Moonlight in Vermont

Monday night about 10:30 Eastern or so...

:o)

alan

A beautiful day...

of boating on Lake Champlain with Dottie's sister Jane and her husband. We were out about 4 hours; it was pure bliss!

Yesterday we made it in about 5AM; I had driven the whole 20 hours (I don't get to drive her Malibu very often, and loved every minute). I did finally check the mileage on the Syracuse to Albany part of the New York Thruway; it was getting 37.4. It's average since it was new is 35 according to the dash display...

After we got back we shopped for the surprise 25th anniversary party for Jane and Ed that's tomorrow; guess what chicken is on the menu, lol!

Off to bed...miss you all!

alan

Greensville, Indiana...

12:45am EST.

We finally got away at noon; now Dottie's in the shower, and I'm waiting my turn. Not a bad day for no more sleep than we got; we are east of Indianapolis and west of Dayton, and will make the rest of the journey tomorrow on more sleep!

Malibu running wonderfully; haven't checked the milage yet, the computer says it's in the mid 30's...

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement!

Tomorrow, VERMONT!!!

:o)

alan

"East Bound and Down"!

Though we were further ahead than we've ever been, it was still a 4AM morning by the time we got everything and everyone dealt with last night, the last laundry done, etc.. Up at 9, Dottie's in the shower, and in about an hour we'll be heading out for Vermont.

Not sure how much time I'll have to check in or update, but know I'll be thinking of all of you...

Love,
alan

July 4, 2006

As the final countdown to our family 4th of July begins, I remember the 4th's past...

The ones at Grandma and Grandpa's house, with my Great Grandmother; my Great Aunts and Uncles; my Mom's sister and brother-in-law and my cousins; sometimes 2nd cousins...hours of food, hours of fireworks. Grandpa striking yellow "fusees" from the railroad so the sulfur smell would drive away the mosquitos; him standing holding a Roman candle in his hand and shooting the flaming balls out across the yard all the while telling us not to hold them in our hands. After his stroke, one of his big treats for the year was to sit in a lawn chair and have us bring them to him.

After Grandma and Grandpa gave up their house and moved into a retirement apartment, they came to my Mom and Dad's. We lost the cousins then, and most of the Great Aunts and Uncles were gone by then, but it was still the family 4th, with almost as many fireworks.

Grandma got sick the night of the 4th in '79; we didn't know for a few days it was the beginning of her last round with cancer.

After we lost her, then Grandpa, then my Dad, things were a bit dampened for few years. For a while it was just Dottie and I and our boys. My sister married and moved just out of town, and the family 4th gathering moved to her house the first time she asked. Her husband's Uncle Miller came to the first few, and would speak of growing up getting a "brick" of .22 shells for the 4th and being admonished to make them last all day. He spoke of re-enacting Civil War battles they'd been told of, or 1st World War ones..."they're coming through the woods" he remembered them "hollering", lol. Then he was gone as well. Cindy moved off to Lawrence, and we gathered there until they outlawed fireworks there three years ago.

Now my sons and their families, my sister and hers will gather here this evening. 20 pounds of chicken for the grill, several hundred dollars worth of fireworks we bought yesterday...somehow it will still be the family 4th, but somehow I'll be thinking of a lot of wonderful people who aren't here to celebrate as well!

Happy 4th of July to all!

alan

As My Stomach Churns...

Since the Supreme Court ruling yesterday, I keep hearing the Shrub say he's going to protect us...!

So if there are 400 something still being held at Guantanamo, not counting the ones already released, then you count their relatives, and the coming generations of relatives who are all going to despise the next 20 or so generations of Americans (provided we're still around, of course at the present rate of our own loss of freedom)...

Factor in all of the relatives of every dead Iraqi since the first Gulf War...

Then there's that whole thing about there weren't any terrorists in Iraq...until AFTER we occupied their country...and since we're so busy with Iraq and poking our stick at Iran and North Korea, the Taliban have been borrowing from the Iraqi insurgent's manual...

Yeah, he's doing a great job of protecting us!

Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

alan

Toisday...

Talia is doing well. Noel said she cried a bit when she woke up today, otherwise she was doing well. Soft diet, and she gets to pick what's on the TV and her brother's were told it's her turn, lol!

Two more shifts before our two week shutdown! I'm so (desperately) looking forward to this!

I did finally find the "export as HTML" for my bookmarks (I run Opera for a browser because no one writes viruses for it), so am transferring the HTML document and a few photo retouching programs to the laptop in a few minutes. I already loaded Photoshop and Nikon View. It doesn't have a built in card reader, so I bought a Dazzle one so I don't have to unhitch mine to take; it supposedly has a faster transfer rate than my old one, so every little bit helps I guess. I can always use the USB cord for the camera as well, but they warn against wearing out the camera port as it's where the "cable release" also plugs in; I'd rather pop my CF cards out at this point.

I've been cutting my sleep a bit short (6 hours or so) to get those things done and still have time in the gym. Monday was chest, back, abs and cardio. Wednesday was shoulders, arms, abs and cardio. Today will be legs, abs and cardio. If I'm lucky I'm going to slip back in tomorrow and do a straight 3 hours of cardio, as I don't know how much time I'll have to walk on our little excursion next week, but know I'll be eating less than healthily!

Hopefully the Northeast dries out a bit before the middle of next week, because if the New York Thruway is still closed, I don't have a "stamped" copy of my birth certificate and my wife's we'd have to get from Vermont, so cutting through Canada isn't an option, lol! Pennsylvania's in as bad a shape as New York at the moment, so I-70 might not fare any better!

Meanwhile I heard tonight they shut down some Interstate out west because of wildfires...but we haven't screwed up the atmosphere, oh no!!!

Hopefully all of you are dry and comfortable!

alan

:o)

Dottie's jury duty was cancelled; instead we have a pair of grandson's in the living room watching Disney movies while their sister has her tonsils and adenoids out! John called a bit ago, the surgery went well, though the surgeon commented on how huge both tonsils and adenoids were. Hopefully this will help Talia's hearing a bit...

I've spent the last half hour e-mailing myself links so I can open them with the laptop as I haven't figured out how to transfer them directly from browser to browser. I probably don't really need all of them for vacation anyway, lol!

Going out to mow (I didn't get it done before the party on Sunday) so the boys can swing a bit before they go home!

I'll try to catch up with you all this evening...

alan

TGIF!

We've gone back to 9 hour shifts this week, what with getting 2007's out and building the first waves of the new Saturn. Between that, the gym, trying to get some things ready for vacation, it's been fun, lol!

After 2 months of "supposed to" and "should", Angel finally got clipped yesterday. (Funny, Paul's been up to the same thing, lol!) Tuesday I came home from the gym to brush and comb her; Dottie came home that night and scissors cut everything she could, then Wednesday I got up and bathed her. Once in Selsun Blue (vets recommendation to kill any critters that she might have picked up), once in an oatmeal shampoo because the Selsun Blue dries her skin so badly she chews and licks herself raw after, then Pantene conditioner so she'll comb out again after. By the time I was done and cleaned up the tub (I didn't have the heart to bathe her outside with cold water from the hose; she's 10 now, and it just seemed cruel!) I ended up getting to the gym in time to do one hour on the treadmill (4.5 miles).

Dottie traded days off with a girl at work who's getting married this weekend so the girl could have 3 days off in a row; since she was off yesterday, after we had some "time together" (a rarity when you work opposite shifts) we spent 2 hours clipping Angel in the kitchen as it was pouring outside. Actually easier, because the dog and I could both take a break on occasion, while Dottie petted and cajoled her as I clipped. Then I ran through the shower and we took her for her annual checkup. By then it was 3 something and time to get ready for work!

Hopefully I can catch a decent photo of her now she's shorthaired and put it up for Sunday!

Today, I'm off the gym to do the "leg day" I was due on Wednesday. Since Dottie's working this weekend, tomorrow I plan on hitting the gym at 10 to do shoulders, arms and abs. After I come home and shower it's Costco, Sam's and Wal-Mart in time to come home and grill some shrimp skewers (frozen pre-packaged, sorry!) and fix some rice for dinner when she get's home around 6.

Sumday my sister is having a going away party for my nephew Brett who leaves for Wyoming Tech this next week. Since she volunteered to keep Angel rather than having us kennel her at the vets while we make the Vermont trip next month, I'm taking her along to meet Grady, my sister's collie (a purebred pup, blind in one eye; a common defect I'm told) and her 18 year old cat Chip (hmmmm). May take my bike, and after the rest of the family shows up another family baseball game is planned. Dottie is coming up after work and bringing my Mom (she can't be out in the heat all day because of her MS, and didn't want to give up church and Bingo that afternoon, but wants to come eat and say "Bye" to Brett). I'm hoping to mow that morning before I go...

Monday Dottie goes on Jury Duty, so I'm planning to hit the gym that morning, figuring she'll be at the courhouse most of the morning and early afternoon. Tuesday is usually a call-in day, and if she's not selected she'll go back to work on Wednesday. Maybe a movie if we're lucky on Tuesday (Prarie Home Compannion if I play my cards right).

The clock is ticking...hope each of you have a Friday that's as wonderful as you are! You would probably all chuckle if you knew how often you ride along with me at work, or I hear something on the radio and think "I wonder what ... would think about that?" This is quite a wonderful little family we have here, and I am grateful for each and every one of you!

Lowely weekends to all!

alan

*Addendum, 3:15 pm. Second weigh-in at 188 this afternoon, so I guess that makes "the century mark" official. 100 pounds in 16 months...34's are getting loose now, might rry on some 32's this weekend!

:o)

In my humble opinion...

Every clueless prick who voted against raising the minimum wage today should have to live on it for a year!

With no food stamps and no health benefits!

alan

Monday Monday...

Father's Day was wonderful! When I came home from work a bit after 1AM, Dottie was up and gave me the gifts she had told me she hadn't been able to find when she shopped last week...a DVD of "The World's Fastest Indian" and (does anyone else remember?) the 50th anniversary edition of "The Phil Silvers Show", alias "Sgt. Bilko".

In trying to keep Laura in bed, my nephew had lent her his new (graduation and going off to tech school present) laptop to do her homework, but needed it back on Sunday. When Bill tried to get her homework from her GTA, the teaching assistant dropped her from the class, saying it's only a 4 week class, she can't just miss a week of it.

I had been planning on buying a bottom end laptop for a very long time so I could upload memory cards from my Nikon on longer vacations and burn back-up discs of them. I was looking at a WinBook, and planning on buying it the first of July at MiroCenter so the first payment wasn't due until after Christmas. Since I could find no Epinions reviews of it, and since we already had a clear account at Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dottie had me go ahead and spring for a name brand (Toshiba) for about 1/2 again more. We picked it up on Saturday, I came home from work and started trying to load ZoneAlarm and Norton. By the time I got done, I went to bed at 6:30, and got up at 9:30.

John and Noel came by on their way home from church and brought me a card and a gift card for the new movie theatre just west of us by the Kansas Speedway in the huge shopping district that's grown around it. We also got to talk for a while, which doesn't happen often enough with their lives as busy as they are.

When I called home from work on Saturday night during my break, Dottie told me Laura had spent most of her day at her desktop computer with "the leg" propped up on another chair, playing "World of Warcraft" online. The nurse had told her that would probably be OK instead of just staying in bed like the Doctor had said...

So when we got there she immediately started loading "WoW" on my laptop, lol!

I couldn't do the stir fry, as she can't have anything with Vitamin K in it for the 6 months she's on blood thinners, at it will counteract them. So Dottie had grilled 3 packages of brats (one of Laura's favorites) the night before while I was at work, and also fixed a 3-day batch of "chicken ala king" and mashed potatoes that we took, so they are set for a few days. When we called after we got home last night she was happily lying in bed playing their game.

We got home around 10 last night, and our dinner was frozen breaded chicken breasts w/Vidalia dressing, and asparagus the quickest thing we could throw together that sounded good. We watched the first episode of Bilko (never one of her favorites, but she put up with it for me, lol) and some of the extra stuff (the 1955 Emmies when it won 8 of them, Jack Benny and Phil Silvers on Dick Cavett, etc.). She showered and went to bed: I hung up one more load of laundry and joined her. I slept over 10 hours, sorted the 1500 mails from my inbox down to none (a bit behind I was!) and then started to blog.

For a one day weekend it wasn't bad; for Father's Day it was great!

I hope all of you are having a great Monday; by the time my workday begins most of you will be home or on your way, lol!

alan

For the weekend...

Dottie's off; I work tonight and tomorrow as well, but our grandaughter is spending the night tonight and if the weather cooperates we'll be going to the park tomorrow to get her some time on her Barbie Princess bike.

:o)

Sunday being Father's Day, I plan to be in Lawrence with Bill and Laura. We had a health scare with her earlier in the week. She had a leg cramp that was relentless; it wouldn't stretch out or walk off for 4 or 5 days. Dottie tried to tell her it might be a blood clot, please go to the emergency room. That was Tuesday; on Wednesday she called our doctor and he said the same thing, so she did.

It was a blood clot, a reaction to the pill. She's on oral blood thinners for 6 months, twice a day injections for a week (my son is giving her those because they couldn't afford $300 a pop for home nursing visits), and complete bed rest for that week as well. Bill is trying to pick up her class assignments, as well as getting his professor to let him have some time off from his Master's research; my nephew loaned her his new laptop to do her homework.

These things aren't supposed to happen to 20 somethings!!!

Sunday I plan to take my wok and cook honey chicken for them...

My other thoughts for Father's Day are the 2500 kids who won't be calling home this Sunday because they died in Iraq...

May you all have wonderful weekends!

alan

Better today...

Still have the headache, but the elephant isn't standing on my innards anymore!

Slept 13 hours Wednesday, on top of almost 12 Tuesday!

Made it to the gym for a "weak" workout today; off to the shower and work now!

Thank you all for the kind words and empathy!

alan

The family flu bug...

came home to roost yesterday. Dottie was sick for days a couple of weeks ago; my grandaughter was sick last week, so apparently when Dillon came to spend the night Friday and we went bike riding on Saturday, it decided it liked me.

We thought Talia was spending the night on Monday night since Dottie was off today. I got up, vacuumed, did laundry, mowed and made sure things were ready for her to spend the night. Then it was remembered that she has vacation Bible school this week.

About the time I headed for the door to go to work, a wicked headache, my first in months kicked in. By the time first break rolled around I felt like someone was standing on my innards, just below my navel. I survived work, came home and was in bed by 2 and slept 'til 12:40 this afternoon. So much for everthing I was supposed to accomplish on her day off! Still cramping and aching all afternoon.

Knowing that they were going to be short of people at work, I went anyway. After first break I chilled and shook and my teeth chattered for about 3 hours; it took an hour to get caught up enough to go get my shirt out of my locker. Finally about 11p, that ended, and I almost broke a sweat.


I'm hoping the worst is over now, though I'm headed to bed early again. If I wake in the morning and I'm not hurting I'll go the gym; if I am then I'm going back to sleep again...

Sorry about not visiting and catching up with you all...I feel guilty every time I let a day or two slip by!


alan

And poof the weekend's gone!

Dillon (my oldest grandson) came to spend the night Friday night, so when Dottie got up to go to work Saturday morning, I got up and cooked breakfast then we took our bikes and went to the park for a couple of hours. Dillon really wants to practice enough to get his training wheels off, so going to try to do that a couple of days a week before work now that he's out of school for a bit.

Met my nephew at Dave and Buster's earlier for the arcade time we promised him as the rest of his graduation. He leaves for Wyoming in two weeks, so he's making the rounds of the family saying his goodbyes. Right now he's at his grandmother's for a family birthday, then he's coming back here this evening for dinner after Dottie gets off work, then we're going to the art house to see "Thank You For Smoking". He saw previews for it when I took him to see "The World's Fastest Indian" and really wants to see it before he goes.

Hope each of you is having a great weekend; hope to do some "blog-hopping" tonight and catch up with you all!

How is it that life can just keep getting busier...?

alan

Senatorial bigotry...and activist judges!

From the Associated Press, Wednesday afternoon:

"The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution," said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2003. "A vote for it is a vote against civil unions, against domestic partnership, against all other efforts for states to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law."

In response, Hatch fumed: "Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?"


Like that would be something new, let alone impossible, Orrin?

From Dictionary.com:

bigotry

n : the intolerance and prejudice of a bigot [syn: dogmatism]


So just off the top of my non-collegiate head:

The Missouri Compromise...yes, it's 186 years old, or 156 depending on which clauses you'd care to examine, but it's bigotry at it's finest!

I'm sure there are other examples of legislation; that just happens to be the one I'm familiar with.

Of course, as far as bigoted Senators go, does anyone remember Strom Thurmond?

from Wikipedia:

"...Thurmond supported racial segregation with the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator on the Senate floor, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to derail the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Southern Senators, who had agreed as part of a compromise not to filibuster this bill, were upset with Thurmond because they thought his solo filibuster made them look bad to their constituents.[1]
[edit]

1960s

On September 16, 1964; Thurmond, increasingly at odds with the national Democratic party over racial integration switched his party affiliation, becoming a Republican. In 1964 South Carolina and other states of the Deep South, white segregationists supported Goldwater instead of Johnson, whose support of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and integration rankled the segregationists."

All of that while paying an African-American woman to raise the child he had (out of wedlock) with her!



My favorite story of a bigoted (though this time it's actually a chauvinist) Senator goes back to the Civil War. It seems that a Senator made a comment on the floor of the Senate about the wife of a Union cavalry General, much decorated and favored for his service. She had joined him at an encampment, and the Senator opined that any woman who did that could be no better than one of "Hooker's girls" (I'm paraphrasing across several years since I read this story). The quote made the newspaper with the general's name and that of his wife; the general happened to be in D.C. at that moment, and that evening the Senator received a thorough thrashing as he took his evening stroll.

Though I'm not a violent person, and try not to even consider violence an alternative, I imagine that Senator thought twice before he made a snide comment about another man's wife (in public anyway)!



I am sure that Strom Thurmond and a lot of other people from "the south" considered the entire Supreme Court to be activist when the following was read:

"On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren read the decision of the unanimous Court:

"We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

That's from Brown vs. Board, the Supreme Court decision that began the desegregation of the school system. It did nothing for the rest of the "Jim Crow" laws, of course. It did nothing for those who had been promised that they could vote 90 years earlier. It did nothing for those who fell in love with someone outside their race...

Someday these attempts to pass legislation defining marriage will be looked back on in the same light those "Jim Crow" laws are now. I hope I live to see that day!

alan

Sometimes...

I get "taken over" by things beyond my control! Dragonflyfilly had an entry on Friday that I just caught up with that reminded me of one of those events.

In 1988 I got "bumped" from the Paint Department where I had always worked to the "Chassis" department. I only knew the few paint people who got moved along with me, and we got scattered around the department in short order.

I landed in a team of 10, working over my head shooting brake line bolts and a few screws and hooking a spring underneath the car. As I got to know people the Korean War veteran who was my team leader pointed out to me how proud he was that his team were all veterans, all male, and all white. I was taken aback, but didn't say anything. I, like so many others, tend to hold my tongue in spite of how I seethe inside about things.

Each night as we started up from lunch, a friend from Paint would stop on his way back in from the parking lot to "mooch" a cigarette. I'd happily give him one, and a light, glad to see a familiar face and have a minute of conversation.

After a week or so, my team leader came and asked me "why I let that no good black so and so do that night after night"? I turned and looked him in the eye and said:

"I guess I should tell you that these spots on my face aren't freckles, Norman; one of my parents is black, and Eddie's my half brother!"

No one spoke to me again for about 6 months after he went around the shop with that bit of gossip...

:o)

alan

Friday...Hooray!

Why is it a 4 day week can seem longer than a 5 day one sometimes?

It really was 8 hours last night; I didn't get to bed any sooner (I should never have sat down here!) but somehow it feels better! Up early to pay some bills online, then hit the gym for the 3rd of my 3 day "split".

Dottie is off this weekend; my younger son and his family are returning from vacation, I need to mow (and, and, and) so I won't be around much 'til Monday. I keep reading other posts about spouses who don't appreciate the time spent here; mine is that way as well. She also doesn't approve of blogs, chat programs, or e-friends...lol!

You'd think as long as it wasn't "educational material"!

:o)

May you each have a lovely weekend!

alan

Just a quick pass...

on my way to the shower and bed. Dottie's antibiotic slayed her innards, so she ended up not working on Saturday; she did go on Sunday, then had Monday for the holiday and Tuesday was her normal off day. She finally gave up and asked them to change the antibiotic on Monday and we picked it up that evening; she started on it yesterday and things are finally "slowing down". She did go to work today, so I hit the gym and started trying to make up for the days I lost last week. Tomorrow I'll go again, but have to swing by to check on my son's house (they're due back this weekend) so I need to leave even earlier to get the same amount of time in the gym.

They took my measurements for the first time in a year today. Weight 193, a year ago 258 on May 19 when I joined. Waist today, 36" at the navel, last year it was 52". They didn't have a device to measure body fat then, but today it was 25%, a year ago she said it would have been 35% or so. Still a ways to go...

They asked me to fill out a questionnaire for their "Member of the Month" (yes, my mind went straight to the gutter). Since haven't had one since January, that might be kind of neat...

Today puts us within 2 weeks of "model change" so we're supposed to only do 8 hour shifts for the next little bit (I'll believe it when I'm going out the door at 1AM). It would be nice, just a little bit of slack right now would go a long ways!

2:49, gotta go!

Thinking of each of you!

alan

Photo Sunday...

brings a quandry of old, new...what to do...

Memorial Day weekend, yet I'm not in that kind of mood...

Last Monday was my oldest's 2nd anniversary. Bill waited a long time, but when he found the one, she really was the one!






Laura is a joy; that wonderful person you meet once or twice in a lifetime who 5 minutes after you meet her you wish you'd known her forever! Though it hasn't been easy for them, trying to make ends meet while he works on his Masters and she on her degree, they delight in each other in every way.

Their wedding was a gorgeous ceremony, done on a shoestring with them paying for most of it themselves. I bought my Nikon to shoot it, and helped a bit here and there; in the end her parents helped some as well. They got the outdoor ceremony they wanted, at the place they wanted and though it turned out to be the one of the hottest days that year, it was wonderful!







I started with over 400 images and started learning Photoshop "the hard way", then found that what you see isn't always what you get from your printer; more than a bit like my Dad when he learned the color darkroom all those years ago while I was off floating in the Pacific. It took months, but I finally put together an album that even Dad would have been proud of; over 100 8x10's and almost 50 5x7's. As I look at these images today for the first time in a while, it's hard not to start tinkering with them again...







I don't remember much of the day; for me it was focus and shoot, focus and shoot. When I go back through the images now, though, each brings a smile. Hopefully a couple of generations from now, they will still evoke smiles and through those smiles I'll still be a part of things even then!







So I guess in a way this ends up being a "Memorial Day" post after all; for the skills I learned shooting weddings with Dad; for the grandparents that taught me the treasure of family and handing down memories; for the generations before and the ones to come.







May you each have a wonderful holiday! May your memories glow brightly with love!

alan