Day In The Life

Thought you'd enjoy these pictures of our sleepy dogs. After meeting friends in Mt Dora for an Italian supper, we stayed up last night until 2 a. m. for no good reason other than we weren't tired and then just as we were falling asleep around two- thirty the motion detector floodlight just outside the bedroom window ( the one without the replacement blinds) came on. I had to get up and check that nothing was amiss. Back to bed, back to drifting off and on goes the light again! I decided it must be the marmalade cat from the front yard. Most frustrating to keep having to get up and check, though.

Consequently, today was pretty much a washout as far as accomplishing much was concerned. After reading the paper, walking pooches, and watching Chili swim, we watched The Other Boleyn Girl DVD. (Good acting, great costumes, poor script.) We finally went to look at new glasses for Danny around four in the afternoon only to find the glasses store was closed. Hello, it was Sunday! Not a big business day for glasses sellers. Undaunted, we went on to browse at Pier One and Borders and decided to have a Chinese dinner at PF Changs.

I remembered just as we were filling the car with $69.00 of gasoline (!!##**++!!) after dinner that we'd forgotten to barricade the pantry doors. I expected to be met by the sight of a garbage party upon returning home but the dogs were actually good this time! Maybe 'cause Ginny got stung on the foot by a bee on our morning walk and Chili was actually tired from swimming. Or maybe just because. Poor Ginny of the swollen foot stepped on the unfortunate bee in the grass. She jumped, screamed, hopped on three legs, then rolled over on her side on the ground. She had me worried for a minute until she heard or smelled something interesting like a squirrel or cat and was up and moving again. Drama queen.

Its raining again now (third time so far today) so we can't take our evening walk. Rented 10,000 BC along with the Boleyn saga, so I guess we'll hunker down again in our post week end pig out plumpnesses and watch more DVD. Why not, I'm feeling 'mammoth' and thanks to the wet weather like I want to huddle in a cave!

Word of the day: mouflon: noun-- a wild sheep native to Sardinia or Corsica with large curling horns. This word has nothing to do with my blog but it would be a fun word to work into a conversation with someone you don't care about spending much time with.

Live long and prosper, bloggers and all herders of mouflons. May you have much wool to huddle under on cold nights and chops to fill your platters. Ciao.

Cats, a rant, and why Chinese people shouldn't eat Chili

Hey, all you feline fans out there: these are Laura's new kitties, Gus Gus and Shyla. Gus Gus is a mostly Russian Blue and Shyla is a Bengal. How bout that fluffy tail and big pawsies! Speaking of kitties, we came in tonight after walking two of our dogs, Ginny and Abby, to find a neighbor's big marmalade stripy cat sitting on one of our Bistro chairs out front on the patio enjoying the moonlight and our fountain pond. Of course the dogs wanted to give chase, but I said El Gato was welcome to stay and partake of any ratons about. Especially since our Mutley Crew has only managed to injure one of themselves in the last rat rumble!

I realized today that lately I've been mostly blogging about my daily life with occassional bits of poetry thrown in. No rants, no political commentary, no weird news stories as in past features. Guess I've grown a bit lazy and uncreative...uh...or maybe I'm just practicing the art of energy conservation. Yeah, that sounds better doesn't it?

Well, to be honest, politics isn't arousing any passion in me lately...I don't like the Republicans or the Democrats much. Mostly politics as practiced by the canidates is just plain boring. Obama chants the words change and hope a lot but heck I write words every day and frankly if I'm gonna get excited by single word slogans...well I'm not going to get excited by single word slogans. Could he be a little more specific instead of glittering generalities? Hope for what? Bringing the mortgage industry out of the toilet? Developing alternative energy to get out out from our slave to oil status? How 'bout doing something about foreign nationals owning more of American business than Americans do? What about our falling investments and tanking IRA's and the fact that health care is substandard and unaffordable? Don't prattle 'bout hope. Talk action! Change for change's sake don't mean crap either. And how pray tell can I take somebody seriously who sat and listened to the Reverand Wright for twenty frelling years? This is a Harvard educated professor who can't see through the Reverend Wright? Gee, that gives me so much confidence. Yeah, sure deal with Al Quaida Barry.

I like John McCain a little better. I don't care if he's old. Heck I'm almost old and I like me! Would take me less than five minutes to see past a nutty bigot like Reverend Wright. Somebody who survived what McCain did in Vietnam deserves my respect and admiration too. I just wish he'd act more like the political Maverick of past years. I don't agree with the war in Iraq and have no desire to see it continue, so I don't really agree with McCain's Republican view of that. I don't think he's another George Bush though. And maybe this is shallow, but I find Cindy McCain a better first lady candidate. She doesn't say she's been ashamed of America all her life like the other candidate' wife did. I get no sense of condesention from her. Bet she wouldn't have let no nutcase like Reverend Wright near her kids either.

Okay, that's the best I can do for political rant right now. As far as weird news goes, I haven't read any lately. Been reading too much boring political news I guess. I did see the bit about China taking dog meat off the menus in its restaurants though. Guess they're doing it for the Olympic crowds. As a dog person, I'm glad to see them take that progressive action. Nobody should eat a dog. Not even Chili after she's shredded my pantry doors, chewed or peed on another Oriental rug, picked another fight with Ginny and cased me to spend another night sitting up at the Emergency Vet Clinic, or overturned all the trashcans in the house. Hell, if a Chinese person ate Chili she'd probably burst out of his stomach like the lil Alien thing did in the first Aliens flick.

Finally, here's the word of the night. TRUMPERY: noun meaning trivial or useless articles, things of no value, rubbish, junk worthless nonsense, deception.

With the creation of this Blog, I have successfully demonstrated the use of trumperry. Go do something worthwhile. Why are you still reading this trumpery? Ta. Ta for now.

Wall-e is out of this world

Hey there Bloggers,

Go see Wall- e.

I'm not that much into animated movies as compared to other genres of films. Oh yeah, I loved all the Disney flicks as a kid, especially (go figure) Lady and The Tramp. I took my kids to and enjoyed animated films like The Little Mermaid and Toy Story and I'll admit to a fondness for Wallace and Gromit. Generally speaking though, unless there's a kid in tow, I skip going to the theatre for animated films. Once in awhile I rent a classic one like The Polar Express or laugh at the cleverness of Shrek.

I like action films like the Bourne series. Give me lots of plot and make it happen fast. Like in The Gladiator. Or slow if its a terrific period piece with those great British actors like in Gosford Park or Elizabeth the Golden Age. I will watch any movie with Daniel Day Lewis knowing I'm in for an Oscar winning performance. I like 'feel good' overcoming impossible odds films like The Great Debators and Finding Forrester. I like super heroes and good Sci Fi and Harry Potter films and films that take place in ancient Rome or medieval Britian or Colonial America. But usually animated is sorta like cereal for breakfast instead of pancakes and bacon. I know its good but it somehow doesn't taste as good....

But, I kept hearing about how great Wall-e was so I went expecting to be mildly entertained. Surprise. I was totally absorbed by the film. Enchanted. Moved. I laughed. I almost cried. Production values were tip top in true Pixar style. Wonderful saturated colors. Good story. Good moral delivered in a painless way. Good dialogue. Or, sometimes, lack of dialogue. The animated robots acted. Conveyed emotion and communication through body language, chirps and squeaks. Who knew a garbage compactor robot could be as lovable as ET? And who knew that a cockroach could be so darned cute?

In short, I loved this movie!!! I give it four stars. Go see this movie. Wall-e is the best movie of the summer hands....uh...appendages...uh...grasping tools down!!

On contractors and vague estimates

Hey Bloggers,

Our re landscaping project is finally finished. Now on to other projects. Got the re finishing estimate for the living room oak floors today and Mark and Francie are scouting out tiles for the rest of the flooring. Hopefully Shawn will have the new glass cabinet doors for the kitchen done soon and the window treatment that had to be reordered will be ready since we have no privacy or light blocking capability over the bed.

We were thinking of creating a laundry room at the end of our kitchen which is pictured above. You can see that there are two closets on the far end. They are divided inside by an unnecessary wall. The small closet on the left contains a water heater and a laundry tub, and has a window to the side yard. The larger closet on the right is either a very large walk in pantry or a possible wine cellar. Both closets have Mexican tiled floors. Together, they would make a very adequate laundry room. As you can also see in the picture, the kitchen features around thirteen feet of storage along the left wall next to the table. The walk in pantry isn't really needed, although I've been able to fill it with stuff and the rats obviously like it.

We thought we'd enlarge the opening to the kitchen, remove the divider wall, move the laundry tub, create new shelving over the newly installed washer and dryer (which are currently in the garage) and install a storage area for cleaning materials, vacuum etc. Put in folding or pocket doors. I got an estimate from a contractor recommended by a professional friend last Thursday for $5500.00 to $6000.00, including repairing damage to the tiles. Sounded pretty reasonable so I said," Go for it." Then he called back and asked if I wanted him to pull a permit for the work. Since my town can be pretty picky (remember my a/c adventure?) I said it was probably a good idea. I asked him how much that would cost and he said he didn't know off hand but would talk to the city on Monday. He said it was a percentage of the job estimate. Yesterday, he called and said the permit would add $1300.00 to the cost of the job. Then, he amended his earlier estimate to total around $8000.00 if there are no further complications. I choked and said, "Let me think about it and I'll call you back tomorrow."

Got my calculator and realized the permit was 15% of the total cost! Highway robbery I thought. Too much for moving a washer and a dryer inside from the garage and removing a wall, as well as moving a little plumbing around a bit. So, I decided it was probably a no go. I called the contractor back this morning and said, "I'm still shocked that the city wants 15% of the cost of a project to give permission to do it." And Mr. Contractor said, "Oh, it isn't the city that wants $1300.00 more. The permit is $300.00. It's to compensate me for the extra work." What extra work you wonder? Getting someone to draw up a plan to show the city for the permit and for gasoline and time driving around to take it to the city and stuff. $1300.00? For that? As a contractor he can't draw plans? Huummmn.

Either the guy isn't as experienced as I'd been told 'cause he should have known the rules and regs and included the cost in the original estimate or he just wanted to wheedle some extra bucks out of someone he may have perceived as an easy mark. Anyway, I said, "No." Ta ta for now and all that.

Actually, my available budget was two thousand more than what he asked in the end, but the way he handled the estimate set off warning bells in my head. I'm glad I listened to the bells. For now, to save 8k, I will brave washing in a garage with spiders lurking about.

Live long and prosper.

Week end update n stuff

Hidey ho bloggers,

How was your Fourth? After a hot buggy day outside hacking our way through the jungly backyard, Danny and I cleaned ourselves up and went to Laura's house where we had a feast: barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, Deviled eggs, apple pie and ice cream, and chocolate peanut butter Rice Krispies treats. After dinner, we played with her new Bengal kitty and tried bowling, boxing, tennis, and baseball....Wii style anyway. Also played Super Mario Kart which I majorly suck at. Fun!!

On the drive home we got to see all sorts of community fireworks lighting up the sky: the Waterford Lakes, Oviedo, Winter Springs, Casselberry and Orlando ones at least...I was hanging out of the car window oohing and ahhing the entire way. It was so cool.

Today I continued hacking my way through the backyard while Danny built the pool cover roller thing. We were supposed to go to Mt Dora to visit friends and eat an Italian dinner. However, by mid day Danny was suffering from a nasty gall bladder flare up (shouldn't probably have done Mexican food on Thursday and had three desserts at Laura's in retrospect) and we had to scrub our evening out. Tomorrow, if he's up to it, we hope to see Baby Gavin (pictured above with parents).

Chili and Ginny continue to break into the pantry nearly every day. I am getting mighty tired of repainting the doors. Anybody out there have any training suggestions? (No, I won't give the dogs away). Chili is pictured above with a Mountain Dew bottle we gave her to play with. I just wish she was as well behaved as she is cute.

Looks like the laundry room project is a go. The renovations continue...at least until the money from the sale of my mothers house runs out! I got my monthly investment notice today. Sigh.

It is a tough time all right. Gasoline up enough that you don't want to travel. Or can't. The Real Estate market totally tanked, stocks plummeting, costs of everything it takes to live rising thanks to the cost of fuel. Too many people getting laid off and job hiring frozen. Hello Recession...lets hope by the election we won't already be in a Depression.

God Bless America but please, Senators, Congressmen, et all, wake up to the fact that we need to end our dependence on oil now... before we all wake up one morning and realize that we have sold our independence to the Arab world without firing a single shot. It is almost, but not quite, too late. There's still hope.

Word of the day: fraught, adjective: bearing promise or menace. Our dependence on foreign oil is fraught with disaster while developing alternative forms of energy is fraught with promise for the future.

Live long and prosper. It is my un-birthday for eleven more days.

4th of July

LET FREEDOM RING

By Nancy Wayman Deutsch

Oh beautiful America, my own, my native land,

let freedom ring forever and tyranny be banned.

Let no man hate another; all in brotherhood unite

so we may bask as equals in liberty’s bright light.

Our founders fought with honor, for precious freedom’s sake.

They never lost their courage, nor before a despot quaked.

They endured at Valley Forge, died at the Alamo,

did not strive for glory, yet earned it even so.

When bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, no time to mourn the loss,

our soldiers rallied to the fray to champion freedom’s cause.

In Korea, in Viet Nam, and in far off desert lands,

vowed to stop injustice and promote the rights of Man.

Let Heaven weigh their sacrifice, their purity of heart.

Let History judge their actions, her wisdom to impart.

As our fathers did before us, we must carry freedom’s light

never bow before the tyrant, stand firm, for what is right.

Oh beautiful America, one nation under God,

in your precious liberty remain forever proud.

As the eagle soaring skyward, fly forever free.

Oh beautiful America, sweet land of liberty.

Nancy Wayman Deutsch

2002

Happy 4th of July

I've been busy

Hi bloggers,

Sorry not to have written in a week. I've been engrossed in book edits and appointments with plumbers, designers, contractor, etc for tile and wood flooring and laundry room rehab. I got four of my five new window treatments installed yesterday and love them.

This morning, Amy and Baby Alex came over and walked with me and Abby. Afterwards, we watched Chili swim in the pool. Alex, as you can see from the pictures above is a big boy! The dogs were very well behaved with the baby. Ginny was careful and calm. Abby, being half Rottweiler, was very protective on our walk. She paced her stride to the stroller and made sure she was physically between Alex and any strangers. Rotts rock!!

My time is short, so I'll be brief. baby Gavin is a week old today. All is well with him and his Mommy and Daddy.

No crises here. Chili got out of the yard today and fortunately, our intrepid handyman Shawn was on the roof. He saw her strolling down one of the neighbors drives, got off the roof, called her, and put her in the garage. Then he called me on the cell and said," The dingo got out and I put her inside. " Our hero! I think she slipped outside with the maid.

Tonight, were meeting our friend Karen for Mexican food. Tomorrow, a cook out for the Fourth at Laura's. Saturday evening we're off to Mt Dora to see friends and their almost completed new house. Sunday...who knows...adventure may beckon. Or a movie. We'll see.

Have a great week end. Stay safe, too. Ta