|
Take a walk on the mild side.
November 2008 - Posts
-
About a week ago I mentioned to my husband that we needed some place to store our DVD’s and tapes. Over time these items multiply and, before you know it, they cover every horizontal space in the house. We definitely needed some sort of cabinet to hold all of our movies. 
About two days later my husband had fashioned a shelving unit that has six shelves that hold all of our movies. The shelves are made to the exact size of the DVD’s. Additionally, the whole unit takes only a very small area of the room; there is no extra size to the shelving unit. He painted it white to match the molding in the house and he made the top from a piece of Cedar that he found in his “treasure trove” of wood. The grain structure is so attractive that he decided not to paint it but instead to finish it with polyurethane. The resulting wood grain is really nice and it sets off the white shelves very well.
I didn’t know that he would jump right into the project after I mentioned that I would like to have a cabinet for the DVD’s. He built it in the shed in the back yard so I didn’t see him building anything. He told me that the unit didn’t cost us anything because he used scrap wood and other materials that he already had from numerous projects in the past. The only expense was a router bit that he didn’t have in his extensive array of tools. The shelves look good and they hold all the movies in our collection.
|
-
We met a guy at one of the restaurants that we frequent who lives on a houseboat. Since my husband is keen on the idea of doing the same thing one day, we struck up a conversation with this man to find out more information about where he had his boat and how we could find further information about the marina. He is a very nice man and he was free with his information. He told us some of the prices that the marina charges and what the electricity costs too. There are several marinas in the area and we are familiar with most of them, but this man lives in a marina that we had not considered before.
My husband had inquired many times at several of the marinas and he had come away disappointed because of the poor attitudes of many of the people. We thought that all the marinas were the same. We were happy to find that there is one that will be very well suited to our needs when the time is right. The people are very nice, very friendly, and very helpful, no poor attitudes. My husband used to have his boat at Shell Point and he always raves about the great people and good times that he had there. After his sailboat was struck by lightning and sank, his involvement with boating, and Shell Point, came to an end. His dreams of boats and good times have not faded though, and now we have found some great people who live on their boats.
|
-
|
It is getting really scary to read the news. Every time I look at the reports about the economy I start to worry about what could happen. The news has been talking about how we are in a recession now and my husband says that we are about to go into a depression. I have heard a lot about the Great Depression that was back in 1929 but I was not around then to really understand how terrible it was. All the documentaries that I have seen show people standing in lines to get free food. There was massive unemployment and people lost all their savings over night. I sure hope that nothing like that will ever happen now. I have heard that the government, back in the depression days, made a system of “checks and balances” to prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again; I hope so. The things I am hearing about these days, massive layoffs, foreclosures, credit card problems, and banks going out of business make me wonder.
I hope that the IRA’s that everyone has will be okay. I am not sure whether to put money into the IRA, or into a regular bank account. If I put the money into the IRA, I cannot use it until I reach fifty-nine and a half years old. That’s a long time. What if things get really bad and I need the money to buy necessities? It seems that a better idea would be to put the money into a regular bank account where I can get to it if I need it. Besides, the interest paid by the stock market is so low now that bank interest (also very bad) might even equal what I could get in a mutual fund
|
-
|
On Sunday my husband and I went to several stores to get odds and ends that we both needed. He had to get lots of little parts and tools for his boat building and I had to get household items and groceries. What made this a unique day was that we were able to get everything that we had on our separate lists. This is very rare. Usually we “hope” to get everything we need, but there is always something that is out of stock, or not available anymore, or has gone up so much in price that we choose not to buy it. This particular shopping trip was perfect; no surprises, just go into the store and pick out the items.
As we left the house my husband pointed out that it was lunchtime. He said he would like to get some lunch before we got to the first stop. I said, “Okay, that sounds good to me”. We chose one of our favorite restaurants and it was almost empty; we were the first customers of the day. No line to stand in, no waiting, and they got the order right the first time. I was happy that they got everything right because my husband will not tolerate anything amiss with his food – and he will be very vocal about it to the people behind the counter.
It is always nice to have someone to go shopping with me. It makes the trip go very fast and it is just nice to have the company. My husband even helps in the grocery store by getting some items while I get other items on a different aisle.
|
-
|
During my drive to work in the mornings, I often switch between radio stations as I search for a song I like. This morning I was flipping through the stations and I found one that had already switched to their "all Christmas song" format. It is a week-and-a-half before Thanksgiving. I could hardly believe it. A few years ago the stations started playing Christmas music right after Thanksgiving. I could understand that -- the Friday after Thanksgiving is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. Starting the Christmas music before the Thanksgiving holiday has passed is a bit much.
|
-
Well here we are again approaching the year-end holidays. It seems that we just got through with Christmas and New Year’s 2007. Another year has flown by and we have to start thinking about what we will do “for the holidays”. Maybe one reason that we think the time is flying by is that the stores always seem to be bringing out their decorations and advertisements earlier. I still can’t get used to Christmas in ninety-degree heat. Where I come from, freezing temperatures and a good layer of snow on the ground goes with the Christmas season.  The holidays usually mean that relatives will be showing up for merriment and cheer. It’s nice to see family, to watch your nieces and nephews get bigger each year, and to catch up on all the stories. Unfortunately, visiting relatives also means that my stress levels will reach into the stratosphere. There’s always something that creates extra tension during the holiday season. People worry about cleaning their house (in case “Mrs. Clean” brings her white glove to check for dust) and, if you are the chef this year, you will be concerned that all the food comes out perfectly. After all, you don’t want to be the subject of next year’s stories. Also, most families have at least one relative who seems to find trouble where there isn’t anything to find. I enjoy the holidays, but my stress levels always go up during the time period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.
|
-
|
Today is Veteran’s Day, Tuesday, the 11th of November. Since my husband is a combat veteran, I thought that I would take the day off to be with him. He doesn’t really talk too much about the tour he did in Vietnam, but occasionally he will tell “war stories”. He was in combat back in 1967-1968. I didn’t know him back then but I wonder what it was like to be married to a combat soldier. The wives could only write letters and hope that their husbands were safe. There was no other communication back then. My husband said that there was a way to get a message from a radio to a telephone in the United States in an extreme emergency, but this was very rare and difficult to achieve. I can’t imagine being without my spouse for more than a year with only a few letters and snapshots to let me know what was going on.
Most people don’t realize the sacrifices that our servicemen and servicewomen make when they are shipped off to war. They are put in harm’s way and they do it so that our country can maintain its place in the world theater. According to my husband, no one really wants to go to war but you are sent out to do the job. When in the war zone you get down to business. The enemy is going to try to kill you because you are on his terrain; you have no choice but to fight back. Not every soldier makes it back to his or her loved ones.
I guess it is right that we all appreciate and recognize our loved ones in the service. Whether we agree with the government that sent them in harm’s way or not, these are the men and women who are our friends, neighbors, and relatives. It is good that we have a day set aside to honor them.
|
-
This past weekend our friends moved to a new house. My husband and I arrived early Saturday morning to help with the huge task of taking an entire house-full of furniture and delivering it to their new abode. Another couple, relatives of our friends, also came over with their truck and trailer to assist. There is about twenty minutes driving time between the new and old houses. I was happy to have twenty minutes to rest between loading and unloading the trucks and trailers.
We moved into our new house a few months ago and, believe me, we know how exhausting this type of moving can be. There is always a deadline and the thought of lifting all that heavy furniture is not my idea of a “good time”. We borrowed an appliance mover (hand truck) to move the refrigerator, but other than that, we lifted all the heavy furniture, clothes, desks, chairs, and books – phew, I’m getting tired just talking about it. Anyway, my husband and I know what it is like to move all “your stuff”.
This time, there were three trucks, two trailers, and six of us. This made things a whole lot easier. When we arrived, my husband went into the house and he was shocked to see that almost nothing had been moved in preparation for the final move on the weekend. Our friend mentioned that they had moved quite a bit of stuff in the previous weeks. It didn’t look like it to us. But our friend was right. When we got to the new house we were again shocked to find that several rooms of stuff had, indeed, been moved. Obviously, stuff tends to collect in a house in proportion to how long the people have lived there. Our friends have been in the old house for several years and, like all of us, they seem to have more stuff than the four walls can hold. Happily, we were successful with the moving and our friends are settling into their new home.
|
-
|
Since Sunday afternoon was so nice, we decided to take the scooters and go to the store to get some parts for a toilet repair. Fortunately, the parts are very small so we were able to use the scooters. The broken part was on the inside of the tank; it connects the flushing handle to the flapper. The original piece was made of plastic and it broke in half. We made sure to get a replacement part that was made of metal so that, maybe, the repair will last for a long time.
We thought that we would have plenty of time to go to the store and get back before the Sun went down. As soon as that Sun goes down, the temperature really drops fast. We were successful in getting the parts and then we decided to eat something. We stopped at Rummy's Pizza place and we ordered some sandwiches; we sat down to eat on the open patio; the afternoon was still warm and comfortable. The food was very, very good, expensive, but good. After the meal it was time to ride home. By now, though, the Sun was going down and we could feel the drop in temperature. The faster we traveled, the colder it got. It was getting darker too, and I sometimes worry about being seen by the other drivers on the dark streets. The trip home was cold and dark, but we made it okay.
|
-
It happens twice a year but I never can get completely used to it. Spring forward; Fall back. Why don’t they just adjust the time thirty minutes to split the difference and then we can have no time changes ever again? It is nice that they (whoever “they” are) always have the time change early on a Sunday morning. This is good because we can get used to the time change on Sunday when there is no work.
Our dog, Logan, thought we were being lazy on Sunday morning. We were getting up at the “wrong” time. I think he looked at the clock and thought that I had not set it correctly for our normal morning routine. It is difficult to explain "daylight savings time" to a dog. We got up anyway and he adjusted nicely. Our other dogs get up when we do and they are not concerned with the clock at all. So long as they get their morning meal, they think we are on track.
The first one to get us up in the morning, whether we want to or not, is the little one, Brownie. He sits up next to my husband and pats him on the head with his paw. If there is no response, he pats harder until we wake up. He has an uncanny ability to start this routine about ten minutes before the alarm is set to go off. I want those ten minutes to sleep! There is nothing to do but to get up and feed everybody. I've decided to try going in earlier to work so I can get home earlier. It gets dark so quickly now. My husband and I usually go work a walk after work. If I get home by 6:00, we wind up walking in the dark.
|
-
Yesterday was Halloween. I had a big dish of candy ready to give out to the trick or treaters but I didn’t know how many we would have visit our house. Numerous conversations with neighbors didn’t give me any better insight; they all said that they didn’t know either. (I made sure that the candy I bought would be palatable to my husband and me, just in case we had too much left over.) The first child visited us at six thirty in the evening. We were in the backyard and I didn’t hear the doorbell ring. He was walking away when we caught sight of him so I ran into the house, grabbed the candy dish, and raced outside to catch him before he had gone too far. He is a neighbor’s child and we know him to be a polite little boy. I would have felt badly if I had not given him something. In fact, I gave him double the candy that I gave others because he was our first visitor. There were only seven other children to visit. The last one came about 9:30 PM. I thought that was a little late, but I wanted to get rid of the candy. Some had their parents’ drive them around in pick-up trucks; some kids drove themselves around in golf carts. I was a little disappointed to see how few of the homeowners on the block participated. Many kept their house dark and wouldn't answer the door.
Halloween was so much better when I was a little kid. I planned all year about what my costume would be. There were no horror stories about razor blades in apples and poison in candy. When I was very little, my older brother or sister would take me around. Once I got a little older, I was allowed to go out with a group of friends. We walked all over the neighborhood and as far away as we felt like walking. You could see other big groups of kids going from house to house. Many parents went to a lot of trouble to decorate their house, even putting a record player outside playing spooky music.
|
|
|
|