully I had researched this trip and how I was assured this was the thing to do. I pulled out my ticked showing I am leaving Foxboro at 2:40 pm and arriving at TF Green at 3:30. The good lady takes my ticket and disappears through a door and out of sight. I wait and wait some more. The famous man from outside strolls by. I carry on to him of my plight. He says “what do you want me to do?” Well what indeed did I want him to do? He is just a man who puts luggage on and off a bus. Guess I just needed to vent. I wait and wait some more. I am now getting desperate. I am thinking about taking a taxi but alas all my money went to pay the bus fare. I ask another ticked agent about the taxis and where the other lady was with my ticket. I am thinking maybe I can get some of my money back and have enough to pay the taxi to the airport. Good lady number 2 goes through the magic door. Presently out comes Lady Number 1, Lady Number 2 and a man. They tell me they are getting me a bus to transport me to TF Green. Oh my goodness. I almost get on my knees to them. How wonderful! I am thinking something like a courtesy van or a car but what do you think? They bring out a full sized bus just for me. No one else but the driver and me on this big bus and he takes me right to the door carrying my luggage and all for me. I just couldn’t believe it. Well folks I can tell you this. I will surly take Peter Pan/Bonanza again but NEVER, NOT EVER will I fly into TF Green with this plan in mind. I will stick to the Boston Logan – Peter Pan Plan from now on.
Well here I am standing at the airport with no Peter Pan Bus and much weeping, wailing, and shrieking. Finely this lady who is trying to get from point A to point B hears my plight. She tells me to follow her on this bus that she was standing by and she would take care of me and see that I get the right bus to the terminal. Also the bus driver explains something about getting to Kennedy Plaza where there is a Peter Pan bus. Now I am quite sure that in this enormous barrage of information I was getting from the lady and the bus driver (all in their New England accent which my ears were not yet in tune to) that Kennedy Plaza and “The Terminal” were NOT one and the same. One must take a Peter Pan Bus to the Terminal from Kennedy Plaza. This fact however escaped my already frazzled brain. Consequently when we got to Kennedy Plaza, the lady who was going to “help” me ran ahead while I am struggling with my two bags getting off the bus. I look up ahead through the teeming throng of people and my lady is standing there flagging me on. We went into the ticket place to find the Peter Pan bus had gone and the next bus would be in 2 hours getting me to Foxboro God willing somewhere around 5ish.
Now let me digress for just a moment and get back to this bus that I rode in from the airport. This was quite a different story. My lady and the bus driver are telling in me to get onto this bus and all would be well I asked somewhere along the way if this was a “free” shuttle. As I said I was pretty frazzled by now. No, it is not a free shuttle so I get on and ask the price of the ride and am told that it is $1.50. All I had were $20s. Driver couldn't make change. I am near tears by now. Another “lady” on the bus makes change for me (Bless her heart) and I pay the driver. Well at long last it dawns on me I am on a city bus. The said city bus wandered all through the ghetto and undesirables were embarking and dis-embarking left and right. By now I am getting a bit concerned about all the gold I am wearing about my neck so I tucked it in.
We presently arrived at the Kennedy Plaza with the Peter Pan bus that had gone and the proposed 2 hr wait for the next bus that is just getting me to the “Terminal.” I am struggling with two rolling bags and my shoulder bag. I find a place to sit and give Bette a call and explain the situation and that I would be very late getting in and would call her if and when I finely get underway. Now I go and look for something to eat. All I could find was a doughnut shop. I asked the lady in charge if she had anything besides doughnuts. Yes says she there were also sandwiches. I enquired as to what kind of sandwiches she had. Well she had egg, bacon and egg, and ham and egg. None of these sounded appealing so I said just give me a doughnut. She asked if I wanted anything else and I said well I better have something to wash it down just give me a cup of coffee. “Hot or cold” she replies. I said give me hot. So she did and boy was it hot! I asked if she had any of those things to put around the cup to protect your fingers. She didn’t but she gave me another cup. Well here I am now struggling with two rolling suitcases, a shoulder bag, a bag with my doughnut and my scalding cup of coffee. I am thinking now how in the world am I going to get moving. So I devise this devious plot where I move one suitcase, come back and get the other one etc etc. Well at this very point “All hell breaks loose once more.” A street person approaches me and starts yammering (have no clue what he was saying) my phone starts to ring and I can’t get to it with all this stuff, I am struggling to find the phone the street person is still there finely I shrieked at hem “Get away from me, Get away from me” Probably scared the hell right out of him. He left, I found my phone and it was my sister. She said “Get a cab and come there right now and she would pay for it” Well I still have the problem of getting all this stuffed moved. I turned around and there was the street man. I shoved the scalding coffee at him and took off out the door. There was the cab and I was saved from Part one of this dreadful saga. And all this cost me was $50.00. Well worth it.
Finely I am as my sister’s house. This was the very best visit we have ever had. We had a wonderful time. The visit consisted of several trips to various Doctors where we got results from various tests that she had previously had. All results were wonderful we were very happy with that. We went to an Eastern Star Past Worthy Matrons meeting where I was allowed to remain. This was great as the last time I went with here she banished me and another lady into another room. I was actually even allowed to speak, of course it cost me a dollar. Well actually it was her dollar, no on second thought it was Doreen’s dollar but that’s another story. We also went to a Christian Ladies luncheon. Good entertainment and a good speaker although somewhat longwinded. It was great food and there was plenty of it. At this point we were bringing so many “scraps” home to Ralph I am sure he must have begun to feel like a puppy dog.
Now we have the return home and all leading up to it. Somewhere along the way we told Bette’s friend Dottie about my ordeal in getting from Providence to Plainville. Well what a sweetheart, she offered to just “run me into Providence when I was ready to go home.” Not wanting to put her out I told her I really appreciated it but let me find out what the story was as to the bus line and if I needed to I would give her a call. First I went to the old trusty computer and checked the rout from Foxboro MA to TF Green airport and found that it looked promising. Not wanting to trust the computer I gave a call to Bonanza/Peter Pan bus lines and talked to a very rude man but after a fashion we muddled through our cultural differences and his information seemed to satisfy me. Yes according to him, I could get right to TF Green airport. I would go to the “Terminal” and another bus would take me to TF Green. Now keep in mind no where in this conversation was it even vaguely discussed that there may be a connection and/or timing problem. Yes I could definitely “get there from here.” Sooooooo on Friday after noon off I go to Foxboro to catch the bus. I have a Ticket in hand that says from Foxboro to TF Green airport. Still no word from the ticket agent there may be any sort of problem with timing or connection. The bus comes and the driver loads up my suitcases. I asked him how I find the TF Green bus at the terminal. Will there be someone there to help me or what. He says “You’re looking at him.” “Oh”, says I, “Will I be continuing on your bus?” “No”, says he “I will take care of you.” Hummmmmmm, where have I heard that before? We arrived at the Terminal. The bus driver is busy loading new passengers. He has totally forgotten I exist. I go up behind him and interrupt him with and “Excuse me, can you tell me where my bus to TF Green would be?” He points to the man pulling luggage off the bus and promptly turns his back on me. So much for “Taking care of me.” I ask the luggage man who is of another different culture and everything out of his mouth is totally unintelligible garble. By now I am beginning to think I need to send my “white – southern” ears out for some diversification training because I am sure having problems with all these different speech patterns. How did I work for Hillsborough County all these years? I guess this is what retirement has done for me I am now living in my own little Strawberry Ridge Cocoon. Any how what I get out of him is “The next bus over.” The next bus over was going to somewhere in New York. Back to the man. No it is the number 2 bus and he points to the next “bus bay” over. So I stand and wait, and wait, and wait. Presently a bus comes to this bay but it is going to Boston Logan airport. By now I am getting a bit nervous. But I wait and wait some more. Then I go back to my trusty luggage man and ask again about the TF Green bus. This time the garble that came out was something to do with, Friday, bus late leaves at 2:30 or 3:30 really can’t make out exactly what he is saying but it is now 3:29 so I wait and wait a bit more. Finely I go into the building (where I should have gone to begin with) and ask at the counter. It is now 4:00 Next bus to TF Green is 5:00. Yikes my plane leaves at 5:59. Now I don’t know at this point how far it is to TF Green but we are in the middle of a city it is Friday afternoon and there is no way I am going to get to the airport, check in and catch this plane. Now we have some heavy duty weeping wailing gnashing of teeth and almost in tears (I am beyond shrieking.) I lament to the ticket agent “This can’t be happening to me! Not again! I explained me last ordeal and how carefully I had researched this trip and how I was assured this was the thing to do. I pulled out my ticked showing I am leaving Foxboro at 2:40 pm and arriving at TF Green at 3:30. The good lady takes my ticket and disappears through a door and out of sight. I wait and wait some more. The famous man from outside strolls by. I carry on to him of my plight. He says “what do you want me to do?” Well what indeed did I want him to do? He is just a man who puts luggage on and off a bus. Guess I just needed to vent. I wait and wait some more. I am now getting desperate. I am thinking about taking a taxi but alas all my money went to pay the bus fare. I ask another ticked agent about the taxis and where the other lady was with my ticket. I am thinking maybe I can get some of my money back and have enough to pay the taxi to the airport. Good lady number 2 goes through the magic door. Presently out comes Lady Number 1, Lady Number 2 and a man. They tell me they are getting me a bus to transport me to TF Green. Oh my goodness. I almost get on my knees to them. How wonderful! I am thinking something like a courtesy van or a car but what do you think? They bring out a full sized bus just for me. No one else but the driver and me on this big bus and he takes me right to the door carrying my luggage and all for me. I just couldn’t believe it. Well folks I can tell you this. I will surly take Peter Pan/Bonanza again but NEVER, NOT EVER will I fly into TF Green with this plan in mind. I will stick to the Boston Logan – Peter Pan Plan from now on.
The Great Clam Caper!
Today I decided I wanted homemade clam chowder. Now I don't make clam chowder as good as my big sister Bette, but over the years I have gotten to where I can stir up a pretty mean pot of "New England" clam chowder for a "Southern Redneck."
I buy my clams at Sam's and they come in a two pack of very large cans of clams. I knew I had another can of clams as I had bought my two pack and had only used one of them. I bent over and looked in the cupboard where I keep them and they are gone. So I get down on my knees (not an easy thing at my age and with my gimpy knees) I move everything in the cupboard and look and look and look. NO CLAMS. By now I am wild.SOMEONE HAS WAITED UNTIL WE WERE GONE BREACHED OUR SECURITY SYSTEM AND STOLEN MY CLAMS. Lee says let me look for you. Lee gets down on his knees and moves everything around. NO CLAMS! I KNOW I HAVE CLAMS! Lee (the sweetheart that he is) says I will go to the store for you. No, says I. you are limping around on a crutch. No No No, I am going for you because I know how badly you want clam chowder. OK says I you are a real sweetheart. So he leave the house and is gone for quite some time. He had to go all the way to Sam's. Presently he comes back and yells in to the bedroom where I am reading "you need to come out here"
Lee: Are these the clams you need?
Jeannie: Yes that is the right clams. Thank you so much.
Lee: Wow you didn't tell me how expensive clams are.
Jeannie: How much did they cost?
Lee: $89.00
Jeannie: $89.00 I shriek.
So at that point he laughs and tells me well that and the "few" other things that dropped off the shelf and into my basket. (What a guy! he is finely learning the fine art of shopping). So we unload the car and are in the process of putting things away all the while laughing $89.00 for clams ha ha, when I open my cupboard, move one thing and BINGO. There are my clams. Obviously while I was reading someone snuck in the back door and replaced my clams. So now I have a wonderful pot of clam chowder cooking and 4 more cans in the pantry waiting to be cooked. (If someone doesn't break in and steal them)
Hope you enjoyed reading a true story for a change. Things like this only happen to me.
I buy my clams at Sam's and they come in a two pack of very large cans of clams. I knew I had another can of clams as I had bought my two pack and had only used one of them. I bent over and looked in the cupboard where I keep them and they are gone. So I get down on my knees (not an easy thing at my age and with my gimpy knees) I move everything in the cupboard and look and look and look. NO CLAMS. By now I am wild.SOMEONE HAS WAITED UNTIL WE WERE GONE BREACHED OUR SECURITY SYSTEM AND STOLEN MY CLAMS. Lee says let me look for you. Lee gets down on his knees and moves everything around. NO CLAMS! I KNOW I HAVE CLAMS! Lee (the sweetheart that he is) says I will go to the store for you. No, says I. you are limping around on a crutch. No No No, I am going for you because I know how badly you want clam chowder. OK says I you are a real sweetheart. So he leave the house and is gone for quite some time. He had to go all the way to Sam's. Presently he comes back and yells in to the bedroom where I am reading "you need to come out here"
Lee: Are these the clams you need?
Jeannie: Yes that is the right clams. Thank you so much.
Lee: Wow you didn't tell me how expensive clams are.
Jeannie: How much did they cost?
Lee: $89.00
Jeannie: $89.00 I shriek.
So at that point he laughs and tells me well that and the "few" other things that dropped off the shelf and into my basket. (What a guy! he is finely learning the fine art of shopping). So we unload the car and are in the process of putting things away all the while laughing $89.00 for clams ha ha, when I open my cupboard, move one thing and BINGO. There are my clams. Obviously while I was reading someone snuck in the back door and replaced my clams. So now I have a wonderful pot of clam chowder cooking and 4 more cans in the pantry waiting to be cooked. (If someone doesn't break in and steal them)
Hope you enjoyed reading a true story for a change. Things like this only happen to me.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Coming to an End
Our little getaway is coming to an end and we are sadly looking forward to packing our stuff and heading back to the realty of being home in our day to day living. For Lee and I that will mean daily visits to the oncologist for radiation and me either following him and sitting reading in the waiting room or just staying home reading either way all sounds pretty strenuous lol. We have eaten out two nights at fish or seafood places Lazy Lobster the first night and Rotten Ralphs the next. Both were very good and reasonable priced. Last evening upon my suggestion we decided to just eat a late lunch especially since we always eat a late breakfast, then take our wine, cheese, fruit, bread, & crackers and go to the pavilion overlooking the ocean and watch the sunset. We ventured down early just to see what was going on with the weather. After sitting with the bugs buzzing us for a few minutes we came to the executive decision to eat in the apartment and then just take our wine down to watch the sunset which we did. It was another lovely sunset but then it started sprinkling and chased us in the house.
So far four adults have shared one bathroom with no major problems. A funny thing though yesterday I had been sitting watching Grays’ Anatomy when the natures call sent me to the bathroom. I noticed a razor and tooth brush sitting on the sink but didn’t think anything about it and proceeded to my task at hand when I heard Lee in the other room tell Jim well you snooze you lose, someone has taken your bathroom number. Sorry Jim! I had my sound cancelling earphones and didn’t realize Jim had been planning to go in for a shave. Other than that we have done very well sharing the bathroom and the small little apartment.
Our casualty’s so far are: Alma took a little tumble in the surf after being hit by a wave and skinned up her elbow, I being stubborn and declining to wear sunscreen now have the lobster face with raccoon eyes, Lee bumped into one of the dining room chairs and scratched his arm and both Jim and I are hobbling around with sore backs. Other than that we are all hale and hearty.
A delightful time was had by all.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Beach Week With Jim & Alma
July 26, 2010
Welll here we are at the beach and a fine little apartment in a lovely secluded setting it is. We have two bedrooms a living room, kitchen, dining room combined. It is right on the beach. The weather today was wonderful, hot but clear and beautiful. The water is refreshing and clear and turquoise blue.
Getting here was a riot. We have three opinionated people who each had their own opinion of how to get to the beach, and then Alma who just rolls with the flow. Then we had three GPS’s. We had good old reliable Sally who got confused and didn’t find US 301 when it was right there in front of her. Then we had the Goolge map program on my Droid and last but not least we had Almas iPad. Alma’s iPad and the Droid (google map) program ganged up on poor little Sally. Problem with Sally is her maps are out of date but ya know US 301 has been right there in the same place for at least 55 years at least when I first traveled it. I’m just saying. We finely just quit listening to the GPS’s and went where we wanted to and we found the place after a fashion. For dinner we went to the Lazy Lobster and had a wonderful meal. Then back to our little place to sit on the beach and watch the sun set. What adventures will we have tomorrow.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Guest Book and Beach Outing
For those lesser observant of my friends and family (like me ha ha) I have added a new feature to my blog. Up above the North to Alaska there is a guest book. Feel free to sign in and let me know who/where you are.
Beach Week:
After being house bound since the first of May and will be house bound for the next couple of months we are really getting itchy feet. So we were in the company of our good friends and came up with a little jaunt. After discussing and dismissing a few places we decided on the beach. My friend did all the leg work and came up with a beautiful spot and signed us up. Well wouldn't ya just know. The week (the only week) we decide to go there a tropical storm brewing out in the Gulf. Worst case scenario is we will all be blown to kingdom come or the best case scenario is we will sit in a motel room staring out at the rain. Oh will just our luck. One good point is we don't have to zip out in the rain every two hours with friend doggie!
Beach Week:
After being house bound since the first of May and will be house bound for the next couple of months we are really getting itchy feet. So we were in the company of our good friends and came up with a little jaunt. After discussing and dismissing a few places we decided on the beach. My friend did all the leg work and came up with a beautiful spot and signed us up. Well wouldn't ya just know. The week (the only week) we decide to go there a tropical storm brewing out in the Gulf. Worst case scenario is we will all be blown to kingdom come or the best case scenario is we will sit in a motel room staring out at the rain. Oh will just our luck. One good point is we don't have to zip out in the rain every two hours with friend doggie!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Tale of The Dog or the Straw That Broke Jeannie's Back
Sadly to say we had to take Hannibal back where we got him from. He just proved to be too much for a pair of senior citizens to deal with. Between the constant walks in 100+ heat several times a day coming home changing cloths cooling off just to be back out in the heat in another 2 hours or so, never feeling quite clean as I was always sweaty and grungy from all the heat. Plus constantly getting the little dog out of one mess after another we, out of desperation, threw in the towel. Hopefully Hannibal will be adopted by someone with more energy and stamina than Lee and I. He really is a sweet little dog but some people are just not cut out to be dog parents. Guess I gave my all to my children. So we packaged him up and back to the pound he went. I felt so horrible about the whole process I just couldn't make myself hand him over. I gave that dastardly deed to Lee. Well we got to Animal services and I was to wait in the car. The heat that day was 98. I sat and sat and sat in the car. After 45 minutes and no Lee I went to see what was happening. He had worked his way to the front of this huge line of people dropping off doggies. One was a lawyer who being a typical lawyer wanted immediate attention. He was none to happy and voiced his thoughts to one of the workers of how inefficient and stupid this whole process was using a few four letter words. She finely told him if he was going to talk that way he could just leave. He had told me he had the ear of all the County Commissioners and all he has to do was pick up a phone to get assistance. One wonders why he was not making the call. I started to offer him my cell phone but decided to stand in the shade and be entertained by his ranting. Well Lee finished up a stack of paperwork 12 inches high (well maybe I exaggerate just a tiny bit) and we went home to a quiet peaceful house with thoughts of our experiment into pet ownership. Today as I write this I am sitting in my jammies in my 72 deg house. It is hot outside. I do not know how hot because I have not ventured out in two days except to go to the pool. Yesterday I did not take my jammies off until 2:30 when we went to the pool. Today I plan to do the same. I will wait for my healthy walks when the weather cools down a bit.
Friday, July 16, 2010
A new game
WOW NOW HERE'S A FUN NEW GAME!
So now we can't have toilet paper hanging on the roller like normal people or this is just one more door we have to keep closed. Whoops, back to the barking as I type.
Ways to Drive Mom Crazy
This little dog lays awake at night to think up ways to drive me crazy. I know he doesn't sleep at night because he lays his little furry behind up on the back of the couch and sleeps all day. Four of his latest little schemes to drive me over the edge:
- He will sleep all day then when at night we are exhausted from taking him outside every hour or two so he won't have an accident he decides. ITS PLAY TIME! Now is the time to run back and for the through the house like a maniac propelling himself first at me like a bullet all the while scratching and biting at me then pounces at Lee trying to draw blood and usually succeeding, off one chair onto the couch back through the house and start all over again. This goes on until he wears him self out. Then he stretches out and sleeps some more.
- Going out for potty. This has become a new game for him. The first few days he was so good. He would find his favorite spots and do his business. Now for two days we walk and walk and walk (in the miserable heat). He may piddle but for the big number he just won't focus. There are so many other things to do for fun. He is like a little vaccum cleaner. Every rock, piece of pine bark that has washed out of someones flower bed, every piece of paper, every mushroom growing wild along the way, every flower bush, every little twig. He thinks he has to eat all of these things. Then of course there are the people walking he has to socialize with and all the puppies to stop and talk to. All this results in an hour of me nudging him along getting nothing productive accomplished having him run in and out around my legs trying to trip me then finely getting the little devil home and getting out of my drenched clothing. Only to do it all over again in about 2 hours.
- Today the fun thing to drive Mom crazy! LETS BARK AT EVERYTHING THAT MOVES OUTSIDE. After having Hannibal for over a week and never hearing a bark out of him while in the house. Today we discover barking at the outside world. He is laying in his favorite spot and barking incessantly at every twig or piece of leave that moves outside.
- He has managed to destroy the "Hated Harness." He has chewed it almost completely in two. It is hanging by a thread. So today on his walk he had to wear the little choker leash we got from the pound when we picked him up. Thus bringing him even closer to my feet when we are walking. I guess today after Lee's daily Dr. appointment we must go to Pet smart and get one of those mesh harnesses. Maybe it will fit closer to the body and he can't get to it to chew.
I really think this little dog is bi-polar. Right now he is laying in his favorite spot being a good little boy.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
More "Puppy Progress"
Everybody seems to have advice on how to handle "The Beastie" Well I gotta do this the way I think best. I have had many dogs over my lifetime and have trained them all to whatever extent they are capable of being trained. I have had the "super dog" type that you just have to tell them something once and they learn it and I have had stubborn dogs with a mind of their own and they are just going to do what they want. Hannibal is just Hannibal. I have just about come to the conclusion that he really wasn't mistreated at all he is just one of the stubborn little guys that wants his way. And his way is he doesn't want to have me put the harness over his head and he really doesn't want to wear it. Fact of the matter is he has to wear something because in this community he MUST be on a leash. Besides I have a feeling if he was turned loose he would run off. I think that is how he became a stray. He was well fed and didn't have the fear of a mistreated dog. But back to the harness. It does not hurt him in any manner at all. It is not binding or tight. One piece of advice was to switch to a mesh harness and use a little cloth muzzle. I saw a dog with one of those mesh harnesses today and it looks like it would have to go on over the head just like this one so we would have the same problem. No sense in switching. I don't want to go the muzzle route. What is that going to teach him? He has to learn the house rules here and adapt to them. He is really doing ever so much better. I am listening to all the advice but in the end I am going to train him my way. I am the one who has to take care of him. I am the one he had to depend on for a good bit of his love and care so he's gotta learn I have feelings too and he's gotta abide by them. Today we took the harness off and put it on 2 times without too much trouble. He is learning.
Lee and I decided to start him off on few short road trips to see how he is going to travel. We want to spend some time and see how he is going to adapt in another environment with other doggie friends. He has his following here. His best buddy is Nola a very large standard poodle mixed with something else but can't remember what. Then he has Pudgie who is just what he sounds like. Again I think I misjudged him on the aggressive thing. I think all along he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to jump on the other dogs and get to know them.
Lee and I decided to start him off on few short road trips to see how he is going to travel. We want to spend some time and see how he is going to adapt in another environment with other doggie friends. He has his following here. His best buddy is Nola a very large standard poodle mixed with something else but can't remember what. Then he has Pudgie who is just what he sounds like. Again I think I misjudged him on the aggressive thing. I think all along he wasn’t trying to be mean. He just wanted to jump on the other dogs and get to know them.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Hannible the Horrible - Good News and Bad News
THE GOOD NEWS is that although walking Hannibal in this heat is a problem it must be done. It is actually building me back up. I had some big problems with arthritis in my ankle. I had been to the point that I was walking with a walker for a while and then a cane. I could just barely get from one end of this house to the other. When I got to where I could walk at all I decided I had to build myself back up so I started walking around the block. I could only walk just about to the end of my block before I was gasping for air and really short of breath. Now with Hannibal making me walk every morning I am now up to about a mile and he gets tired before I do.
THE BAD NEWS: We had a really really bad time Saturday evening with Hannibal. We gave him a bath. He did really well with the bath but while putting his harness back on. He bit and scratched us both up so badly that Lee was just beside himself. All I could do was sit with a towel wrapped around my arms until the bleeding stopped. I am on Coumadin so the least little scratch will bleed and bleed. Lee was so upset he was shaking. He said he thinks we have made a mistake taking such an aggressive little dog. Lee has had only had one dog in his life and she was a “One of a Kind Dog.” I warned him that he couldn't expect the same behavior from Hannibal as his LayDee had. He has put Hannibal on two week probation. In two weeks he must have calmed down or we ask the Vet to give him some sort of medication that will calm him down. We are just not physically able to handle this doggie as he is. I don't know what will happen but Lee is more important to me than Hannibal so we will just have to see what will happen. As Lee gets more and more treatments he will become weaker. And I just don't' know if I am up to doing all the care for this little guy. One thing I am going to try is to get a pair of heavy duty garden gloves and wear a long sleeve shirt whenever we have to take off and put on his harness. He acts like someone must have mistreated him around his head or on a leash. I think if I sit down on the floor, sooth him let him see the harness is not going to hurt him he may let me put it on without this major struggle we had to go though. Once the harness is on he is fine with it. It is just the putting on.
MORE GOOD NEWS: His potty training is progressing nicely. He lets us know when he has to go out. The only problem is when it is after dark the mosquitoes here are horrible and he is a very picky little dog about where he does his poops. It takes him just forever and in the mean time we are eaten alive by the mosquitoes. Can’t wait for cold weather! Other good news is he is eating a little better. He is up to about ½ cup a day of his dry food and all the chicken strip snacks I will allow him. Usually one per day and one Pigs Ear chew. He also gets milk bone when he does his business outside. Hummm. Nobody gives me a chocolate candy when I am good.
Later in the Day: Oh Ho! We may have Hannibal the Horrible licked! I did indeed go to Wal-Mart and picked up two pair of heavy duty yard gloves. I put on a denim long sleeved shirt and sat on the floor with the “beast.” I took off the harness let him play with it a bit. Petted him with the gloves to show him they are not going to hurt him then we began the work. I looped the neck part over without “too much” trouble then the struggle to get the front leg through where it belongs and fit the belly piece around him. He struggled, bit and snapped. I swatted him on his snout and we finely got him harnessed up. Then I played with him and petted him. I think he will learn that it won't hurt him.
THE BAD NEWS: We had a really really bad time Saturday evening with Hannibal. We gave him a bath. He did really well with the bath but while putting his harness back on. He bit and scratched us both up so badly that Lee was just beside himself. All I could do was sit with a towel wrapped around my arms until the bleeding stopped. I am on Coumadin so the least little scratch will bleed and bleed. Lee was so upset he was shaking. He said he thinks we have made a mistake taking such an aggressive little dog. Lee has had only had one dog in his life and she was a “One of a Kind Dog.” I warned him that he couldn't expect the same behavior from Hannibal as his LayDee had. He has put Hannibal on two week probation. In two weeks he must have calmed down or we ask the Vet to give him some sort of medication that will calm him down. We are just not physically able to handle this doggie as he is. I don't know what will happen but Lee is more important to me than Hannibal so we will just have to see what will happen. As Lee gets more and more treatments he will become weaker. And I just don't' know if I am up to doing all the care for this little guy. One thing I am going to try is to get a pair of heavy duty garden gloves and wear a long sleeve shirt whenever we have to take off and put on his harness. He acts like someone must have mistreated him around his head or on a leash. I think if I sit down on the floor, sooth him let him see the harness is not going to hurt him he may let me put it on without this major struggle we had to go though. Once the harness is on he is fine with it. It is just the putting on.
MORE GOOD NEWS: His potty training is progressing nicely. He lets us know when he has to go out. The only problem is when it is after dark the mosquitoes here are horrible and he is a very picky little dog about where he does his poops. It takes him just forever and in the mean time we are eaten alive by the mosquitoes. Can’t wait for cold weather! Other good news is he is eating a little better. He is up to about ½ cup a day of his dry food and all the chicken strip snacks I will allow him. Usually one per day and one Pigs Ear chew. He also gets milk bone when he does his business outside. Hummm. Nobody gives me a chocolate candy when I am good.
Later in the Day: Oh Ho! We may have Hannibal the Horrible licked! I did indeed go to Wal-Mart and picked up two pair of heavy duty yard gloves. I put on a denim long sleeved shirt and sat on the floor with the “beast.” I took off the harness let him play with it a bit. Petted him with the gloves to show him they are not going to hurt him then we began the work. I looped the neck part over without “too much” trouble then the struggle to get the front leg through where it belongs and fit the belly piece around him. He struggled, bit and snapped. I swatted him on his snout and we finely got him harnessed up. Then I played with him and petted him. I think he will learn that it won't hurt him.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Making Progress
We are making progress. Yesterday when we walked Hannibal was very aggressive with the other animals. Also he didn’t poop outside but waited to get in to do his business. Other bad habits are of course his chewing. He chews on his blanket, his towel that we put in his kennel and everything he can lay his little teeth into. Well let me amend that statement. So far, and I repeat SO FAR he hasn’t gotten our shoes and my slippers when I am sitting in my recliner are usually kicked off and on the floor. He is leaving them alone “so far.” We paid the veterinarian a visit yesterday. Boy that was like the national debt. Guess we will have to set aside a little “Hannibal goes to the Vet” kitty to pay for this. Today on our walk Hannibal Pooped once then peed 327 times. “Good Boy” you get a treat. Came home had ¼ cup of food. I put down ½ cup but he only ate half of that. Dr Bob said give him 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening. Then walk him in about ½ hour after that. So after he had his breakfast we waited a bit. He told me he had to go out so out we went. He got real excited to meet one of the neighbors and forgot about business. We walked around a bit. NOTHING! Back in the house in the bedroom (of course on the carpet) he pooped again. Hummmmm. This is going to take some work. He is still learning to sit. And he is learning not to chew up his bed. I’ll say this. He wears me out. He is like taking care of 3 four year olds.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Boy Oh Boy - Adapting to New Home
Well we picked up Hannibal today. He is a very loving friendly little dog. But boy oh boy is he ever going to take some training.
- He is very antisocial around other dogs. Wants to really bark at them. We will have to just let him be around some dogs and reinforce that is a NO. Maybe he will learn that he can't do this sort of thing.
- He seems to learn well. He is already starting to learn SIT but apparently whoever had him before played rather rough with him and he wants to bite at us when we pat his head and try to put on his harness. All this will come with repeated NO NO's. As to the bites. When He started biting at me I put him back on the floor and ignored him.
- He has gone outside to pee however we found two little deposits that he left for us. That is Lee's job. He put his little nose right in it and took him right outside.
So Looks like we are in for a lot of patience and a lot of positive reinforcement. He has already learned where the milk bones are. Doesn't want his food but when I put some leftovers out on the counter to heat for supper, he was right there begging. Looks like whoever had him gave him some really bad habits we will have to break. NO PEOPLE FOOD FOR YOU HANNIBAL. Sorry but they really aren't good for you. So this will be a learning experience for us all. Lee, me and Hannibal. But we will get through it. I think he will be fun to travel with. He really like his car ride home. At least after the AC cooled off the car. At first he was very hot and panting but once he got past that he loved the ride. Tomorrow he will go visit his new Veterinarian. So another car ride. This is going to be fun. Yeah Jeannie it really is. :)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Hannibal is Ours!!!!
It is official. I just called the pound. Hannibal is scheduled for surgery and they will call us in a couple of days to pick him up. We found the bed we wanted for him and bought a kennel. Only for when we travel or have to leave him for a time. Every thing is ready for him to come home.
Monday, July 5, 2010
An Eventful Week
We have had an eventful week. One big change for us is we decided we wanted to adopt a dog. Seems like almost everyone in the family has dogs so we decided to join the ranks. I haven’t had a dog for a good number of years. The last pet I had was my old orange cat that my youngest daughter brought home when she was still in high school. When she got married somehow the cat stayed with me. We never could come to terms on what to name him. I wanted Garfield. She said no! Almost everyone who had an orange tabby named them Garfield. So I said Morris. She said NO! The rest of them name them Morris. So we just simply called him cat. I decided to spiff it up a bit and spelled it Katt. Katt was forever doing what he wanted and not always what I wanted him to do so I would many times yell at him Katt dammit. So he thought that was his name. Katt Dammit he became and remained so until we sadly had to put him to sleep at the age of 18 ½. Actually I was on a cruise when he was put down. My third daughter was the one who took him to the Vet when he became sick and burst into tears when they asked what his name was and she said just cat. She thought it was sad that we had the cat so many years and never named him. I assured her he was indeed named. His name was Katt Dammit. But I digress. The last dog I had was Major a boxer who, like Katt Dammit, pretty much had a mind of his own. But they both had terrific personalities.
Anyway Thursday we went to the local Animal Control (pound) and looked at dogs. We liked several of them and decided on a little Chihuahua mix. He is just a cute as can be and is just the right size for us. Neither of us is capable of handling a large dog. Hannibal (my choice of names and not Lecter, Hannibal the Conqueror) is still incarcerated at this time. We have to wait to see if his former owner will claim him. We can only hope they don’t. At that time he will be neutered, a micro chip will be placed in him and he will get all his shots. We should know something by Wednesday or Thursday. If he gets claimed we will try again. Upon leaving the pound we went “pet supply shopping” and depleted the inventory of Creature Castle by a good bit. Still haven’t found the bed we want for him but will keep looking.
Dog business aside we spent most of the weekend at my two middle daughter’s property (Carol & Linda.) They have this big party every year. Oldest daughter (Mary) and her husband were here from Tennessee, Youngest one (Ann) and her husband was there. In fact most of the family, some we only see once or twice a year were there. Lots of good barbecue and lots of good food! Some of the Grandkids were not able to come due to being in the military or not being able to take off work etc. But we enjoyed those who were there. Weekend over now we are both worn out and plan on spending most of the week just chilling out and reading. Rainy days are good for curling up with a good book.
Anyway Thursday we went to the local Animal Control (pound) and looked at dogs. We liked several of them and decided on a little Chihuahua mix. He is just a cute as can be and is just the right size for us. Neither of us is capable of handling a large dog. Hannibal (my choice of names and not Lecter, Hannibal the Conqueror) is still incarcerated at this time. We have to wait to see if his former owner will claim him. We can only hope they don’t. At that time he will be neutered, a micro chip will be placed in him and he will get all his shots. We should know something by Wednesday or Thursday. If he gets claimed we will try again. Upon leaving the pound we went “pet supply shopping” and depleted the inventory of Creature Castle by a good bit. Still haven’t found the bed we want for him but will keep looking.
Dog business aside we spent most of the weekend at my two middle daughter’s property (Carol & Linda.) They have this big party every year. Oldest daughter (Mary) and her husband were here from Tennessee, Youngest one (Ann) and her husband was there. In fact most of the family, some we only see once or twice a year were there. Lots of good barbecue and lots of good food! Some of the Grandkids were not able to come due to being in the military or not being able to take off work etc. But we enjoyed those who were there. Weekend over now we are both worn out and plan on spending most of the week just chilling out and reading. Rainy days are good for curling up with a good book.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Blogging is "Such Fun"
First off happy day before the 4th to all my friends out there. We are celebrating today with a huge family party that two of my daughters host every year at the old family home which they now own.
Well guys this blogging is sure fun but boy oh boy (like anything to do with a computer) it is fraught with potential problems. Rather than retype all this correspondence I have copied and am pasting in here. Following is a series of email conversations between me and my friend and computer/blog guru. This is how my day started out.
Chris to Jeannie: Your blog is looking better and better as you add to and tweak. Nice that you added the explanation on your map so that people know there is more to it. I wouldn't have known about the little guy had you not mentioned it. Loved your video. Perfect!
Jeannie to Chris: Thank You Chris.
Something funny (or not so funny) happened to it thought. I was messing around with different templates trying out different things when all of a sudden I noticed the whole bottom of the blog was a different color and I have no clue how it happened or how to fix it. Any Ideas??? I even had to go in and change the explanation text cause it was the wrong color and didn't show up.
Chris to Jeannie: I've had lots of strange things happen on blogger and have had to just play around. I don't have your particular design and can't get into the dashboard of yours w/o your password, so I'd have to make an educated guess. Go into DESIGN and then TEMPLATE DESIGNER. Check the Advanced settings (one by one) and Layout too. If you can't find any way to change it there, then go back to DESIGN and see if you can view it at the bottom and drag it back down. Good luck!
Jeannie to Chris:
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!
I found your post about 7:00 am this morning. I immediately went to the blog and started fooling around. Bingo I got it back to a lighter color but for some unknown reason the map and the text seems to be in the footnote area. Tried moving around to no avail so then adjusted the color for the footer to be the same as the body of the Template. Well in the edit template mode the color codes are the same but on the blog they are slightly different. OK I can live with that bit of minutia but then the text dropped waaaaay down below the map. Every time I would go in and try to pull it back up my puter would freeze. I tried to edit in AOL and since AOL can be a bit of a pain sometimes I went to Internet Explore. Same thing would happen. Finely I was running out of time. I had 10 lbs of potatoes boiled, 18 eggs boiled both ready to peel and cut up, and all the stuff to put in the potato salad ready to be mixed in. (BIG family party every 4th of July) So I had to get this done. That done I came back to face the same old &%@$. Well I finely was able to delete the whole element and recreate it. The good news is Potato salad is done and blog is fixed (I think) Thanks for the help
WOW. what a catastrophe.
Well guys this blogging is sure fun but boy oh boy (like anything to do with a computer) it is fraught with potential problems. Rather than retype all this correspondence I have copied and am pasting in here. Following is a series of email conversations between me and my friend and computer/blog guru. This is how my day started out.
Chris to Jeannie: Your blog is looking better and better as you add to and tweak. Nice that you added the explanation on your map so that people know there is more to it. I wouldn't have known about the little guy had you not mentioned it. Loved your video. Perfect!
Jeannie to Chris: Thank You Chris.
Something funny (or not so funny) happened to it thought. I was messing around with different templates trying out different things when all of a sudden I noticed the whole bottom of the blog was a different color and I have no clue how it happened or how to fix it. Any Ideas??? I even had to go in and change the explanation text cause it was the wrong color and didn't show up.
Chris to Jeannie: I've had lots of strange things happen on blogger and have had to just play around. I don't have your particular design and can't get into the dashboard of yours w/o your password, so I'd have to make an educated guess. Go into DESIGN and then TEMPLATE DESIGNER. Check the Advanced settings (one by one) and Layout too. If you can't find any way to change it there, then go back to DESIGN and see if you can view it at the bottom and drag it back down. Good luck!
Jeannie to Chris:
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!
I found your post about 7:00 am this morning. I immediately went to the blog and started fooling around. Bingo I got it back to a lighter color but for some unknown reason the map and the text seems to be in the footnote area. Tried moving around to no avail so then adjusted the color for the footer to be the same as the body of the Template. Well in the edit template mode the color codes are the same but on the blog they are slightly different. OK I can live with that bit of minutia but then the text dropped waaaaay down below the map. Every time I would go in and try to pull it back up my puter would freeze. I tried to edit in AOL and since AOL can be a bit of a pain sometimes I went to Internet Explore. Same thing would happen. Finely I was running out of time. I had 10 lbs of potatoes boiled, 18 eggs boiled both ready to peel and cut up, and all the stuff to put in the potato salad ready to be mixed in. (BIG family party every 4th of July) So I had to get this done. That done I came back to face the same old &%@$. Well I finely was able to delete the whole element and recreate it. The good news is Potato salad is done and blog is fixed (I think) Thanks for the help
WOW. what a catastrophe.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Start of something new
OK well I am going to try something new. In the past when we have travelled, I have sent out individual e-mails titled "Tales from the Trail." I have had so much positive feedback I have decided to step out and try something new. I decided to try blogging. Since I am new at this I hope everyone will forgive my small errors. I don't profess to be a writer (if I was I would have more money to travel lol) but I do like to talk and share my experience with my friends and family.
This blog with primarily be about Lee's and my travels. However as you all know I really do like to talk so I may just hop in with something else from time to time. But for now I will fill you all in our upcoming trips.
In November we will take our first Trans-Atlantic cruise. We fly into Barcelona, Spain and board the ship. Our stops will be Palma De Mallorca, Spain; Alicante, Spain; Malaga, Spain; Madera (Funchal) Portugal; and Tenerife, Canary Islands. Then we head out sea and will sail for seven days ending in Ft. Lauderdale. This is a fifteen day cruise.
In January 2011 we take a very short (six day) cruise out of Tampa with stops at Cozumel, Mexico and Costa Maya Mexico.
In November of 2011 we will take another Trans-Atlantic Cruise. On this on we will fly into Rome and board the ship. Our thought is to fly in four or five days ahead of the group and do a bit of touring on our own, joining our friends on the ship. That is still up in the air and will keep you all posted as time goes by. On the ship we will cruise to Barcelona, Spain; cruise the Straight of Gibraltar; stop at Tangier, Morocco; Madeira, Portugal; then out to sea stopping at Bermuda then on to Miami where we will fly home. This is all the cruises we have on the books for now but who knows what my come up.
In May of 2011 we will take another of our massive road trips. Lee and I have already taken a thirty five and a forty day road trip. This one will be the Grandaddy of all our road trips so far. We plan to drive from Florida to Alaska and then home again all by car. This trip is still in the planning stage so I won't go into too many details but the route tentatively will take us up through Canada to Alaska then home by Marine Highway to Bellingham Washington and back home again.
I don't really know how this blogging thing works, but my hope is that I can set aside areas for each trip. That being the case I will eventually set a blog spot for each trip with the planning etc for each trip.
Until then I hope you all will enjoy this blog and keep tuned for further postings
This blog with primarily be about Lee's and my travels. However as you all know I really do like to talk so I may just hop in with something else from time to time. But for now I will fill you all in our upcoming trips.
In November we will take our first Trans-Atlantic cruise. We fly into Barcelona, Spain and board the ship. Our stops will be Palma De Mallorca, Spain; Alicante, Spain; Malaga, Spain; Madera (Funchal) Portugal; and Tenerife, Canary Islands. Then we head out sea and will sail for seven days ending in Ft. Lauderdale. This is a fifteen day cruise.
In January 2011 we take a very short (six day) cruise out of Tampa with stops at Cozumel, Mexico and Costa Maya Mexico.
In November of 2011 we will take another Trans-Atlantic Cruise. On this on we will fly into Rome and board the ship. Our thought is to fly in four or five days ahead of the group and do a bit of touring on our own, joining our friends on the ship. That is still up in the air and will keep you all posted as time goes by. On the ship we will cruise to Barcelona, Spain; cruise the Straight of Gibraltar; stop at Tangier, Morocco; Madeira, Portugal; then out to sea stopping at Bermuda then on to Miami where we will fly home. This is all the cruises we have on the books for now but who knows what my come up.
In May of 2011 we will take another of our massive road trips. Lee and I have already taken a thirty five and a forty day road trip. This one will be the Grandaddy of all our road trips so far. We plan to drive from Florida to Alaska and then home again all by car. This trip is still in the planning stage so I won't go into too many details but the route tentatively will take us up through Canada to Alaska then home by Marine Highway to Bellingham Washington and back home again.
I don't really know how this blogging thing works, but my hope is that I can set aside areas for each trip. That being the case I will eventually set a blog spot for each trip with the planning etc for each trip.
Until then I hope you all will enjoy this blog and keep tuned for further postings
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