Tuesdays

Tuesday always becomes the day that I try to finish the things I meant to complete on Monday. For example: Paul and I decided yesterday that we should give Gracie a bath, plus her flea treatment. That didn't happen. Since the bath needs to obviously be before the flea treatment, we never got either accomplished. So- the domino effect: not sure I'll be getting to Curves either today since it's open til 1:00 and opens up at 4. May not have time. (I did!)

Paul was out walking Gracie around the big circle. He just came back and I asked him "how it went." He said it was strange - he wanted to go the opposite direction and she wanted no part of it. She HAD to go the regular way. I guess humans are not the only creatures of habit.

We had a huge noisy bucket truck in our backyard this morning. They're trimming the bottom branches off all the large palm trees at Circlewoods that are at least 15 feet high. What a noise. It's amazing that Jil didn't wake up. It was right outside his window. Lots of branches cut that are now where they fell, around the trunks on the ground. From watching other areas here, another truck will come by and pick them up soon. An interesting aside: we're not supposed to drive or park on the lawn because of pipes being buried there. So - how come these large trucks can do it? (Aha - Could it be - I'm sure it is - they know the secret of where the pipes are and therefore can avoid them?)

Jil, Paul and I went to Walmart yesterday and got some colored lights to decorate outside. Paul wound a set around our light-pole. It looks like a cross. He said that was the idea. There're also colored lights strung around the living room double window, the bushes out front.

I can't help but compare what he'll be doing when we get up north for Christmas. Same thing. So. . . I wonder if the temp. will be the same. Do you think? No matter what. . .I do hope he'll do a less taxing job up there than he usually does, and not go all out. After all, our time up there will be abbreviated. There's a limited time for putting up and taking down.

So. . .what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

We're Back. . .

Yes. We're back after five days. I have done a couple of loads of wash, the last of which will be placed in the dryer after I finish typing. Suitcases are rather empty - need to check on that - we've been to church this morning, and out for breakfast afterwards.

It's amazing how much more cooler it is up in Gainesville than it is here in Venice. Although we could have just had cooler weather up there. It's hard to say. I forgot to bring a jacket or sweater. So I had to borrow one time to time. It was so good to see Emma, Brenan and Neenee again. (And of course their parents!) It's been since this summer when they all were up visiting us. We hadn't seen Greg and Noi since last April at Eastertime here in Venice. Greg looks great - his leg has healed very well and he doesn't even limp! He broke it really really badly when he slipped on some leaves on his roof and fell off last Spring after we left for home. Ouch.

Little Bode is still smaller than Gracie. Gracie always seems small to us, but Bode certainly wins the prize in that category. He's a cute little pup and has such a nice personality. He's more subdued than Gracie, but Brenda says he also has a temper. We only saw that once, when Gracie became too obnoxious over confiscating one of his toys. We watched her a little more carefully after that.

Our hotel room was excellent - it had a nice computer area in the corner with good lighting that we discovered only the last of the four days we were there! Duh. It's interesting that each day our stay got better and better. By the fourth day, we were happily settled in. Gracie took a while also. She awoke very early on Wednesday morning (before daybreak and 6 AM) which worked out good because our alarm clock in the room was broken. We couldn't change the time which was 50 minutes slow, had set the alarm accordingly, but didn't trust it. We were due to puppy-sit that day with Bode and Gracie at Greg's house while they all went to Harry Potter World over in Universal Studios in Orlando.

They planned to leave a little after 7 AM. because it's a two-hour trip from Gainesville - the same as it is from Venice. I had visions of our day being terrifically long, but it all went quite well. They had a great time, even though there were a lot of people at each part of the theme park. They had to wait on line after line, to get into events. But - all in all - they were glad they went. They were back around 10 PM. During the day, I had time to wrap presents for Brenda, Eric and Emma to put under Greg and Noi's Christmas tree. Paul had his computer and I had my Kindle. We watched tv. The dogs were very good.

Thursday Paul and I began the day later than yesterday, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at our hotel room and kinda just enjoying a quiet time. Later on that morning, we went to Greg's to join them for a very tasty turkey dinner with all the trimmings mid-afternoon. Noi had new plates, placemats and plate/chargers to use. She even folded our cloth napkins into a beautiful design. The table looked lovely! So - I had a chance to talk with my kids - Nancy was very busy with her company at the time, lots of noise and commotion, but graciously spent time talking with me. She even caught Vincent as he raced around so that I had a chance to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. Nancy said Evie had a bow in her hair! Jil had a good time at the Clarkes. He took some brownies I made as a "house gift" to share with them.

I got an e-thank you card for an e-Thanksgiving card I sent Jon's family from Nicole, Jon's wife, and she mentioned how much they enjoyed having Jil with them for Thanksgiving. It's nice he could become re-acquainted with Jon and Nicole, and meet their young children.

Have I mentioned that Jil has captured the use of my netbook and Skype, so that he and Epril can have a continuous "feed" to each other's lives? It's interesting to see him "walking around" with the netbook in his hand showing Epril what the house looks like, what he's doing. While we were gone, he re-arranged my kitchen cabinets for me. This is what my son did earlier in his life. So he continues this habit. It was nice to come home from Gainesville to find everything "in order". However, now I will need a ladder, because I have trouble reaching some of the things on the top shelves, that used to be within easy reach on the bottom or second shelf. And thus the problem of being vertically challenged continues. ( I was almost going to say horizontally challenged...which I'm not sure I am or am not. . .probably am. Thanksgiving didn't help matters there. ) But it was a lovely weekend. There's more to come so I'll write again soon, plus have pictures.

So - what's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Last call . . .

Tomorrow we leave for Greg and Noi's house to celebrate Thanksgiving. Brenda, Eric and Emma arrived last Friday - flying in to Orlando from San Francisco. Greg picked them up at the airport and they've been enjoying some really nice Florida weather up in Gainesville. Just as we have here in Venice.

Usually I don't mention beforehand that we're going somewhere, (due to security)but we have Jil here, who will be staying behind, because he has to work. So our house will not be empty! Jil's been invited to go to the Clarkes for Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle Bob and Bobby. Carol and John are very generous people and we (and he) appreciate their invition for Jil to join them. There, he'll see Jonathan and his family also.

This morning Jil and I went to the Municipal Building of Venice where he got his driver's license taken care of. Beforehand, we went to another department and he signed up to vote. There was absolutely no problem getting his license, and he drove home. Now he'll be able to drive my car while we're gone, and he won't feel so isolated. So - another item off the check list. Since he was out of the country for a decade, a driver's license hadn't been a priority. We anticipated problems. None came up. Yea for our team.

We're going up to Gainesville early because we're going to puppy-sit Gracie and Bode Wednesday, when everyone else goes to Orlando to Universal Studios. Puppies don't do well there!

Got a nice note from Lue - thanks, Lue. We miss you - look forward to seeing you and everyone at Christmas. Give Greta a hug from us.

Wow. It's 5:00 already - as you know, 5:00 is a magical hour - so I must go - may you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know Nancy and Dan are having the Molden clan for dinner (with all the trimmings! I'm talking about the turkey. . .) Enjoy. I'm sure we'll talk to you by phone.

Oppositional Defiance Behavior?

Sometimes it's hard to judge writing. Is the author mad? Sad? Glad? This is written - "tongue in cheek."

Having just read Jil's last paragraph about our puppy in his newest post on his blog, www.junglejil.blogspot.com; I have to defend our puppy against the irrational thinking Jil posted most recently. I agree that her behaviour is not the best some of the time. But some of the time she's adorable. What can I say? I have to defend her right to be a puppy. As you know, walking across the table, is not in line with what we would call acceptible behaviour nor are some more puppy behaviours Jil mentioned. Right now, when she's sleeping she's adorable. Sometimes she's adorable even when she's awake too.

So. . . .there!

Moving right along. . .

Things are moving along down here in the Southlands. The weather continues to be gorgeous and I hope all you northerners are very envious of our present weather. It is perfectly beautiful - few clouds in the bright blue sky, but they do appear in the afternoon. No rain, however. We do need it. I read about possible snow in upstate NY, on our e-paper from Corning.

Jil worked days this week. I don't know if I mentioned. . . he began a new account and needed to have some inservice work done, plus it was possible he might need guidance, which he could get from his team leader during the day. I believe he'll switch over to nights again after this week because there's a 12% increase in his pay if he works from 12 AM to 8 AM. This, of course, was his days working in the Philippines. So there has been a bit of a struggle to get adjusted to actual nighttime work.

There was an article on Roadrunner a week or so ago about jobs available for working from home. Medical Transcriptionist was one of the top popular positions. It ranked way up there. He's really happy with this new account because he's able to increase his workload considerably. (He gets paid by the line. )

I've been to Curves twice this week - yesterday morning and today. I like it very much. It's a medium-sized circuit and you need to go around only twice. Everyone is very friendly, and the owner and manager both recognized me and greeted me by name.

I had some difficulty, to put it mildly, with my medicare account. This was also problematic because it took me a while to find this out. (We're having our mail forwarded.) They had stopped paying my medical bills. I immediately tried to join up on-line where I could check my statements and they said they didn't know me. Oh, great. So. . . knowing this, I did some IM online Saturday, and they couldn't resolve it, so Monday I called the number they suggested and found out I never changed my address for social security. They suggested I go to the Social Security office in Venice. This worked out very well. I knew right where it was located. It's really close by, located in the Publix plaza right down the street, and I'd been there for Jil last week. They changed my address for me. I got on-line yesterday and it was fine by the afternoon. I called the hospital where I had my thyroid surgery and my bill had been paid!

Good! Incidentally, when I got my new car, and when Paul had gotten his, we found out our credit scores are both excellent so I didn't want to, nor did I have to, spoil mine.

We're finalizing our trip to Gainesville next week. Paul, I and Gracie will be leaving Wednesday,Thanksgiving Eve, and staying until Saturday. We're staying at a motel nearby because Greg's house will be full with the Hopsons. Paul talked with Brenda noontime here, 9 AM there, as Eric, Emma, Bode and she were boarding the plane to come East. They're landing in Orlando and Greg will be picking them up. I wonder if they able to fly first class, as they did last time. I'll have to ask.

Nancy posted some cute pictures of Evie and Vincent on her Facebook page. I'm not sure how to download them, but I'll try to find out from Jil. He's working right now and I don't want to disturb him.

Paul is down at Lowe's this afternoon windowshopping. Looking for outside floortiles. We're putting in a patio (eventually). So I guess I could say. . .he's beginning to put his "ducks in a row." As usual he likes to think about things for a while and plan things out before starting projects. Gracie has found a sunny spot in the lanai and is lying there contentedly for the moment. I took her out because she was whining a while ago, perhaps she needed to go? or because I think she just missed Paul. She wanted to walk around the perimeter of the house, perhaps looking for him. Or Martini.

Paul just got home. We were in the dining room and Gracie jumped up on a chair and onto the table and walked right across it to us. He thought it was very funny, so I was "the bad guy" and did the yelling. I told him Greta would never have gotten away with that! Paul thought the whole thing was funny. I don't know if the idea of Greta being on the table, or Gracie walking across it got him laughing, but one or the other did. It was funny, but not so funny if she does it again.

I guess that's all the news from this end of the Woods. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

What's Happenin' Here

Okay. To be honest, I realize that yesterday's post was rather cryptic. We needed to mull things over as things have been changing so quickly. It's only been less than two weeks since Jil arrived from the Philippines - but ideas have been swiftly changing and we needed to think things through a bit. First one thing was suggested, then another, and another before it could be decided. And even now I still have to use the word "probably" in my sentences, but here's what we are up to. . . as of this moment. Probably.

Jil is going to bring Epril here to the States. He is optimistic that she can be here by March. He's going to go back to school here in Florida to become a medical radiological technician while continuing working for the medical transcriptionist company he works for now. Jil will need to be a resident of Florida to take advantage of the Florida state colleges' low fees. This will take a year.

Since this house is empty usually 9 months out of the year, we have offered Jil and Epril our home for the time being. While Epril is still in the Philippines, she's going to begin work on an E-Bay company selling merchandise (jewelry? small inexpensive"girly" items) with her sisters probably on Facebook. When she gets here, she will moniter her sisters' work, plus order the merchandise. Plus she'll probably get another job too. (Walmart?)

The details change. I'll try to keep you posted. If any of you have ideas, they're certainly welcome. It's an exciting time for all of us!

So - that's what's happenin' in our neighborhood. What's happenin' in yours?

What if's. . .

As most of you know, Jil is presently with us. We're all looking at the various paths that will be our/his future. There's been lots of discussions, questions, lingering thoughts, that we needed to be aware of so that we can see what way is the best - mostly for him, but no less for us.

It's obvious that each day/time in our lives produce different signals that let us make decisions on which path to take. These days aren't any different. It just seems like there are many more ways to go. My philosophy (?) contains thoughts that God gives us our free will. He watches us use these signals, sits back, and assigns no so-called grading but that He continually is aware of what we do with what has happened to us. How do we use them? There are so many paths to interpret.

If this seems puzzling, think how frustrating it is for us. May I again say how glad I am that Paul is in my life. He sees things from a different perspective - as a relative outsider. (interesting choice of words I have. . . relative-outsider. Kind of an oxymoron.) His suggestions are ones to heed. But of course, he isn't an outsider because these decisions influence him too.

Licker

Jil and I took Gracie for a walk yesterday. After dropping in to see Cousin Alice, we were walking home when Gracie became reacquainted with a beagle whom she'd met on a walk with Paul. When the beagle's mistress began petting her, Gracie, as she always does with whomever she meets, began to lick her hand. The lady said with a smile - "Oh, she has trouble controlling her licker."

It made my day. That's a good one.

Times

I will repeat, as I often think, where did the week go? Don't we all do that at our age?

With adjusting to Jil's schedule, and continuing on with ours, it's been an interesting 5 days. Jil is trying to work nights, sleep days but his sleep routine keeps being interrupted. Skype is a great way to keep him in contact with Epril. That is certainly a good way to talk with people, but Epril didn't understand. This morning, she called him at 7:30 AM, thinking it was PM. There goes his sleep. She means well of course. I know Cousin Alice talks with Sue and her family in Peru. They're on the same time-zone, however. That makes a big difference. But here, each day, some more things smooth out.

Paul and I are in the process of windowshopping for another car to have down here. The 2001 Chrysler Malibu that I got in 2003 is showing signs of age. So here's what's wrong. The intake manifold gasket is leaking coolant. Paul looked up the 2001 Malibu's on the internet, and the intake manifold gasket is a problem with this specific year's model. Lots of complaints about it. We took the car to several reliable garages. The cost estimate averaged around $900. That plus the a/c works unreliably - another $700. We could have it all fixed. Then next year? Something else could happen. Yesterday after we went to the last garage, and got the last estimate, we did some car-looking. This is really the fun part to see what's out there. (a/c is a given.) We're looking at new and pre-owned cars. I imagine I'll end up with a pre-owned with cruise and automatic. In the end I have to consider car payments, which I haven't had in a long time and I'd like to keep down to a dull roar.

So - I was right about November weather down here. It is perfectly gorgeous. You go outside and you can't "feel" it. It's not too hot nor too cold. It's just the perfect temperature and sunlight. Paul went to the garden center this morning and got some red and yellow hibiscus plants (they were on sale 2 for 1). He planted them on the southside of the house. Plus an accent plant. We're looking for a tree for the backyard to replace the shade tree we took down a couple of years ago. Since our lanai faces directly into the sun in the afternoon, I want a tree to shade us against the sunlight other than blinds during our "late-afternoon conversation hour."

This weekend is the seasonal (one of four) Beer and Bratz up at the clubhouse. At noon on Saturday they serve beer, hotdogs, hamburgers, sausages, beans. I signed the three of us up for it.

Wow. It's lunchtime already. Where has the time gone? (sounds like a broken record, or a returning cycle of this opening paragraph, doesn't it?)

We miss you all. Wish you were here to enjoy this marvelous weather. So. . .
What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods? Snow flurries??? LOL

Making Adjustments.

What a beautiful day it is today - this morning was cool, but it's warmed up so we could put shorts on.

Jil arrived a couple of minutes early into Ft. Myers airport - and everything went well. We got home around 12:30 - but thanks to Daylight Savings Time - it couldn't have worked out better if we had planned it, because we gained an hour and got to bed before midnight. We were exhausted after a 90 minute traipse down there and then back up here. But nothing like Jil. He was so exhausted after traveling more than 24 hours. Needless to say, he was very happy to have the trip over with.

One thing he worried about and expected was a problem with the computer hook up. It didn't materialize. Thanks to Paul's work. Jil said he worked last night from 11:30 til 3:00 AM. He intended to work from 10, but fell asleep on his bed. He's going to continue to work the night-shift while here in the states. Not sure when he's planning on sleeping because he isn't into any sleep pattern yet.

Discovery - you can down-load classical music off the computer! Jil is so happy. He hadn't played the piano in 10 years and downloaded the second movement of Beethoven' Sonata Pathetique and played it without much trouble. He downloaded some Chopin nocturnes, and now he's trying them out.

Jil is adjusting to "our ways of doing things." Such as: We need quiet early afternoons after lunch when we rest. And he even just offered to help me get my blog to be just wonderful! All the things I do haphazardly, he'll explain to me and help me with! (Getting captions on photos. . . for one thing) And I bet he'll help me with Facebook too.

Paul and he took Gracie for a walk around Circlewoods this morning.

Paul and I are going to Sears this afternoon to look at patio pavers. Paul's drawn up the plans and this is the next step.

This is for Carol O. - I know you'll be interested in this. I have found the nearest Curves to be in Englewood right off of route 776 just 8 miles away. Since I go 10 miles to Curves up in NYS, I don't think that's too bad. There were 15 people working out when I went for the first time this morning. Because her clientele change from summer to winter, the owner's discovered that the only way to make a profit is to have abbreviated hours when it's open. So - it's from 8-12, and 4-7, no Saturdays hours at all.

That's all the news for now. How're things goin' in your neck o' the woods?

Connecting to people away from us. . .

Our computers are working great! Which is a wonderful thing because Jil needs to have a reliable computing system here.

Paul got a phone call last night from his brother, Bob. He and his wife, Louise, live up in Du Bois, Pa. He really enjoyed talking with him. Bob said he reads my blog and it lets him know what's going on around here with us. It's good to get feedback like that. It always makes me feel good that my thoughts are going elsewhere, other than out of my head and into thin air!

We were watching a movie I had taped a couple of days before from Turner Classic Movies. (TCM) Things to feel good and proud about: I taped a lot of movies. I figured it out all by myself. Things to feel foolish about: I put captions on for this one. . . which was a silent movie. Yes. It had its own captions. I thought that was really very unclever of me.

We're also watching PBS's miniseries - The Circus. We taped the first one - on Wednesday night and looking forward to the rest. It's the story of the Big Apple Circus - how they select new performers each year, the life behind the scenes. I hope they somehow show Venice. Don't know why they would though.

For those of you who didn't know - Venice and Sarasota are leading areas for Circus buffs. Years and years ago, John Ringling (of Ringling brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus) had a magnificent home and grounds down here, that he opened up for the public, on Sarasota harbor, and he left his home and included a wonderful art museum and circus museum. There is still a world-reknowned Clown School in Sarasota.

For years, his circus performers/animals wintered in Venice. Ringling built them a stadium here so they could keep up their skills. The stadium is still there and there's still an outside trapeze area set-up right by it. When you drive over the Circus Bridge (so-called) and look to your left, sometimes you can people taking lessons and still using it. There are also large cages that contained the lions, elephants, etc. There were two circuses - the Red and Blue "Teams". And every year, before they left on tour, they'd put on a free farewell performance for the Venice people. My parents told me about going one time.

Jil is due in tonight at Ft. Myers International Airport. He comes in at 10:30, but he arrived in Detroit late this morning. He's going to have a long wait there. We got a phone call from him, but we couldn't quite connect. He's in the states, tho. From what I remember, it's quite a very grueling trip. Really bad. More than 24 hours. It's nothing to look forward to. The weather here has turned cool, and I imagine he'll be cold. Guess he'll be shopping for more suitable clothing. It always amazes me that they sell winter clothing down here. Epril sent me an e-mail wondering if he was in yet. It's confusing for all of us because there's twelve hours' difference and it's night there and it's day here. He gets in tonight our time. Then to confuse matters more, tomorrow starts day-light savings time and we'll be an hour earlier here. We gain an hour tonight. I'm always happy about that.

Gracie, Paul and I walked up to the clubhouse this morning to get tickets for the Beer and Bratz which is next weekend. They have these four times a year. Every season. It was sunny, cool and fairly windy and Gracie didn't want anything to do with behaving. Her attention span was zip point nothing. No loose-leash walking for her. When we got home we took her in the backyard off the leash, and let her zoom. She did.

Still haven't got my camera set up yet. When I do, I will post pictures.

So - that's all the news for now from the woods. What happenin' in your neck o' the woods?

Well, well, well. . .

My computer is working (for the time being. . .knock on wood!) It's been working erratically since I've come down and I haven't had a chance to do a posting that I'd chance sending. The machine will work and then kaput. Yuck. We have been using my brother Bob's Comcast account since we're in such close proximity. . .the networking works well. However, since Jil will be working from home, we thought it wise to invest in our own internet service from Comcast this year. I'd feel just awful if Jil had trouble. He doesn't need any more problems. Things are so complicated recently. Lots of angst still going on. BUT, things appear to be falling into place.

To make room for his workspace, we've taken down one of the twin beds and we're storing it in a storage facility. That was lots of fun - windowshopping for good prices. We wanted an air-conditioned unit, and when we finally decided on a place - it was interesting to see how much it reminded me of the Indiana Jones first movie at the end when they showed inside this huge warehouse. Well, perhaps it isn't that big, but it made me feel uneasy. Luckily our rental unit is close to an outside door. The guy took us inside to show us where it was and said not to worry about turning off the lights - they were on a timer. Oh, great. I just needed to be in there when the lights went off and it was pitch black. I guess I'd bring a flashlight. . . just in case.

Folks - if you've been thinking along these lines. . . we still have two king-sized beds available for company! Air mattresses can be purchased also. We'd certainly make room for company. We miss you all.

Edna's bell wasn't quite right for Gracie to ring. But thank you, Edna.
Reminder: we wanted a bell for her to ring to tell us when Gracie needed to go outside. Right now - we have to take her out when we think she needs to go. We found another bell at Walmart - the kind with a handle that you shake to ring. It's on a string near the door. Every day in every way. . . we keep getting better!

Bob cooked a potroast last night and he and Bobby brought it here for the four of us to eat. It was scrumptious.

Okay - I have to say I didn't use the One Subject Per Blog idea with this posting that Jil suggested and I agree is a good way to go. But -There seemed to be so many different things I wanted to mention. . . like when you telephone someone you haven't spoken to in a long time. I feel like it's been ages since I wrote. In fact, it doesn't seem possible that we've been down only six days. As Paul said, it feels like two weeks!

Funny. I hear mowing going on outside and I immediately pictured Paul on his mower up in Millport. Good things happen when you're here - those are the men hired to do the mowing - not Paul. Speaking of whom: He's just come back from shopping and checking out my Florida car. . . giving it a trial run. All seems to be okay. Right now he's checking on the white paint and some dirty dark marks that appeared on the back end. The car always sticks out from the carport and is susceptible to this.

Paul and I got some heart drawings from Ida that Sharon sent us. One was for Paul's birthday, and mine was just for me. It did our (my) hearts good! Thank you, Ida. Please relay that for us Sharon!

And I hope Sharon is feeling better. When we were at her house to celebrate Paul's birthday, she had her foot in a "medical boot." (not sure what the correct term was for that.) She had plantar's fasciitis (another spelling?). The doctor just recently also found out through X rays that her heel was fractured also. I can't imagine how painful that must have been and is. She sent an e-mail to her brothers and sister and us.

The darn postal service is unreliable. Paul never got his absentee ballot. I got mine. Paul called the Board of Elections and they said they were sent at the same time on the 19th.

So - that's all the news from the Woods Edge. What's happenin' in your neck o' the woods?