SELTAEB'S MEANDERINGS

THE SWINGIN MEDALLIONS

2007-07-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

I ran across this record this week and gave it a listen. Their big hit and their only hit was "Double Shot"(Of My baby's Love. A garage band song from the 60's. So i wondered if these guys are still around and I am surprised that they are. Still performing though they have gone through many personnel changes over the years,I think there is one original member still carrying the torch.

What is it that drives a guy to carry on with one song that made it big back in the 60's? I would think he would be pretty sick of the song by now, I know after playing it a couple of times I'm happy to put it back on the shelf for a few years before I want to listen to it again.

I was in a band back in the 70's called Pierson Lake. It was an 8 piece band that was patterned after BS&T and Chicago. We cut a couple records and one did make it to the #1 spot on the local/state radio and every once in awhile I'll pull out the 45 and give it a listen. I realize that was then and this is now. Would I like to keep on doing that song the rest of my life? Nope. Life is too short to dwell on just one song.

VACATION TIME

2007-06-26T08:06:00.000-04:00

Yep,it's that time of year again. Vacation or as I refer to it as a time you work your butt off doing things you wouldn't normally do but you do it at your own pace. Vacations can end up to being less restful than intended. I call it a practice for retirement. I know that by the time my vacation time ends and I'm not "ready" to go back to school (I'm a teacher), then I'm getting very close to retirement. So far, that hasn't happened.

I do have a goal to retire in the next few years but I'm not putting a date on it. So I will continue with my vacation/ pre-retirement time.

Oh yes, vacation. Yeah, I will take a couple real vacations, mainly get out of town for a few days and leave the comforts and routine of homelife for awhile and visit another part of our country. Kickback, read a few books and sleep as well as a few other activities that don't involve work.

Now, if I can only figure out a way to get there and back in a blink of an eye or a wiggle of a nose. Samantha where are you??

THE POWER OF PRAYER

2007-03-11T06:25:00.000-04:00

I have gone through all of my life as a believer in God, but that has been about how far it has gone , till now. Yes I can say I believe in God and know Jesus Christ is my Savior now.......... Before? I always kept God at arms length. Today I don't.

I bring God and the love of Jesus into my heart everyday. I know now that he is with me constantly. A hard concept for a lot of people including me. He is with everyone of us 24/7. I realized that God is in you whether you want him or not and that you can only experience him if you open your heart and mind and soul and let him.

So many peole only pray to God when they need something or if they are mad at God saying "Why Me?". I was one like that. I am a very private person and even writing this now for anyone to see goes against me but I feel I need to put these words down for no other reason. I woke up with these thoughts in my head.

I have seen prayer work in my own life of which I can write a book and maybe someday I will. I know that for a fact if it weren't for the Grace of God I would not be sitting here today and it isn't because I did a lot of praying. It's because of those people who prayed for me, cause remember...I kept God at arms length. Without those prayers I know I wouldn't be here today.

So let this little message be a prayer for you. I pray that you may find an inner peace and that you will be able to let God into your life as an active participant and not as an observer. The power of prayer is awesome, not only for the person praying but for the person receiving that prayer. Try it, you'll like it.

THE WINTER THAT WASN'T

2007-02-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

A lot has happened since my last post and needless to say I'm not going to get into all of the things that have happened the past few weeks. Contrary to what I have said, things do happen in my life.

The NE has been spared a winter this year thanks to a couple of things, global warming and El Nino. Whereas the midwest has suffered from what seems to be unending winter storms. By the time they get to the NE they have nothing left. We have had about 7" of snow so far this year whereas we should be around 35".

Now I bring this up cause if the weather keeps doing what it's doing within the next few years the NE will be rivaling the west coast for beach front property. Imagine, being able to go for a swim in January. Well actually some people do go swimming in January already and they are the members of the local Polar Bear Club.

I'm just a little wary what the summer months are going to bring us. Extreme cold and lots of rain? Let's hope not. There goes my beachfront idea.

HAPPY ANOTHER NEW YEAR

2007-01-13T12:36:00.000-05:00

WOW! Where is this year going? Better yet, where did last year go. Time just keeps on slipping by. Before I know it will be 2008.
Did you make any resolutions for the new year? I didn't, never do and never will. Why say you are going to do something that you know you have no intention of ever doing it anyhow. So why bother. I figure, just keep on the even keel. Continue living the way I do and maybe moderate some things, but otherwise keep it the same. I know, boring.
But at least I'm happy, fairly healthy and always wise. Wouldn't do me any good to be stupid.
It is already Martin Luther King's birthday which means a day off of work for me as schools are closed and I'm a teacher, so I go with the flow. I've spent the past couple of weeks talking to the kids about MLK and what he did for us. I came to realize that kids may know somethings about MLK but they don't realize what he really did. I'm sure as they grow older they will have a better understanding of the man. At least I hope they do.
So Happy Birthday MLK and Happy Another New Year.

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

2006-12-08T19:21:00.000-05:00

My darling wife just asked me if I was in the "Christmas Spirit" and I said yes without giving it a second thought. Now thinking about I still have to say yes. It's not that I've been playing Christmas music since the beginning of November but I have and that doesn't have much to do with my spirit of Christmas. I am finding this year a more joyous time to me as I am grateful for the life I am living. It may not be glamorous or outstanding but it is satisfying in many respects. I have have a wonderful and loving family and probably the best job I've ever had as a teacher. I have my health which is not the best but far from being the worst and I have my God who is with me 24/7. With these in place I can truthfully say I am in the "Christmas Spirit" in the sense that I try to ignore the commercialism of the season and concentrate on the real reason of the season. Jesus, family and friends.

SALVATION WHAT?

2006-10-09T08:57:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted and since the last time I posted was Labor Day and today is Columbus Day. I figured why not. I have the day off from work and this weekend has been a kind of catch-up weeken of things to be done.

A lot of has happened since my last blog with the biggest thing being the marriage of my stepdaughter to Chris. This happened on Sept 16 and I must say it was a gorgeous day. We were a bit worried though as this was an outdoor/garden wedding and it rained buckets three days before right up to the night of the rehearsal dinner. Needles to say we were all quite nervous about the weather. As I said it was a gorgeous day and the wedding came off without a hitch and the newly married couple are now back from the honeymoon and back to work.

We recently purchased a new double recliner to replace our hardly used sofa sleeper. The sofa sleeper is in pretty good condition (we thought) so instead of trying to sell it through the want ads we decided to donate it to the Salvation Army. We are just that kind of people. Anyhow the Salvation Army truck came to pick it up and wouldn't take it. Said it has wear (duh) and that it had cat fur on it. Now I'm not a rocket scientist yet but I thought the Salvation Army was for collecting items/money to give to the poor. This couch showed wear on one corner of the cording and there was a little car fur by and area I happened to miss as I had brushed the entire (except that spot) couch down.

Evidently I have no idea what the Salvation Army is anymore or even what the poor and needy are like anymore. I remember especially in my younger years when I didn't have two nickels to rub together I would have been overjoyed with a sleeper sofa like this. Believe me, we had furniture is much worse shape than this then and we were happy with it. Go figure.

So Salvation Army, when you have your Santa Clause Kettle Ringers out in a few weeks. I will now walk by without guilt of donating to your cause and you had your chance. My not accepting my generous gift you also told me you don't want my donations either. Don't bite of the hand that feeds the face.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

2006-09-04T09:56:00.000-04:00

Today is Labor Day and among other things the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. This is a well and good. I recently learned that two of my grandchildren have lost their first tooth and it seems I'm in the right company.
This has been a miserable weekend for me as it started off with a toothache and it probably will end with the same toothache. My Dentist is nowhere to be found. Gone for the weekend I'm guessing. I've left my message of urgency but no call back.
So in the meantime I'm dealing with the pain. Taking ibuprofen, washing my mouth out with salt water, mouthwash and using oragel which is nasty stuff, Works okay for a few minutes but the pain comes back 10 fold when it wears off.
My lovely wife put a plea out on the internet and one came back that sounded feasible. Use Oil Of Clove. So the search was on. One pharmacist knew exactly what I wanted it for but had none on hand. Another pharmacist looked at me like I just escaped from the nut house. She had no clue. Finally with some searching in the local CVS Drugstore we found it, under a different name (of course).
When I got home I immediately put it in the sore tooth and I have to tell you that stuff burns. Reminded me of when I was a kid and I would get cinnamon oil and dip it on toothpicks and suck on it. Well this stuff works pretty good, the pain is abated for a lengthy time and I actually got a good nights sleep having only had to get up once for more ibuprofen.
The only side effect from the use of Oil of Cloves I've discovered so far that all people who come in contact with smelling the cloves suddenly have a desire to eat a pumpkin pie.

THE LAST DAY

2006-08-27T06:51:00.000-04:00

What do you mean,the last day? Then end of the world? The day you die? The final day of the sale? Your last chance to take advantage of that thing you really wanted but wanted to wait until the last moment. Wait don't get confused, I'm not talking about the last moment, that's a whole nuther can of worms so let's not go there. Keep it on the subject, the last day.
The last day can entail many different things, some sad, some happy and some sad/happy if there is such a thing. How can you be sad & happy at the same time? Wait!! Back to the last day, not the sad/happy day, BUT the last day. What does it me to you? I know what it means to me, but what does it mean to you? Think about it. The last day could be the first day of the rest of your life. Now that can be a sad/happy day,right? There's that sad/happy thing again.
The last day for me is nothing too drastic, just that I will have to get up at a set time, drive a set number of miles, and interact with about 300 people every day, five days a week unless there is a holiday. Yep, for me it's my last day of vacation.
Now as I write this I have a song running through my head which I must go find now and listen to it as it well could be a title for another subject down the line. A RollingStones biggie, The Last Time!!

THE RIPOFF

2006-08-08T19:16:00.000-04:00

This past week my family and I vacationed in Maine. This is our yearly trip as a family and it's usually Maine. We tried Vermont one year and it just didn't work, so back to Maine. No complaints, lots to do and then there is the ocean which is a hoot. On giant swimming pool and if the weather is hotter than hell like it was all this summer the ocean water is even enjoyable.

Super vacation in all areas of vacationing except one. I was robbed and it happened right in front of my eyes and at one of my most favorite places in the world, Dunkin Doughnuts.

You see I use their cash card which is a rechargable debit card. Well I order drinks and patiently wait for them to be prepared which I've done hundreds of times and waited for the dunkin doughnuts girl to ring it up. Then she starts looking at some coupons saying she was giving my a discount on my drinks which I thought was very nice. She gives me my card, receipt and the coupons she was taking the numbers off of. I don't bother looking, just stuff it back in my wallet and enjoyed my drink.

Two days later I'm at another Dunkin Doughnuts and again order my drinks for myself and family, hand the girl my card, she runs it through the machine and she says there is no money on the card. I'm taken aback, pay cash and we enjoy our drinks not giving the $0 card much thought.

Until later that night when I'm laying in bed and replaying the day I had and up comes the $0 card and that is where I'm stuck, my mind wandering and wondering about it. So I get up and get my wallet and pull out the card and here I discover it was a brand new card and not my old chipped one. The new card had a sticker on it. The reason I didn't see it right away was because the card was covered with the receipt and coupon. I was robbed right in front of my eyes.

So when I get home I go on my computer to the Dunkin Doughnuts site and check my account as my card was registered and sure enough someone was enjoying my card. Now that really pissed me off, so I call Dunkin' Doughnuts customer service and they are closed cause it was a weekend, so I had no choice but to cancel the card which still had a few bucks on it.

I called Dunkin service on Monday, explained what happened and they are investigating it. Not much to investigate as that's what happened. But in between the time I cancelled the card and Dunkin cancelled it I lost another $15 as evidently the whole Dunkin Doughnuts corporation take weekends off. So out of a $50 card I was able to save $10.88. I was told that the store that the theft occurred is responsible to reimburse me.

Now that was two days ago and I still haven't heard anything, but then I'm told Rome wasn't built in a day either. So I'll be patient. I'll keep you posted. Any bets on whether I get my money or not?

ANOTHER MONDAY

2006-07-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

Another Monday and that's okay cause I'm on vacation. In fact if it wasn't for Sundays I probably wouldn't pay to much attention on what day it is. Which is really nice when you think of it. No time restraints with this has to be done now or I've got to go there now. Those kinds of things. That is what a vacation is all about. Do things when you want and as long as it's gets done during the vacation you've succeeded in your goals.

I see no reason in having two weeks off and you spend it "on the road" either driving or flying to your destination and then running around going here or going there and spending tons of money so when you do come home you are broke and so tired you are glad to get back to work so you can rest.

Oh I'm not against the going someplace on vacation, just leave some time for yourself where you can forget what day it is for at least a few days. I feel that is healthier for your mind, body & spirit than anything else you may do during your vacation.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

2006-07-18T15:08:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know, it's hot everywhere. Like the weather man is giving us a hint of what Hell is like on a cold day. All I can say is "Buck Up Wuzzy" it's summer, it's July, it's supposed to be hot.
Think back a few month when it was freezing cold and you had to shovel your driveway so you could get your car out of garage so you could get to work and you had to dress in layers so you would stay warm enough just in case your car stalled in the middle of nowhere or even on I84 in CT. Do you remember? The heat bill was sky high and at least with a/c you are only using electricity and not fuel oil. Do you remember. You don't shovel sunshine. Appreciate for what it is.......summer!!

HOT, HOT HOT!!!

2006-07-15T07:17:00.000-04:00

OK, So it's hot. Big Deal! What do you expect, this is summer folks. Summer means "yeah, there are gonna be some hot days". So get over it, remember last winter when you were freezing your cahonnies off.
I have always said about the heat is that I don't have to shovel it. Now on the other hand humidity is NOT my friend. Nope, no way, no how. Put those two puppies together and you are looking at one immovable blob.....me.
So I'll take the heat but please leave the humidity home. Oh yeah, a little breeze helps.

THIRTY

2006-06-20T06:02:00.000-04:00

How many songs can you think of that has the word thirty (30) in them? I thought and I thought and came up with zilch. There is the "Thirty Year War", "Thirty Year Itch", "Life Begins At Thirty". There is also the 33 1/3 LP/Vinyl.

Wait a second.............I'm wrong!! Though there was no song that popped into my head about thirty I "googled" and found, "My Next Thirty Years" by Tim McGraw.

So why I am obsessed with the number 30? Today I complete my 30th year of teaching, a milestone in my life. I've taught for 30 years in 9 different schools. A lot of schools for sure. I've been at my present school for six years now and God willing and the creek don't rise, I will be here when I retire, eight years from now.

Seems like a long time to go, but I know it will go fast. The kids keep me young, no doubt about that and I think the kids think of me more of a Grampa than a teacher and I guess that's okay just as long as they don't start calling me Gramps.

I guess out of all the "Thirty" sayings I dug up I guess I best identify with "Teaching Begins After Thirty".

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

2006-06-18T06:13:00.000-04:00

Happy Fathers Day to all of the fathers reading this today. I hope your day is a good one and that you enjoy your day.
I feel blessed to be a father, I have two biological sons and four step-children (2 sons & 2 daughters). All have grown to adulthood except our 14 soon to be 15year old who looks like he's 18.
I have two great sons who are also fathers, Paul has a son, Jonathan and Brian has a son and two daughters, Mark, Sabrina and Annebelle respectively. They are two great families and a proud addition to the family tree.
My step-children have yet to bless us with grandchildren though I'm sure the time is not too far off. Debbie's oldest daughter will marry this September and Katy will soon finish grad-school and she and husband Doug will start focusing on starting a family in the near future.
This is a great day for all you Fathers of the world. Enjoy.

THE END IS NEAR

2006-06-09T19:52:00.000-04:00

No No, You got it wrong.................the end of the school year is near. Seven days left for me, well actually six as I've been summoned for Jury Duty. So now my little brain is trying to think all the different ways I can get out be selected. Yes, I know it's my civic duty and all that but you gotta realize I just did 10 months of teaching. I'm ready for a rest and not listening to someone trying to beat a wrap or suing someone or whatever. I'm not in the mood.
Maybe if I just come out and say "Hang The Bastard" or the "Plaintiff wins", award the 10 million $ for that bite you got while eating popcorn in the theatre and you thought your finger was a kernel of popcorn. Hey, I'm all for better lights in a theatre, but that's another story another time.
Hey I even considered feigning hard of hearing. Eh? Whazzat? Scratch whose ass? Not mine........
Ah yes I can go on but I won't I think you get the jest of it all. I wanna go on vacation, sleep in, watch TV, listen to music and of course visit my blog a little more often than I have been doing.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

2006-05-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

COME AGAIN IN 40 DAYS!!

Before the rains came to the NE we were approaching a drought. Well that's what the weather people say. We were having brush fires every day somewhere in our small state.
Now after a couple of weeks of rain we are like a swamp. Well, that's what I call it. Walking in our back yard is like walking on a bog. The ground is all squishy. The ground is totally saturated to the point the water comes into our house via any open or weak spot in the foundation.
I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. Not a pleasant experience at all as I was walking through either standing water or mud while I tried to tidy of the lawn a teeny bit. Yes it looks better now and I'm hoping for dryer conditions on the next mowing.
One positive thing from all the rain is that our planted flowers are flourishing and my potatoes are coming up!

I Need A Little Help Here.......

2006-04-29T07:59:00.000-04:00

I have a question for anyone who would know the answer and care to answer.

I would like to be able to put a CD into my computer, open some software and remove the vocals from a recording, thereby creating my own personal karoake recording.

So am I way off base here, is it possible to do, is there software out there that can do it and if so what is it.

It's just that there are some pieces of music just not available in the karoake form. Any help, any way would be appreciated. Thanks.

That Time Of Year

2006-04-29T07:52:00.000-04:00

I'm told that life is always full of challenges and I totally agree. You never know what comes around the corner. Take this for instance.
I have been feeling pretty good lately, both physically and mentally. No colds, flu, depression, anxieties, nothing, nada. Then here it come: allergies!
Holy crapola, you'd think my body has never encountered those nasty buggers before, but here comes coughing, sneezing, sore throat, watery eyes, blowing the nose, medications up the wazoo and you still feel like crap even after all of today's wonder meds. What's a guy to do? Nothing. Grin and bear it and make do with what you have. This too shall soon pass.

MUSIC OF OUR WORLD

2006-04-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

I like all kinds of music. On any given day I would listen to many different types of music. Just this morning I put on The Moody Blues To Our Childrens Children Children and I am currently listening to Andy Williams. What I listen to next is anybodies guess. Could be anything from Green Day to Mozart.

I feel I have come to appreciate all types of music, even Rap and Opera. Maybe this is something that comes with age and I'm tending to think so cause I remember when I was a teen and even a young adult I gravitated toward Rock n Roll and nothing else. Though there was a time in my life I got hooked on Ray Conniff. I think a lot of it had to do with what was being played on the radio and thinking back it was the mid 70's and Disco was the craze and back then I was also a full fledged alcoholic. So go figure.

I teach music and have for 30 years so maybe this is something that comes with the job. I see so many kids nowadays that will not even give a second to any other style or genre of music yet defend "their" music vehemently. Like I'm going to take it away from them. No way. I only want them to experience the many different types of music out in our world today.

I've recently started listening to and buying CD's from Putamaya which is a company that specializes in music from our world today. Now talk about varied. They have put together CD's from countries all around the world and not your normal songs you would expect. These are songs that are indigenous to that country. What an ear opener. No, none of these songs will ever make the Top 40 but there is some great music here to be appreciated.

Do yourself a favor sometime, take that gamble and listen to some music you wouldn't normally listen to and I'm not talking about one or two songs, try a whole hour. There are more radio stations on the air today as well as satellite radio that about every genre of music out there is covered. Now I'm not saying you have to like the music, but experience it, give it a chance to touch you. Vary your listening, you won't regret it.

Sunday Comes Monday

2006-03-12T08:01:00.000-05:00

I guess you can say I am a weekend man. I enjoy my weekends. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Weekends are a time I can do pretty much what I want and when I want, to a degree. Yes, there are "things" that are done that are planned for me but without getting into specifics, I have no problem with that.
I like my job, which I understand is a rarity in the world today. Even so, I look forward to my weekends. Even on a Monday! I also look forward to retirement but that is a few years off so it gives me some time to get my "ducks in order". Those ducks are my bucks which will make retirement possible. So for now, I'm satisfied with my weekends.
A little old business: I am elated that Drew Lachay won the "Dancing With The Stars" TV show. A splendid time as guaranteed and enjoyed by all.
NEW SHOW: I watched the new show "THE UNIT" and I must say that I was impressed. The show kept me pretty much on the edge of my seat. not a whole lot of action but what there was, was intense and some good interaction between the characters. This show you have to record on your DVR so you can catch those action scenes again, even though the camera does slow the action down a bit, it's worth a second watch. So catch an episode when you can.

BLIZZARD CARSON

2006-02-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

I grew up and lived most of my life in North Dakota. I now live in Connecticut. Today we are experiencing a Blizzard, which for someone from North Dakota is no big deal. Blizzard Carson (yes they name them) is a major event here. Even live TV coverage. Regular programming has been preempted.
Connecticut is a state that is a fraction of the size of North Dakota and has the widest variety of weather at the same time. Usually in ND weather is pretty much the same all over. Here in CT weather can vary from rain to fog to ice to drizzle to snow all in a matter of a few miles. Snow is now coming down at the rate of 2 inches an hour.
Now this storm is all over the state but again snow amounts vary from one side of the state to the other. Right now we are looking at 20" on the extreme western side of CT to the shoreline on the east at only a few inches and this is only a matter of 90 miles apart. This to me is amazing for a state that is no larger than one of ND largest counties and there are 52 counties in ND.
So what do we do on a weekend snowday? Nothing. Never fear as long as we have electricity all is fine. If we lose power then things will get interesting. Time to soon break out the snow shovels.

My God, My Life

2006-01-29T09:10:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday which means I go to church. You say, so what? Well you have to understand that going to church each Sunday was no my top priority. In fact, I didn't go to church for many years. Today I feel I have a good relationship with my church and my God.
I found God many years ago when I went through treatment for Alcoholism. He has always been here with me whether I went to church or not. For me going to church is not trying to show everyone that I'm a self-righteous man and look at me I worship God.
Yes I go to church not to worship God but to thank him, for without him I would not be here today. I thank God for being with me each day and I ask him to help me through the next week, though I have no idea what the next week will bring.

Church makes me to sit quiet for those few minutes out of my busy life and reflect on all that is around me. Some days are so busy you can actually see yourself coming and going. I live a quiet happy life I think. I always say I have no complaints, which i don't and even I did complain little would come of it.

Yeah, I'm going to church today and spending a little time with my God, myself and those that I love both near me and far from me. My prayers and thoughts will also be for you today.

SNOW DAY

2006-01-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

Today I have a snow day. Being that I am a teacher that makes perfect sense that is unless you live in Florida! I think in Flordia they might be called Hurricane Days. I remember once school being cancelled because it was too cold. This was back when I lived in ND. School was actually called off because it was too dangerous to even go outside because it was too cold. Windchills I think were aound the -80 degree mark. I remember newscasters throwing water in the air and the water would freeze before it even hit the ground. Try this in CT and all you get is the water splashing on the ground.

This has been one strange winter. Just last Friday we had tempos in the 60's. It was Spring. I even saw some trees starting to bud. Mother Nature had even fooled them. Today we have no school because of snow and ice. Not a lot of snow, couple inches maybe but the dreaded ice is in the picture. I'll take snow any day but please no ice unless it's on a skating rink. I don't care what you drive it won't do you no good on ice.

The beauty of this storm is that maybe it will have snow and ice in it, there will also be rain which means it has warmed up and therefore will melt the snow and ice gradually which translates to no shoveling which will make my son Ryan very happy. Why invest in a temperamental snowblower when I have a strapping young 14 year old itching to build up his muscles and enjoy the great outdoors. :-)

Now I gotta go dig out the video "SNOW DAY" and watch it this afternoon. What a more fitting movie for a day like today. Hey, Hon!! Where's the popcorn?

TWENTY FOUR/SEVEN

2006-01-18T17:48:00.000-05:00

One for my favorite shows has finally started their season and will now run for the next 20 weeks. I'm happy. The show is "24" with the story taking place in supposedly real time which even though they try it isn't possible. I guess they never have traffic jams in LA cause they sure can get around that town in quick order.

That aside, I really like the show cause you never know who's going to be eliminated. At one time they even eliminated the shows star Keifer Sutherland for about 30 seconds but he was revived. So now the show starts with three of the main characters from last years show being attacked with two of them killed and one in critical condition. What a way to start a series and needless to say I'm once again hooked. Seems no one is safe on that show, it's got me looking behind my back.

I even record the show on DVR and then transfer it to DVD so at the end of the season I have the whole season on DVD, the rest of the world has to wait for a good six months before the season box set is released and I have it at the end of the season. Heh Heh. So yeah, I'm hooked.

THEN ALONG COMES MARY

2006-01-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

First off, I have to say that Master P at least gives me something to write about. I wonder what I could ever write that would be of interest to anyone and then realized I'm doing this for me and not for anyone else, though if you like to read my wandering thoughts, knock yourself out. This is more an exercise in thought composition if anything plus gives me a chance to get some things off my chest which I probably wouldn't want to burden anyone else with, so why not the internet.

Back to Master P. "Dancing With The Stars" was more enjoyable this week and I have to say that Master P did give it a better try this week. Thank you P. You didn't piss me off, though I still want you voted off.

I thought the best star of the night was Lisa Rinna with her Rhumba. All I can say is............SEXY. Now the other Rhumba dancers scored higher and maybe technically better, but I just thought hers was sexier. The Quick Step goes to Drew Lachey of 98 Degrees fame. He's just plain good.

I know squat about dancing but I enjoy watching them dance and I have picked up a few pointers from the judges. But then what do I know?

Next up is my favorite show of the season, 24. I have my DVR already warmed up.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST?

2006-01-07T10:10:00.000-05:00

Well I survived my first back week to work after the long break. Eleven days this time around as we had a "Snowday" on the first day back. So a three day week I could handle, but it still felt like a 5 day week plus I was always wondering what day it was. So things will really get back on track next week with a four day week.

Dancing With The Stars is back for its' second season and though I really really detest reality TV, this I like. The thing is I know nothing about dancing other than moving your body this way and that way and maybe your arms and that's about it, but from this show I at least learn a little something even if I can't do the moves.

All couples were pretty good considering the "walks of life" they came from and the first time dancing in public nerves, etc. I was really disappointed in Master P though. I understand where he is coming from, wanting to help the people of New Orleans and show others they could do something different if they so choose. At least that is what I think was "apologizing" in his reply. But do it, just don't say it!

Anyhow, P........Get with the game. At least make an effort to learn your dance instead of standing there like a freakin' "bump on a log" and acting like you're just to "cool" for this. I'll tell you what's cool.... Is if you would shed that persona for a little bit and get with the game. If you are as cool as you "think" you are then you don't need the "look", to be cool. Without the fancy look and "playing the game" is cool for me and I would think a lot more of you. You have the rest of your life to "look the cool". I was really disappointed you weren't voted off this week. Better luck next week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2006-01-01T10:37:00.000-05:00

What more can a guy say? It's a brand new year but looking outside doesn't seem much different than yesterday except that our ground is now white from a blast of snow rolling through yesterday. Too bad this wasn't last week and we would have had a white Christmas, but instead we a white new year. So I'm expecting more white to come in the near future.

I've been on vacation the past week due to the holidays, hard to have school when no one shows up. I always look forward to the time off and I've often said that the Christmas break isn't a break as we are always doing something or going somewhere. This break hasn't been much different except I feel like it was a break for me. I could actually sit down and watch TV for while and vegetate for awhile. Yes we did go places and do things but it seem that stressful at all. All in all it was a pleasant experience.

The one drawback I find form having 10 days off is that every day I seem to sleeping in just a little bit longer. Day 1 I was waking up at my normal time of about 6:30 but not getting up right away now I'm on day 9 and I'm waking up around 9:00. Come Tuesday morning will be a real eye opener, but then again we may have a delay as there is more snow in the forecast. So maybe just maybe we'll have a soft opening.

Today will be a somewhat quiet day. We aren't expecting any visitors so a quiet day. A nice way to start the New Year.

SUNDAY BEFORE "THE SUNDAY"

2005-12-18T08:48:00.000-05:00

Wow!! It's been a month since I last posted and it's not because nothing is happening cause things have happened and are still happening. The last time I wrote was just before Thanksgiving and now it's just before Christmas.
I've heard said even when I was a child that Christmas is too commercial and you know what? It still is. That will never change and I think that is the most stressful things I go through this time of year.
Buying presents is a chore. Now the actual buying of the present is fine, but getting there, fighting the traffic, fighting the pedestrians and also the shoppers. It's nuts out there.
Of course being the planner that I am, I wait till a week before Christmas to do my shopping. I'm not going to be one of "those" that go shopping on Christmas Eve. Been there, done that. Now even a week before is not good.
So my resolve this year is to start in January. My lovely wife suggested I find a box and a space for the box and put the presents in there, maybe even label them as to who I bought this great present.
Sounds like a great plan, but then you gotta realize this is coming from a guy that can go to a store and buy and ice cream bar and not remember it until 5 days later.
So a wonderful idea and I will give it a shot but I have a feeling we will meet here again next year and I again will talk about the commercial part of Christmas and my woes about shopping. Oh! And do have a Merry Christmas!!

GOD ISN'T DONE WITH ME YET

2005-11-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

I suck at writing blogs, but then I suck at a lot of other things too. Do I let that get me down? Of course not. I realized a long time ago that I am far from perfect and no one around me is perfect either. I like to say that God isn't done with me yet.
I'm organized yet disorganized and I can be very anal about something. I can get upset over the smallest item and if I don't squash it at that moment it will muster and grow into something that will make me look like a total fool. I guess I've learned that if it doesn't affect my life, health or family directly that it isn't something I need to get my shorts twisted in a knot about. Life is just too short.
Now this may look like I'm trying to be perfect and organized here also with my little words of wisdom or self reflection, I'm not. This is just a check on my own persona.
God has been a big part of my life the past few years though I am not an overly religious man. I'm a recovered alcoholic, going on 14 years now, without God this wouldn't have happened. I tried the first time on my own, didn't work. I lost my first wife from alcoholism and God was there, he kept me sane and sober. God introduced me to my present wife. We met on the internet. She lived on CT and I in ND. She compliments and completes me. Yes, God has a plan for each one of us cause I know there would have been no way that I would have met Debbie on my own. God found my present job, the best job I have ever had, being a teacher. I was supposed to be at the bottom of the list of qualified applicants and the principal read the list wrong , putting me at the top, thereby getting me an interview and consequently my present. Thank you God.
I am now involved more in my religion and church than I have ever been in my life and I have a feeling I will become even more involved in the future. The nice thing about all of this is God isn't pestering me, yet he knows I will be there. My life has been good. No complaints. God isn't done with me yet, I'm waiting.

SPAMMERS' GO AWAY!

2005-11-11T08:58:00.000-05:00

As much I want people to read my blog, I don't want to become a billboard. Seems now my blog has become and advertising site. So I now have blocked any comments to added to my blogs for that reason. I don't need to be advertising for some product I know nothing about.

WHERE'S WALDO?

2005-11-11T08:38:00.000-05:00

I'll tell you where waldo is...............IN MY HEAD & THROAT!!! This is my first cold of the season and probably the worst I've had in some time. Cannot seem to shake it. I was out from work most of the week before but made it all this week though I still felt like crap. Last night I spent most of the night trying to cough up a lung. Sometimes I think I almost succeeded.

Last year I started my own tradition of naming my colds. Kind of helps me keep track of them. Why? I don't know, just the anal part of me I guess. Anyhow this cold is named Waldo after it's forerunners: Zephyr, Yosemite & Xanadu. Unlike the Hurricane name list I'm starting at the end of the alphabet, the list in continuous from year to year and the list of names is not already prepared. I name them as I come.

Waldo is now three weeks old and counting, how much longer where he hold on is anybodies guess. I'm hoping not too long.

Mental Health Day

2005-10-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

Today I took a "mental health day" aka "sick day". This was a spur of the moment decision. I woke up at 6:00, looked at the clock, heard it raining and windy outside and I had to pee. It was at that moment that I decided I needed a "day off". My bosses number is on my speed dial so I call and inform him of my choice for the day. No problem. I go back to sleep. Cuddle next to my lovely wife and............... Fast forward............It is now 10:30. I fell back fast asleep, so I must have needed it. Now what to do with the rest of the day?

Grizzly Adams Rides Again

2005-10-21T15:33:00.000-04:00

Ever hear of Grizzly Adams? He was a guy on TV, actually it was a TV show with that name and the guy looked like his name, Grizzly. They called him that cause he had a pet Grizzly Bear who helped defend his mountain from unnecessary predators. I am now the clone of that guy, though my mountain er hill is quite predatory free. Between hair and a beard that desperately needs trimming.
I've often toyed with the idea of just letting it all grow and maybe I'll transform from Grizzly Adams into a ZZ Top. Hmmmmm. It's a thought. Then I would have to go out and get one of those mechanisms that will allow me to twirl my guitar in a full 360 degree circle, actually it would have to be my Ukulele.
But alas, I visit my barber/beautician tomorrow and yes, my ears will be lowered and the beard will be shortened to the point of looking like Festus on Gunsmoke or maby Gabby Hayes?, but mind you, I will have a haircut that will turn heads.

So You Wanna Have A Tag Sale?

2005-10-06T09:06:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I've last blogged and it's not that I haven't had anything to write, it's just I haven't taken the time.

One item at the top of my Pet Peeve list are Tag Sales. My lovely wife and I go to many tag sales during the season which can last from April to November. I think we get some pretty good deals at these sales and I know it is a good way to get rid of items you no longer want to keep.

But......................Here's the Pet Peeve................Don't count on funding your retirement on these tag sales. These are designed to get rid of items not make a fortune. Too often we go to Tag sales that have items that are up to 50% of the original cost, especially if they are new.

Now if you want to dispose of the item and make a little money, I emphasize the word little don't charge more than 10% of the cost, no more, even less if possible. You will see your merchandise move. Just make sure the items you sell are usable.

I go to Tag sales that I call Junk Sales cause that what they have, anything from stained clothing to rusty tools to electronic items that don't work. You get the idea.

Nuff said, I'm sure I've written about this before and I'm sure I'll write about it again.

OK SO I'M GULLIBLE, BITE ME

2005-09-17T08:09:00.000-04:00

Recently I made the mistake of answering one of those online ads where you could win a billion trillion dollars. I say it's a mistake though actually I was curious. I must say that my curiosity has been satisfied and I will never never never do that again.

Now the gimmick is to fill out a "short survey". Now to me a survey is to answer questions about likes and dislikes, what you use or don't use, etc. You get the idea. Well these so called surveys are sales pitches for lack of a better description.

Yes/No-Would you like us to contact you are sign you up for our product?
Yes/No-Are you willing to give up your first born so you can have our product?

And so on, you've been there I'm sure.

These are not surveys, these are sleazy ways to suck you in. C'mon people if you have a sweepstakes of some sort make it that way with no catches. The new one is get $1,000 of gas or about 1 1/2 gallons free, just enter. Then you find out you have to complete 5 to 10 offers from the following "survey" in order to qualify and that doesn't even guarantee you a winner. It just qualifies you for the drawing. Final cost of those products? $1,000. Gee look it all the stuff I got for my $1,000 of free gas.

I think I made my point and I am terribly sorry if I burst anyone's' bubble but there is no such thing as "free money". Yes, there are some legit games going on out there but it's still a crap shoot. So Publishers Clearing House, do your giveaway thing but quit bringing in all of these other sleezeball offers from you "affiliates" on your coat tails. It doesn't help your image one bit.

THINGS DO CHANGE

2005-09-15T09:01:00.000-04:00

It has been sometime since I last posted so you must be thinking that something has changed and you are right. Your second thought is probably it's about the weather cause that's what he writes about a lot. Right again.

I've said before and I'll say again that weather is something that will always give me something to write about and is something that always changes.

The last time I wrote it was about the wonderful weather we were having in the NorthEast. Well that's all changed of course. We are back to the high humidity and higher than normal temps. Miserable weather for sure. I know I know, I could be living in New Orleans. My prayers go out to those people that have been displaced or lost loved ones.

We are getting a taste of our own little hurricane weather, Ophelia, though she is nothing compared to Katrina we are getting some much needed moisture. I think I mowed my lawn once in August and if all goes as planned I'll mow it once in September.

I am now starting to think about winterizing though we aren't even into Fall till next week. Hey, I'm even thinking about putting up the Christmas lights but I'll wait a few weeks seeing that I just took them down on July 4th.

Around this time, actually October 23rd of last year I took a fall and broke my arm. Well this year it was my lovely wife's turn and turn she did. She took a misstep and down she went and also broke her arm. Though not as serious as mine nevertheless it is a broken arm and adds discomfort and disability to her everyday movements. Though she said she is getting quite adept at using the mouse with her left hand. Nice that she has a wireless mouse. Also her typing is coming along nicely also. She is able to keep up contacts with her e-mail friends. I hope you heal quickly sweetheart.

So now that school is well underway I am able to catch a short breath and maybe I'll be able to fit in a little more blogging time.

What Can I Say?

2005-09-06T15:09:00.000-04:00

What can I say? The weather here in the Northeast has been great!! Low humidity and comfortable temps. Nothing to complain about weatherwise. Temps are in the high 70's to low 80's. This past weekend was the best. Now if it will only stay that way.

Driving to work this morning there was this person driving a Rav4 Toyota who really needed to get in front of me. So much that he almost ran head on into a car while passing me. Lucky for me and them I saw what could have happened and pulled over to let three cars go where two should have been.

This guy then would drive as fast as he could from stop sign to stop sign always getting to the intersections many seconds if not minutes before I arrived there. You see, no matter how fast he drove I was always catching up with him at each intersection. I wonder what the rush was?

Reminds me of the Tortoise and The Hare Aesop Fable. Seems I was always winning the race. I don't know about gas mileage but I'm trusting my car did a bit better. Slow and steady always wins the race. And at the price of gas nowadays I think slower more constant speeds make more sense to me.

But hey, what can I say?

OFF AND RUNNING

2005-08-31T18:47:00.000-04:00

The school year has begun and 180 school days from today I will once again be glad the school year is over. The first day of school came off with "no hitches" though I'm sure the people in administration and secretarial will tell you different. Me? I just stay in my room and do what I'm hired to do, teach. I stay out of everybody's way and just do my job. This it was a stressless day for me anyhow.

The only bad thing about the whole day was the weather, humid and rainy and hot. It is like walking around with a warm wet blanket all around you and I'm sure all of you have been there before. So it was 89 outside and my room was 92. Oh yeah those administration and secretarial people get the a/c.. Guess they deserve it eh? Me? I'm just glad my "Right Guard" was working.

Tomorrow will be a lot like today but I'm not worried, cooler days are ahead and soon I'll be bitching about the cold and the snow. A never ending cycle.

WHERE DID IT GO?

2005-08-27T18:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, where did the summer go? Feels just like yesterday that I was writing that I have the next 67 days off for summer vacation and here it is, the end of summer vacation. School starts on Monday, bright and early with faculty meetings and then in-service classes. Guess ya gotta go to school to teach school. Trouble is, I very seldom learn anything new.

The summer was far from a waste though. We did get a few things done starting with a trip for myself and my lovely wife to the Black Bear Inn of Vermont. This was in celebration of my birthday and our anniversary (they are a day apart). From there we came home and proceeded to convert our old bedroom into a school/computer room. Our son, Ryan is homeschooled by my multi-talented wife and last year he had to look at our old bedroom colors, pink & blue. Now he gets a soft limegreen to gaze upon.

After that we celebrated a couple more birthdays, Ryans' 14th and my Mother-in-law's 81st. This is always a great time to have the family get together. The big project was the kitchen which we started at the end of July and would have gone much quicker except we ran into a snag as we had to remove the old style paper wallpaper (yes, I know I've posted that before and I will eventually get over it). Once the wallpaper was removed we had to decide what wallpaper to put up and that came together quicker than anticipated. I was seeing myself working on this kitchen past labor day but thanks to the efforts of my 86 year old father-in-law, Clarence and my beautiful resourceful wife we were able to pretty much finish it this week. Can I hear and AMEN?

In between all of this also managed to buy a new car and switch my car and home insurance to a company that offers cheaper premiums.

Tomorrow is the end of vacation and I'm thankful that we did accomplish what we set out to do. School starts and soon we are back into a schedule. Debbie already said no big project next summer. I'm not holding my breath, she's usually pretty good in what she says and sticks by it.

FIT AS A FIDDLE?

2005-08-26T19:16:00.000-04:00

It has been awhile since I posted anything new and I'm not saying nothing has happened but a bit has happened.

We are like 90% done with the kitchen makeover and just in time as school starts next week. Yes it was a job getting it all done. The hardest part was stripping the old paper wallpaper off the wall which I have eluded to in previous posts. The painting part was okay but the touch-ups took a lot of patience. The wallpaper went up pretty easy though I did have my father-in-law hang the paper and I was assistant trying to make sure he didn't fall off the step stool, he's 86 and can still run circles around all of us.

Then between the three of us we were able to also get the border up that same day. Woo Hoo! We also purchased new hardware for the kitchen cabinets, so all in all we are quite pleased. We still have decorations to go up on the walls, knick knack shelves are up waiting to be filled.

Then in the midst of all of this I went for a physical, I haven't had one in many years and learned that I'm doing okay health wise as long as I watch my weight and calorie intake and do so regular exercise. The Doc said the pushing the buttons on the remote or the keys on the computer keyboard don't count. So I will have to find something exercise like, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

OH YEAH! CEILING THIS!!!

2005-08-18T19:32:00.000-04:00

I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!!I HATE CEILINGS!!!!!!!!!!! Painting them that is, otherwise they are great!!!

Old School

2005-08-16T13:46:00.000-04:00

The Maine event came off without a hitch. Had a great time, ate some great food, we watched some great videos and about froze parts off in the netherland the last day we went swimming.
All week the water was nice, even bathwarm once you got use to it but on Thursday the water was frigid. It actually hurt to go into the water and figuring to give yourself a few minutes to get used to the water. Not gonna happen, we were just as cold going into the water the first time as when we came out. Mind you, we gave it the old college try. I spent a good 20 minutes out there.
I happened to look around and notice that the only people out there in this frigid water were the younger people and me. So I put two and two together and figured I'm the dumb one, get out of the water and go sit on the beach. Which I did.

Now with vacation over almost it's time to start thinking of school. I really hate to start thinking of it, but I gotta otherwise I'll wake up the first day of school and go immediately into shock. Gotta work into those things ya know. This will be my 29th year of teaching so you think I would be used to it by now. Guess again. Once I'm back into the groove though it's no biggie. I love to teach, I love my job, I just don't like to work.

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

2005-08-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

I just filled up my car today and paid $44 for a tank of gas. Gas prices here in Oxford, CT are at $2.69 a gallon as of this afternoon August 15,2005.
I'm curious as to what gas prices are around US. So if you are inclined, just drop me a short e-mail with the gas price and location. If I get enough responses I'll list them in a future blog.
I for one am getting fed up with these prices, why can't there be anything done about it. I'm looking at a monthly gas bill of well over $300 a month at these prices. What are our illustrious Senators and Congressmen doing about this? Nothing I guess. All Bush is concerned about is the war in Iraq. I'm curious
Who controls the cost of gas anyhow? Who is the guy who says okay gas today has to go up this many pennies. And why does the gas station increase this price per gallon even on their old shipments which they paid a lower price for before any price increase. Why can't they sell all of their "old" gas at the cheaper price before they increase it with the new.
Now maybe you who read this probably think this guy is a dumb as a bump on a log but I have to tell you that I don't follow politics and maybe I should but I just get a sense that we as Americans are getting a royal or should I say political screw.

THE MAINE EVENT

2005-08-05T07:23:00.000-04:00

YEP, today's the day. We will motor (that's drive) north to the state of Maine, which really isn't all that far for us. I think 4 hours max of driving time. That's the only part of the vacation I don't get excited about. The driving.
There is a lot of traffic out here and for the most part drivers are courteous, but once in a while you encounter a "hotdogger" (that's what I call them in mixed company but what I really mean is "ASSHOLE"). They usually are either changing lanes every few feet, ducking in between cars or the are tailgating, flashing their lights wanting me to pull over so they don't have to pass me.
That happened one time a few years back where the guy kept flashing his lights for me to move over which I finally did and he was off like a streak. Then he had to contend with the next "slow" driver ahead of him. In the meantime I drove up behind him and started flashing my lights at him. Now do you think that ticked him off? Probably. But my exit was on a few hundred yards ahead so I didn't stick around to find out.

MAINE VACATION

2005-08-04T07:41:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow starts our family vacation. What? Vacation? Yes, this is our FAMILY vacation. This is where we go as a family unit. I know I've written about little vacations before but that is more of a getaway for the two of us. Now we add a third person into the equation and the whole dynamic of the word vacation changes
Now everything will be catered to "the kid". Ryan is a good kid in all respects. He's been looking forward to this week all year, in fact since we came back from Maine last year. I think his favorite part, never mind the beaches, the arcades,the amusement rides or just hanging out is the eating. He loves his food though sometimes not the best or right kind of food, but then I should talk. He loves Clam Chowder. He will eat Clam Chowder breakfast, noon and night if he could. At home during the school year I think he has a can of clam chowder at least once a week. I think he has become kind of a connoisseur on clam chowder.
Tomorrow starts our family vacation, Where? Maine of course. We have gone to Maine for our family vacations for the last 4 out of 5 years. One year we tried Vermont for a family vacation, not good. Therefore we return to Maine. Personally I like the beaches, the waves of the Atlantic and just hanging out with my family.
I think we are all looking forward to this week, no computer, no phone, no regular schedule, hey and no wallpaper stripping!

My Friend Vinnie

2005-08-02T07:25:00.000-04:00

I have a new friend in my life and he's been right there in front of me. His name is Vinnie and no I didn't change the name of my car or changed the name of our cat or my wife. Vinnie has been hanging around the house for years and I never given him the time of day except for "what smells". My wife says Vinnie smells like a douche, I happen to think of pickles when I see Vinnie.

Vinnie has come to my aid though. Those of you haviing read my blog or my emails know we are in the process of redoing our kitchen. New paint, wallpaper, new hardware for the cabinets. Since Friday we have been dealing with stripping the wallpaper. Thinking we only had one layer found we actually had another layer of wallpaper underneath. My wife who has lived in this house for the past 20+ years says "Oh, I forgot about that wallpaper".

Nuff said. It deserved to be forgotten. This is the old style paper wallpaper. The kind you had to paste on. The kind that DIF doesn't work on very well. The kind that even a steamer doesn't work very well. But, my friend Vinny make the wallpaper come off , I quote my son Brian "Slicker than snot on a doorknob". If you haven't guess Vinny is Vinegar. Actually Vinegar and hot hot water.

Soak the wall, I mean soak the wall, let it set for 10 minutes and soak the wall again and then scrape. The wall paper just peels off scrape by scrape, not the section by section like the new vinyl stuff does, but scrape by scrape right on down through the paste right to the drywall. Awesome.

Hey I'm happy I found Vinny and I know he's good for a lot of other uses and even though he is a little aromatic. I'll never forget how he helped us on these walls.

THE STRIPPER

2005-07-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

YEP, That's what I'm known as...........around my house anyhow. You guessed it, we finally got around to stripping the wallpaper off of the kitchen walls, only to find another layer of wallpaper underneath. Neither of us were too happy to see that. So one layer is off and now we have to contend with the next layer and that is proving to be a challenge as that is the layer right next to the drywall.
Of course this layer of wallpaper is not the easy stripable kind either. This was put up with the good ol wallpaper paste. That wallpaper was put up to stay up. So I have been reading up on how to remove wallpaper and I come up with one conclusion. That I have to be patient as this will be a tedious job. With that said I now must go and enter into a period of meditation and prepare to tackle it tomorrow. I do know one thing though and that's when it is all done the kitchen will be BEAUTIFUL!!

DANCE? WHO ME??

2005-07-27T21:47:00.000-04:00

I just finished watching FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance?" reality show. As much as I hate reality shows I actually like this one. Dancing, no less. Does this mean I've finally grown up? Watching those 20 - 30 year olds move around the floor was fun to watch and there is no way on Gods' green earth that I could even think of dancing like those people did. So I'll do what I do best and watch from my couch.

Merlot

2005-07-26T18:58:00.000-04:00

That was easy and quick. Usually I would research this over and over. Last time I spent three months comparing and pricing and then all of the visits and the talking. I call it "wheeling and dealing". Didn't have to do much of that at all. I knew my requirements and what I wanted. Like I said it was easy and pretty painless. Now I just have to make sure I have a check in the mail the 15th of every month. Yes, if you haven't guessed, I bought a new car.
This kind of came out of the blue, sort of. Let me explain. I had a 2002 Hyundai Sante Fe that I really liked. in fact I liked it so much I had decided I would pay this one off as the last three cars I had never made it that far. I always traded before the loan was up. I truly liked the Sante Fe then I heard that Hyundai was going to make the Sante Fe a three seater, which to me means a larger vehicle. Knowing that I would probably turn around and buy another Sante Fe in the future I was upset. I don't want a larger car which means I will have to start all over again to find the right deal. Why did they do this to me? I finally find a car that I liked. The clincher came when I received a letter from my dealer offering some incentives, meaning my car just increased in value.
So why not? Next thing you know I'm sitting in front of the Finance gal and I now own a 2005 Merlot Hyundai Sante Fe. Which I have started calling "Red". I'm sure other names will come on later. Now I'm just hoping I'll be able to pay this one off before I buy another new car.

SUMMERTIME

2005-07-20T08:46:00.000-04:00

Most of the nation is in a heatwave. Here in the NE the weather has been more humid than hot but I guess it will get hotter in the coming days. I've said this before and I'll say it again. Heat is one thing but the humidity just zaps a guy. I'll take the heat anyday but please leave out the humidity.
All of our doors are so swollen from the humidity that none of them close properly and the poor a/c are getting an overtime workout. I was going to poly some woodwork in the house but I'm putting that on hold until the humidity is gone for a few days otherwise the poly will never dry.
There is no use pissing and moaning about the weather cause there is nothing a guy can do about it except grin and bear it. One positive thing though is that you don't have to shovel sunshine. Soon the cold and snow will return which give people something else to bitch about.

BORDERTIME

2005-07-18T10:03:00.000-04:00

This past week we painted our old bedroom which is now the computer/schoolroom (we homeschool). The painting part of it went fine, changing the room from a pretty pink to a bright lime green.
To finish it off we put a sunflower border around the room and it nicely compliments the color scheme.
We bought the border not realizing that this was self stick border. I'm used to the dip the border into warm water get it good and wet and slap it up and you're done. Gee, I thought with self stick this will be a snap. No so. I could have painted that room three times in the amount of time it took for me to put that !@#$$%%^&*() border up.
Lesson One: Self stick border is unforgiving, where it sticks is where it stays. There is no adjusting like what you can do with the other type of border. Lesson Two: Your room has to be square and ours wasn't cause I could not run the 15' of border and keep it square with the room. It kept "inching" up the farther you went along. If I were to keep going half of the border would be on the ceiling. So I ended up cut the border every 3 to 4 feet and starting over. Thank God that the pattern was forgiving as you couldn't see where I spliced unless you looked really good.
So next time we will make sure we get the pre-pasted border and save us a lot of headaches.

FANTASTIC STAR WAR BATMAN

2005-07-16T19:39:00.000-04:00

Usually during the summer Ryan and I try to take in as many movies as we can cause during the school we usually don't have the time to go to a movie theatre. This summer though we've seen four great movies over the last three or four weeks. We first sat Star Wars-Revenge Of the Sith, then we saw Batman Begins and then War of The Worlds and today we saw The Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic Four was a great movie though not the top movie for us. Though the actors we relatively unknown, in my books anyhow, Michael Chiklis (The Thing) also known for The Shield and The Commish carried the movie. The other three characters were good in their own right but I just enjoyed The Thing. I look forward to seeing many sequels to this movie.

The top show so far has been "Batman Begins" which has been the best for my money. Coming down the pike though is a new Zorro starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. I have always been a fan of the Zorro character right back to when Guy Williams played the TV Zorro. This will be a must see for me.

Also next summer comes ICEAGE 2-The Meltdown. Saw the trailer for that today also and it was quite quite funny. But that will be next summer. Gotta wait til then.

THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

2005-07-13T19:25:00.000-04:00

I have reached the middle of the week and I must say a bit has been accomplished. First of all though I must say that War Of The Worlds was good. Great graphics for sure, but the acting had a lot to be desired. Tom Cruise or not all he did was run from the aliens and all Dakota Fanning did was scream and scream and scream some more. May be I am being a biased as I knew how the ending was going to be. Now, however I want to see the earlier release of this movie which is now out on DVD, just for the giggles. Batman Begins is still my favorite for the summer.

I also have a DVR at home which is nice. If you don't have one, get one. You'll never be sorry. I recorded the whole season of Stargate SG1 and Atlantis this past season and am now watching it. The thing is though, the new season starts Saturday for both series and I'm just finishing Stargate-Atlantis. I only have 100 hours of recording time so now I'm trying to free up some hours for the rest of the family. The DVR is great but I have to watch what I record more frequently.

The painting of the computer/school room is coming along nicely. Tomorrow the walls will receive their final coat and the doors will get some poly. The border has been bough and will go up in a couple days once the paint if for sure dry. After that it will be the kitchen.

WHERE DID MY GET UP AND GO?

2005-07-08T11:29:00.000-04:00

OK, I have my projects lined up for the summer and so far not much has been done. Now what have I accomplished is easy to write about. I mowed the lawn, painted the back deck and put up the canopy. What I need to do is paint the computer/school room, strip wallpaper in the kitchen, clean and poly the kitchen cabinets, poly all of the downstairs doors, six of them to be exact. Then when all of that is done I want to shampoo all of the carpets. So a lot of work to be done and it will get done. May take all of the summer but that's okay.
So today I'm going to take the day off and take Ryan and one of his friends to see War of The Worlds. A couple days back Ryan and I Saw Batman Begins which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm hoping WOTW will be just as entertaining. Fantastic Four opens today but I'll wait a week or so for the crowds to thin on that one.
I usually don't get to a lot of movies during the school year so the summer is movie time, otherwise it's Blockbuster DVD's where I think we should have part ownership in the company for all the movies we rent, though we do have the movie pass which gives us unlimited rentals for one price. Nice.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2005-07-04T12:58:00.000-04:00

It's the 4th of July and sticking with tradition of the last few years I took my Christmas Lights off of the house. Knowing very well that I will be itching to put them back up in October I could leave them up year round but I figure that would be just plain laziness. I do have a nifty extend a pole Debbie got for me last year to put the lights up and it works good, also good at taking the lights down. The only lights left up, yes they aren't all down yet are the one in the bushes/trees which no one will see only if you look really really hard.Those will stay up. Someone needs to look at the tree that hard to see my lights have been left up then that person doesn't have much to do.

Yes, it's the 4th of July. We had the fireworks show on the 2nd which was practically in out back yard. The only other fireworks show we'll see is what is on TV. Supper tonight will be the traditional burgers on the grill, potato salad and ice tea and a freshly baked cake, eating out under our canopy on the back deck with music coming through my new outdoor speakers. Surrounded by my lovely wife, Debbie, Step-son Ryan, and Clarence & Sylvia (Dad & Mom). The only thing that would make this perfect is for my two children (Paul & Brian) their wives (Jeri & Jennifer) and children (Jonathan, Mark,Sabrina, Annabelle) and Debbie's children and significant others (Eric & Jennifer, Amy & Chris and Katy & Doug) be here also. Someday.

THE RETURN

2005-07-03T09:21:00.000-04:00

Yes, we have returned from our little trip to Vermont. I must say the people in Vermont are the friendliest people. We had such a good time chatting with the people there, but of course there could be an ulterior motive, like "I had better be friendly to these people otherwise they won't buy anything from me". Never fear, we usually bought something and for those that didn't or wouldn't talk to us except to say "Hi" we pretty much left them "high and dry".

Overall the trip was a great, we ate some terrific food there and outside of our room was a jacuzzi hot tub just waiting for us. I must have gone in the tub a good dozen times, I lost track after six. Oh what wonders it does for the aching back and other parts too. We would love to have one of these at home but for one thing we can't afford it and for the other we have no place to put it. So we shall spend our vacations at places that do have them. This way we won't tire of them plus we won't have to clean them also.

The Black Bear Inn is a Ski Lodge like I had mentioned before but it gets a lot of summer traffic also. The place pretty much fills every night. It is on the Bolton Valley area of VT and we have about a 5 mile climb up a mountain before we reach the place and above us are the ski slopes which we didn't use for obvious reasons.

The owner has two Bassetts, Oscar and Rufus. Rufus was the more active and younger dog even joined us for dinner one night, but then we found out he does that to all the newcomers as he didn't join us the next night. There was fresh "meat" around the corner, but of course we weren't allowed to feed him.

We both decided that we would love to come back in the Fall for the colors as I'm sure it will be breathtaking.

THE GETAWAY

2005-06-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

Each year my wife and I take a little trip. We call this our Birthday (mine) and Anniversary (ours) getaway. We usually don't venture too far, last year we went to Williamsburg, VA which was a jaunt for us, this year we head north to Vermont, Cabot Cheese country, Green Mountain Coffee country. Yes, we indulge in both. Vermont is also Ski Country which we don't indulge in.
Though this year we are staying at a Ski Lodge. I've never been to a ski lodge and if it has to be smack dab in the middle of summer so be it. I'll enjoy the greenery at the off season rates and not be freezing my tush off on the slopes.
We've been to the area before just not "that" area. We'll visit some of the "old" places we've been to before and I'm sure we'll find some new ones.
But the main reason for the trip is to spend some quality time together. We are away from the normal day to day activities and no computer or phone calls (we don't turn on the cellphones) and the computer stays home.
Along with this romantic getaway we'll also get a chance just to kick back and take it easy for a couple days. Once we come back we hit it hard with our computer/school room getting painted and the kitchen gets an overhaul. I'm already looking forward to our trip to Main in August.

CHANGING TIMES

2005-06-27T17:14:00.000-04:00

I had a very nice birthday party yesterday to celebrate my 56th. It was nice to have some of the kids home for this event. Though I guess I have to realize that the family dynamic changes from time to time and we all have to adjust. Life is ever changing and that's a good thing I feel.

Yes, we all want to have it that same old, same old way and yes I do like it that way, but I cannot be afraid of changes. I have to learn to adapt with those changes and make them work for you the best you can.

What works for me is the Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

This little prayer has yet to fail me as long as I keep it in my thoughts and prayers.

It's That Old Hot Weather Again

2005-06-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

Yeah I know, more weather talk. Like I said before, it's the only thing that really changes around here. Today we are back in the hot box after a brief reprieve from the last heat wave. The good thing is that school is now out for the summer so I don't have to endure my 90 degree room. So the heat is a little more bearable. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I don't mind the heat but it's the humidity that kills me.

Today is also my birthday celebration, no it's not my birthday, that's in a few days. Debbie's kids will be over for the meal and of course presents for their dear old step-dad. Regardless of whatever we celebrate it is always nice to have the kids home, even without the presents.

I'll grill chicken on that new grill that I received for Fathers Day/Birthday under the new canopy which is working very well. $32 well spent. It has stayed up, pretty much though some semi serious storms but nothing hurricane-like yet. I'm already looking at how I can improve on this feature in the future as I know this cheapie won't last long. Also managed to get the deck painted on which the grill and canopy sit so thanks to my father in law and Ryan it was possible to get the painting done without any anguish on anyones part.

Today was also our pastors last day as our minister at our church. He has accepted a new assignment in upstate NY. Parting is a sad time but I know we will meet many more times in the future. Now we must prepare to meet our new minister next week. I'm sure all will go well.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN

2005-06-22T13:06:00.000-04:00

The last day of school has finally arrived, in fact in as little as an hour I should be on my way home. This summer break will be 66 days and I will probably say that it has just flown by. But that will be then not now. Right now I just want to savor the time off.
I have many projects in line for the summer which you will receive "blow by blow" reports on during the progress of each and every project. The first project will be to try and relax for a couple days and then Debbie and I are off to Vermont to celebrate my birthday and our 84th month Anniversary.
Looking back I see I have been blogging on this site for a year now. I didn't realize it when I took a look back and saw what I wrote last year. I didn't want to repeat what I wrote last year. Well it could happen you know.
Yes, this year as in other years there are co-workers that are moving on with their life to other jobs and challenges. I wish them the best, I really do.Me? I'll be back doing what I do, teach music. Only this time around I have a curriculum I have to follow. Yeah right. I've been teaching 29 years without a written curriculum so I kind of doubt I'll be following it too too close. Let's put it this way, I'll give it the old college try and see what happens. No promises.

Hey! Which Way?

2005-06-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

I don't have a lot of pet peeves but one that crops up more than enough times is the turn signal on the car. Why do people NOT use it? Like I'm supposed to know where they are going, where they are going to turn or even stop. I'm sorry but I'm not your travel agent. I'm sure glad brake lights do work when you step on the brakes otherwise I and a lot of other people would be in a world of hurt.

How much does it take to push down or up on that little stick on the steering column?
I come to an unmarked intersection many times when another car meets me at the same time. I'm yielding right of way cause they are on my right. But no, they insist that I go first. They wave me through, blink their lights and almost get out of the car to direct the traffic (meaning me) through the intersection. I'm not one to argue so I go on through knowing very well that they should have gone first. Their loss, my gain (I guess).I get to where I'm going 10 seconds earlier.

Oh and another pet peeve, well not really a pet peeve. Have you ever noticed that when you are in a hurry to get someplace that everything gets in your way? You have to stop at every stoplight, if you turn against the traffic there is a string of cars 10 miles long it seems and then you get the dreaded slow moving vehicle in front of you. Then to really top things off there has been an fender bender so everyone has to slow down super slow and rubberneck. I mean if there isn't blood and gore I don't want to waste my time looking. It's a fender bender folks. No big deal.

FATHER'S DAY 2005

2005-06-19T19:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day to all those fathers who read this. I'm not one to get mushy or sentimental over these days that are fabricated for the greeting card industry. But it is nice to get a little attention from your loved ones. So Thank You.
My two biological sons live in ND with their families and I was able to talk to them at length today and it was good to talk with them about anything I wanted to talk about. It was nice and I enjoyed it. I made a promise to myself to do this more often as I haven't in the past. I always think you have to have something important to say when I call them and I realize I don't have to.

I guess that's why when I call they say "What's up?" Meaning.....why are you calling, what's wrong,who's sick or who, God forbid died. Though today they did know I called cause it was Fathers Day.

I also seem to wait for Sunday to call also and I know I don't have to. yes they do have a life also but I don't have to wait for any specific day to call them or for any specific time, though I do take that into consideration, especially the time as I live in the Eastern Time Zone and they are in Central. So I try not to call during meal time or bed time or early morning. I feel anytime is fair game though calling them at work to BS wouldn't go over to well with their bosses I would think. I know my boss wouldn't like it either.
I grew up learning that I use the phone for business or gathering information not for BS sessions. So I guess I have to learn to use the phone more often just to make contact with the ones I love. So heads up guys, I'll be calling more often cause I have a phone plan that doesn't count the minutes.

REEDICKULUS

2005-06-16T09:44:00.000-04:00

This is crazy!! Monday and Tuesday I melt. Temps in the 90's with 100% humidity, Wednesday is cools down a little and today it's 59 degrees. Now I don't mind heat, I hate the humidity. I've said this before, but I hate the cold. So Monday I would be happy to walk around naked but today, Thursday I'm looking for my winter coat. We've got to find a happy medium.

I think we will find that happy medium though. Here's why. The hot spell usually comes in July and then it's seasonable. I think we had our July now and temps will moderate to be a fantastic not too cool and not too warm a summer. That's what I'm thinking anyhow.

You may think that's all I have to write about is the weather, well actually that is about all that really changes constantly here enough for you take notice.

School is out for the summer next Wednesday. I'm home for a couple days then back to school to take a class on web design for beginners. I plan on working on our schools web page next year so I figure I had best learn how to do some of these things. Both of my sons are computer geeks and they're proud of it. Brian is a web master and Paul is a programmer. They each have their own web pages which are fantastic. They blow me away. And I plug along with my little mac.com page that pretty much does everything for me. Their web pages are pretty much failproof. The thing is the school doesn't subscribe to Mac.com, everything here is PC. Hey, the class is three hours long so not a lot is going to happen but enough to get me jump started.

Since I work most of the time from my Mac I cannot add pictures to this site like I would want. This doesn't work with Mac. Maybe once the new Macs come out with the Intel processors will help, but what do I know. You may say get a PC and maybe someday that will happen now that Mac is leaning toward the PC with the Intel Processors. Time will only tell.

Hot, Hot, Hot!!

2005-06-14T12:02:00.000-04:00

We are now in our 7th day of over 90 degree temps. Last year we only had 6 days total that went over 90 degrees. The good news is that relief is on the way but when that happens it's not always pretty. Severe thunderstorms are forecast and when cold hits hot we get weather.
Schools are being dismissed all over the state of CT but not us. I think they are waiting for someone to expire from the heat. Even our technical school right here in town is dismissing early. So needless to say we are here for the day.
We have been pretty lucky this year with some decent weather until now. We have six days of school left and they can't come fast enough for me.
Last night I came home to no electricity. Debbie said the lights were since around noon. They did some back on around 4:30 but about and hour later were off again until 8:00. So we did the best we could. I grilled burgers and we had salad and chips for supper. A nice summer meal. Then later we went for a ride in the car so we could see who had lights and who didn't plus enjoy the cars' A/C. By the time we cam home the lights were on and they stayed on. YAY!!
Let's hope the temps will moderate soon. They say 70's by Thursday. Let's hope.

THE CONFIRMATION

2005-06-12T09:00:00.001-04:00

Today is my step-sons confirmation. A big day for him. We are having a big celebration for him, his brother and sisters and their significant others will be there. His Grandfather will be singing during the service and we'll be cheering him on. We can cheer him on can't we? Otherwise we'll sit quiet.

Ryan loves church. I raise two sons who were never crazy about church. probably because we made them go every Sunday. But with Ryan, he is the one urging us to go. When Debbie and I were first married we didn't go to church at all, it took Ryan to get us going.

We started going to a little Methodist Church down the road from us, only a five minute drive. I think we are going on out 4th year since we became members and we have come to love the people of this little church. They are very much family for us. We care about them and they care about us. A nice situation.

Afterwords it's Chinese Take-Out for dinner. That's what Ryan wanted and that's what Ryan gets. We only get Chinese a couple times a years as the aftermath the next day is not pretty, but we do love the food. It will be a grand time for all.

We'll get to use the aforementioned cabana on the deck for the first large family function as it is supposed to be warm and sunny again today. Hopefully it will all work out to our advantage. The next family function will be my birthday where we will use the new grill.

It's Only The Rain

2005-06-11T15:36:00.000-04:00

That sounds like a good title for a song. "It's Only the Rain". So I do a quick google and sure enough there are a few different songs out there with that title. (Sigh) Thought I had an original. Nope.

Anyhow, it's raining out. Finally, after a week of hot and humid we get some wet and cool. Actually the rain was warm cause it has been so hot the cool rain actually felt good. Looks like it will be a little cooler next week. I can only hope.

Just finished watching "White Noise" starring Michael Keaton and if the makers of the movie would have not taken their theatrical liberties with the spooks it would have been a believable story. I know, I know, It's only a Movie.

So let the rain come. The only downside of this is that I now have to mow the lawn as I figured I wouldn't mow until it rained. But that will have to wait until the grass is a little drier than it is right now.

La Di Dah

2005-06-10T11:00:00.000-04:00

It's official we now have a heat wave in CT. Seems you go three days over 90 and you have a heat wave. For me any minute you go over 90 you have a heat wave. I don't mind the heat, but I don't hate it either. It's the humidity that saps all the energy out of you. So when you have temps in the 90's and humidity in the 90's guess what you get? Fog. Yep lots of it too. So I have to drive with my lights on in the daytime.

Which helps me segue to my next topic, my car. I have a Hyundai Sante Fe. It has been a very good car with no trouble whatsoever until recently. My dashboard lights keep flashing on and off, found out the parking lights were doing that also thanks to a considerate driver who stopped at light got an told me though I thought she said my headlights.

So I take the car to my dealership explain the problem, leave it there for the day and they can't find anything. Well what they did was turn the car on and watched it to see if the lights would flicker. I told them it acted like a loose or shorted wire and therefore you have to drive it. Duh! So when I pick up the mechanic and I got for a drive while I describe what all goes on. Nothing happens. Of course, the car makes a liar out of me. I think it's just getting back at me for not having a garage.

We get back to the shop and the mechanic sticks his hand under the dash and starts wiggling wires and low and behold we have light flicks and come to find out it was the remote starter wires as I kind of suspected.

The car is back in the shop again today so they can break down the dash so the mechanic can get to the all the wires and find out which one is the culprit. All I can say is I hope that is it.

Tomorrow the Sante Fe gets a new windshield as I picked up a couple rocks on Sunday from a passing vehicle. The insurance company I have is Geico and they are great. Claims I've had have all been handled quickly and professionally. They scheduled the glass replacement and the glass company confirmed it with us. All I did was report the claim. Now, that's an insurance company. They handled everything else.

With any luck that'll be the end of my car woes for some time. I'm hoping. Even got the oil changed so I'm good for the summer.

Tonight it cheesburgers on the grill.

ENOUGHS ENOUGH

2005-06-09T08:44:00.000-04:00

Come on Connecticut, make up your friggin' mind. A couple weeks back you wanted us back in the deep freeze and I accused you of wanting to be the North Dakota of the East Coast. Now you want to be the Florida of the NorthEast?

It's not even officially Summer yet and we have temps in the 90's. So we are a month early for those temps, right? School is still in session and I'm not even going to go into the issue of my hot classroom, been there. Complaining doesn't help. I'll live with it. Actually, if I stay out of the cool and just in the hot room it's not too bad as long as I don't do a lot of moving around. But once I feel the cool I'm miserable.

One solution to keep cool is to drink water, lots of it. I'm lucky in that the water cooler is only a classroom away, but the bathroom is on the other end of the school. But I need to make three trips to the water cooler to every one trip to the can. Works for me.

The other solution is to call in sick for the remaining 10 days of school. The Boss may not be too keen on that one but at least I'll be cool. Never fear, that won't happen. I'll tough it out and reward myself at the end of the day will a cup of nice and cold DD Ice Coffee. Hey! The have different flavors now. Any one care for a Marshmallow Ice Coffee?

Yes, Life is Good!

THE SAGA OF THE CANOPY-PART 2

2005-06-08T10:40:00.000-04:00

The cheap canopy for Ocean Sate Job Lot went up quite easily. With help from my 85 year old Father In Law, we had it up in about an hour. One thing bugged me though. What were the Velcro strips that were on the canopy for? This bugged me for sometime until later that night, in fact I was bed drifting off to sleep when it hit me. DUH!!! I had put the canopy on inside out. So no problem we'll just turn the canopy part around to the right side and be done. 15 minutes tops.

Wrong!! The canopy came off alright and in our (my father in laws and mine) wisdom we decided to "firm up" the sections of the joined piping with screws so that if a wind did come up the whole thing wouldn't fall apart. We figured maybe another 30 minutes to get the job done right.

Well, 2 1/2 hours later we were still struggling with it. Seems the frame kept coming apart. So we had to enlist my son, Ryan to help hold it together while we kept adding screws to firm it up. When we were done, the frame wouldn't "true up" at all. Looked like something was out of kilter and removing screws as I thought that is what screwed it up (literally). Still nothing.

Finally, I decided to put the canopy back on and let it go, we were all hot, tired and cranky. So we put the canopy back on which fits quite snug by the way and it looked okay except for a part of the roof that was sagging. Ryan pushed the part of the frame that was not true and it just popped into place.

So the secret is that the canopy is holding the whole structure together. So while the canopy is on right this time we can now add all the screws we want to "firm it up".

Lesson learned? Yep. Next canopy, and there will be another one as we do like what it achieves will be a "pop-up kind" with sturdy corners. Just gotta find the right size for the right price. But now I won't be afraid to spend a little more money as I now know what I want. So far the canopy has held up under some wind, though we haven't had any terrible storms yet. Summer is just starting.

HOT & MUGGY

2005-06-07T09:24:00.000-04:00

Okay, now it's HOT AND HUMID. Seems we went from almost freezing our cahoonies off to now trying to turn them in a liquid. Seems we missed Spring, wait......I think we had about a week of Spring then it was back to the cold.
Now, I don't mind the HOT. It's just the heat and humidity that comes along with it that I don't care about. My room at school is small, 14 X 20 I would guestimate. I teach music so when those little bodies come in the room notches up a degree or two. No A/C. Only the people in the office get that. The rest of us can sweat and we do, quite readily. I'm just glad I have the older kids at the end of the day otherwise the pre-adolescent odor is something to behold. Some kids use deodorant some have no idea what you are talking about and figure I went this long without it, why bother. Boy have they got a lot to learn.
Anyhow the fans, all three of them are going at top speed so at least the air is moving. My room is at 82 at 8:30 in the morning and by the end of the day will be 88 degrees. This is my sauna and welcome to it.

I'm Happy............Are You?

2005-06-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

What's this? Nothing to complain about? How can that be. Seems there is always something to complain about even if it's just the weather and I can't even complain about that at all as it has been very very nice for just being the first part of June. Though I'm told Sunday is supposed to be a "hot one".

All is well with me and the world. My concert rehearsals are going remarkedly well. I'm getting good support from Staff, Faculty, Wife but I haven't check in with Ryan aka livingdeadman yet, but I'm sure he's on board also. My programs are done and printed and the set decorations go up tonight. Kids are rehearsed till they are sweating out the songs through their pores. I even lined up a videographer to film the program. This is a first for me. I usually think of having the programmed videoed when I see the parents with theirs. Then I think, "I should have done that". Too late, maybe next time.

Speaking of concerts, our Citywide Instrumental concert went over well. The kids did a fantastic and well as the only adult trombone player in the group (ahem). And...we get to do it all over again in an outdoor concert at the city park. Yes sir, a fun time is guaranteed for all.

So yeah, all is well. Everything and everybody is cooperating or falling into place and there are no glitches. Though I suspect the nasty glitch will rear it's ugly head sometime soon.

The Late Night Show

2005-06-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

Tonight is one of those nights I don't get home till later. Usually I'm home around 4:30 but tonight it will be pushing 9:00. Our city has two Citywide Music Programs a couple weeks back it was the chorus, this time around it's the Band. I'm not the director but I play with the band to help them along, mainly in the low brass section playing my son's trombone. It's fun and I don't mind the longer day as it is coming to the close of the school year and things will start slowing down. So I'll stop at the local DD and have myself a Steak Sandwich and an Ice Coffee and I'll be good for the evening.

I'm also working on my own Spring Program called "Listen To The Music" and yes of course we will sing the songs from which that title came. The only thing is the "Doobie Brothers" name will not appear on the program. But then again the kids around here have never heard of the group so not to worry. Now if I can find a song by the Sex Pistols.

The Saga Of The Canopy

2005-05-29T16:47:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of my long Memorial Day weekend and I must say a bit has been accomplished though most of it was yesterday. Today was not as busy and tomorrow looks to be busier.
I've been pining over getting a canopy top for our patio. Right now it's open with a table chairs and umbrella. So I've been looking all over the area for the right size. I need a 10'X 13' canopy and if you are the least bit famaliar with canopies they come in the 10 x 10 size. Not good for me.
So now I have to decide on how much to spend. First I wanted to spend only a few bucks, like $50. Soon I was up to $199 to $225 and thought nothing of it but I still wasn't finding what I wanted.
I'm now stressing, I've to Home Depot, WalMart, Big Lots, looked online at Sears, JC Penneys even Sports Authority and even Googled Canopies which gave me a plethora of companies selling canopies either too fricking large or 10 X 10.
So after church today we stop at our local Ocean State Job Lot for a couple items for an uncoming fundraiser at out church and figured I would look for a Grill Cover, now that's another story. Well next to the grills were canopies, two them. One 10X10 and the other 10X13, which was the size that I wanted!!! And the cost? $39.99.
So I've come full circle, figuring that the cheaper canopy will work for now, first of all to see if the canopy is really what I want or not before I spend any more money. Next year I can decide whether or not to pursue it any further.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

2005-05-27T08:30:00.000-04:00

I guess a lot of people refer to this weekend as the start of summer. Not me, though I do some summerish things, like mow the lawn, BBQ, even eat outside if it's warm enough. We'll go to some tag sales and plant our flowers, but actually it's a long weekend and it will be nice not to have to face Monday until Tuesday.
Memorial Day is one of those holidays that are meant to not be celebrated but to be observed. To give thanks and remember those brave people that have given up their lives so that we as Americans can live in the freedom we have become accustomed to. Without their sacrifice we wouldn't be here today and yet we still have our soldiers putting their lives on the line for our freedom with hopes they won't become one of those we remember on Memorial Day.
So maybe Memorial is a day off from work for you. Please take a moment to offer a prayer or even a thought of thanks to the brave men and women who have given their lives so that you may enjoy this day off.

DON'T "DIS" NORTH DAKOTA

2005-05-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

I was born and raised in North Dakota. I also worked and raised a family there for over 20 years until I moved to Connecticut over seven years ago. When people hear I am from ND I often get the remark that ND must be a very cold place to live and has really nasty weather. In some sense I agree, yes, it can be cold and the weather can be nasty by not all the time 24/7 as some people think.
The weather we have had in CT the past few days reminds me of the Fall without the leaves. Sure we have leaves, that is, shreds of green not the golden brown of Fall. The weather in CT has been very unseasonable all week, high winds, rain and cold with the temps sitting firmly in the 40's whereas it should be in the 70's this time of year.
The one upside of this is that the weather is good for education. No spring fever here from kids or teachers. It's a "let's get the job done" attitude. I mean, no one wants to go outside.
I was checking the temps on the internet last night and saw that the temp here in CT was 46 and then temp in North Dakota was 64. So maybe CT is the ND of the East.

A Taste Of Grill

2005-05-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

I think the weather pattern has finally gotten it right. Rain during the week and be nice on the weekend. Right now it's a Tuesday and it's raining and it's supposed to on Wednesday also which means (I hope) a sunny sunny Memorial Day Weekend.

I have my new grill up and running and I must say I am very happy with it. First time I have ever grilled hot dogs and they didn't come out with a black crust on them, though I've become kind of attached to the taste of charcoal. I think this is something I can break myself of this quite fast.

Next up is a nice big steak, then chicken and hopefully porkchops and then maybe I'll get adventurous and maybe try shish ka bobs. This may turn into a whole new experience for me and I hope it does. I've got a whole summer of grilling ahead of me.

Tis Monday

2005-05-23T09:28:00.000-04:00

It's Monday and back to work like so many other people in the world. Got me to thinking, what would it be like if we didn't have to work? I mean, earn money so you could live and no wants, everybody provided for everyone else. No greed. A perfect Utopia. Just get up each morning and do what you want, with no need to worry about food or clothing or shelter. I know, dream on big boy. But it's a thought and I'm sure there are many out there that would burst my bubble but that's okay. You have your thoughts and I'll have mine. For now I'm at work for the next 23 work days and then it's vacation time for the next two months. What will I be doing? What I damn well please thank you. Ah Utopia!!

THE LONGEST DAY

2005-05-18T08:42:00.000-04:00

Today will be a long day. Tonight is our City-wide Choral Concert of which I am one of the music directors. As much as I like presenting my students in concert I hate the later hours, especially since I live 45 minutes from my home it's not possible to go home after school and put my feet up.
So what am I going to do for three hours before the program starts. Easy............shop. I believe I am one of the few men in the world that like to shop. Don't mind it all. So today I'm looking at a BBQ Grill and possibly a canopy tent for our back deck. I need to get these items soon as it seems the stores like to push the seasons and soon the winter wares will be hitting the shelves.

The concert will go well and it will be quick, my part is only 10 minutes long, total. The thing is it's spread throughout the program. Don't fret the concert is only 30 minutes long. I think I'll survive that one.

Two weeks later I get to do it again with the City-wide BAND Concert. What will I go shopping for then?

TGIF

2005-05-13T08:51:00.000-04:00

This isn't an original, I kind of like Poets Day better (Piss on everything,tomorrow's Saturday).
Weather wise the week has been wonderful, not too hot or too cold and plenty of sunshine. So what's gonna happen for the weekend? You got it. Rain. Nuff said.
The allergies are better though still on the Flonase/Muscilex prescription and is helping though I go through sneezing fits followed by a marathan of blowing of the nose. I wonder how much snot is up there in those sinuses?

ALLERGIES

2005-05-11T19:05:00.000-04:00

I have allergies, I hate allergies. Seems the older I get the more susceptible I have become to whatever I'm allergic to. This past week has been terrible, sinus headaches, stuffy nose, fits of sneezing and you feel like a Fright Train from North Dakota has you name embossed across it's nose and is not gonna let you forget it.
The thing is I can complain all I want and get little sympathy from my fellow workers as they have it too. So you shutup and do your job. End of subject.
Now my wife is different in that I do get the sympathy and concern but I feel guilty even thoughI feel like crap and she may even feel even worse yet she is there for me. You gotta love her for that and I do. I just have to learn to reciprocate in kind.

The Last Personal Day

2005-05-10T16:19:00.000-04:00

Today I used my last Personal Day of the present school year. It's either use them or lose them. I used to never use them years ago. That was when I was young, foolish & stupid. Hey! It's a paid day!
I say it's a day off but it's like a Saturday squeezed in between a couple work days. So will tomorrow feel like a Monday? Probably. Then I have to realize my work week will only have three days in it.
So today was not that stressed. My lovely wife, the Diva and I went for our yearly eye exam. I'm sticking with the contacs and the Diva is getting contacs also. This is a first for her, so she will be given a trial pair to see if she can handle them. I'm sure she can. The thing is you have to want them to make them work for you. That's what I find, if I really want something I'll make it work for me.
I remember when I first got my contacs it took me 30 minutes to get the suckers in my eyes, Now I pop them in in about 30 seconds. Daily practice helps. I don't think I'll be without them again. After wearing glasses for most of my life I now have the freedom to wear many different types of reading glasses and sun glasses instead of the one prescription pair that is your eyesight and lifeline to the world.
Oh yeah besides the eye Dr. visit we got to eat a Mickey D's and later went to Ocean State Job Lot, had my Dunkin Doughnuts Coffee and tonight it's grilled Cheeseburgers for Supper and a relaxing night of TV. I'm not complaining. Life is Sweet!

Beatle Crackers

2005-05-09T19:13:00.000-04:00

I like The Beatles and if you hang around me long enough you will find that out. When I was a teenager I was infatuated with them like many teens were at that time, but their music not their lives have influenced me the most. Now whether that is a good thing or bad thing I don't know. I just feel that I never tire of their music, in fact I'm listening to them right now. It doesn't have to be The Beatles themselves performing, it could be another version of another Beatles song by a different artist. Doesn't matter.
I even like groups or singers that pattern the "Beatle" sound with their sound, in fact I've heard critics use the term "Beatlesque". Catches my eye for sure, so I'm sure to give it a listen. But I will always return to the real thing.
I like many different types of music, everything from the Classical to Heavy metal. Two types of music I don't care for are Opera and Rap. They each have their own place in the world of music but not in my world. I will listen to either types just to show I'm not close-minded but I usually will follow it up with a good dose of R&R.
As a teacher I tell my students to not shut out other music from their world. Give it a listen, don't dis it. Give it an honest listen and give it a chance. You don't have to like it but at least I feel you have been exposed to that music. I try to do the same in my own life.
You can walk into my house and you will find anything from Classical to the aforementioned Heavy Metal playing on my stereo system. I don't dwell on any one artist, I like to mix it up as tonight I listened to The Beatles and then Bobby Vinton. Coming up I have a little Mitch Miller followed by some Sousa marches and oh yeah an album of Two Spanish Guitars plus a Polka album coming up in the next couple a days. Mixed in there is bound to be some Beatle songs. I guess this is like eating crackers inbetween courses of a meal. I'm cleaning my pallette. I guess those are my Beatle Crackers. Bon Appetite

WORKIN' FOR THE WEEKEND

2005-05-06T12:46:00.000-04:00

Working for the weekend was a song performed many year ago by a group from Canada I believe. The name of the group escapes me right at the moment. I will think of it eventually, probably about 2am.
Anyhow, it seems I am more and more working for the weekend and I don't know why. I love my job, I really do. It is the best job, pay wise and stress wise I have ever had in my whole career as a teacher. And now that I am nearing the end of that career in a few years I find myself looking forward to my weekends.
Weekends don't really give me a lot of rest but the nice thing is you can pretty much do what you want to do when you want to do it with no consequences if it doesn't get done. Weekends are busy though, there is grocery shopping to be done, church and the almighty Tag Sale. Now that's just the running around part, then there is the never ending yard work. I'm still working on finishing the raking, have about 45 minutes left to do and then it'll be onto mowing. But first I have to change the oil and spark plug (That hasn't been done in three years-about time I think) and sharpen my blade and make sure that is put back on correctly. Then I can mow.
You say that that is a pile to do in a weekend? Yes it is and it won't all get done. Yet tomorrow's forecast is rain, so no yard work. The rest will happen though come rain or come shine, but at least I'll have a little personal time in front of the TV and/or computer, that is after I tend to the needs of my dear wife, the diva. Need I say more?

TIGER X OS

2005-04-30T09:47:00.000-04:00

Okay, I installed the new Tiger OS X and all went well. Very smooth, no problems whatsoever. Didn't I say that? Thank you Mac.
Now first look around I don't see a lot of different, but that's just on the outside. Though they do have their little widgets which is what they are. Widgets, little things like a clock, temp, stock market prices, etc. So once I delve into the system I'll be able to see what's what. Those with more computer savvy will get more out the system than I will I'm sure.
So anyway you look at it I now have a Tiger in my computer.

WISH ME LUCK

2005-04-30T07:32:00.000-04:00

This morning I am going to install the new Tiger OS X new from Mac. Yes, I have a Mac and I love it.

I am hoping all goes well and it usually does as Mac make things simple, though sometimes there are some screw-ups but most times it's the person doing the installing, me, not the software. Read the instructions dummy!!

So I'm reading the instructions, this time anyhow. I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck.

Celebration Now......C'Mon

2005-04-27T19:18:00.000-04:00

My son is celebrating his 4th year with his Redsneaker Blog with having around 26,000 hits in one year. Congratulations!!

Me? I'm thrilled with the 26 hits I get a week. Of course 25 of them could be coming from my wife. The other one coming from me looking at what I wrote. I don't know.
My Redsneaker son is a web master in his own right. I mean, that's his job so he should be good at it right? He is.

Me? I'm a music teacher who has picked up little tidbits of computer know how here and there but mostly from my sons. Yes, they are both computer nerds and they are darn proud of it and so am I. Even though their jobs entail them to be in front of computers most of the day, my computer time is couple hours a night. I still need to get at least an hour of TV. So I continue to meander.

Oh yeah, no Chicago(the band)this year, we were a little slow on purchasing tickets, the only thing left were the nosebleeds. Maybe next time. They get through CT every year it seems. We will be quicker next time.

Neverland

2005-04-23T17:54:00.000-04:00

Nope, not talking about Michael Jackson's Neverland. This one is the movie "Finding Neverland". A very touching movie and if you haven't seen it, please put it on you list of "videos to see". Johnny Depp does a remarkable job portraying the author JM Barrie who wrote "Peter Pan". And the film tells how Barrie came about writing the story of Peter Pan. Now, I don't know how much is truth and how much is the film makers liberties, but I found the story very entertaining. Now I gotta go find the video or videos of Peter Pan. I know there are a few out there, namely the 1953 cartoon and then there is "Hook".

THE 45 RPM

2005-04-22T18:20:00.000-04:00

I've rediscovered the 45 rpm record. I picked up a stack-o-45's at a Tag Sale last weekend for a couple bucks and now I'm reliving my youth, sort of. Though I'm just starting to listen to these classics I can also envision what I was doing at the time those records were hits and thankfully most of those memories were good ones. I mean who even wants to think of the bad memories.

A couple oldies I ran across were "The Cover Of The Rolling Stone" and "Hang On Sloopy". Then there is I Am A Rock by Simon & Garfunkel. Anybody remember The Buckinghams or The Jefferson Airplane who later became The Jefferson Starship who again later became Starship. What ever happened to those guys? Retirement? I think not. A couple years back I did see the Buckinghams in concert as well as The Turtles aka Flo & Eddie, Tommy James & The Shondells and Gary Puckett without his Union Gap (and has been for some time). I think Starship also came through the area to play at one of the casinos a couple years back.

I can't think of any big new group out there today that will still be performing 30 to 40 years from now like a lot of groups from the 60's and 70's are now. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr of The Beatles are still out there, in fact Paul will tour again this Fall I believe and I'm always looking for Ringo to start up his All-Starr Band again.

I plan on seeing the group Chicago this summer also. I've seen them a number of times already and will probably see them many more times before one of us call it quits. They always put on a great show. This time they are touring with Earth Wind & Fire, yet another group from the 70"s.

Nope, don't see Britney doing her thing 40 years from now, the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync couldn't even hold it together for just a few years. I think they are already relegated to the oldies circuit now. Too bad, as I did enjoy their music.

Vacation

2005-04-21T16:50:00.000-04:00

OKAY, I've been on "vacation" all week. I use that term loosely as I've been working my butt off. Not really a vacation in the general sense of the word, but isn't that what usually happens? You have all of these little jobs or big ones in some cases to get done during you vacation. So there is some truth in going back to work just to get some rest. I don't even want to begin to tell you what little jobs there are for me this summer vacation.

I HATE THIS!!!!

2005-04-17T07:19:00.000-04:00

I hate this!! I'm on vacation this week, which means I can sleep in a little. Not gonna happen. 5:30 rolls around and I'm wide awake. WHY? I don't even wake up at 5:30 normal days.Topping everything else, this is Sunday!!! GRRRRRRR.

Yeah, I'm crabby already and I haven't even talked to anyone yet today. In lighter news, my bowels are still regular so I'm not full of it.

THE UKES OF THE WORLD.........UNITE!!!

2005-04-13T12:11:00.000-04:00

I'm a music teacher. I teach music. All sorts of music. Not just vocal, or instrumental. Not just classical or jazz or rock. I teach ukulele. I started about three years ago looking for something that would grab my interest and also my students.Boy did it grab me and I'm surprised at the following uke's have. Maybe not so much here in CT but elsewhere it's big.
I started very slow, I was able to buy 13 ukuleles with a grant from my school and the following year I bought another 13 with another grant. This year I expanded my teaching to include grade 3. Up to this point it has been only grades 4& 5.
Here's the dilemma I'm in. I want the program to continue but the ukuleles I bought a couple years back are starting to show their wear. I need replacements.
Now you may wonder why I need replacements already. Well I've been lucky so far, but I need to be prepared as I teach in a school of about 750 students of which half of those students are 3,4 &5th grade. They get a lot of use, a lot of hard use especially when you put a uke in a little boys hand and right away he starts flailing and the uke like he's Eddie Van Halen or Pete Townsend.
Anyhow the search is on as our district has no extra monies to spare I'm gonna have to start begging. I refuse to borrow or steal. I wonder if VH1 has a "Save The Uke" Program someplace.

DO THE HOKEY POKEY- THATS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

2005-04-11T19:12:00.000-04:00

We went to the memorial service for Dougs' brother, Carl last Wednesday and I'll never look at the Hokey Pokey the same again. Everytime I hear the song I'll think of Carl. Long story short, Carl was "the life of any party". We saw that at Doug & Katy's wedding. He was a hoot to say the least. A very fun loving guy. The minister said the we should celebrate his life and not mourn his death and therefore we were to dance. And we did...... to the Hokey Pokey during the Memorial Service in the Funeral Home. This was the first time I've ever seen smiles at a Wake. I'm sure Carl enjoyed every moment of it.

THOU ART GOOD

2005-04-09T19:43:00.000-04:00

I see that my Day Off Blog got repeated a few times so i will fix that later.
My lovely wife and I attended our first Art Auction Friday night and I must say we had an excellent time. The auction was a fund raiser for our church.
We attended only to fill a seat as each seat filled meant more money for the church. Now how they do that I have no idea, so we went fully prepared not to buy. That was our first mistake.
I am not an arty person, though my son, Redsneakers is. He has a degree in Art. His beautiful wife also paints wonderfully. Me? The only painting I do is on a house and the paint comes in gallons.
Well I saw a painting called "Three Folk Musicians" by Romare Bearden. I do not know the painter but I liked the picture. Thankfully no one else liked it, as we were the only bidders. Actually my lovely wife bid and won and also paid for it. So now the fever hit. Thankfully the other paintings we liked after that were way out of price range. Thus staving off and financial crisis.
Next year we decided to put some money aside just for the Art Auction. Yes, we've been bit.

The Peanut

2005-04-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

Speaking of addictions, I have a quasi-addiction. Peanuts. No, not the cartoon strip though I do enjoy it, I'm not addicted to it. Well for that matter I'm not addicted to peanuts either, unless they are sitting there right in front of me. Then I eat them and I don't stop until they are gone. Once they are gone my craving is done. I can go months on end without even thinking about a peanut but put them in front of me I can't seem to get enough.
On second thought, forget I even said I was addicted to peanuts. They are like potato chips."Bet you can't eat just one". I lose that bet every time.
I'm told that peanuts are good for you. They have some good nutrients I guess, good transfats and other things that won't clog up your arteries. I'm no dietician, just a teacher of music so this could be all wrong. Maybe I'm way off base and this won't be the first time. Right now I gotta go crack me a peanut.Next topic.....

ALL GROWN UP-KIND OF.....

2005-04-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

Be true to yourself
Help others
Make each day a masterpiece
Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
Make friendship a fine art
Build a shelter against a rainy day
Pray for guidance and forgiveness
Give thanks for your many blessings

I received this through my email and it made me to stop and think and I thought it would be worth sharing. There was a time in my life when I didn't adhere to any of those things and my life was miserable, though I didn't know it at the time. I was a heavy smoker and a heavier drinker and through the grace of God I no longer smoke or drink. Coming up on 13 years since I had my final and last drink and 7 years since I smoked. I've come a long way I feel.
My son-in-laws brother has just died from an overdose of drugs and when I hear of someone dying this tragic way always makes me think that it could have been me many years ago.Fortunatly I had a family that loved and cared for me very much which did help but I had to learn the hard way. I could have easily gone the way of Dougs' brother. Thankfully I grew up a little.
I feel very blessed in my life though I may not show it. I'm not one to brag or gloat over my accomplishments but I do know that without the support I receive from my family and my Higher Power I wouldn't be here today.
I'm not fully grown yet as I have a lot of kid in me but it's the kid in me that doesn't need artifical highs. I have a very loving and caring family and I have come close to my God who I know is always watching out for me.
My thoughts and prayers are for Carl Jr. as he made a mistake, a big mistake. It cost him his life which he cannot recover from. The family grieves and I would hope his loved ones would learn from this and not let his death be in vain.

IN THE CESSPOOL OF LIFE

2005-04-03T09:09:00.000-04:00

The inevitable happened. No, I don't mean that the Pope died. I had to set-up our sump pump. We have water in the basement (Say this like "Elvis has left the building").
I knew it was going to happen with all the rain that was forecast for our area. I just didn't want to get it going cause I know it will then be there pretty much the rest of the year. I thought maybem just maybe we would dodge that bullet. Not so.
You may wonder why the big fuss, it's just a sump pump. Well I'll tell you. There is a 35 gallon plastic garbage can that sits behind our washer, that houses the sump pump as the water comes in from the septic tank through the disposal hose of our washer. Yes, that means water in the washer, which means "hello laundromat" until the water table subsides. I have to pull the washer out a bit for the garbage can to fit, but thankfully washers are light when empty. So far so good, all is running well and as long as we don't get flush happy with the toilet we shall survive.
Oh yes, the forecast rain of over 4" amounted to 2.1 inches here though others may have had more.

The Wet & Wild

2005-04-02T10:47:00.000-05:00

We are getting rain.........AGAIN. We received a good 2 inches the first part of the week and now today we could get up to 4 inches.
So yesterday the septic was pumped out and I dug a trench from the cellar door to a runoff area in order to prevent my basement from flooding.
As I look out the window it is still raining. The one thing about spring/summer is that the weather men become more accurate on the weather forecasts so in a way it's nice to know what's coming down the pike but then again you have a few more days to either get pissy about the weather or feel good about it.
Give me a sunny 75 degree day with a light wind and I'll be as happy as a pig in mud. No complaints on this end. Now if you're a fish.....

OH MY GAWD THAT WAS FUNNY!!!

2005-04-02T10:40:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading my sons' blog and I just got done picking myself up off the floor from laughing so hard. Check it out, the RedSneaker Page at http://thematthews.cjb.net/ This was the funniest blog I've read in ages. I should be half as funny but I think that gene bypassed me or maybe it's my age. Maybe I'm looking at life to seriously or maybe I'm to sensitive to not offend anyone. Anhow, check it out, you won't regret it. Funny, funny, funny.

40 Winks

2005-03-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

Why is it that around 2:00 pm I get so sleepy? I see this happen mostly when I'm not doing anything, like sitting and maybe doing a little surfing. Next thing you know I'm yawning and rubbing my eyes and looking for a corner to crawl in to get 40 winks. This doesn't happen for long or very often, but long enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Twenty minutes later I'll be fine. So time to wake up cause here comes the next class.