Thursday, November 17, 2011

Occupy Wall Street


Just when you think you’ve heard it all, he and the morons that surround him have shown their support for the OWS deadbeats. That’s right, he understands why these scum of the earth are out there. After all, the “economy is bad”. People are unhappy. I guess this gives these losers the right to be out there committing violent acts, raping, stabbing, shooting, bombing, public sex and all sorts of bodily functions in public. Today they are planning to throw Molotov cocktails thru Macy’s windows. But, according to our so called leader, this is understandable. They’re upset!!!

The former speaker of the house (Pelosi) is quoted as saying, “God bless the protesters”. Of course I’ve known dear old Nancy was a nutcase for several years. How can you explain these people. If they have a cause it seems to be opposition to the Banks, Wall St., Jews, and of course, Capitalism. Now we know of course that if you interview twenty of these creatures you’ll get twenty different lame excuses. Excuses like the ‘bank wants me to pay my student loan’. Duh!! Of all the nerve. Solution, lets graffiti the bank building. Wow, what a concept. They complain they can’t find a job while they are adding some very bad behavior to their RESUME. And, they are trying to destroy the people and the institutions who are the very ones creating the jobs!!


Then there’s the idiot who is whining about Target wanting him to come to work at midnight on Thanksgiving. If I managed that Target store I would downsize the “cart roundup crew” by one. Give the job to someone who wants and needs the job. This bonehead can join the ranks of the unemployed and start whining about that.

The United States is becoming the ‘2nd coming of Rome. We the people must quit bending over and allowing no prayer, no Christmas, no English language, no pledge of allegiance and on and on. We’re in trouble gang. Complacency is not the answer. We may wake up one day with ‘jack-booted thugs’ knocking down our door.

jim


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Thanksgiving


Nov. 16, 2011

It’s a Wednesday, and I made myself a promise that I would spend two hours a day writing. So hear I am sitting in front of my MacBook screen with the keyboard under my nimble fingers waiting for an inspiration.

Thanksgiving will be hear in a few days. Normally I don’t give the day a lot of thought, but as I grow older it has more meaning than it did in the past. Thanksgiving day is simply a reminder telling us we have many things for which we should be thankful. These are a few of mine.

·      The most wonderful wife and mother to our boys that a guy could ever wish for
·      Our four wonderful sons
·      The best nine grandkids on the face of the earth
·      Selling our house in record time
·      Finding an apartment that we both love
·      The wonderful friends we have
·      The fact that one of our friends (Dave Lundgren) made it thru surgery and is on the road to recovery
·      That Julie Lee is looking great after her nasty surgery
·      Our three delightful daughters-in-law
·      The fact we are both healthy with only 27 minor complaints!!
·      The fact we have plenty of money if we die before next month!!
·      The fact we only have 14 months of “you know who”
·      The fact we haven’t had a flat tire on our camper in a month (Oh, I forgot it’s in storage)

I knew if I listed more than a few I would eventually “go off the rails”! But you know what I mean. We should all reflect on how fortunate we are.

Happy Thanksgiving!                                JIM

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October Surprise

We decided some time ago that rather than wait till the snow accumulates in Elkhart in January, we would take our trailer to Florida this month and store it there. We won't have to dig it out of two feet of snow as we did last year in January. Now we can just drive the truck to pick up the trailer in Florida and pull it a few miles to Emerald Beach in Navarre.

So, on Saturday the 22nd of October we picked up the trailer from Wana RV in Shipshewana, IN and hit the road. We had taken it to Wana for a Fall checkup. Since we were twenty five miles East of Elkhart we didn't go toward Indy on Rt. 31 as we've done in the past. We were close to I 69 and decided to take 69 to Indy with plans to spend the nite at the KOA south of Louisville. Alas our plans were about to change.

I've come to the realization that our FLAT TIRE in the Muncie, IN area has become somewhat of an annual event! You heard me correctly. We had our 6th flat in 5 years. None of our Florida friends can match that. To add to the misery, we sat in our truck along I 69 for 2 hours and 15 minutes waiting for Good Sam to dispatch help. Part of the problem was that Good Sam dispatched the 'tire fixer man' from KOKOMO. If you know Indiana, Kokomo is about 50 miles on country roads to get to the Muncie area. It took the guy another thirty minutes to accomplish the task. When he finished we resumed our journey. We had to find a tire store and buy another tire. God knows we wouldn't dare drive very far without a spare.

My friend Jeff Bloss is my tech support guy when it comes to everything you need to know about RV's. This includes tires. Turns out I have 14 inch wheels. Don't get me wrong, I did know this. What I didn't realize was that Jeff's former trailer from the same manufacturer as mine came with 15 inch wheels. Jeff believes my trailer is too heavy for the size of the tires. Rather than bore you with more details, suffice it to say that Jeff is doing in depth research (at no cost to me?), in order to come up with the best possible solution to my tire woes.

Discount Tire in Muncie sold us and mounted our new tire as a spare. We were there for about an hour. By this time Louisville was out of the question. We camped near Muncie. We were both in need of sleep.

Sunday the 23rd was uneventful. In other words, no more flat tires. We're at the KOA in Bowling Green, KY. We've stopped here a number of times, but it's under new management and it didn't meet our expectations. The site and grounds were OK, but they now close from noon to four every day. They don't have a brochure. They sell propane but they didn't have any. The women's shower room was a mess. Just so you don't get the wrong idea, Mary Ellen told me about the shower room!

Tomorrow we're planning on getting to Birmingham South. I'll let you know how that turns out. Wish us luck.

Jim

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Lackawaxen

The month of August has come and gone. It seems the entire month has been spent 'on the road'. We've just returned to our "condo style apartment home" which we continue to love by the way.

We spent five days at my son's (Jim) vacation home in the Pocono mountains of Lackawaxen, PA. Jim's five kids were there. They range in age from seven to sixteen. They are blessed with my good looks and they are all witty and charming. The three girls also happen to be beautiful! We had a good time between trips to the lake and the top of the mountain. The Lake and Ski area were required trips in order to use cell phones or be able to connect to the internet. The lack of TV and the internet necessitated conversation while we were at the house.

Deer and the occasional bear made the indoors rather appealing to me. We didn't see any bears, but they have wandered through the yard at other times. Jim, Pat and the kids left on Saturday, and we had planned to stay a few more days. However, Mary Ellen's sister, Carol, had another stroke (number 5 according to the MRI). She is doing very well now, but we left the mountains on Monday to spend a little time with her in Stow, Ohio.

Before we departed we managed to find a casino! Surprise, surprise. So on Sunday we headed down the mountain and 90 minutes later ended up in Wilkes-Barre, PA and the Mohegan Sun casino. We spent four hours or so. It was a very nice casino. I highly recommend it. Mary Ellen proceeded to lose $60 or so, while I managed to win $.14. I actually managed to play for three or four hours on twenty dollars and still came out ahead. I believe I'm blessed with a skill for managing slots. Managing slots does NOT mean winning, it means NOT losing. It was fun.

When we returned from the Casino we had dinner at the Summit restaurant at the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful nite and we sat on the patio overlooking the ski lift. The food was outstanding. I had a half rack of baby back ribs. I can't imagine anyone eating a full rack. The entire meal exceeded our expectations.

So on Monday we left around noon and proceeded toward OHIO. We had planned to stay over somewhere on the way to Carol's. We had stayed in Dubois, PA on our way to Lackawaxen and we ended up stopping there again. On our trip east we stayed at the Hampton, so we decided to try one of the other hotels. We pulled into the Best Western. I went in to see about reservations. Mary Ellen remained in the car but decided to turn off the engine while she waited. Before I go further I should mention that every time we venture outside the borders of Elkhart, Indiana, whether we are driving the truck, the PT Cruiser or pulling the trailer with the truck, we have had some type of incident requiring roadside service. So, on returning to the Cruiser after getting a room for the night, Mary Ellen turned the key to start the car. NOTHING. It was dead. No click, no nothing. Dashboard lit, but no headlights. Warning bells worked to alert us to an open door, but no ignition.

Rather than call emergency road service from Good Sam, Mary Ellen suggested we use our Chrysler roadside assistance. She called and with very little discussion with the gentleman on the phone, he told us he was sending a tow truck. Within ten minutes the tow truck was there. One of the nicest men I've ever met came over, introduced himself and suggested he try jumping the battery. He did and it started. However, he said that chances were very good that if we turned the car off, it would never start again. He suggested he would tow it to the Chrysler dealer down the street (3 miles away). Of course it was five o'clock and the mechanics had gone home. They assured us they would get to it first thing in the morning. They called us around nine and told us the battery had a hole in it and wouldn't take a charge and had to be replaced. Why you ask did the battery have a hole in it. It developed a hole due to bouncing around under the hood. Why you ask was it bouncing around. Simple, there was no battery tray holding it in place. The dealer said he had never seen a car without a battery tray. They didn't have any trays, and we didn't want to spend another day waiting for one. So, they held the battery in place using duck tape, bungie cords and glue. I made that up. But they told us they thought it would be OK till we got home. So we paid the $176 and left Dubois by ten a.m.

We arrived at Carol's about one p.m. Our dealer in Elkhart where Mary Ellen bought the 2009 PT Cruiser ended up reimbursing us the $176. They have no idea why the Cruiser came without a battery tray, but we have one now.

After a visit with my two sisters and another dinner out with Carol we left for our "condo style apartment home", which we continue to love.

jim

Monday, August 1, 2011

ON GOLDEN POND

Oops, it's not Golden Pond, it's Hunter's Pond. It's just that some days it seems like Golden Pond. I'm not getting lost in the yard or bumping into trees. If I start doing that we'll have to move somewhere without woods and a pond! Actually we still love this place. We are getting tired of the dirty and nasty Canadian Geese, but they usually only pay us a visit once a day. We do have a friendly deer that stops by once a week. She's beautiful. She seems to be a loaner. Most deer I know run in packs. I think our deer is somewhat antisocial. We also have a cardinal couple (Carl & Carla). Recently another male cardinal showed up. Carl wasn't happy. He chased the new guy. Recently I saw Carla talking with the new guy. A think a divorce is imminent! I failed to mention 'tommy the turtle'. Tommy is about 10 inches long and has a beautiful black and gold shell. Tommy walks across our patio about once a week. I think it takes him a week to make the circuit of the apartment buildings. Well, enough about our nature preserve lest you think I'm losing my marbles. Or maybe you've thought that all along. Anyhow...

So let's talk about people...we met our snowbird friends for a 'summer reunion'. We met at a campground in Champaign, Illinois. Now normally one would assume that if you are going to an RV Park, one would have some sort of RV or at least a tent. However, the day we were to pull our trailer to Champaign, the brakes went out on the truck. This was on a Saturday afternoon. The only place open was Sears. They found a broken brake line on the left front. The only problem was they couldn't get the part until Monday. We decided to drive Mary Ellen's car and stay at a hotel in Champaign near the campground. On interstate 80 around Chicago we had a blowout. By the time we waited for emergency services to arrive, had lunch with our Son, Tim, bought 2 new tires and got underway, we had lost 4 hours. I should mention Tim lives just a few miles from where we had the blowout. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We were the last to arrive at the campground, but made up for it quickly. The gathering was fun with the exception of Dave's back. He has had back problems for some time now, and the doctors can't seem to find a cure. On the last day in Champaign Dave developed severe pain that radiated from back to front. He wouldn't go to the E.R. of course, and eventually the pain diminished enough that Dave felt he was ready to drive home. Just prior to the reversal I told Dave we were going to take him outside and shoot him! I was very glad we didn't have to follow through. Dave has a difficult decision coming up. Whether to have surgery or not. We're all hoping he's in much better shape when we get to Florida this January.

I can't believe it's August already. I have to admit I'm actually looking forward to some cold weather. The ninety degree temps are really getting old. We have plans for another trip to Ohio, perhaps PA as well, and will probably take our camper to an RV Park for the month of September. The end of October we're planning to take the camper to Florida and store it down there. When January comes around, and it's time to prep for Florida, it will be such a relief not having to dig out of the snow and ice. We'll only have to drive the truck to our Florida storage facility and we're home free.

Lastly, I just have to mention the morons in Washington. I won't even bother giving you any details. I'm sure you're all as sick of this crap as I am. If you're not, nothing I can say will ever change your mind. My suggestion to all of you who are fed up with this Washington crowd is to vote for ANYONE who ISN'T an incumbent. That's right, throw them all out. And most of all throw out the clown that occupies the White House.

JIM

Sunday, June 26, 2011

FALLING RAIN

We're are at home again today. Even though our travel trailer is at the Spaulding Lake Campground, we decided to come home due to rainy weather, AGAIN. We began our month of camping on June 10th. We left for OHIO on the 11th for a graduation party. Mary Ellen's grand-niece is headed to Dayton University. We also visited my two sisters and of course stayed with my sister-in-law, Carol. Since we've returned its rained almost every day. I don't know about you, but sitting inside a camper with the rain coming down brings on 'cabin fever' quickly.

Mary Ellen had a slight accident last Wednesday. While getting dressed alongside our bed, she tripped on a drawer that was open and covered with the bedspread, which made the drawer invisible. She fell backwards and hit her left lower back. She has had a nasty pain in her back ever since. There is no bruising and appears not to involve the kidney. It could be a broken rib, but she doesn't see any point in going to a doctor since they don't do anything for a broken rib.

The rest of this week is supposed to be dry. We'll head back to the campground tomorrow unless the weather changes. I should mention we live only 20 miles away. So coming home every few days is no big deal.

How about that wonderful, upstanding young ex governor of IL. Old Blago bit the dust today. With 17 out of 20 charges in the guilty column, he could get 300 years behind bars. How ridiculous is that. The press is saying he may get 7 to 9 years. Why attach all those years when there is no way anyone will ever be sentenced to anywhere near that many. Blago said in a post trial interview that he 'just couldn't understand how this could happen'. Didn't he hear his own tapes? Guess not.

Speaking of politics, I think Gingrich has shot himself in the foot once too often. That leaves Romney, Bachmann, Pawlenty, Cain and perhaps a few others. As things stand today, anyone of these people would beat Obama. Of course that's as of NOW. All or any of the aforementioned has plenty of time to shoot themselves in both feet. Hopefully it's Obama who goes 'limping' into the voting booth on election day.

Mary Ellen and I are looking forward to our "summer reunion" with our friends we winter with in Florida. We're meeting at a campground in Champaign, IL on July 11th. We'll spend a few days trying to remember what we did this past winter. Of course there will be a few lies and other assorted BS. I can hardly wait...I'll be back in my element.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

RAMBLINGS

Another rainy and cool morning in lovely Michiana. Thought it would be a good day to sit at the keyboard and 'bang out' another of my 'highly anticipated' BLOGS. I base this comment on a statistical analysis I've done that shows 2.5% of you do 'highly anticipate' this blog. I realize 2.5% isn't statistically valid enough for me to extrapolate and use 'highly anticipated' in my advertising, but I don't advertise much, and who is going to bother turning me in? Now that I've clarified this, I'll move on.

We'll be parking the travel trailer at Spaulding Lake in Niles for a month starting June 10th. This is a "poor man's" version of having a summer home on the lake. So, from June 10th till July 10th we'll be spending some time in Niles, MI. When we leave on the 10th of July we'll head to Champaign, IL for the REUNION with our Florida gang. The ten of us are gathering for a few nights to solve many of the world's problems. That's not to say we didn't solve most of them during our winter gathering in Florida, but for some reason a few more problems have developed since then.

Government's spending of OUR money is totally out of control as most of you have probably noticed. It's incredible what the D.C. dingbats can come up with. Whose the imbecile that decided we need signs in every school zone that state, "This is a Drug Free School Zone"? Really? How nice! I've been driving around looking for a school zone that advertises drugs. Damn, they are all DRUG FREE. Wouldn't you love to know what it cost to produce and install these ridiculous signs. One small example of the people we've elected going out of their way to screw us. Don't you love it?

Speaking of spending, I bought myself a new phone. Not just any phone. I bought an iPhone!! This is the most amazing gadget I have ever encountered. I'm sure some of you also have the iPhone from Apple, so I won't detail all of the fantastic features of the iPhone 4. I love it. I hate to admit it, but it virtually eliminates the need for my MacBook and my Nook. In fact it virtually eliminates the need for anything other than Mary Ellen. Yes, I do love her more than my iPhone, but it was close!! I actually bought the book, iPhone for Dummies. This book takes an in depth look at all the features with shortcuts and tips that make navigating the many apps much easier.

We are 90% settled into our new home. It's actually looking like we've lived here forever. Of course we have numerous boxes packed onto the many shelves in the garage. Some of this stuff will eventually go to Goodwill or some other worthy cause. There is plenty of room for Mary Ellen's PT Cruiser. There are still a few things that we haven't located yet. The biggest headache is changing our address with the numerous magazines and accounts. I didn't realize we had to apply for new driver's licenses in order to give the BMV our new address. You have to bring a couple bills with our new address on them. What we didn't realize, and what makes no sense to me, is that these bills must also have Mary Ellen's name on them. We took bills from our electric company and newspaper. Both of these had my name on them with our new address. I could apply for a new drivers license, but
Mary Ellen couldn't. We failed to take anything with her name on it. Even though we are married and both living at our new address, she was unable to apply for a new license. Our State government in action. Mary Ellen will need to make another visit to the BMV when we can find something with her name and our new address on it. She's really looking forward to her return trip!

We'll be heading to Indy at the end of this month for the Indy 500 weekend. Mary Ellen and I won't be going to the race this year, but we'll spend time with sons Dan and Mark and Dan's family. Erin has a soccer game and Ally is graduating from Kindergarten. I think she had a 4.0 cumulative!! Elementary school scholarships are pouring in!

JIM

Saturday, May 7, 2011

BOXES!!!

The past two weeks have been draining. Mary Ellen and I end each day physically exhausted. I know what your thinking, "get over it. It can't be that bad". Three of our sons did a tremendous job on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. On Monday afternoon Two Men and a Truck moved the heavy stuff. One might think with all that help it would pretty much take care of it. If you thought that, you'd be wrong. Its all the little stuff, not to mention all our clothes. It has taken us the last five days to totally clear everything out of the house. We got it as far as the garage. Tomorrow we'll get it into my truck and haul it over to our new home. The good news is we both love our apartment! Thank god we have a garage. We thought we had gotten rid of most of the excess baggage. We've made numerous trips to Goodwill, Women's Shelter, Faith Mission, and of course "the dump". Even after all that plus Craig's List, we've managed to have way more stuff than we have apartment! The lesson learned is NEVER stay in the same house for 36 years.

So, for those of you planning to send us a 'house warming' gift, and I'm sure many of you were thinking just that, DON'T. In fact Mary Ellen and I have a plan. It's called a 'reverse house warming'. So, all of you can plan to receive a surprise package in the next few weeks. Nothing elaborate mind you. Most of what we'll be sending you are items we were too embarrassed to drop off at St. Vincent De Paul. So you've got that to look forward to.

For those of you who have moved in the past 36 years, have you noticed how things that you truly valued seem to disappear during the moving process? What makes this even worse is we're finding ourselves saying stupid things like "I know I saw it in a box". My God, that's all we've seen in the past three weeks. Just yesterday I asked my wife, "have you seen my knife"? This is a knife that I always carry in my pocket. It's my favorite knife. My Son, Tim, bought me this knife. It's a really good knife. It has simply disappeared. That same day I took some pictures of the apartment complex. I had my camera bag in the truck with, of course, my camera and the USB cable with a little gizmo that goes into the camera. With this simple little cable I'm actually able to send pictures from my camera to my Mac Book. Truly amazing. Well, I'm no longer able to do this. My cable has vanished. This is why none of you are able to see the lovely place where we now live along with 567 boxes!

Speaking of boxes, most of what we moved now resides in our lovely attached garage. The plan was to have all of this stuff that we weren't mentally capable of trashing to reside on the right side of our garage, leaving plenty of room for Mary Ellen's PT Cruiser. My truck of course would reside in the parking area. At this moment both vehicles reside in the parking area. I'm betting on 2013 for PT Cruiser indoor parking!

We moved one of those lightweight plastic shelves we had in our former garage. I honestly thought this five tiered shelving would handle most of the stuff. The rest would hang from some cleverly positioned hooks attached to the walls and ceiling. Last Wednesday I purchased two more five tiered shelves. But the boxes kept coming. Last night we returned to Menard's. I now have five of the five tiered shelving. I do not plan to purchase more shelves. However, I've purchased 280 more hooks to be cleverly positioned on the walls and from the ceiling.

Mary Ellen has two mis-matched shoes. She's upset. You would think with 175 pairs of shoes, something like two shoes that don't match wouldn't be a big deal. But don't tell that to Immelda!

Still no knife nor camera cable. The quest continues.

JIM

Thursday, April 14, 2011

LEG 4,5 and Beyond

We're home! We arrived home on Wednesday after spending Tuesday night in Indy with my son Dan's family as well as Griffey, my favorite Labradoodle. Dan grilled burgers, Mark joined us, and Dan took us to the Orange Leaf for dessert. Orange Leaf is a new chain that features frozen yogurt in 20 different flavors. You can use a small or large container and fill your cups with as much as you want. Then come the toppings. After you've passed all the delicious flavors and toppings you arrive at the scale. Yes, you pay by the ounce! It can really get pricey! Jill, Erin and Allison (Dan's 3 young ladies) love the place as we did.

The trip from Indy to Elkhart was totally uneventful!! However, when we got home we found Mary Ellen's car with a flat tire and it wouldn't start. We've since got the tire repaired and will have a new starter installed on Monday. On Thursday we accomplished a lot. We signed on the line for the apartment we'll live in for at least a year. It's called Hunter's Pond. The big selling point is the attached garage that comes with each unit. We go down the hall from our apartment and into our garage. It's bigger and pricier than we planned, but it's worth it. We move in on May 1st. Three of my sons will help us with all the boxed up stuff. Two Men and a Truck will take care of the rest. The fun begins.

In spite of my "incident" in Decatur, we had a wonderful time in Florida. We're trying to figure out how our gang (BBBF) can get together in this July for our "summer reunion". We're planning to do things a little differently next winter. We'll take our camper as far as Milton, FL in late October. We found a great storage facility in Milton. We'll drive the truck to Milton in January, hook up the camper and drive the remaining 30 miles to Navarre. We'll avoid pulling out of the snow in January. We'll hook up in the warmer weather of Milton, FL and pull it the rest of the way.

In the past two days we've accomplished a great deal. Mary Ellen is packing up items in the kitchen. I've been concentrating on books from my office. There is much to do, but we're trying to attack it one room or area at a time. We have to be completely out of here by May 8th. That leaves us about 23 days. I think we'll be ready. Our biggest problem is furniture that won't fit in the apartment. We really don't want to have a "moving sale". The furniture has already been on Craigs List and didn't sell. We may have to resort to Goodwill, Salvation Army or the Women's Shelter. It's way too good to take to the dump. I'd love to keep one of the two desks in my office, but there simply isn't room. The trials of downsizing.

It's time to do a little more packing...

Monday, April 11, 2011

Leg #3

Nashville is always a nightmare. It's a constant lane changing puzzlement. All this fun and lots of traffic. It started raining as we made our way through the maze. The temp went from 80 to 61 in a matter of minutes. Can you say tornado watch? We escaped Nashville and left most of the weather behind us as we made our way into KY. We arrived at the Bowling Green KOA without incident. Right after we set up for the night the rains came to Bowling Green...and I do mean rain. It's one of those rains that likely will last all night...and we do have a tornado watch till 6 p.m. No problem, we've got 75 cable channels, free internet, and close proximity to the office building. If the watch turns into a warning, we'll be heading to a more stable hideout. I like our camper, but I don't trust it in a tornado.

It's still raining @ 6 p.m. Its been a constant downpour since we got here. For some reason the weather made me think of my favorite poet, Robert Frost. He has written some great poems...poems like STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING & PROVIDE, PROVIDE. And so I leave you with this:

The witch that came, the withered hag
To wash the steps with pail and rag
Was once the beauty Abishag

The picture pride of hollywood
Too many fall from great and good
For you to doubt the likelihood

Die early and avoid the fate
Or if predestined to die late
Make up your mind to die in state

Make the whole stock exchange your own
If need be occupy a throne
Where nobody can call you crone

Better to go down dignified
With boughten friendship at your side
Then none at all

Provide, Provide

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Leg #2

Today we drove to Decatur and Point Mallard Campground. This campground saw the demise of my humerus bone in my left shoulder. I'm anxious to see my friend, Scott. He's the gentleman who took such good care of us during our unplanned seven nights at Point Mallard in January. He went so far above and beyond that it's hard to find words to describe it. When Mary Ellen called the office to warn them that an ambulance was on the way, Scott got to our campsite before the ambulance arrived. He unhooked the truck, set up our camper, brought a propane tank, acted as a chauffeur, and stopped at our campsite at least three times a day to see if there was anything he could do. These things weren't in his job description. Neither was the phone call I got from him a few weeks ago. He just wanted to know how I was doing. Scott is just a genuinely caring man. We will always stay at this campground whenever we're in Alabama. Scott will be here for a visit tomorrow.

Last nite we saw a beautiful sunset. It's now my new wallpaper on my Macbook. I was up at five this morning, and shortly thereafter we had a visitor from the farm next to us. It was a beautiful Paint horse just like the Lone Ranger's friend Tonto used to ride. You may remember "get um up Scout". After thirty minutes a pretty young lady carrying a bridle came to the campground to reclaim "Scout". I had to laugh that she was carrying the bridle behind her back as she approached "Scout". She knew that this pretty horse would probably make a quick exit if he saw the bridle coming. But Scout didn't see it coming, and shortly she was leading him back to where he lived. Thus began another quiet day on the road to Decatur.

It was 83 degrees and sunny when we arrived. The weather must have brought out a lot of locals for the weekend. There are very few if any sites available. They have 168 sites. Glad to see this lovely campground make some money. Scott needs a raise!

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. Severe thunderstorms are predicted from Decatur to Bowling Green, KY. We're planning to be at the KOA in B.G. tomorrow. We're hoping for another uneventful day.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Leg #1

Believe it or not we had an uneventful day 1. We stopped for lunch at a McDonald's along I 65. It was the most crowded and chaotic McDonald's I've ever been in. The chaos was created due to absolutely no system for dealing with the many customers. We did decide to stay and wait. I made the mistake of ordering a 'senior coffee'. They hadn't made any coffee. I don't know if the 90 degree temperature had some influence on this decision. Ya think?

The only excitement occurred on Rt 41N on our way to I 65. Two morons driving SUV's decided it was time to pass the Sunset Trail. Mind you I was going the speed limit (55 mph). They made the move to pass with a double yellow line. As the first SUV came alongside me, there was a very large 16 wheeler heading toward him. I hit the brakes. If I hadn't he would have been hit head on driven (by the semi) right into me. The second SUV dove in behind me. I'm sure he almost rear-ended me as I went from 55 to 35 in a matter of seconds. These were the only two "certifiable morons" that we encountered. Thank God.

During the drive to Montgomery the temperature rose to 92 degrees! This broke a record held for 113 years! Thank God for air conditioning. This was the only time since we headed south that I was actually longing for the chilly north. When we arrived at Montgomery South RV Park the temperature had dropped to a MILD 87 degrees. This campground is in 'the middle of nowhere'. None of the sites have any trees. We came back here because of what the owner did for us the last time we were here. Mary Ellen lost her wallet, but didn't notice till we were 3 hours up the road. She called the campground and told them about her wallet. She didn't know whether she had lost it at the campground or somewhere else. Within a few minutes the owner, Jim Thornton, called back and said they had found it on the ground. He asked if Mary Ellen wanted him to count the money. He did, and told her he counted $296. He asked if he could send her a check. She agreed. A couple days after we got home, the check arrived along with her wallet. That kind of honesty certainly deserves a return visit.

We did have to change sites after we had hooked up the water, put the slider out, and connected the electricity. For some reason we kept flipping breakers. Jim helped with the move and apologized for the inconvenience. I would still come back here in the future. Tomorrow, on to Decatur and the scene of my "incident with the ladder"...

Friday, April 8, 2011

HEADING NORTH

Well tomorrow's the day. I'm in great shape. The shoulder is better every day, so driving will not be an issue. It's amazing how much the physical therapy has improved my range of motion. We're looking forward to getting home and begin packing for our move. The only problem is we don't have a place to move. The apartment complex we decided on doesn't have anything in May, and they aren't sure they will have a first floor with two bedrooms in June. We may have to investigate a few of the other properties we looked at 6 months ago.

We're planning to live in our camper for the month of May at least. The biggest headache is the fact we'll really have to move twice. Can you stay 'storage'. We have to be out of our house on May 9th. That doesn't give us a great deal of time to handle all the things we have to handle. We've lived in the house for 35 years, so we're not experienced with the art of moving. I'm sure there will be some typical 'Jim Doyle screwups' to write about in the future.

Tonite we went to dinner with Diane and Jeff. Helen Back is a restaurant a 1/2 mile from Emerald Beach. Every Friday from 5 till 6 they offer FREE PIZZA. We've been there for pizza several times. Diane and Jeff are staying till the 15th. Normally we're the last of the group to leave. This year we'll have someone to help us get underway. The camper is half ready tonite. Tomorrow morning won't take us long to complete the final preparations.

Our campground stops will take us to Montgomery, Decatur (scene of the broken shoulder), Bowling Green, Indy and finally home. I know five legs to our journey seems like a lot, but actually five legs is turbo driving for me. What's the rush. We're just praying the trip home will be uneventful (if you know what I mean).

I can't begin to recap all of the ups and downs since we pulled our camper out of a foot of snow to head down here. but after almost three months there have been more ups than downs. How can you beat beautiful weather, great friends, good food and a lots of laughs. We can't wait to get back together again. We are planning to get together in July (somewhere). Diane is in charge of choosing the campground. I'll let all of you know where we'll gather for our summer reunion.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Tide is Turning

It's time to tie a 'ribbon' on our first couple months in Navarre. As you know our luck had been on the 'bad side'. I've commented on a laundry list of incidents that befell us. There are a couple more that haven't been discussed in my recent blogs. The first is rather minor, but simply added to the aggravations. A week before we left Elkhart, my dentist 'installed' a Crown. A week after we arrived in Florida, you guessed it, my Crown tried to become part of my lunch. I didn't swallow it. This was a good thing. The annoyance was I had to find a dentist in Navarre, FL. After questioning a few people that live here, we found a delightful lady who took care of the problem. As I write today, the crown is still in place.

In the latter part of February we went to a dutch luncheon with about forty others from the campground. We went to a chinese buffet in Gulf Breeze called the Golden Dragon. We lined up and filled our plates. So far, so good. We sat down and began the process of devouring everything on our plates. It was bite #2 of a spare rib named after an old Chinese General who was three ribs short. I knew immediately as I swallowed that I was in trouble. The tough rib lodged in my esophagus. It didn't impede my ability to breathe, but it was bound and determined to get out of there. I won't go into all the details. Use your imagination, or not. We were a quarter mile from the "facilities". I didn't want to walk through the entire restaurant while retching. It was good that we were sitting against a wall, and I was seated at the far end. Mary Ellen (my poor wife) gathered napkins and eventually a rag. Thus began "the process" of eliminating the culprit. It took about 45 minutes! While all our friends continued to eat, I continued, well you get the idea. We just happened to be sitting next to an emergency exit. The manager finally agreed to open that door and let us out. Much to the relief (I'm sure) of the rest of our friends. Mary Ellen drove for about a block when I asked her to stop. She stopped in a parking lot, I got out, and finally eliminated the problem.

Well, after so many negative experiences, we were due for something positive. We were told that cocktails would be on the deck of the pavilion. It just happened to be on my birthday, and when Mary Ellen and I arrived, the group sang happy birthday. That was nice. However, after 10 minutes or so, Diane suggested we move inside. It was starting to get a little windy. When we walked in I was totally shocked. The tables were set for dinner with decorations and all. All the couples brought a dish, and of course there was a birthday cake! Wow! There were about 9 couples and the food was great. Diane and Janet did most of the planning and decorating, but I know I'm overlooking someone. After dinner, Dave and Janet handled the "gift distribution". The gifts were a total surprise. All the gifts included a clever saying created by Janet. Dave handed me the appropriate gift. There must have been at least 20 items! They ranged from all purpose cleaner to an air horn to wake up those who chose (unwisely) to sleep past 7 a.m.! This gives you an idea of the wonderful people we hang out with at Emerald Beach. For those of you who haven't bought me a gift, I'm now registered at the Dollar Tree.

I have one more appointment with Dr. O. on April 4th. I have started doing physical therapy. All the exercises can be done at home. Thusfar, I have been very faithful. I do all 10 exercises at least twice a day.

We're planning to leave Navarre on the 9th of April. Today, the temperature in Elkhart was 24 degrees. It got to 74 here. Maybe we should extend.

Lastly, we had two offers on our house. We accepted one and rejected the other. It sounds like a 'done deal'. Both parties had financing in hand. You never know though until the closing. We have to be out by May 9th. By the time we get home there will only be a few weeks to prepare for the move. As of now, I'm only supposed to lift 8 lbs. with my left arm. That means 16 lbs. using both arms. You can bet that Mary Ellen will have a scale handy to make sure I'm not exceeding the limit Dr. O. established. We're counting on our boys to help + 2 men and a truck. Wish us luck.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

FRIENDS

There are 5 couples we spend a lot of time with when we're in Navarre. We've known Jeff and Diane Bloss for 3 years now. They are a fifty something couple. By far the youngest. They live in Quincy, IL. We were invited to their 25th anniversary party last summer in Carlyle, IL. It was very nice and well worth the $500 in gas that it took us to get there!! Right after Jeff got here he insisted on washing OUR trailer. He did a great job, except for the awning!

Speaking of awnings, our Canadian friends Gerry & Linda Foyle were only with us for a month this year, but Gerry took over awning responsibilities. Whether it needed to go in or go out, Gerry was right on the spot. Linda simply supervised, eh! They're spending there last month at a campground in Biloxi, MS. They love the casinos as much as Mary Ellen does. We met them one night for a buffet at the Hardrock. They are a fun couple.

There is a great deal that could be said about our Ohio friends, Dave & Janet Lundgren. Actually, writing about Dave would take a whole blog, and I'm not about to waste that much of my time. Let's just say, Dave wasn't invited to the Bloss anniversary blast. Of course he didn't have to spend $600 for gas and gifts! Diane Bloss made a point of letting everyone know they were expecting NO Gifts! I thus found it strange she went on to list the various high-end stores where they were registered!

Beth and Russ Jackson are a lovely "old couple". Russ is a wealthy retired farmer who basically sits around waiting for checks to be deposited. They have a beautiful black cat named 'Stretch'. Stretch and Beth are the nice ones in the family. Russ would improve his ranking if he was more of a philanthropist with his Millions.

Ron & Julie Linn have the most wonderful dog in the park. Sara is gentle and loving. Ron is usually a grouch! Julie is a doll. They left on March 10th. Ron had to get back to do something with trenches. I have no idea what you do with trenches, but whatever it is, Ron likes to do it. They live in Illinois, but nobody ever heard of the town. I think Ron made it up so we can't visit!

These five couples are the reason we've come back to Emerald Beach 3 years in a row. If we decided to try another campground, it would have to be a unanimous decision! We have too much fun together. Enough said.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

"I Cried Because I Had No Shoes"

By the time we got to our Florida destination we'd had our share of mis-adventures. Of course there was my shoulder, but prior to that we'd had a flat tire and a tongue jack that wouldn't work. But during our 7 nites in Decatur, AL we also had a flooded camper due to a leak in our water heater. It seems that the genius who "winterized" the RV had overlooked a critical element in winterization (drain the tank!) By the way, for those of you contemplating the purchase of a water heater, it will cost you $650 installed! I now believe falling off the ladder and breaking my shoulder was the punishment for overall stupidity. Needless to say we were very relieved to actually be settled at Emerald Beach RV Park thanks to Dan and Mark.

Our neighbors on site 16 are Betty and Art Stierley. They were here when we arrived. They hadn't been here previously. Art and I had exchanged pleasantries over the first couple days. Of course he noticed my sling and wanted to know the whole story. I'm not sure he really wanted to know about our "trip from Hell", but by damn he was going to hear it! Of course he sympathized with my graphic description of every friggin detail. I guess it was a couple days later when "Mr. Egocentric" got around to asking him some questions. I learned that Art & Betty were in Navarre to bury their 45 year old daughter. She died after a two year battle with breast cancer. For two days he listened to me complaining about my poor broken shoulder, when they were dealing with their own broken hearts. Kids aren't supposed to die before the parents. I don't care if the kid is 45. After hearing Art's story, I tried not to complain too much about our minor plight. "I cried because I had no shoes, and then I met a men who had no feet."

In all my 70 years of life I had never had a broken bone. Thus, operating with only one arm was a whole new experience. It wasn't just the arm, but entire left side from shoulder to hand was bruised and swollen. Initially I had no use of my left hand. The hand had grown to about 3 times its original size. It operated like a faulty prosthesis stuck to an arm but lacking batteries. Neither my wife nor I had thought to have my rings removed when we first went to the ER in Decatur. Now they would have to be cut off. Baptist Hospital ER in Gulf Breeze took care of that minor problem. Now Mary Ellen went in search of an Orthopedic surgeon. Baptist hospital told us about Andrews Institute next to the hospital. This building is orthopedic surgeons headquarters. There were autographed pictures of pro and college athletes all over the walls extolling the virtues of these doctors. Now they were going to be dealing with a semi-pro old person who fell off a ladder. They were not interested when I offered an autographed picture of yours truly. We were introduced to Dr. Ostrander, better known as Dr. O. He looked at the X Rays from Decatur and ordered an MRI. The MRI showed a piece of bone floating around in there. I, 'Mr. Obvious' realized this was probably not good. Dr. O told us that this piece of bone needed to be reattached from whence it came. This would require surgery. Mary Ellen and I quickly decided to give him the 'go ahead' and surgery was scheduled.

It was a 3 hour surgery followed by one nite in the hospital. Dr. O told us they removed the bone, ground it up, added super glue, and shoved it into the humerus at the proximity from whence it came. Don't you love 'from whence it came?' I don't think I've used the word 'whence' in over 50 years. I liked it so much I just had to use it 4 times.

Dave and Janet Lundgren spent the entire afternoon with Mary Ellen waiting for me to get out of surgery, recovery and back to a private room. Dave, and especially Janet are wonderful. More about Dave, later. The gift packages came pouring in. By the way, for those of you who haven't AS YET sent a gift, I'm registered at Ace Hardware!

Now the fun begins for my loving wife, Mary Ellen. I don't know what I'd do without her. Besides being a wonderful wife, she just happens to be a registered nurse. My only concern is she's a Hospice Nurse. By the time this is over I'm sure she'll decide maybe it's time for Hospice.

To be continued...

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Return of the Blog!

Its been almost two months since my last blog. I refused to type with only one finger. Now, finally, I'm able to use both hands on the keyboard. I just didn't have the patients to go from 60 words a minute down to 15. One finger just didn't cut it. So, here goes with two hands.

If I had to do it over again I certainly wouldn't have fallen off that ladder. I still can't believe it happened. I remember, as I climbed a lousy 3 steps on the ladder, Mary Ellen said "be careful Mr. Balance". Shortly after her warning, the ladder moved to the right, and I fell to the left. After laying in the mud for 15 minutes, with Mary Ellen's help, I was able to get on my knees and stand up. Mary Ellen kept saying "I'm going to call 911", and I kept saying "NO". However, once we got 'Mr. Balance' back in the RV, I decided maybe an ambulance was a good idea. And thus the adventure began.

The ambulance arrived in 5 minutes, and the EMT's couldn't have been nicer and more proficient. Decatur General hospital was only 5 minutes away. Again, we were impressed with the nurses and staff. The X Ray showed a broken humerus bone in the shoulder. ER recommended an orthopedic surgeon across the street from the hospital. After looking at the X Ray, he felt the bone was well aligned and didn't need surgery. ER had given me a sling. All I could do was take pain medication. The problem was I couldn't drive, and Mary Ellen was and is afraid to pull the travel trailer.

Point Mallard campground in Decatur was to be an overnite on the way to Navarre, FL. It turned out to be a 7 nite stay while we tried to figure what we were going to do. The people at Point Mallard were great. They unhooked the truck from the trailer and set us up for an extended stay. At least 3 times a day, a staff member would stop by to find if there was anything we needed. This campground is beautiful, but we found it was more than beautiful, it also had a very caring staff. Stay there when you get a chance, and tell them "Mr. Balance with the broken shoulder sent you". You won't be disappointed!

Now most of you know we have 4 sons. They just happen to be 4 wonderful sons. Dan and Mark were the closest to Alabama. They live in Indianapolis. Dan insisted that he and Mark would come to our rescue. Dan would pull the trailer and Mark would drive "the chase car". We had decided that going south was much more appealing than going back home to the ice and snow. The boys arrived after our 7 nites at Point Mallard and took us the rest of the way. Dan wanted his Mom to ride with him in the truck and I was to ride with Mark in the "chase car". I wasn't surprised Dan wanted me to be as far away from him as possible. I think he thought I just might give him a little too much advice if I was sitting right next to him. He did a great job, and the drive from Decatur, AL to Navarre, FL was uneventful. We wanted them to spend the nite in Navarre, but Dan was determined to start heading back to Indy. They were only here long enough to set us up and left after about an hour. They drove as far as the Birmingham, AL area before getting back to Indy the next day.

Our first priority was finding an Orthopedic doctor down here. More about that in my next blog.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

THE TRIP FROM HELL

this blog will be short and in lower case...kinda like flying the flag at half staff...we were preparing to leave decatur, alabama (point mallard campground). i had one
last job to do...i had to clear some leaves from the slideout...it was raining...i slipped from the ladder and broke my shoulder...i will write more when i can use both hands,,,

jim

Monday, January 24, 2011

Pulling our Home to Florida

Our departure began with a temperature of 6 degrees and the snow was falling as we attempted to dig the Sunset Trail (ST) out of its winter storage and get on the road. The hook up went smoothly enough, but then the fun started. We had lowered the tongue jack down on a concrete block. To our dismay, when we raised the tongue jack, we could not move the concrete block. It was frozen to the ‘frozen ground’. Mary Ellen and I spent a half hour trying to dislodge it. Finally, after using a shovel, hammer, and an ice pick, we dislodged and removed the concrete block.

Pulling the ST out of its snowy and cold storage wasn’t exactly a fun-filled experience. After several ‘outstandingly clever’ maneuvers, we managed to get the ST moving toward the ‘gated exit’. We drove to our favorite ‘fuel center’ and checked the air pressure in our tires. Once this chilly task was completed we were finally ready to head south.

Things went well for the first 65 miles, when a passing car gave us the dreaded signal. As they drove alongside us, the passenger began pointing toward the ground and mouthing tire! Oh yes, we had another flat tire! We called roadside assistance and WAITED. Apparently they decided the best person to remove the flattened rubber and replace it with our spare was located in DALLAS! Actually, it just seemed like he had come to INDIANA from DALLAS. Two and one half hours later we were again ready to roll!!

I’m glad we had planned to only go as far as our son Dan’s house. We had planned to take Dan, Jill and their two girls out to dinner. We now opted for ‘carry in’. Dan had checked various tire retailers to see who had a replacement tire to give us a much needed ‘spare tire’. A ‘Wal-Mart super center’ or as Dan had dubbed it ‘Wal-Mart super slow’ had the tire we needed. We decided to wait until Sunday morning to pick it up. Once we remounted the spare we ventured out with a stop at one of our favorite KOA’s in Bowling Green, KY. The owners, Paul and Susan are great people. Paul is a real character. They are the perfect hosts. If you want a great place to stay in KY, make a stop at the KOA in and tell Paul I sent you.

Of course the day wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have another minor crisis. When we parked at the KOA, I lowered the tongue jack to prop up the front end. This went fine, but when I began to lower the front a little, the tongue jack froze in place. It wouldn’t move! I started the truck thinking perhaps my 12 volt battery had died, but it still didn’t do anything. I stopped at the office and talked with Paul. He told me about a friend who could certainly fix it. He was very reasonable. However, Paul said that he had a couple ideas. I asked him for a 30 amp fuse. Paul gave me a pack of 4 fuses (cost was $2.50). He didn’t charge me anything! He said it was his way of giving me a discount! As we were leaving the office with the intention of having his friend come out in the morning, he added that sometimes tapping it with a rubber mallet breaks it loose. He was ready to give me a hammer, but I said I had one. When we returned to the ST, Mary Ellen tapped or rapped it a few times and it worked! Paul saved me a few dollars and all it took was a rap with a mallet. By the way, when we left in the morning, I gave Paul the fuses back. He didn’t want to take them. He promised me a discount next time!

We left Bowling Green at 10 a.m. and headed for Point Mallard in Decatur, AL. We’d been here once before, but somehow we managed to get lost. It is about 6 miles off I 65, but signage is non-existent. Sorta like my brain (non existent). It was 54 degrees when we arrived. Kinda rainy, but nice. Up till now, I hadn’t bothered to hook up the water. Since it was so nice I decided to do it. I turned it on, and I heard Mary Ellen YELL, “we have a flood”. Water was coming into the room with the bunk beds by the rear door. Before I could turn off the water, all our floors only required mopping! We hadn't planned to clean until we got to Florida. Thanks to the flood we can cross that one off the list. The problem seems to be the hot water heater. We sopped up the water and decided to wait until we get to Florida to have someone check out the water heater. I have a feeling something froze, expanded and busted something.

Flat tire on day one, tongue jack on day two, and now the water heater! What will tomorrow bring??? Oh, I forgot to mention that we just heard there is a WINTER STORM WATCH for tomorrow!! I don’t want to think about what that means.....

jim

Thursday, January 6, 2011

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

We seem to be spending a lot of time moving stuff from storage and bringing it back home. What’s that all about? Pretty soon the storage garage will be empty and everything will be back in the house! It started because of Christmas preparations. Of course this led to a lot of decorations we weren’t going to use this year As you can probably tell, we haven’t sold our house yet. We had hopes of selling it before we left for Florida. This probably won’t happen until Spring. We’ve had eight parties come through the house. Our realtor told us that two really liked it, but apparently not enough to buy it.

Three of our four boys were here for Christmas. Actually we celebrated Christmas on the 18th. As for the 25th, we spent it at Mary Ellen’s sister’s home in Ohio. The most exciting thing about New Years Eve was watching Notre Dame manhandle Miami in the Sun Bowl. During the 1980’s, ND-Miami was labeled ‘Catholics versus Convicts’. The rivalry got heated to the point it was decided it would be best to put a halt to scheduling each other...until now! The former ‘convicts’ have cleaned up their act since the notorious Jimmy Johnson left Miami. Starting in 2012 Notre Dame will start a home and home series with Miami again. Should be fun.

Well, the time is drawing ‘nigh’ and we’ve been making plans for our journey south. Don’t you love that word ‘nigh’. It’s so much nicer than ‘near’. It has a much more literary sound to it. And I being a ‘literalist’ (I think I made up a word) chose to express my literary leanings by using the word ‘nigh’. Now that I’ve beat that to death, let’s move on. We’re planning to depart on the 22nd of January and go as far
as Indianapolis. Our annual problem on day one of our journey is finding a campground that’s open in Indiana. We would have to go into KY to find one and that violates my time on the road rule! Some of you probably remember Mary Ellen’s characterization of my traveling schedule. It goes something like, leave the campground at 10 a.m. Stop for an hour lunch at noon. Proceed for another hour and a half and stop at 2:30 for the night! Some days I actually do 4 hours! My attitude is ‘what’s the hurry’. I’ve allowed 8 days to get to our destination. I didn’t mention that we will stay with son Dan and family in Westfield, IN for our first night. This presented a whole other problem.

The neighborhood, compound, cult where Dan resides prohibits RV’s parked on the street or driveways. Even if the RV is washed! Something to do with ‘trailer trash’ I guess. Anyway, with the help of Dan and my other Indy son, Mark, we tried to find a parking spot where I could safely leave truck and travel trailer from approximately 5 p.m. Saturday until 9 a.m. Sunday. First we investigated the Wal-Mart in Westfield, NO. I than called the local Kroger store. The manager told me they didn’t own the parking lot. When I asked who did she told me she didn’t know. I called the Westfield police department. They were supposed to get back to me if they found a place. I never heard from them. Finally, after checking a couple of far-flung possibilities, I called Marsh. Marsh is a semi upscale supermarket a couple miles from Dan’s house. After my second offer NEVER to buy groceries anywhere else (I guess we’ll have to drive 3 hours for milk), he relented.

So, we’ve got day one handled. I’m always surprised how much mental and a little physical preparation goes into leaving for a few months. This is further complicated by the fact my son, Mark is no longer handling the house while we’re gone. This requires more preparation and planning. First of all is mail. This year we’ll have all our mail forwarded. We’ve never had to do this before. Of course realtors will be showing the house (hopefully) while we’re gone. This will require some notes making sure they turn the furnace back down and be certain to recheck the doors so we don’t have any uninvited “lookers” who have no intention of buying the house.
We’ll get one of the teenagers in our neighborhood to start Mary Ellen’s car at least once a week. Of course the paper must be stopped and the driveway shoveled. There are a lot more little things we need to think about for the first time. We’re now realizing just how much Mark handled in the past. I guess we’ll just have to ‘grow up’ and deal with it!

I sort of made a resolution to stay away from too much political commentary in my blogs this year. It’s not easy for me to do. There is sooooo much stupidity to point out, it’s getting very difficult to choose. I will end this blog by pointing out the folly of our socialist leader. It reminds me of a wonderful quote from Margaret Thatcher on the subject of socialism. She said, “the only problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”.

In a recent Jason Lewis show he summed it up this way. Government was first established for the sole purpose of protecting the citizens. A police force was put in place to stop people from stealing from others. So the government decided they would take over the role of thievery. They (the government) have decided they know better than any of us where OUR money should be spent. So they take it and give it (some of it that they don’t pocket) away to others. Can you say Robin Hood.

JIM