Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho

We started out Christmas with the Christmas eve dinner for butch's immediate family. This is what our kitchen looks like when the blessing is done and 25 loving family members all take turns elbowing each other away from the food!

We all found a spot to stand or sit or plopped down for a good meal. Another appearance by my buddy Alex, who found a good spot to himself.

Afterward, there was much wrapping paper shredding, followed all the ooooh's and aaaaah's, followed by the annual hunt for batteries. Good time was had by all and we even had a surprise appearance by Bucky and Jack! (I must admit, it must have been a little scary for them, as the noise level begins the evening really loud, and by the time they got there half had already left, but the noise was only increasing)

Christmas day we head down to Lydia's for the day. More paper shredding followed by more ohhh's and aaaah's, followed by a whole lot of "LILY-NO"'s. They've released a movie called Marley and me.....that dog can have nothing on the other blonde lab...Lily!

Below the girls are all hard at work on dinner and look who's in the middle looking for anyone to accidentally drop something......that's right-Lily.

Okay, I know she's going to kill me when she finally reads this, but that's what you get when I say smile and you make a face like that.

ho-freakin-ho

You know, it's always a bitch getting ready for Christmas. If it was at our house today, it was either cleaned or wrapped. The wrapping will have to be finished tomorrow, cause stick a fork in my butt, I'm done. I also need to bake an apple pie tomorrow night, to take to my moms on Thursday. I'm going to try soaking the raisins overnight in the rum and add them to the pie, that way, maybe the bottom crust won't be quite so drunk. Can't do it Tuesday, cause that's when we're baking the bird and something else that I'm just to fried to remember what it was. Everyone is coming here for Christmas eve and we'll have a house full of family and friends. It will be noisy and laughing and fun, and hopefully, everyone will go home happy with full bellys.

Christmas Lunch

Last Sunday was butch's annual family Christmas gathering. There was about 65 people in attendance, with lots of food stopping by for a short visit. butch was one of the organizers this year, which meant we had to get gobs of presents for the "now you have it, now you don't" which I always called a Pollyanna-same game, different titles, same outcome. Do you know how hard it is to buy a gazillion gifts under $2? Pretty hard is the answer. Thank goodness for 5 below, and the dollar store.

Here are the real stars of the show. Butch has/had 10 uncles, 9 of them served in the military in some form or the other. The gentleman in red in the middle is sporting something that he doesn't show very often. It's the Purple Heart he was awarded at Normandy. Lucky for the family, it's the only one all those brothers acquired.

9 Feet

9 feet is what you get when your 7 foot Christmas tree is not tall enough.

We moved into the house on New Years eve. So we missed Christmas here, and the next year, we had a ball buying all new Christmas decorations. We had to, since we seemed to have lost all the stuff each of us had on our own. I have no idea where it went, we just manage to lose it all in the kabillion moves that each of us made. So we bought a 7' tree. Butch immediately said it wasn't big enough with the cathedral ceiling and went and built a box to sit it on and make it taller. Still not tall enough. But do you have any idea how much a 9' tree costs??? No way Jose. Well, last year, towards the end of January one of the guys he works with told us about the sale Wally's was having on all their left overs and that he had seen 9 footers there. Needless to say, he had me packed up and busting up the road. We got a $300 tree for $50 bucks. Happy Butch. Until we tried to move the damn thing. But we got it down in the basement (no way it was fitting up in the attic), and forgot about it until now. This tree is in 5 separate heavy pieces. It has like, I don't even know how many points on it, but I had to separate all of them. Took me most of the stupid Steeler vs Patriots game. OH, and one armed too as my damn shoulder is still hurt enough that I'm doing most everything one handed. Jeez, I'm an idiot-just call me Dr Kimble!

No decorations on it yet, but that will be for tomorrow night. I've got some running around to do tomorrow and I can't get the boxes down from the attic. Gotta wait on Butch for that....and he has to work tomorrow. Unlike me, I'm forced to take the first two days of deer season, instead of time between Christmas and New Year. Whoops, wandering just slightly off subject.
So here is the naked tree~as you can see, the 9 feet comes to the low section of the ceiling and really does look much better. I'm telling everyone coming to our house over the holiday to bring an ornament, since it's going to take a lot more than what we have at this point. Just a minor point, and we even bought a bunch more when we bought the tree.

Orchard

Last Saturday, I needed to go buy some honey at one of the orchards nearby. It's always best when it comes right from the bee. This honey always has a wonderful apple flavor to it, (d'oh, I wonder why it tastes like that) and is really tasty. I only went for honey, but ended up spending 50 bucks. Since we didn't get to the apple harvest festival this year, I needed some baking apples, so I got a 1/2 bushel of Staymans. They also have homemade pie fillings there too. Hey, when I say it is homemade, it doesn't necessarily mean the homemade was in my kitchen! I've been buying quarts of honey and the price went from $9.oo to $12.oo the last time I got a bottle. I've been thinking about it, and I decided to take the plunge and buy a gallon. Which actually is a better bargain, cause it is only $25.00, so really I got it at half the price. Honey doesn't go bad and I know that sooner more so than later, it will all be used up. The best part was butch trying to pour out of a gallon jar with a wide mouth on it. I just wish someone I knew-who loved honey in his tea way more than I do, would let me buy him a queen bee, so he could start his hives again!

So, this is some of what I came home with, and below is the RUM/apple pie some of it became. yum.

Zippers

Last summer, butch told me I had a big freckle on my back, I didn't think anything of it. It was between my shoulder blades and I couldn't really see what it was. Not long after that, Connie from PC was up staying with us and saw it. She recommended that I have it checked out asap. I actually listened went to the gp. He biopsied it, and it was what he thought, which was basal cell carcinoma. Skin cancer. I know that pretty much everyone there on told me how lucky I was that if you had to have this happen, this was the best that you could hope to have. So I schedule the appointment with the plastic surgeon. That takes 2.5 months and he looks at it and says yep, that's what it looks like, we'll schedule you for some in house surgery (a month later).

He also bitched to me about staying out of the sun. I told him that I had been a water rat as a kid, and a swim coach, and a lifeguard for 11 years. This was all before the invention of sunscreen. I am now careful not to get burned like I used to do. I'm the one with the spf 30 fussing over everyone. I love the beach, butch and I are sandcrabs. It used to be when I went to the beach only old people and babies sat under umbrellas, and that I guess I'm one of them now, cause for years, I've always carried one down to the sand. (umbrella that is, not babies or an old person) When I told the Dr this his suggestion was that maybe I just needed to wear more clothes at the beach. riiiight.

So I went in last Thursday and he cut up my back to the tune of half a dozen or so stitches inside and 19 staples outside. Butch laughed and said it looked like I had a zipper right up the middle of my back, and it did. The Dr even made the same comment last night when they started taking some of them out. He left 6 in still and I have to go back on Tuesday to get them out.

Here's a picture, black and white to help with the ewwwww factor.

Oh, Atlanta---OH, Atlanta

I said Hey,
Hey,
Hey,
Atlanta,
I've got to get back to you.

Okay, maybe I'm not as thrilled about Atlanta as Lowell George was, but I'm going anyway.

Butch and I head out to the races in Atlanta Thursday night. We've got some things scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, so we were packing up the van tonight. Hopefully, the weather will be good, and the racing fast and safe, and Jr will win. Course having said that I've jinxed him, I'm sure. Just not that whiny Shrub! I'll be really happy if we get to see Johnny B win in the truck race. But, it is Atlanta, and as his spotter said last year, they wouldn't know what to do if they had a good clean run. (this was said as the drive train was laying in turn 3 and he was in turn 4)
Catch up when we get back!

Maiden Voyage

We took the beach house for a spin last weekend. We needed to open up everything and try it all out to make sure that it was all working. We went up the road about 20 miles to a campground called Twin Bridges. We parked next to another couple named Lisa and Bob, who asked if we'd like to share a bottle of wine with them when we got done kicking all the tires and such. They were from Nebraska and were on their way from Maine to Orlando where they were going to park their motor home and drive back to Nebraska. Sometime in January they were going back and working at Disney World for a couple of months. Bob said he didn't care if he was selling peanuts, that'd be fine with him. They were a great couple and we not only finished off that bottle, but Bob went for re-enforcements and opened a second. They were going to check out the Apple Harvest festival and explore Gettysburg before heading on south. Safe journeys to them!

Only had a couple of issues we found. The Sleep Number bed-well, it didn't hold air....on my side of course. So when we got home Sunday night we took the mattress apart to check it out. (having experience with our home mattress made it a lot easier) I knew I'd heard air leaking after every time I re-inflated the dumb thing. Well, I did. The valve at the top of the air bladder was cracked. We contacted the dealer we bought it from and they got a replacement off to us UPS. A couple of other little things, but nothing too drastic, so it was a good weekend. The leaves are really hitting color here, so that made it even more beautiful outside.

Beach House

We've been so busy since our week on the island and so much has gone on, it's hard to keep up. We got back on that Sunday, and Tuesday we went and signed the papers on the beach house. I told Butch years ago that I wanted to retire to a beach house. He told me then that it was no problem, but that my beach house was going to have to have 6 wheels. Um, not exactly what I was thinking. So we picked up our beach house and brought the behemoth home.

Our Beach House

Butch is like a clam happy, and I'm a wreck thinking about everything that goes along with it. I swear he's going to drive me to the funny farm in this thing. But, it has been our plan, and we've been looking and sizing up what we wanted for about 3 years now. It really is nice, and it was almost exactly what we were looking for- a 2005 Winnebago Adventurer. We bought it used, and the people who bought it new had almost every option you could put on it on it. It only has 10,000 miles on it. This weekend we're going to take it out to a local campground so we can actually open up all the awnings, and try everything out. The thing even has a washer/dryer too. I'll never figure out all the satellite tv stuff. I'll have to get back to you on how it goes.

Portsmith Island-Part Deux

We finished up on the beach and headed off to the village. If you look up the history of Portsmith Island, you'll find that it was once a very prosperous island, but eventually, the port moved and the island started to die off. Life became harder and with no running water, electricity or sewer, you can understand why people moved to the mainland, and eventually, there were just two elderly ladies, and a gentleman left on the island. The gent died and the ladies moved to a nursing home on the mainland after that, and that was the end of Portsmith Island. It is now part of the National Park Service and is maintained by them. It is slowly being restored by both the NPS and also volunteers who come and work to fix buildings that are still there.

The two of us in our little gator.

Established 1753

Population in 1860-685

Today-0

Lifesaving Station

This is the Methodist church taken from the top crow's nest of the lifesaving station.

The church was knocked off it's piers a bit during Isabelle, so it's a little leany.

Easy for us to relate to, since we ran from her on Hatteras.

An Islanders cross

There is an island there that has sunk into the sound. Fort Ocracoke used to be there and is now underwater. Today, it is used as a sanctuary for the Brown Pelican. Thousands nest and breed there. The white ones here do not have flight feathers yet.

We docked back in Oracoke, at the Jolly Roger, we walked around the island for a while and did some shopping. We were terribly parched and a little bit hungry so it seemed like a good idea to head right back to the Roger, and satisify both needs. When you see signs around your outdoor dining area and they say DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS! it doesn't always mean the drunks. Not long after we sat down another party of about 10 came in and began to make a huge quacking scene. The mallards wandered around under the tables looking for handouts or scraps that had been overlooked. Of course, this was partway through our second pint and our table was the one that they decided to have a girl fight over some boy. Butch got a round of applause when he broke that one up. Course, the flying feathers were all over us. (I did save my beer) .

So, ta-da, that was our adventure on Ocracoke this year.

Portsmith Island-Part I

I know it's overdue, but you know.

We went over to Portsmith Island on Tuesday to do some shelling and visit the NPS restoration of the village. The hardest thing about it....was informing butch that we had to get up at 5AM on a vacation day so we could catch the 6AM ferry. We made it down to the ferry with time to spare, and butch was a little happier once he had actually gotten a cup of coffee from the ferryman. We chatted up with the Terminix man who was going to Ocracoke to do his rounds until we all realized "oh, shit, we're loading!!" and everyone made a run for their vehicles. This is why I had pictures of the beautiful sunrise coming up over the ocean, from the ferry, with a bugs butt in front of me. I know, I could have actually gotten out of the van and walked up and had the "cliche" picture, but at 6AM the fact that we were watching the sun come up over a bugs butt just made me laugh hysterically. Butch having had some caffeine in his system, was actually kind of seeing my humor. (well, maybe just a little-there might have been some eye rolling involved)

So we got into Ocracoke and got some breakfast at the Creekside and met up with Wade (your captain) got all the paperwork filled out and off to Portsmith we went. We dropped anchor and waded in, applied massive amounts of ddt and treked off to the gators. Oh, did I tell you this was an ATV tour of Portsmith? Oh, Butch was all over that.

Notice, he's still carrying a coffee cup? On the boat across the sound and all.

First up, shelling. Man, can I tell you, as much problems as Hanna caused, one thing she did was deposit shells on the beach like you would not believe. I got 2 shopping bags of conch (welk) shells. Whites, beiges, and a bunch of black ones. Left and right handers, which are just different kinds of welk. Butch picked up probably 20 scallop shells of all colors. We even found some Scotch Bonnets. Didn't find a whole one, but found almost a whole one. It was just unbelievable.

Holding up some of the bounty.

You don't find many beaches with this many people on them.

Butch eeking out every bit of power from the atv.

He actually let me drive.

Okay, I jumped in the drivers seat when he was picking up a shell and wouldn't get out.

Part II-The Village.....later.

Damn Lottery

yeah, we're back. Safe and sound with a few extra bug bites that we didn't have when we left.

i'm pissed.

tommorrow morning...
my hair will not be wet,
i'll have shoes on.

i'm pissed.

when the worst thing that can happen in your day is being wiped out by a wave and having a bathing suit full of sand, that's my kind of day at the office.
pictures and what not coming when we get caught up on email, snail, and laundry.

damn lottery!

Hanna and Ike

So, we're at home. Normally, on this Friday night we'd be hopping in the van to head off down the road to Richmond. However, finally, the management at the track figured that it would probably be better if they didn't have 140,000 or so people in their parking lot when hurricane Hanna came through. okay, d'oh! They actually had one come through a couple of years ago and tried to start the race. They had all us idiots schlep up there and as soon as our butts hit the seats it started raining again. They ran 16 laps under caution and then called it a night. Ran the next morning (Sunday) at 11AM.
But the fact that the state of Virginia is under a state of emergency today, it was probably the best thing to do (you think????)
So that means that we're going to the Saturday night race Sunday at 1pm and not getting down to the island until late on Sunday. shit happens....

Butch's sister Brenda flew home today. Right into the path of Ike. They're planning on packing all their stuff up in the back of their boat, and heading to Connies house in Panama City. And here I am whining about having a race postponed. Well, I was a little.

If you just happen to recently retire, the day before your birthday, and then whip off to the Bristol night race, your name might be Pappy. If all of these are you, and you've come back from your hurricane evacuation, could you please email me with your current email addy? I have uncle sam's which I know would be no good, and I don't think I sent an email to the right home addy.

Heintz 57....

Yep, it's ketchup time.

Again

oh, stop, you know how it is-too much going on.

Butch's sister Bren, who lives in Jupiter Fla came up for a visit. So her very first day, she got to get up at like 6AM to come over here for the Yard Sale---Part II. We had a good amount of traffic, aided no doubt by the 4' x 3' YARD SALE sign I had painted and Butch put out in the cow pasture across from our road. I just wanted to pay for the ad in paper and to get rid of the crap. Butch and I carted stuff down from the attics of the houses that previous tenants had left behind and put that out too. The ad cost me $18, I made $25.50. I'm telling you , with all that profit margin, I may just have to go into the business full time. Butch laughed, he thought it was hysterical and pointed out that I probably used at least that much profit in the paint for the signs. Hey, it's out of my basement and into someone elses.

Labor day Sunday we had a picnic at V & R's house. R made a batch of those margaritas in a bucket. Tasty. Even Butch and his son Daren (beer drinkers) had to try them out.

Butch and R wondering why these little glasses get empty so fast.

Cousin Sharon, Brenda and Butch

So, here it is September. Off Butch and I go to the beach. But first, a stop at Richmond for the race Saturday night. Of course, that's when Hurricane Hanna is supposed to be in Richmond too. Lovely. This is the second time in 3 years that a hurricane has come through on race weekend. So we may be leaving Friday night, or we may be leaving Sunday morning. We're like idiots with the weather channel trying to get an idea of what is going to happen and the only answer you can get is-well, it may do this.....or it may do that, we're not really sure yet. Down on the island we should be okay. Well, as long as Ike stays to the south. Somehow, having 2 hurricanes come through on our week vacation would be about the only thing to top having to run from Isabelle a couple of years ago. I know September is a horrible month for being there, but it's also the best month to be there as long as you can time the hurricanes right. So, cross your fingers for us, we're going to need it!

A day at the Harbor

Okay, so just for the record...August 15th 2008, HELL froze over.

Given the overall happiness from the peons at work, the head of our dept realized (thanks bucky) that things were not well in munchkinland. One of the things he is trying to do is to improve moral (I think those of us involved know the biggest way to improve moral) and very generously has given everyone in the dept a day off with pay. Way cool, huh?

Not to let something like that go to waste, V, R, Butch and myself set off for the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. (or as Butch laughs at my pronunciation...Bawlmer). Butch and I used to spend a good bit of time there as I had season tickets to dem O-ri-o's, and we'd have dinner there and walk up the street to Camden Yards for the game. After 15 years, I gave my season tickets up a couple of years ago. Is it any wonder? sorry, i digress, that's another too long story.

We took the subway in from Owings Mills and I forgot to tell V that Lydia always had to take a Dramamine. She got a little green there towards the end of the ride.

We wandered around and decided to do the boat tour. There are 4 boats and a lighthouse at the harbor. The Constellation one of the oldest navel vessels still around and has been at the center of the Inner Harbor since it was built. The Coast Guard cutter, Taney, is the last vessel that survived Pearl Harbor, it was decommissioned in the late 80's. The lightship Chesapeake, and the submarine Torsk. V and I went on the Constellation and the Taney, but after that subway ride she was not going into that submarine, and I've been in it and knew I didn't like it. So the boys went on all 4 and V and I waited patiently while they (Butch) read every single thing on every bit of history of these boats (see Williamsburg trip for another example).

This is from the deck of the Constellation looking across to the Aquarium with the lightship Chesapeake to the left and the submarine Torsk to the right. World Trade center is the building on the far left (worlds tallest 5 sided building....woo, hoo)

By the looks of this picture Butch is telling R how something works. He's got that look on his face and he is majorly talking with his hands. Nice shot of Federal Hill in the background.

Butch and R on the deck of the Chesapeake. It made me laugh since it looks like there is a really big building coming up from the deck.

We topped the day off with a McHenry draft beer and a crab cake from Phillips...mmmmm!

Odie's World-Odie's World-Odies World

Today's guest Blogger is the one and only Odie of Odie's World......

Hi all, Odie here. We were out at the park on Saturday with our people and decided to stop by drafter and Butch's house. They were actually home and trying to scare a bunny with the horn of the big truck. Unfortunately, they were parked in the garage when they blew the horn so that might account for them saying huh? alot. Didn't scare the bunny though. Because of AB having to be on a leash, I also had to have one on and I didn't get a chance to chase him. But more about that dumb leash later.

We got to sniff around the backyard while our people got watered with something in a green bottle. I got him to knock it over so I could take a taste, but it was pretty nasty. Something from Canada. Personally, I prefer Brown Dogs. drafter brought some water out for AB and myself, we were really parched after that park walk.

Here's a picture of us with our people.

Okay, here's the story about that dumb leash. I don't have to wear it when I'm at home, but out for walks and all, they make sure I have it on. Well, I don't run away and I listen when I'm spoken to, but AB is a totally different story. She's too crazy to be let loose on the world. Maybe, when she gets a bit older she'll be better, but in the meantime I have to put up with this....

Now, you see that my person can not manage to not get that leash knotted up around my legs? Well, we're out relaxing on the back patio, sippin on some cold ones, and my male person was not paying attention and didn't see when I walked under this chair. Well, the next thing I know that chair was chasing me across the patio. Everyone started screaming and I'm just trying to get the heck away from that dumb chair and my man is trying to catch me and drafter is trying to get my leash unwrapped from the chair leg and the dumb chair is still chasing me. So finally drafter gets the chair, and my man holds me down and they get me untied from that stupid chair leg the leash was tangled around. I'll tell you, that was some scary chair. I kept my eye on it the rest of the night.

We hung out and AB ran circles around the yard for a while. It was starting to get dark so I couldn't find any bee's and of course I didn't get a chance to chase any bunnies. We took off and headed home after that. It was fun, but I still don't trust that dumb chair.

Quick check in

Way busy and just wanted to check in. We're at the Ringold Street houses all the time it seems. We got rolling on 326 and the renovation, and got stopped by finally getting the deadbeats out of 328. They were not the most awful we've ever had (that was reserved by the Nurse and her jobless husband who had fleas so bad we bombed the house 4 times-after we pulled every carpet from the place). But we've been over there cleaning the place. I swear, in the year and a half they were there, I truly don't think they owned a mop or a vacum cleaner. I've been on my hands and knees cleaning who knows what off walls and (shutter) bathroom. Butch has spent 5 days in the kitchen trying to clean what hasn't been cleaned in 18 months. He actually had to resort to a putty knife for cleaning the oven.
Just a word of advice....if ever anyone ever tells you that you can make money through investing in rentals...punch them, they lie. There are houses we actually have decent people in, that pay their rent and actually clean, but you have to go through about 3 crappy tenants before you get a good one. Anyway, we're pretty much done in 328 and can go back to 326 and the renovation. Thank heaven for R! He's the day shift (Butch and I are the 2nd shift) and he's has kicked butt working there!
gonna run, too much to do and too little time......

Ka-Chunk!

So last I left you, we'd spent a weekend pulling up the old Masonite and floor off the Ringold St kitchen floor. Well, we got through that and got it all loaded up and off to the dump. Now, we can start re-building. This is an old duplex house. I mean old. Okay, we're not talking about historical registers or anything, but they're damn old. Which actually means that there is nothing straight, level, or flat. The old tongue and groove wood floor base was severely cupped and sagging on at least two sides. So there's a product that is basically like silly sand, but it's cement. You mix this stuff up and you keep stirring until you pour and it sets up and hopefully your floor is better than what you started out with. Cool. So Butch got the luwan cut to size and placed and last Friday night we picked up the STAPLER! You hook this baby up to the air compressor and away you go! Well, I'm sitting on a stool with wheels so I can scoot around and have this stapler in hand and Butch says make sure you put a staple every 4 inches. I kinda figured this was an approximate measurement and he was like no, every 4 inches. So, I'm sitting there facing into a corner and the drywall square was there leaning on the wall. So, I flipped it down on the floor thinking that I could use it as a guide to 4 inches-you know, just for a bit till I got the hang of it. So I start off and the stapler is so cool. Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk......
Ka-chink!

Okay, I stapled the damn drywall square to the stinkin' floor. All I could do was laugh. Actually after prying it off the floor, Butch wasn't too pleased with me. For all he knew I could have stapled my foot to the floor, but nooooooo, just because his square now has a hole at 38 3/8 inches he was all upset with me. After I did that, I gave up on that 4" thing and just went for "about 4" "
I'm terrified of the nail gun, but that stapler was pretty damn fun.
He's been on shut-down at work this week, so he's been over there in the day, which means I get out of working at night. R has been helping him out with the painting and electric stuff. Butch says R knows what needs to be done and he just goes and does it. I think I'm jealous. I'll just bet he's not as much fun as me.....and I'm sure Butch sure doesn't have to worry as much either.

The Floor no more

Okay, remember a while ago I told you about Butch grinding all those nail heads?
Well, we were rolling along gutting that kitchen, thinking we could patch it where it needed to be and level it and go on from there. Doug, the floor guy came to measure and was not to optimistic about being able to work with it like that. So we've spent the last 2 days tearing it up. We're now down to original old tongue and groove boards. The pick-up is overflowing with old floor bits. And there are still some at the house.
This is what went on....you sat on a stool/milkcrate/something and with my favorite tool, a pry bar, and a hammer pried the damn floor up 4 inches at a time. Why 4 inches? Because that was how far apart the Person who put it down nailed it. I thought 432 staples he put in the one ceiling were bad. Of course, it's been mid 90 degrees all weekend. Talk about a hot pissed off grouch, and I was even worse!
We got the framing for the new ceiling up last weekend, and we did get it primed this past week, so we don't have to look at those scary walls. I had to scrub them down before we could even put the Kiltz on it. I honestly don't think that they'd ever been cleaned of kitchen grease or cigarette smoke...ever. I didn't remember to take the camera along, so no great photos of the mess.
Another night for rum and Motrin.....I sure hope we never run out of either!

2 years

See the picture over to the left? The happy couple barefoot in the sand of their favorite place in the world? Well, that was 2 years ago, yesterday.

We'll be back there the week after Richmond. There's nothing like September on Hatteras Island. It's even worth the very real threat of hurricanes. A couple of years ago, we ran off one side of the island while Isabelle was coming on the other side. Just wish we could find a way to hide there for a very long time.

Here's a couple of pictures from two years ago....

Lyd, and the girls

An explanation...my something old was a gold pin shaped like a palm tree. My grandfather, on probably the only vacation he ever had, went to Florida, and brought Lydia back the pin. So, I didn't want to lose something that meant so much by having it pinned somewhere, so I put it down the front of the brassiere. When Butch squeezed me and leaned me backward, the torture strapless bra threw my boobs up to my chin and smooshed the sharp leaves of the pin into the ta's. That was the moment the photographer took this picture.

We spent about 10 days on the island and towards the end of our HONEYMOON, I looked at my now husband, and realized that the one baseball cap he had been wearing the entire time of our HONEYMOON said.....

I'd Rather Be Racing!

432...

that is how many staples I pulled out of a ceiling in a 7'x13' room, and yeah, I counted. Yes, we're back to re-habbing. We kinda slacked off while Connie was up. (okay, that's just a good excuse) We were back to it this morning. Butch was down in the demo'd kitchen grinding those kabillion nail heads out of the floor, and I was upstairs pulling down a ceiling. So tonight his knees hurt (from kneeling all that time) and my neck hurts (from looking up over my head for 432 staples).

This is what will one day actually be a kitchen. I know you're thinking where can I get that gorgeous combination of lower paneling, textured paneling with the 1800's theme over top and to say nothing for that unbelievable flooring. You just can't get a designer look like this at lowe's, this could have only come from the 1970's. We do have an avacado green stove and fridge, maybe I could get something for them at the yard sale. So I'm hoping that after layers of Kilz that I can paint the lower paneling white and the uppper a light blue with a chair rail running between the two. Hopefully, it will give the impression of wainscoating. Okay, so I'm not holding my breath, but it will look a whole lot better than this crap. The drywalled wall is where the cabinets are going to be, with the sink under the window. The stove will be in about the space now occupied by that darling rolling table and precious table lamp. It truly is amazing what crap people leave behind when they move.

Off to refill the ice in Butch's ice pack and to meet up with Dr Bacardi.

A visit from Panama City Connie

Butch's sister Connie from Panama City Fla is up here for a visit. She surprised Miss V, who had no idea she was here.

My little buddy Alex (V's grandson) wanted to use my camera, and he took these pictures:

Connie and Miss Mary (Bless her heart----Now, don't get me started!!)

A serious picture of Butch. If he would only wear something that didn't have FORD on it!

This is my buddy Alex and his mom Tina.

While the girls were up here, they did a ton of running around. Connie, of course, can't find hog maw in Fla. (go figure) so she buys 6 or so of them and carts them, and hominy home to Panama City. If you don't know what hog maw is, trust me, you don't want to know. Or, you could be brave and look it up. yuck is all I can say.
On Fathers day we had a big cook-out and Daren and Wanda and Christopher and his family came over. Miss V and R were there as well as the Fla girls. We ate, we drank, we told stories, and we threw some bocce. It was a beautiful day out and we enjoyed it immensely.

The girls were off first thing this morning to head to West Virginia for Mary, and then off to Panama City for Connie later in the week. Safe travels!

In the yard again

This is Butch tending to his hollyhock he planted across the road (along with the mint).

The next day, it was cleared by the guy who owns it. The triplets that live on the next road were starting to ride their motorbikes on it again, and they won't listen to the stay off my property, so he bulldozed it all. Damn brats.

Here is a picture of the peonie bush in bloom.

Hanging out

Not much going on lately, so I've been slacking on the entries.

Had a yard sale last weekend. Well, I guess I should say Miss V had a yard sale and I joined in. Believe it or not, I have never had a yard sale. Never even been to one. I know, it's hard to believe, but I do all I can to avoid them at all costs. There is no way I'm going to find some great treasure that the owner doesn't know about-ala Antiques Roadshow, and I have enough junk of my own. Hell, we moved two houses into one-we have 2 of almost everything. So we carted our crap, er, um-treasures over to V's. She helped me price things-how would I possibly know that a mismatched coffee cup would cost 10 cents. Well, Saturday comes bright and ungodly early I stumble over there and we proceed to "yard sale!" Let me tell you, people did not buy nearly enough crap. Butch had said, Don't bring anything home. If you have anything left, take it to Goodwill. There must have been hundreds of yard sales that day. There were entire communities that were one big yard sale. We didn't stand a chance back in her neighborhood. I made all of about 30 bucks and a sunburn. I think we're going to try having it at our house early in September. (after all, 2 races and a week at the beach in September are just not enough to do) We'll see if we have better luck here. I can't believe it was even my idea-I'm an idiot, what can I say.
We've also been working on renovating the other half of the Ringold street double house. We've got the kitchen gutted, and the dry wall hung. Next we have to work on grinding down the 4,000 nails that some dumas thought was the correct way to install the damn floor. We can't lay anything over them, cause they come right through. Oh, but the good news.....we bought a paint sprayer! You know this makes the painter happy. Got a great deal on a big Wagner-normally $198 marked down to $149, marked down to $99 as they were getting a new model and needed to move this one. Can't wait to see how much trouble I , um, I mean the painter can get into with that! Hey, all the carpets and everything is going to be torn out, so how bad could I be? I'll get back to you on that one....
Butch is doing his best to help stimulate the economy buy spending his government check on a new beer refrigerator for the garage. The old one was just so "inefficient", this will just save us a bunch of money in electric. uuum hmmm. He's out changing the door hinges on it now. Funny how that can make someone so happy.

gotta run...

Chirp Chirp

says the little birds.

Burp says Biscuit the cat.

Okay, I was going to tell you about the silly-assed robin that built a nest in one of our little blue spruces. I tore the nest out once and she built it again and did this.....



awwwww isn't that cute. Except that I was not climbing a tree when I took this picture. That's standing on the ground shooting down into the tree. See some foreshadowing here? So, for a couple of weeks when I mowed back there, she would fly out and sit in the liliac behind us and cluck at me like crazy. I'd try to mow around it as quick as I could. A week or two ago, Butch heard some chirping and looked in to find one baby robin mouth begging for food. A couple of days went by and I was out mowing again, and this is what I saw.....

three little birds chirping at me. Don't know what happened to four, there are always egg shells all over the ground here.
So I'm out mowing today and I do my donuts around that little blue spruce, and peek in and all I see is feathers. Big mommy feathers everywhere, and little bits of baby down. It was like saying Biscuits (the neighborhood cat) was here. I motioned to Butch that the birds were gone and his comment was "Wondered how long it would be before they were kitty breakfast" .

I know, I know, it's nature.
Rats.
Damn cat.

No Disney ending here.

Bonanza Extravaganza!

The firefighters in the tri-state area here put on a huge shindig this time each year. If you buy a raffle ticket for $100 you get to go. Or a $20 guest. This is a massive raffle. On Friday night, they call 15 $1,000 winners (must be present to win). On Saturday, they have the big raffle. Your 4 digit ticket number can get you unbelievable prizes. They pull numbers from a lottery machine every 5 minutes. The crappiest prize is $1000. Course, your odds are 1 in 9999. I'll still go for it. They gave away 3 Harleys, a Tahoe, an Avalanche, a Corvette, an Impala SS, Travel trailers and a pick up of some kind I don't remember. They didn't have any 4 wheelers this year. They do that with the raffle money. They make the REAL money in the gaming tent. People are crazy with blowing their money on fish bowls. (I never knew what a fish bowl was until I moved up here-hey, they didn't know what matzo ball soup was) They had any kind of spin the wheel you can imagine. But the real draw, is that for 10 bucks, you get a bottomless beer mug, for the entire weekend. There were some messed up people there! A bunch of us go down and camp there. We had a great campsite that James R had gone down and set his camper up on. That is, until the rain came. We were at the bottom of the hill. Guess who had a river running through their camp. Nothing like seeing Jimmy standing there, under an awning, cooking breakfast in his slippers standing in 4" of water and mud. Thankfully, he rung them out after he finished breakfast. We had a soggy but great fun weekend.
No pictures were taken to protect the not so innocent.
Oh, and Jimmy was the only one to win-he won a thousand. Butch and I were sitting in the music tent listening to a blues band, and eating lunch about 3pm when they started calling the next number for $5000. The first number was a 3, and I went "woo-call an 5!" and they said "5" and I yelled "gimme an 8!" and they called "8" and I STARTED SCREAMING "1-MAKE IT A 1!!!" and they said "7" and I said a whole lot after that, but none of it was particularly nice.
So, my number was 3581 and they called 3587 and I knew there was no way in hell that I'd get any closer than that. The 7 kind of fooled me too, all I saw was the slash and I did at first think it was a 1. dammit. 5000 bucks. crap. oh, well, drink another beer.

Spring 08 Richmond

okay, I'm late getting to this, but we've been really busy.
Here goes-
The weather was looking really bad all week before the race. I had every bit of rain gear packed and ready to go. Hey, we've spent quite a few spring Richmond races in the rain Saturday night, and racing on Sunday morning. You learn....eventually. We rolled down on Friday night, and spent the night at our favorite Flying J and met up with the guys Butch works with at Mack on Saturday morning. The day just got better and better weather wise. The worst we had was really windy.
btw, I took the camera but never took one pic.
The race was great, except for the squirrel wrecking Jr. I was glad Clint Bowyer won. All the newspapers and TV were saying that he stole the race. Nothing could be further from the truth. He ran an excellent race. Started like 31st and just methodically picked off cars, one by one, so that when the shit hit the fan, he was there to take advantage of it. Denny Hamlin just about stunk up the show. I imagine on TV it was probably pretty boring with the top 3 or 4 staying the same all night. I hope that they showed some of the real good racing going on back further. Like Clint.... there were a couple of Bowyer fans, one of them with us, and they had their chests stuck out when he won.
btw, I really hate that squirrel, bush.
I should have known it wouldn't happen. I saw Jr win his last race there at that prudy little track, and I really thought we might see him win this one. damn squirrel... and that's the nice name I have for him.

It's Here!!

The hutch is finally here. It came last night in the middle of us getting packed for Richmond. Didn't take long to get it stocked up though!

Norman Bollinger on April 18th 2008 built and signed this for us!

And the "Lotus Blossom" walls look superb! (if i don't say so myself)

We're off to the races this weekend. Jim Cantore and friends are painting a pretty bleak picture for this weekend weather. We'll see. It seems like it rains for the spring race enough that they ought to just call it a Sunday race. We're always coming home waterlogged. I just wish there was some way we could get to "The Rock" this weekend too. Thank you Andy Hillenberg for bringing back such a wonderful track.

Oh, still haven't gotten those plants in. We've had almost 5" of rain in the last 10 days and with the nasty clay ground we have here, you can forget putting a shovel in the ground.