WANDERING AGAIN

A lovely Christmas. I had all six of my children together for Christmas if only for a few hours. That gets harder to do every year and every occasion.

In less than an hour the taxi will be here to go to the airport and I am on the way to Jamaica again. By dinner time the cell phone will be off and I will be out of touch except for emergencies. No phones, no newspapers, no TV, no football or basketball. I expect to be home about Jan 21.

Happy New Year everyone. Ed or James will know where to find me.

A special shout out to Patrick, who had another emergency last night. Since I didn't hear more I assume he is doing better. The adventure continues!

Love to all,

Dad

RECOVERY

Enough time has gone by since the election for me to begin to recover from the depression I sank into that I can try to get back to normal life.

I intend to devote the remainder of the time to solving the great unsolved mysteries of the universe.

The first one I intend to investigate is "WHERE DO ALL THE ONE MISSING SOCKS GO?"

When I was in the Navy and all the laundry was done in massive machines the size of a school bus, we all knew that the elusive one legged laundry man was stealing the odd socks for himself.
The seventeen year old high school dropouts who worked in the laundry were more than happy to let him take the socks if he would do most of the work and stay out of sight most of the time. That left them more time to remove at least one button from each officer's and chief's dress shirts each laundry day.

When I was retired from the Navy and my wife usually did the laundry I found out that she was merciless in discarding any worn sock without necessarily looking for its mate. Mystery solved!

Now I live alone and do all my own laundry and since I have a small machine, I do laundry almost every day. I still lose just one sock in a pair every so often. Who can figure? Is the peg leg laundry man still around? Is the ghost of my late wife still working to see that I replace my socks, and other clothing, before they are reduced to rags? Any ideas will be helpful.

I do not intend to spend a lot of time on each question. From time to time I will move on to other topics like, the significance of human existence or the nature of God or the uniqueness of the social bond in the former USA as it decays into the Socialist Peoples Republic of the Beltway.

On a more practical note, it is almost Christmas and as usual I have done almost nothing to prepare.

I am going to visit Peggy at the Richmond outpost for Christmas and then on Saturday I am going back to Jamaica for a few weeks. I don't travel with my computer so I don't know how regularly I will post, but I have learned to check and answer e-mail from the hotel computers.

I will probably have something to post in the next few days.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY ANY _______ WOULD VOTE FOR OBAMA

Fill in the blank: Catholic, Jew, small business owner, military person, non-union worker .....

Since 2000, the democrat party has had one policy. George Bush is evil. The United States is the great Satan. Republicans are the demons of Revelation. The democrat party must destroy the capitalist system(evil Wall Street), free speech is a mistake, anyone with "too much" must give it to the government for redistribution.

Obama does not understand the Constitution. It was set up to limit government. Obama thinks that it should be modified by the courts to make it possible for the government to do everything "for the people", which is which ever group is in favor with the current administration.

Obama is a Marxist. He has already said that he will take from the ones who have too much and give it to those who need it. He is for government control of all education. He has suggested a Federal Security Force "at least as powerful as the Armed Forces". Like the Stasi?

Obama does not believe in the uniqueness of the United States and in the inherent goodness of its people. Even if he does very little to implement his more radical ideas, he only needs to do nothing to see the destruction of Israel, moderate and tolerant Islam and democracy in Latin America.

This would be the end of the republic as we have known it. Some of my friends and relatives think that is a good thing. I do not.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S UP WITH THE MARKETS

Here we go again! I still don't understand exactly how this blog thing works.

I don't understand the wild swings in the stock markets. I know a lot about the markets and I probably spend too much time following them, but I am clueless as to what is going on now. The extreme volatility is not warranted by the economic conditions. Now that almost all my wealth is in equities, I am very interested. I no longer own any real estate and the cars I own are barely above junkers, but I still have a considerable amount of gold and silver and I know where to get more at below current market prices.

I do know that when prices and values go up, they go up too high and when they go down they go too far as well. I knew that 14000 on the Dow was too high and was a bit of a bubble but 8000 on the down side is way undervalued. What I don't know is where these wild swings are coming from. Up to 10% of the total value of all the markets around the world in one day.

The amount of money involved is enormous. It has to be in the trillions of dollars. It is far more than any government can come up with. I don't seem to follow the flow of money. My financial advisers tell me that small and medium investors like me are standing pat. I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories, but it is suspicious that this is happening just at the time to influence the election. Where is the selling pressure coming from?

Also there is the short term trend that commodities (oil, Gas, gold, industrial metal, grain) usually move opposite to the financial markets. Not so this time. Precious metals are down 30% from their highs and oil almost 60%. Go figure.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH THE MARKET

AUTUMN CONTINUES

And maybe I'll tell you what I really think next time I see you. It wouldn't go in a family site.

My apologies to my land lord. He had a crew in last weekend and put a whole new roof on. I suspect he knew he needed a new roof for some time, but was waiting for a complaint.

I spent the whole of the last two days arranging my winter vacation. I hope that it will be as much fun as it is work to set up. I have discovered that I know more about how to get around the Islands than most of the local travel agents. I can also get significantly lower prices when I deal with the resorts directly. Who would have thought. There is a bundler, usually in Florida, who handles a large number of resorts and then the local agent and they all have to be paid.

But all these places have web sites and 800 numbers and you can deal with them directly.

The middle men provide a useful service, but are usually not ready for the man travelling alone. There are agencies who specialize in travel for single men, but I haven't found one yet for men like me.

AUTUMN, THE END TIME

As the Sun sets this evening earlier every day, I can't help feeling it as a metaphor of the USA. If the Marxist wins this year with a super majority in congress it will be the end of the Republic as we know it.

Some of my children think the replacement of American capitalism with Marxist style socialism is a good think. Well, whatever you think of the Bushes, you will miss them when they are gone.
Not only is Obama a Marxist, but he is a machine politician and crook of the worst sort. Chicago politics is as bad as Tammany Hall or Boston's Irish Mafia. Unfortunately for the nation, Obama will be in a position to halt all investigations and prosecutions before he is indicted for corruption.

I am sorry for the nation and for the mess my descendants will have to endure. I can only be proud and grateful that I had the good luck to live in the United States and serve it during the period of its greatness.

I can only hope that the American people will realize what is going on before it goes too far and reverse course. I am not hopeful because I fear that Obama and Acorn will distort the franchise to prevent any opposition or reversal of the democrats suicidal national policy.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy myself and spend my money before the new government can take it away.

TECHNOLOGY TRAP

Up until about 1850 a man and his family, a few friends and livestock, tools and a lot of hard work, could set off to the wilderness of Kentucky or Kansas, set up and make do.

I don't have a clue about how to fix most of the things I use everyday, let alone how to build them. I used to know how to do computer programming. Now all I can do is fill in the blanks on applications like Excel. I did have a car I could fix myself (the 65 Mustang) until last year. Now I can't even get my hand into the engine compartment.

Last week I got a greeting card in the e-mail last week and when I opened it I suddenly found myself off the internet with many of my programs corrupted. After many phone calls, I spent three hours on the phone with a very nice gentleman in Madras, India. After a long session, and $250 later, my computer had gotten rid of several very nasty spyware and trojans and I was back online. My accounts all needed to be reestablished but I'm working on it.

Last week I bought a used car because I wanted something a little fancier than my jalopy of the van. Just three days after I brought home I got engine warning lights. I took it back to the dealership and was told it would cost $650 to fix. I maintained my cool and they finally fixed it at no cost to me. I didn't even have to threaten them.

My point is that we are in a situation where all these machines have become essential to our lives. Then consider that they mostly run on electricity from a nuclear power plant a hundred miles away or on oil that comes here on ships from Arabia. Our politicians are more concerned with free school lunches than establishing real self sufficiency. Nuclear power is wrong. Oil companies are evil. No new production. We can't go after new coal production.

Maybe that is why West Virginia is still a wilderness.

PLANNING

The Landlord was quick to promise someone would come by to check the roof. I haven't seen anyone but the roof doesn't leak on a sunny day. Sometimes I think that Chic's Beach operates on Jamaica time.

I don't feel nearly as rich now as I did last week, but it's only money and at my age, you shouldn't put off gratification.

My plans for the Fall and Winter are beginning to come together, although I may have waited too long to make some of my plans, I will find something to fill in the time. I have been told that some of the places and dates I wanted are booked full, particularly at the single rates.

October 11 is the Dean Applebutter festival in Mechanicsville and sometime I will have to fit in a visit to a movie theatre to see "Express", the movie I have heard so much about.

November 15 is the Notre Dame game in Baltimore.

November 27 is Thanksgiving. I have been invited to Peggy's and I intend to be there.

December 6 is the Army game in Philadelphia and our 13th Company mini reunion.

December 25 is Christmas, which is probably at Peggy's again this year although I haven't talked about that yet.

December 27 back to Jamaica to Negril, until Jan. 6. I wanted to stay longer but the resort is sold out. I will look into going to someplace in Ocho Rios, Montego Bay or Runaway Bay. There is not much to see in Negril outside the resorts, which are pretty much the same.

About mid-January I am looking at spending a few days in either Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.

Then it is off to St. Maarten in the Leewards to embark on the S/V Caledonia, a Canadian barkentine, that is based in Newfoundland but spends the Winter in the islands.

That should leave me in Grenada about Feb. 7. When I get the paper work for the cruise, confirming the debark schedule, then I will look for a place in the down islands to hang for about a week. Grenada, Barbados or Trinidad come to mind. I know that I can get a flight from Barbados to Kingston for the next part of my adventure but I will not be filling in details like that until I get the paperwork for the parts of the trip I already paid for.

Then it is back to Negril about Feb. 18 until early in March. Then I think I'll come home for a few weeks.

My sailing club is looking at early April for the Virgin Islands cruise, but nothing firm yet.

When the plans are set, I will write up a complete schedule for anyone interested.

FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

Who said anything about getting rid of the van? I have been offered a trade in on the van, but I don't think I want to do that. I am still waiting for the credit union to come through with the check.

Of more immediate interest is the weather. We have had a steady Northeast wind for about six days up to 60 knots. The closest beach is gone, but it will come back later. It always has as the weather changes later in the season.

At the height of the storm my roof started to leak. I didn't realize it until I went to the closet to get dressed to go to work. I had to run the dryer to get dry clothes to wear to work. I spent the morning checking to make sure the closet dried out and the clothes won't get mildewed. I have not been able to contact the land lord this morning, and no one can predict when he might get around to repairing the roof.

PLUS CA CHANGE, TOUT LE MEME CHOSE

I found a car I intend to buy. It is a late model Saturn SL1 just like the one I gave Ed last year but much more recent. It doesn't cost much and it is from the used car division of the Saturn dealership so I think it can't be a lemon.

It has what I want. That is a working A/C unit, cruise control, four doors and a usable, if small trunk. It is also looks like a new car after the dealership cleaned it up. The big thing is that I won't be ashamed to drive and even ask someone to ride in with me.

I'm waiting for the approval from the credit union and I may have the car by this weekend.

A WILD RIDE

Two of my children, and some of my friends, have called to ask me if I am worried about my money. Well, yes and no. The current "crisis" is much exaggerated and politicized. The government must act to maintain liquidity in the market place, a reasonably stable currency and the underlying faith in the capitalist system. The failure to inject sufficient liquidity into the markets in 1929 by the Federal Reserve was one of the things that made the great depression so bad.

On the other hand, the resultant volatility has stopped me from making certain adjustments to my holdings that I had planned for this time of year. And October is traditionally the worst month of the year for the markets. What bothers me about the proposed "bailout" is that there is nothing in it to end the addition of new bad credit to the mix. The president or the secretary should immediately cut of the guarantee of any loan where the borrower does not reside in the property, end new sub prime guarantees and political contributions from any company involved in the "rescue" or their officers. Now I hear that the politicians are taking about adding relief for auto loans and credit card bills. There is more but I don't have time or space to go into it. My point is all the bad things that are included in the current package. It provides relief for many of the people who caused this problem and don't deserve relief.

As for the long term, the Federal government should make money on this package. The loan to AIG is at Prime plus 11 1/2 %. If you can't make money on that, you don't deserve a government job. When Clair went off to college I had to sell stock on the day the Dow was 750 to pay Georgetown. Those who complain because the stock market is down from its high of last year have no sympathy from me. I am still richer right now than I ever thought I would be.

In the long run I think everything will eventually work out AS LONG AS THE GOVERNMENT BACKS OFF AND LETS THE MARKET WORK ITSELF OUT.

While McCain is clueless when it come to macroeconomics he can spot a crook when he sees one. He has been a sponsor of several attempts to reform the system so that this debacle would not happened. These were blocked in the Senate by the very people who are now blaming the republicans for the results. McCain predicted what would happen on the floor of the Senate in 2005. The reform bill never came to a floor vote because of a straight party line vote on a "procedural" issue.

Obama, on the other hand, has a very good understanding of economics according to Marx and Engels and would impose those on the nation.

I fear for the country.

SUNDAY MORNING COMING DOWN

Sunday mornings walking on the beach. I always think of Johnny Cash, a great local favorite. Many of my neighbors can relate to Folsom Prison Blues since they have had many similar experiences. During Monday evening football, most of the non game talk will be about who spent the weekend in the local lockup, but I love the neighborhood.

I've already been to brunch and for a walk on the beach. Not much beach since it's high tide and the wind is from the Northeast right in the mouth of the bay. I think I'll take a nap and watch part of the Redskins and Giants games next door. And then there is the Neptune Festival Airshow (Blue Angels performing) and I might look in on the model train show at the Convention Center.

Thius retired life is sort of difficult but someone has to do it. More tomorrow.

FALL HAS ARRIVED

I said recently that the weather would break about the middle of September and the Fall weather arrived exactly on time. As I was sitting on the beach yesterday, the cloudless warm day began to deteriorate and by the time I left the beach there was a cool wind and overcast and then showers by dinner time. Today there is a steady cold rain and a high temperature in the 70s F. We will have more nice weather later in the Fall, but it looks like this week is out for any outdoor activity. I have to start going to the City Rec Center.

Sooo, it's time to start thinking about my Fall and Winter travels. I guess in October I will be going to Richmond to visit the Deans and Peggy and Sue and their group. Then in November there is the Notre Dame/Navy game in Baltimore and of course Thanksgiving, and in December there is the Army game in Philly and Christmas.

Then after Christmas, I plan to go to Jamaica and then sailing in the Virgin Islands. I have also found a Canadian company that operates cruises similar to the ones the late and lamented Windjammer Barefoot group did. So I may be able to stay down in the Islands for a lot longer this weekend.

GETTING ORGANIZED

Summer is now over and I guess that I drifted through it without doing much. When I wasn't traveling, I just loafed around. The effect has shown on my waist line and my list of things to do.

So today in mid September I am making the resolution to spend less time on the beach or in the bar next door. I have to get busy clearing things out. I still have a storeroom full of stuff that must be sorted through and my apartment is full of junk.

I also have to establish some sort of routine and get back into the habit of regular hours for sleep and meals. For today though, the weather is still to nice to skip the beach and I really want to see tonight's football game and I don't have cable TV. Tomorrow will be good enough for a start of my new program.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEG

It's late and I have to get out for the Great Chic's Beach Pub Crawl, my habitual Sunday night exercise, but I can't let this go without a shout out for the third birthday of Meg Lavinder. It hardly seems like three years since we got the word that she was born. The news made Ellen very happy and that was not a year when we had a lot a lot to be happy about.

Meg has been called "the Tank" because she is large for her age and takes no guff from her older brothers. She is extremely smart and very competitive and will grow up to be a real beauty. I hope that there will be many more birthdays and thaat they will all be as good as this one.

Love,
Grandpa

ACTIVITY OVERLOAD

Last weekend, I had nothing to do and I never got out of the recliner. This week, I have a load of things that I want to do and I can't be in two places at once either. Then, since these are all live events, I can't record them to look at later.

Today there is an art show. a coin show, the annual in the water boat show, a concert at a local pub, and the rescue squad cook out and fund raiser, so I'd better get moving and see how many I can fit in.

FALL BLAHS

I had big plans for yesterday, but I spent the day lying around reading a book. I didn't do dishes or laundry or even go down to check the mail until about 6 PM. I resolve to do better today. I guess I should go look for a job but maybe I'll just go to the beach. there is not much of the nice weather left.

NEW EFFORT

This is a beginning of a new effort to get back in shape and loose weight. I am making major progress in improving my health and fitness. After Ellen's funeral, I was barely able to walk around the block. Now I can keep up with a tour group that walked over half of Italy.

The one thing is that I gained more weight and now I must make an effort to get back to a weight that is easier to live with. I know I'll never have the body I did 40 years ago but I can get to a shape that I like better than the one I see in the mirror right now.

Last spring, I told one of my neighbors that I was trying to get back in shape and he said "Round is a shape". He obviously can live with that, but I can't. That phrase has become a local in joke since many of my friends seem to be able to live with it.

Getting up early and making regular blog postings is part of my program, along with diet and exercise and maybe a regular job. Or maybe not that extreme.

Stand by for progress reports.

FIRST STORM OF THE SEASON

From the way the local TV and Press covered it, Tropical Storm Hanna was going to be the storm of the century. It was only a weak storm by the time it got here and since it went inland, we were on the "dry" side of the circulation and didn't even get much rain. There doesn't seem to be much beach erosion and today is a very nice day.

Since this is the peak of the season, we may not have another scare this season. Suits me! This area usually suffers the most damage in the Nor'easters in Feb, March and April. Hurricanes move fast over cold water North of the Gulf Stream, but the late Winter storms can hang around for a week.

So this week I'm going to look for a job. I'm getting bored and putting on extra weight. There is so little business at the book store that I'm not getting a lot of hours, so I'm turning into a couch potato.

But today is Sunday so I'm off to the beach.

SUMMER'S OOVER!

At least it is here a Chic's Beach. On the Tuesday after Labor Day there is almost a barricade at the corner of Shore Drive and Pleasure House Road that says " Residents and Guests only." I love it! Although it appears that Hurricane Hanna will spoil the first weekend of Indian Summer with tropical rains and gale force winds, there is still baseball, and college and professional football. The bar next store has all the sports channels on cable and satellite and ten screens. I think I can get though this storm.

So where have I been for the last three months since I posted last June? I don't take my lap top with me when I fly. It's too much trouble and since there is no road from here to Jamaica, I am forced to fly.

In June I went to Florida for a week to visit Kathy and her family and the in July I spent two weeks in Jamaica and then returned for James' wedding in early August. Immediately after that, I took of for a Grand Tour of Italy with my Grandson, Patrick. In between times I was too lazy or distracted to pay attention to this blog. I do intend to post more often.

That's enough for today. I have get going because today may be the last chance to ghet the boat out on the Bay. The marina is securing everything for the storm and then the weather usually breaks in mid-September which means keeping the boats up in the rivers.

SUMMER AT LAST

Now it's June and the weather has turned seasonal although the water isn't warm enough here on the beach to be comfortable, it is bearable. I don't want any nasty comments from those who live in the colder climes, like Maine and Richmond. Later this month, I'm going to Florida to visit Kathy and I think the water there is always warm enough to swim.

Peggy, Scot, Susan, James and Ed were with me at First Landing camp ground over Memorial Day weekend and we had the usual seasonal festivities at Chic's Beach to mark the start of summer.

The police were out in force on Memorial Day. There were 12 cops on our little stretch stopping people from drinking beer. Next will come the tickets for skimpy bathing suits. At least they stopped some people yesterday from operating jet skis in a reckless way. There are hundreds of square miles of bay in front of my house and these guys want to hot dog in the swimming area.

The police didn't see my neighbor popping wheelies with his golf cart Saturday night after a long evening in the Green Parrot.

I'll try to be more regular with the posts this summer.

OLD FRIENDS AND TIMES PAST

Three weeks ago I took a boat to Annapolis for my class reunion. I June of 1963 there were 896 men who graduated and went out to the fleet and for the last time the Air Force and Army. We know that about 120 have passed away, but we still managed to get about 400 to at least one of the events.

Of the 36 men in my company, we know that 6 have died. We have lost contact with three and of the rest 22 showed up for at least part of the weekend. That is a remarkable turn out. Most of my friends are still married to the women they dated at the Academy. It was a happy time but also a melancholy time. My friends and their wives were also friends of Ellen and we had gotten together several times over the years.

Nonetheless, we spent the weekend telling lies and sea stories, which are probably the same thing and promised to meet again in 5 years for our 50th reunion. I hope that we will all be above ground and vertical still. A lot of the conversation involved our assorted medications, procedures and illnesses. One can only try to keep on keeping on.

For me, the highlight of the trip was that I traveled to Annapolis by boat. I took a Carefree Boat Club boat on the 120 mile trip to the reunion and then slept aboard for the week. The hotel savings were largely eaten up by the current cost of gasoline, but I wouldn't have missed it. We were delayed by fog and rough weather but it was quite an adventure.

One of the interesting things was that when I woke up one morning after one of the parties, it took me about a minute to realize that this time it really was the room that was moving.

The Adventure continues.

SPRING?

I am forcing myself to make a short post this morning just to try to get back in the habit of regular posts.

I have been traveling a lot and been busy. I have not always had Internet access and I don't travel with the computer as much as I did. Nevertheless, it has been mostly laziness that has kept me from posting.

Last weekend was the wedding of my niece Beth locally and a lot of relatives came to visit. It was a very enjoyable time.

The weather has not been cooperating with the calendar as this has been a very cool spring. We have now finished up with a very strong Nor'easter that has kept everyone off the beach and the water. I want everyone to send an e-mail to Al Gore that he is falling down on the job.

More tomorrow.

SAILING OUT TO ANEGADA

One day we decided to sail from Bitter End on Virgin Gorda to Anegada Island. Anegada is some twenty five miles out into the Atlantic from the end of the Virgins. It is the only coral island in the chain. The other islands are all volcanic and hilly as the picture of the Bitter End marina shows. It is sometimes called the "Hidden Island" or the "Drowned Island" because the island can be completely overwashed in a storm. There are only 200 permanent residents and they don't evacuate. The houses are built like fortresses and they have their own reverse osmosis water plant.

We went up on a beam reach in a gale wind with gusts to 35 knots. The charter company told us to call for permission to go there but we thought they would say no, so we didn't call. The island is very low and hard to see from low in the boat. We got up to 9 knots in that wind from that boat. When we got there, the Captain said we should tack around and sail back for awhile because we hadn't been sailing long enough. She wanted to sail some more. We vetoed that. After four hours of being beat up by the boats motion, we just wanted to get to the mooring.

There is one restaurant on the island, named "Neptune's Treasure". We promptly named it the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe". I didn't know that my friends knew of Charles Adams. We spent a very pleasant evening discussing books, philosophy, poetry and adventuring. I also had the best meal I had in the islands.

Aside from a lobster the size of a small turkey, there was family style sides, fine wines from the French Islands to the South, real bone china and silver flatware, fine crystal glasses and liqueurs for a finish. All served on a beach overlooking the open Atlantic.

It almost makes me wish I had a girl friend to share it with, but I can't wait to go back. I don't need a girl friend because I didn't do anything wrong.

THE LONGEST MONTH

Well, it's over! I don't care what the calendar says, February is the longest month of the year. Waiting for spring can be one of the most difficult tasks of the years. This is a picture of the beach at the end of my street. In February I can have it almost all to myself. Even on the most crowded days, it doesn't compare to the New York beaches where I grew up.

When I was in school, we would call these "the Dark Ages". We didn't get out of class until 3 PM and it would be getting dark by 5. Football was over, baseball was yet to start, and with winter gales, rain snow and ice, we had problems getting any boats on the water. Exams were over in January, we didn't really get a semester break and it was months until spring break.

But now it is March. Daylight saving starts in a week, the bulbs are breaking ground and the temperatures are rising. Time to shed my winter depression and get out.

I have learned with Ed's help to put my pictures on the blog, so now I will post my vacation and other pictures with comments. Prepare to be bored.

ANNIVERSARY DAY

Today would have been my 43rd wedding anniversary, but a little over two years ago She finally lost out to the long illness that had made her a virtual shut in for many years. I miss her very much and I will not find anyone like her in this world. I would like to ask all those who follow this blog, mostly my family, to remember her on this day and to say a prayer for us and particularly for me.

Fortunately, I have my family to comfort me and to give me a reason to travel and visit and to carry on. So I am continuing my plans for the year and trying to decide what I will do for the next 35 years. During the next few posts I will list some of the ideas that I have considered and discarded. Please wait until I ask for suggestions so I can tell you what I won't consider.

Last weekend I went to Annapolis to visit my new friends at the Annapolis Sailing School and Tiller Club. I also visited Chris Bea and the Harbormaster in Annapolis. The only possible glitch in my plans for my reunion in April is that the renovation of the harbor may not be finished in time to bring my boat into the inner harbor. They assured me that I could tie up any time after April 15. But that is a government project and who knows.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES

Today is the birthday of my youngest child who is supposed to fly home from San Diego today. The weather is not cooperating. That is not unusual in February. There is fog on the west coast and snow everywhere in between, but I am sure he will make it for the weekend.

I am recovered now and getting about, catching up on the mail and tasks that I left undone when I went on vacation. One thing is to buy another car. The one I'm driving is almost 20 years old and is not reliable. I don't want much, just a reliable, comfortable car.

I have to go through the storeroom and give or throw away or use up most of that stuff.

This summer I will be looking for part time work on the many boats that operate out of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach waterways.

I am not looking forward to another long trip before at least next summer.

I voted for Romney yesterday because I wanted to send McCain a message. I will say more about him some other time. I don't want this to get too political.

RECOVERY ROOM

I left home the day after Christmas and got back last Saturday morning at 3 AM. Aside from a few days in airline Hell, I had a wonderful time and was tempted to stay for a few more weeks.

There were several reasons why I came home. I had run out of the prepaid part of the trip, the Windjammer Barefoot ships are no longer sailing the Caribbean, I was totally exhausted and I wanted to come home to watch the Giants play the Super Bowl from my reserved seat at my local.

So the Giants won the game. It was a great game! Many of these games turn out to be anticlimactic. This was worth the effort to watch it with my friends.

I had three weeks in Jamaica of non-stop partying and then a week on a 43' sloop in the British Virgin Islands. Then we went to a villa on the mountain in Totola to unwind for a few days and then I took the ferry over to the American side and spent a few days on St. Thomas and visited St. John's. They are all beautiful Islands and there is no real estate bust in those islands.

When the superbowl was over, I went into a collapse and I finally have gotten to the point where I feel a little rested and ready to go on. I have a lot of pictures that I have to sort through. Some of them didn't work out and need to be deleted. Then I have to figure out how to get some of them into this blog and in e-mail. I have tried before with lack of success.

I will post more often but for the next month or so I will be sticking close to home.

So my apartment will be my recovery room for at least another week.