Wandering Mick

SPRINGTIME, MAYBE

2011-04-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

There was one warm day last week, sunny with a high of 80F(25C) and the next day every early flowering plant was in bloom. Forsythia, dogwood, fruit trees, and even the daffodils and tulips which had been hiding from the late snows and frosts were showing their colors. It reminded me of the spring times I spent in the Mediterranean, in Spain, Italy and Greece. After a dreary Winter, Spring arrives overnight. Demeter returns from Hades and the hills are covered with wild flowers and the clouds are gone until next winter. Unfortunately that isn't what happens in north New Jersey. We haven't had anymore frost or snow and the colors haven't gone completely, but the days have been chilly and rainy and thunder storms and bad weather has been the norm. Fortunately, MY training session is almost done and by next Sunday, I will be back in Virginia Beach, where I know that Spring has really arrived.

THE STATE OF TURNPIKE

2011-04-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the late 1960's my uncle Bill Hogan moved from the Bronx to Fort Lee, New Jersey. At that time the Giants were still playing in Yankee Stadium and the "Meadowlands" was a Tidal swamp that stank of raw sewage at low tide. From his apartment you could look over the swamp. The Jersey turnpike had been in operation for several years and was going through a big expansion. He would often say that the turnpike authority intended to pave the entire state and make it just a way for everyone to travel between New York and Pennsylvania. That is just what they did with that area. The Meadowlands is now a combination of Sports venues and their associated parking lots. There is a football stadium, a racetrack, a hockey rink and a basketball arena. Then there are highway interchanges that rival anything in LA. But the Turnpike Authority did not rest on its laurels. Here in the center of the state the Turnpike is undergoing a major expansion. It is already six lanes wide and it is being expanded to at least 12, 6 in each direction. The ramps and toll stations are being moved and expanded and new interchanges are under construction. The roads around the expansion are also being widened and "improved". The result is a big, muddy mess and traffic congestion on a full time basis. If my Uncle can see this now, he must be laughing. Eventually New Jersey will be nothing more than some beaches, the Delaware Water Gap, the Pine Barrens and THE TURNPIKE.

SNOW, ICE, COLD AND RAIN

2011-03-24T16:40:00.000-07:00

Haven't they ever heard of spring in New Jersey? Last Monday was the equinox and the first official day of spring. There has been snow or freezing rain everyday since then.

We are doing Ordnance Handling this week on a driveway or in an unheated warehouse. The fork trucks don't do well on wet pavement and those steel chains and tie downs are brutal on your hands. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and cold(below freezing). The long range forcast is for more cold. Saturday is damage and flooding control with the certainty of getting wet. Oh well!

Next week is small arms training, at least they have an indoor firing range.

DON'T TELL ME I CAN'T FLY

2011-03-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

I made it through this week and now I have completed the most difficult physical part of the training. The beginning was working aloft and fall prevention. The rest of the week was firefighting training. I still have the bruises, cramps and aches but the rest of the training is not as strenuous.

When I was a child my mother told me I really couldn't fly like Superman. The Fall Pro training involves climbing vertical ladders in a safety harness and demonstrating four different kinds of safety retraints. To develop confidence you then have to step off the ladder and then swing to the next tower and then come down. Don't tell me I can't fly!

The fire fighting training is putting out fire in ship like steel mockups with water, foam, CO2 and other agents. We were wearing about 70 pounds of equipment and suits. "Bunker Suits", hoods, boots, gloves, breathing masks and air bottles. Not a nice thing to do to an old man.

I made it without falling out or giving up and next week is a solid week of explosive handling at Earle Weapons Station. Piece of cake.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

2011-03-15T17:47:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons that I sold my house was to get away from the routine chores that came with owning a piece of land. I have been telling my friends that I have mowed my last grass, raked my last leaves and painted my last wall (bulkheads are not walls).

My yard is gravel and I am headed to a ship that has no dirt to grow anything.

Today I had no classes so I was assigned to cleanup duties. I spent my entire workday raking and bagging leaves and hauling them out into the woods to dump them. Oh well, at least they are paying me.

AROUND THE WORLD

2011-03-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke to the news of a really devastating earthquake in Japan and Tsunami warnings all over the Pacific from Midway and Hawaii to California and Chile. What has this to do with me in New Jersey?

My son James is working in Hawaii and staying in a beach front hotel near Barber's point and my grandson Patrick is going to Japan next week to his new USAF assignment. I am not worried about my son too much. He has matured a lot since I had to hide the car keys to stop him from going to the NC outer banks to surf the hurricane waves. I think that I can trust him not to walk down to the beach to watch the waves come in. Any problem that delays his shipboard work will delay his return home.

I think that Japan will get the airports back in service by next week and in any case the Air Force will take care of Patrick if he gets stuck somewhere.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey the conversation is about how recent events in Libya, Somalia, Bahrein, Japan and elsewhere will change our ship assignments when we finish the school.

It certainly is more interesting than a Lazy Boy in Chic's Beach.

BACK TO BASICS

2011-03-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

The only way to learn how to put out fires is to put out fires. So now I am doing fire training with a whole lot of people about half my age. It is tough and the rest of it is the hard part. Next week is the rest of the fire training, small arms training, including the firing range, and survival swimming. We are getting safety training, which involves all the horror stories complete with pictures and film. I feel like I'm in driving school again.

When I get back to the hotel, I wonder about my decision process that got me to this point. Then I figure that the tougher the training, the easier the job. Onward and upward!

SUNDAY THE THIRTHEENTH

2011-02-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is the 35th birthday of my youngest child. He is the only one of my six children not born in November. It was a Friday. So I always look for good things to happen for me on the 13th of the month, particularly when the day falls on a Friday. Happy Birthday, James!

I am now going to try to call him in Hawaii where he is working now. Getting through would be good luck if he is not working on the ship today.

FEBRUARY

2011-02-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

I don't care what the calendar says, this has to be the longest month of the year. The temperature got down to 22F last night. I realize that my Canadian friends would not consider -5C to be really cold for a Feb night. It's just the odd day's tease like last week's one day of 70F but rainy. At least today will be clear, calm and warm(er). Spring will come.

This is Feb 12 which we once celebrated as Lincoln's Birthday until it morphed into the politically correct Presidents Day, except in the South. When I first came to the SOUTH over 50 years ago, I was told "We don't want no stinking Yankee holidays". Instead we had Lee-Jackson day in January, which has now become Lee-Jackson-King day as the Virginia Legislature could not bring itself to add a holiday for Martin Luther King. Oh well!

SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS

2011-02-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

Everyone is asking me about the commercials and the half time show during the Super Bowl show. I am even getting e-mails from companies I shop with on line asking if I saw their commercials or to rate their effectiveness. I haven't a clue.

I am probably one of only a dozen people in the USA who do not have a working TV in their house. So when I watch TV it is in the bar next door, where the noise level is so high that the sound on the game is turned off. I have no idea what the voice track is or even what the product is. The marketers are so clever and subtle that the product is not displayed or in the case of a service like banking or insurance can't be.

So I have no idea what the giant rodents driving a car or sitting on a park bench are trying to sell me. So I wish the ad peeps would stop wasting my time and delaying the games and save their money to pay dividends to their already filthy rich stockholders, like me.

MORE SNOW

2011-02-10T08:53:00.000-08:00

When I first moved to Norfolk in December of 1967, I was told that it never snowed here. We were promptly buried under about 15 inches. It turned out that Norfolk didn't own a single snow plow. Now, after almost 45 years Norfolk and Virginia Beach still don't. There are some trucks that can fit plow blades on them and various road repair equipment that have plows, but they still get caught off guard every time.

There have been winters when there was no snow. Other winters we got just a dusting or two. This winter we have had several heavy snow falls. Last night it snowed again and today the side streets are all covered with ice as the temperature still has not risen above freezing. Welcome to the sunbelt.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

2011-02-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

The Super Bowl is over. The Chargers are now Champions of the world of a game that is only played in the 50 United States. Oh well! This week finished up OK. I am healthy, in one piece, well fed, sober and home and well rested and looking forward to my next adventure.

Last Super Bowl Sunday, 2010, I started out in Annapolis buried under 2 feet of snow. It took all morning for the parking valets to dig my car out of the parking lot and then I had a long difficult drive home over snow covered roads. After the game I fell and cut my head open and spent the night in the emergency room and laid up for several days.

In 2009, I came home from the Caribbean with Pneumonia and spent several days laid up. I barely avoided a hospital stay.

This year is better.

NEW BEGINNINGS

2011-02-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

The Dark Ages are about half over but the days are getting longer and somewhat warmer.

This week I got a call from the Military Sealift Command that I had been hired and I should report for work on Feb 28, the last official day of the Dark Ages. They told me I should arrive for work that first week with my luggage, packed as if I would be gone for six months.

First I will have to attend a Mariners boot camp in New Jersey for about six weeks and then I will be assigned to a ship. I may travel right from that school or there may be a period of waiting. I don't know where I will be or how long the first assignment will last.

The adventure continues and I got tired of being retired. I realized that I was paying to do what I have been doing, crewing on ships and boats. Now I will try it as full time employment. I will give it my best effort and hope it works out. More in the future.

THE DARK AGES

2011-01-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Five years ago today was the day of my wife's funeral. When I was in school, we called this 8 weeks "The Dark Ages". The eight weeks between Christmas leave and the end of the winter sports season, the last weekend in February, were dark. The sun set before supper and we were sometimes on our way to class before sunrise. Semester break was always the last weekend in January and was only a weekend. There were always term papers and projects to turn in on return from Christmas leave and exams the last week of January. We were supposed to work on those during the leave. Sure!

Football was over, baseball wasn't started, Navy never was a basketball power and the rest of the winter sports were "minor sports" and interrupted by exam schedules. The competition swimming pool was a relic from the 1920's and the water cleaning system was broken for years. We used that pool for survival training too and by this time of year it was so filthy that it took courage just to get into it. The weather was cold, and rainy and we couldn't get the boats in the water for the ice. The spring sports were reduced to indoor conditioning, but Spring always came.

Now the administration has outlawed the term Dark Ages and the old alumni will take revenge at the Dark Ages Happy Hour at a local brew pub next week. Spring will come and now that the sun is out I am going for a walk on the beach.

NEW BEGINNINGS

2011-01-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the fifth year anniversary of the death of my wife of 40 years. I marked the day by visiting the cemetery and adding fresh flowers to her grave. They won't last long but the flowering pots of hyacinths and tulips I left will be a sign in the coming days of the Spring to come. I haven't been going there as often recently, but there hasn't been a day in the last 5 years that she wasn't on my mind. It isn't as difficult now as it once was but I can never leave those many years completely behind. But I have the family we created and life goes on.

So now I am looking for a job on the water and James is off to Hawaii on his job. I am looking forward to Spring and the Jets are still playing football. I have resolved to get myself back in shape.

In school we called this the "Dark Ages", but they always yielded to the glory of a Chesapeake Bay Spring.

JANUARY/JANUS

2011-01-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

I hate January! Cold, Snowy, sleet filled, windy and dark are words to describe the winter in Virginia Beach. The entertainment and lifestyle that make up the summer here are also missing. It is the end of things and the beginnings of others.

Janus was the two faced God of the Romans looking both forward and back. I met my wife at a New Years eve party 1959 and she passed away five years ago tomorrow. Claire's book store in LA is closing and I am looking to start an new career in the merchant marine. Two of my grand children are planning on getting married this year and there is always the next birthday of some family member, graduation, promotion or adventure. There is always a new beginning and when the weather gets this cold you know that Spring can't be too long behind.

Spring training starts in only six months and then comes another summer, another Baseball Season and long, sunny summer evenings. The Dark Ages will end just like they always did and the flowers will bloom again.

GLOBAL WARMING

2011-01-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

Anyone who tells me this is the result of Global Warming is stupid. I was two days late getting to Jamaica, and when I got home it was snowing. It probably will not stick this time, but the weather has been unseasonably cool so far.

So I am home, safe andsound and I will post more when I figure out how this works.

GLOBAL WARMING

2011-01-08T14:52:00.001-08:00

YOUR TAX MONEY AT WORK

2010-11-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the right decision is made for the wrong reason. When the frenzy for rapid transit gripped the nation about 15 years ago, the local politicians jumped on the bandwagon. The plan was to build a comprehensive network of rail trolleys through Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. This would reduce traffic and pollution and be a revenue source for the cities.

After much study and discussion, Chesapeake decided the costs far exceeded the benefits. Chesapeake is still very rural and the ridership would be small. Virginia Beach decided the social effect of letting all those inner city residents easy access to our, not so pristine, beaches would be unacceptable. The cost of obtaining rights of way made extensions to the Naval Bases impractical. The end result was a single line along the main route to ?Military Circle?!, a shopping center on the VA BCH border which is in decline. There is no plan for any water or river crossings.

The Virginia Beach decision may have been prompted by racism, economics, or just plain dislike of Norfolk, but seems to be the right one. Norfolk decided that it couldn't let all the beautiful federal money be spent by someone else.

The cars were delivered on time and are sitting on a siding being vandalized more than a year after the estimated start of service. The construction is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget, and the construction is plagued with problems. Someone forgot that much of Norfolk was built on fill over the swamps that were originally tidal. The track and overpass foundations are sinking back into the swamp before they have even carried a single passenger.

Now the state Dept of Transportation says that the rapid rail will not relieve any traffic and no one really ever thought that Norfolk could run this at a profit.

Lets hear a big Bronx cheer for the politicians.

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

2010-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today is the 45th birthday of my oldest daughters, Ellen Clair Lamb and Kathleen Ann Lamb

Where has the time gone? When they were born I was a young lieutenant on a cruiser in the South China Sea and there was a war on. Communications were so poor that the telegram announcing their arrival was mailed and I didn't find out that I was the father of twins until a week later. Then I had to spend hours in the Royal Post Office in Hong Kong waiting for a telephone call home to get through.

Now those babies are beautiful mature ladies and mothers of adult children themselves. I tell my children that I am still 24, it is only my knees that are almost 70. But despite my attitude I am still a fat old man.

The world has changed around me. Now everyone has a two way radio in their pocket and when I don't answer my cell phone, my children panic. I'm retired and bored and there is a new war in a place I thought was so remote it would never affect the USA. My parents, my in-laws, many friends, older relations and friends and even my wife have passed away. The British Empire has shrunk to a few enclaves in remote areas and even Hong Kong is no longer British.

But the adventure continues. My family is what I accomplished and each of those daughters has a child who is planning on getting married next year. Soon I may be a great grandfather. Go figure.

So I think I'm going to run away to sea. But more about that later.

NOTES FROM THE 'HOOD

2010-11-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

Down here in the little enclave known as Chic's Beach (sic), there is always something a little screwy, if not downright criminal, going on.

Lookout Road, where I live, dates back at least three hundred years when it was the lair of Blackbeard and other pirates, smugglers, slave catchers and fugitives, poachers and others who generally don't want a lot of attention from the government. Until recently (1980?) it was very rural, but with development came traffic, and all the inland foreigners (anyone living south of Shore Drive) who want to hang out on our beach in the summer.

Pedestrian safety has become an issue. There are no sidewalks and encroachments on the street right of way have made it impossible to put any in. A number of accidents here in the 'hood and over on Shore Drive have prompted an increased Police presence. Stop signs and speed bumps and pedestian crossing signs have multiplied. Speed traps and drunk driving road blocks are multiplying. The problem has been that it was often the pedestian who was drunk in several cases.

Yesterday, I noticed that the yellow pedestian crossing signs in front of Hell's Kitchen Bar had been altered. The stick figure had a cocktail glass in his hand, complete with a swizzle stick topped with an olive. I'm waiting to see how long it will take the city to notice and I wonder if the sign department will do anything about it. I don't think the "Drunk Pedestrian Crossing" signs are official.

NEW CAREER

2010-11-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

I have accepted an appointment as an Ordinary Seaman to serve on a Military Sealift Command ship. I am qualified to sail as a Merchant Marine Officer, Third Mate or higher, but I lack the current documents.

I am currently going through the screening process. That includes drug testing, a complete physical, and a new security investigation.

I am filling out a form that is about 40 pages. The older I get the harder this becomes. Many of the people who could vouch for me are either dead or retired and moved to the swamps of Florida. When I get it done, I don't know how much effort the agency will put into the investigation, afterall, it is only an entry level job.

But if any of my family or friends get calls asking questions about me I hope you won't tell any stories that shouldn't be repeated.

SAMHAIN

2010-11-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know exactly what the date of The ancient Celtic festival is this year, but it has been adopted by the Catholic Church as Halloween and All Saints Day and has become Chic's Beach major holiday. The costumes at the parties ranged through the usual pirates and vampires but also included more popular current themes like zombies and the Geico cave men.

The winners were a bunch of my neighbors who organized the whole crew of the Minnow. They were all there, Gilligan, the Captain, the millionaire and his wife and so on. They even got on stage and sang the theme song. I wish we could do this more often.

Tomorrow is the election, finally. I am so tired of it. I made up my mind months ago. Everybody in goes out: City, State and Federal. I am just sorry that VA has no Senator up this year.

Maybe the Rangers can work a miracle, but this is probably the last day for baseball this year.

IT 'AINT OVER TIL IT'S OVER

2010-10-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

This remark is ofter attributed to Yogi Berra and he has said it, but I remember my Father telling me that when Yogi was still playing second base for the Norfolk Tars. It's an axiom of baseball.

Cheer up Rangers. Until you make that third out in the ninth inning there is always time for the dramatic comeback. On the other hand, I would like to remind Nolan Ryan that even today, I can pitch balls, look at third strikes and drop easy fly balls and I could do it for way less than a $million.

Just remember, there is always tomorrow's game and you are never racing the clock. And eventually in the words of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, "Wait until next year"

I'M BAAAACK!

2010-10-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is over a year since I posted to this blog. Facebook has gotten me completely away from blogging. I just want to say more sometimes than will fit on that format.

To prevent this from becoming a political rant I think I will develop a theme of telling stories from my family and life. Since this is world series week, I think I will start with baseball stories.

My father was a really fanatic baseball fan and particularly of the NY Yankees. My birthday is October 2. In 1941, the Yankees were playing the then Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. My father took my mother to the hospital and went to the maternity waiting room. There was no radio in the waiting room. Radios were not portable in those days so as game time came around my father went home to listen to the game.

When I finally did appear about three in the afternoon, the doctor went looking for my father. He was very upset when he had to call my father at home. Dr. Costabile was a very large Italian with a very broad accent and a talent for invective which he displayed that afternoon.

Until the day he died, my mother never let my father forget that. Now even TVs are everywhere and portable and we are seeing the World Series in November. The AP wire is carrying a story that the league is discussing adding wild card teams and another playoff round and making the conference series 7 games. We could be playing baseball in New York or Boston in December. This is Progress?

OMG!

2009-10-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Nobel Peace Prize to Obama? Ho Chi Minh and Henry Kissinger were doubtful. Jimmy Carter was a brain malfunction. Al Gore was a joke. Now we know that the Nobel Prizes are totally valueless. First I saw that a prize was given to someone because there were not enough women receiving prizes in the physical sciences. Now the Prize Committee is awarding the prize in an apparent effort to influence the future policies of an American President who hasn't done anything except utter meaningless platitudes about universal peace.

Obama is the American Neville Chamberlin. He is selling out the American people just like Chamberlin sold out the peoples of Central Europe. It was politically popular with his constituency at the time but led inevitably led to war. We are bound into a wider war if current policies are not quickly reversed. There is evil in the world and Obama seems to be ready to give into it.

Now I have violated my intention to keep my politics out of this blog and guess that will never change.

Now I am going out of town again and not taking my computer. Next post in a few weeks.

TRYING AGAIN

2009-10-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

It has been almost two months since I posted in this blog. There are a variety of reasons for that. One of them is that I have been in a funk ever since I got back from Jamaica in July. I am going through a mid life crisis. At least I hope it is midlife. That means I could live to be 136. I wonder how bad my arthritis would be by that age. I need to find a new career. If anyone knows of a job that involves high pay and not much work that doesn't involve grand larceny or politics, let me know. But then I repeat myself. Another reason is that my family has gotten me onto facebook. Most of my time on the computer is devoted to face book and its offshoots but it is an interesting way to keep in touch. I have 40 friends and could have many more. It take a lot of time.

I will try to post more often when I am home and keep this blog free of political screeds.

TRAFFIC REPORTS

2009-08-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest pleasures of being retired is to get up in the morning and listen to the traffic reports and the problems people are having getting to work, and then going back to bed. The last real job I had, it was necessary to cross a number of bridges and go through at least one tunnel twice a day. Even ten years ago the traffic was getting noticeably worse on an almost daily basis. A minor accident and the roads were grid locked.

On Wednesday one of the tunnels was closed because it flooded in a thunderstorm at rush hour. It took hours to get the roads unsnarled. There is a trolley line under construction, but I doubt if it will do anything to help. Metro rail was supposed to relieve the Washington traffic. The only thought I have is about how terrible it would be without the Metro.

Retirement is getting boring, but any attempt I make about finding something to do has to consider my commute. In the meantime I will just sit here and gloat and maybe have another cool one. Have a nice weekend, unless you want to go through the Hampton Roads Tunnel which is already at all stop at noon on this fine Friday Summer day, both directions.

SURPRISES

2009-08-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to the Tides baseball game. The home team won and I got a ball from the game. There weren't that many people there and many left during the 90 minute rain delay. The surprise was that I checked the weather report before I left home and there was no mention of rain.

Now I see that a Virginia Beach post office is on the list of possible closings. This is still the biggest city in Virginia and still growing. I know the Post Office needs to contract but why not in some of the rural areas that are losing population.

Now I see that I am considered part of a mob because I've attended some political rallys to oppose Obama's policies. Maybe the Man is getting some of his own back from his community organizer days.

Then I want to know what Clinton promised the runt Kim to release those two journalists who were where they had no business being. It seems that Clinton is in a competition with Carter for the worst ex-president in our history.

I shouldn't be surprised , but I am.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2009-08-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning about 1130 AM and thought about what I needed to accomplish today. The answer was, nothing. That is a typical day in my retired life. At least when I go to bed at night, I can feel satisfied that I have accomplished everything that I set out to do that day.

Yesterday was typical of my days at home this year. I rose about noon, put on a bathing suit and a T shirt and thought about going for a walk on the beach. Instead I played with my computer, answered some e-mail, had something to eat and took a nap. Then I had some lunch, read a book, took another nap.

About 7 PM, I took a shower, shaved and put on some real clothes and went next door to watch a ball game. I saw that the ChiSox beat the Yankees 14-4 and decided I didn't want to watch another ball game and ESPN was showing extreme skate boarding. So I came back read some more and took another nap. About 2230 (10:30 PM for you civilians) I went back next door to listen to the band and then stayed until last call. When I came home I ate a sandwich and went to bed.

Today promises to be a repeat of yesterday, except that I think I really will go to the beach this afternoon. And then I have my customary Great Chic's Beach Pub Crawl on Sunday evening where I visit each of the 4 Local bars for at least one drink and try to watch the sunset from the deck at Alexander's.

GEEZERS FOR CASH

2009-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" is a "wild success" in that all the money is gone in less than a week. Oh really? Where has this done anyone else any good. I have already heard stories in my local that indicate that some of the Chic's Beach wise guys have worked a scam on the program. The reaction of Congress appears to be add more money.

We now have the Health Care Reform package which seems to have a provision in it that anyone with Medicare over a certain age will be required to submit to an "End of Life Review" aimed at rationing certain kinds of medical care and imposing conditions on continuing care, like weight loss, regular exercise, stop drinking and no smoking. Although I think maybe Pot and Crack would be exempted from the smoking ban.

Why stop there? At my current age near 70 and in good health, I have now become a burden on the Nation. I figure that with my military pension, social security, medical insurance other benefits and income, I figure that I cost the government annually about $100,000. I have a potential life span of 20 years. That amounts to $ 2 million. All of that would be a direct charge to the government. The taxes I would pay don't amount to that much.

Obama, Pelosi, Reid can propose a new program. They can call it "Cash for Geezers". Under the program the heirs of pensioners could deliver their older than 70 years family members to government "comfort stations" in return for a cash payment of 10% of anticipated government payments over their actuarial life expectancy. To qualify the geezers would have to be in good health and have a substantial remaining life expectancy. The government would then dispose of those useless members of society in a dignified and painless way with enormous savings to Social security and pension funds.

Of course, union members, politicians and selected individuals would be exempt from the program.

You don't think it could happen here! Take a look at the Dutch law about "Death with Dignity".

FACEBOOK

2009-06-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

My family is dragging me, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Last week they got me to sign up on face book and now I have a least 50 friends and another major time waster to fill my retirement years. Maybe what I really need is a job. Does anyone know of a position that pays a lot and isn't a lot of work?

I guess with six adult children, nine grandchildren and assorted inlaws, outlaws, cousins, etc. that makes a big network. But it does make a wonderful way to keep in touch with my extended family.

So I have make a point of keeping up with this blog or it will just waste away.

SUMMER WEEKENDS

2009-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

It's June already and the Summer seems to be slipping by already. I am not on the beach as much as in past years, but I do try to make it at least once a day. Sunsets can be really spectacular because the Sun sets over the dust and haze of the Virginia Peninsula and turns the clouds many colors. Also, except for a few hours on weekend afternoons, there are very few people on the beach. I can be, sometimes, almost like having a private island. This area is a small peninsula east of the Amphibious base with the Bay on one side and the western section of the Lynnhaven river on the other. Any attempt to promote this area by the realtors, developers or restaurant people is resisted by the locals.

Last weekend Peggy brought her family to camp at Seashore State Park and I spent some time with them. We went to the Tides baseball game on Sunday. You can see photos on her blog. This Sat Ed came over for some burgers and we hung out for a while. Sunday I went to a cookout at James' place in outer nowhere, Va. Beach. Today he is off to Seattle to work on a ship in Bremerton for about six weeks. Tomorrow I am going to Jacksonville to visit Kathy and attend Patrick's High School graduation. How time flies! Next weekend is probably a Beach weekend.

Love to all, Dad

RETIRED ISN'T SO BAD, JUST BORING

2009-05-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Most days I wake up and after figuring out what day this is, I try to figure out what I have to do that day. Most days, that is nothing. At least when I go to bed on those days, I can have the satisfaction of having fully accomplished everything that I needed to do all day.

Today something different. Ed and I took a boat out from the Carefree Boat Club and spent a few hours on Chesapeake Bay and the Lynnhaven River. It was a beautiful day, even though cool and breezy.

In the narrows of the river we were escorted by some dolphins. This was the furthest up the river I have seen them.

The winds and seas were too strong to stay out on the bay but we had a good time in the river.

We then went to lunch at one of the local waterfront restaurants. I think I can handle retirement.

I like being out of the Bunker.

BACK TO THE BUNKER

2009-05-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

The bunker has its advantages. I got my resupply and the weather was fine for last night's baseball game and I was able to visit with my friends but today it is raining hard, blowing a full gale and cold for May. Where is global warming when you want it? The bunker has some advantages. At least it is dry and snug and no one is around to bother me.

Next week is Memorial day weekend and the weather is forecast to improve and be more seasonal.

I think I'll take another nap and rest up for the holiday.

Love to all
Jim

GREETINGS FROM THE BUNKER

2009-05-15T06:49:00.001-07:00

After the Homeland Security Department put out the warnings on dangerous extreme right wingers, I thought it prudent to disappear from sight for a while. Spring has finally arrived and it is very hard to do the things I think of as fun, like attend the local AAA baseball games and walk on the beach, from the bunker.

So last weekend I went up to Mechanicsville to take in a Soccer game and a T-ball game and visit with the Richmond outpost. Today I need to go for supplies at the grocery store. Then tomorrow I will be going to see the Tides play ball and next week I will take a boat out on the Bay for the first time this spring if the weather stays fine.

My friends tell me that the roundups will probably not be done until after the Obama equivalent of the Reichstag fire, sometime before the next congressional election. The hyperinflation and government confiscations to destroy the middle class are already in progress.

My plans for the summer are to visit Florida for Patrick's high school graduation in early June, and then two weeks in Jamaica in July. I am also looking for some work but this is not the time to do that. Maybe I'll see if they want someone at the beach to rent out the chairs and umbrellas.

I'll write again the next time I stick my head out.

BAD PENNY

2009-04-08T05:52:00.001-07:00

I'm back! I had to come back because I have to figure out how to pay my income tax and my credit cards were starting to get declined. So I have to spend some time at home living within my budget. I may have to actually find a job to supplement my income. The problem is that with the current tax code, the government will take at least half of every additional dollar up front.

I had a great time though. Even with the bad knees I enjoyed my little voyage and saw some new territory. It wasn't all water.

I always go off with all these ambitious plans and then don't carry them out. Some of this is laziness, but this time I really got hurt in a fall on a boat and wrecked my knees. I could barely walk. It was getting better but the cortisone shot from the Orthopedist did the trick and I feel much better. Now I just have to make sure I don't injure myself again because I still have the Arthritis in both knees.

The doctor told me that I would take a lot of strain off he knees if I lost about 50 lbs. Yeah, like that's going to happen.

More tomorrow, maybe.

SPRING TRAINING

2009-02-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Now that we have had our hard frost, 20 degrees F or -4 C for you others, spring is here and all the summer bugs will appear. It should be 70 F (18 C) this afternoon. Of course, we could use another hard frost in about a week to kill off a whole generation of breeders.

The big news is that by the end of this week the pitchers and catchers will report for SPRING TRAINING. The first workout for most teams will be Monday Feb. 16 and then by the end of the month Spring training will be in full action. I had hoped to be able to catch some of the exhibition games this year, but I will have to be in Tortola by the time of the first game. OH bummer! I am sure that I am getting all kinds of sympathy from anyone who may look at this post. Well, in the words of the Brooklyn Dodgers fans "Wait 'til next year".

At least I will be insulated from that craziness in Washington. Might it occur to our congressional representatives that any person who wants a a/d converter box for their TV already has one. Graig's list and e-bay are already full of them for sale by those trying to make a fast buck off another gov giveaway program. I don't want one and I won't get one. I only use my TV now to play Cd's(the sound is good enough for me) and DVDs.

As for the stimulus package, does anyone really think that the 5,000 laid off by Bill Gates at Microsoft are going out to learn how to run front end loaders and road graders? There is a lot more garbage in that thing but I have to close now. If I really get on my soap box, I could go on for hours and I have to get back to the boat show.

I was there yesterday and there are several cruisering trawlers of the type I want in the price range I am looking for. Prices on older boats are coming down fast.

But don't worry kids, I will not spend all your money on a boat, at least not this week.

I will have more to say before I leave.

Love to all.

HOME AGAIN

2009-02-03T06:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back! Been back about 10 days and not entirely sure that I want to be back, but I did miss my family and friends, even though I haven't had a lot of time to see them. I am back out of here next week and this time I will be going to see my daughter Kathy and her family in Florida and then off to the British Virgin Islands and the Leewards on a sail ship. This time I'll be gone until about the first of April, if I don't run out of money or credit before that.

I don't take my computer with me any more because the TSA has made traveling with it too hard. Also, Internet access in that part of the world is spotty at best. I will try to check my e-mail, but no promises. I see there are instructions now on how to post when traveling, but I don't know if this old dog can learn that trick.

I love Jamaica and the people are wonderful, but it is so poor. The government is ineffective, the politicians corrupt and the police are a bunch of thugs. That is no different from home but the weather and the people are warm and friendly so I can tolerate it during a Virginia Beach winter. They even have an illegal immigration problem of people from even poorer islands and places where the government is even worse, like Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti. Some of the comments about that sounded just like the ones I hear in the US.

The weather here is seasonal and many of the restaurants are closed for the winter, or the recession, or the minimum wage increase. Take your pick.

I may have some things more to post before I leave again or I may learn to post from another computer or maybe the pig could learn to fly!

LOL, Jim

WANDERING AGAIN

2008-12-27T01:59:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

AUTUMN CONTINUES

2008-10-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T07:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-30T06:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-05-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-04T17:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-03-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

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.

WANDERING AGAIN

2007-12-26T23:24:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Christmas with my family. All my grandchildren were not able to be with us but all my children were. It gets harder every year and every event to get everyone together but I want to make the effort as often as possible.

There are many of my friends who are my age and live alone and who have no family and I feel sorry for them at this time . If I did not have my family I would not feel the way I do. We have gone our separate ways again and I will be traveling around to see them individually over the next year. There were no fights during our visit, at least not in my presence.

Now I am off again on my winter vacation. In the morning I am off to Jamaica again and then to the British Virgins. That will take me up to Feb. 2 and I may extend my travels after that.

When I get home in the spring I will have to give a lot of thought to my long term plans for the future. I really don't want to work too hard, but I would like to make some more money.

This will be my last post of 2007. I am not taking my computer with me on this voyage. I do not want to waste beach and boat time sitting at a computer in the hotel business center. I want to wish anyone who reads this a Happy and prosperous New Year. The past two years have been especially difficult for me and my family. We do continue to look ahead and hope for the best.

My love to all through the year!

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

2007-12-16T10:48:00.000-08:00

Answer Girl wrote about the Grinch who stole Christmas in a recent post, and the first Christmas that her mother was very sick. That was a bittersweet time and I guess brought home the real meaning of the Holiday season. The birth of the redeemer is the symbol of renewal and the other holidays are the adaptation of the Roman and Greek festival of time. There is a reason the cartoon portrayal of the old year looks like the Greek portrayals of Cronus, the God who devours all his children and then produces them again. So we gather again and then look forward to a new year. The only real end is when you stop looking ahead and dwelling on past problems that nothing can be done about.

So I went to the closet and found my Grinch sweat shirt and I will be wearing it for the next week. I am not going to decorate my apartment for Christmas and after working in the store for five days several weeks in a row, I will be fed up with Christmas Music for a year. But I will have my family and the chance for a new year.

TWO DAYS IN A ROW

2007-12-11T06:12:00.000-08:00

I simply had to get that business off my chest. The real therapy was in the three paragraphs I deleted. Some day I may tell you what I really think of the personnel policies of the current Naval Leadership, Naval Academy Administration and certain Flag and General Officers. Probably not on the Blog, though, because I might end up in real trouble.

To close out the subject, big time college coaching is really more about personal relations than money or other factors. The Academy Leadership failed to treat a good man with the respect and consideration he deserved. In the long run he would have left because the US NA program will never rise again to the level that fits his talent, but he would have left on better terms.

As for the senior leadership, I will give you my recollection of a recent statement by a senior Naval Officer. DUH! When they are the majority and are fully "accommodated", guess who becomes the oppressed minority?

So enough, my solution for my current anger is to enjoy Christmas with my family and take off to the Islands after that. I am finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit with the weather warm and sunny and I'd rather be on the beach than in the book store. Right after Christmas, I am off to the Islands again. I intend to leave my computer behind and put my phone in the brief case on off. Coverage of US sport is spotty and therefore I don't have a lot of interest in the rest of the football season either college or pro. My plans for return are open, but I will be back for Spring Training. In the spring I may go to Florida and visit one of the camps. I always wanted to do that.

I guess it is time to walk the dog before we have an accident.

TOO BUSY FOR A RETIRED GUY

2007-12-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

My slightly euphoric mood from last week was erased when Navy lost it's head football coach. That was not unexpected after the way he was treated by Vadm Rodney RearEchelonMF, the Harpy Mafia and the current Supt., who is out to "deemphasize athletics", whatever that means. At least the current leadership had the sense to retain his assistant as the new head coach, but it remains to be seen how long he will stay as the Harpy Mafia continues it efforts to feminize the US Armed Forces.

I simply had to vent that. I know I am about a century or more behind the current political thinking, but there is a difference between women's rights and softening up the mission of the military, which when it comes down to it is to break things and kill people until the survivors do what we want. If that means some ones sensibilities are offended or their career options are limited by the need for special skills, so be it.

I feel that I have already said enough to get myself in trouble so I'll let it go at that.

I will continue to get on with my preparations for my next vacation. I am too busy for a guy who is supposed to be retired but it is mostly things I have fun at.

Only three months until Spring Training!

BACK AGAIN

2007-12-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

Now that my computer has survived a major crash, which wiped out ALL my files, I am getting things back to the way they were. I will resume my rather erratic posting schedule.

Since the great wipe out, I have sold my house and gotten rid of a lot more STUFF on my way to a more mobile life style. The hardest thing to part with was my 1965 Mustang Coupe. With no house, no garage and no place to store it, it would not have fit into my new lifestyle. I did manage to find a good home for it in nearby North Carolina with a horse farmer and riding stable owner who already owns four classic Mustangs, much to the annoyance of his long suffering wife. I may go to visit my old horse every once in a while.

For a guy who is supposed to be retired, I am very busy. I just got back from Baltimore and the latest Army-Navy football game. Navy won for the sixth year in a row. I almost feel sorry for the Cadets because I remember how I felt when Navy was loosing every year. But every time that I start to feel any sympathy for the Army guys, I ruthlessly suppress it! Sympathy can get you killed in a real life and death struggle.

Now that I have started again, I hope that it will be a lot easier to keep posting on a fairly regular basis.

LOW RENT REGATTA

2007-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Today, Labor Day is the true end of the Summer season here at Chic's Beach. The weather is glorious, sunny and not as hot as recent days. There is plenty of breeze but not as good as yesterday for sailing.

Watching the children play reminded me of when I would bring my children to the beach and made me sorry that Peggy and her children don't live closer. This is an ideal beach for children, without much surf and current and a gradual slope that means there is a right depth for all ages.

For years, the traditional end of summer ritual here was the "Low Rent Regatta". So named for the snide remarks made by some of the rich folks out at the ocean beaches. But it got too big. The police were worried about parking and traffic. The sanitation department about litter. The licence bureau about the food vendors that set up on city streets and private driveways, without permits and didn't pay sales tax. The final straw was when the city said the committee had to rent an exorbitant number of port-a-potties for the event. For a few years they found local corporate sponsors for the expenses, but ten years ago they finally declared the last tack and sailed off into the sunset. The event had finally become too much work for an event they started as a lark.

I am happy to report that the Chic's Beach tradition of racing hobbie cats on Labor Day weekend remains alive and well. The events is kept private to avoid the organizational hassels of past years. It still provides the basis for a party that I am just recovering from.

So it is 1100 and back to the beach.

END OF SUMMER

2007-08-23T08:42:00.000-07:00

Not quite the end, but things are starting to wind down with plans for Labor Day parties and back to school. The day after Labor Day the beach is deserted until next spring. It is almost like someone puts a gate up at the end of Pleasure House Road that says, " Residents and guests only".

But the weather stays warm and the water is swimmable until late October most years. That's when I enjoy Chic's Beach the most. This location is also mostly sheltered from Hurricane winds. Most of the beach damage and home wind damages happen during Winter Nor'easters. In that direction we are completely exposed to the open Atlantic.

Yes, I really hate dog fighting and the criminal bully boy society that surrounds it. The cruelty and disregard for the law extends very easily to anyone outside the gangs that run the fights.

What I don't understand is why this is a major Federal case. It should be the concern of State and local police. We are currently engaged in a war for the very existence of Western civilization.
There is a worldwide criminal terrorist conspiracy and a Congress as corrupt as any in history and major elements of the FBI, the Federal Marshals Service and other Federal agencies are tied up pursuing Micheal Vick. Somebody has their priorities screwed.

MICHAEL VICK

2007-07-27T05:01:00.000-07:00

I originally wanted to limit this to personal matters like what I did on my latest vacation and family milestones like graduations and such but the Michael Vick situation is too local and growing to ignore. Three of the four men indicted so far are locals and Virginia Tech is too close to the whole situation and there are too many local people who know Vick to ignore what is going on.

I hear a lot about "innocent until proven ...". Nonsense when applied to this case. There is a big difference between a court conviction and prison time and knowing some one is behaving in a way that I don't want to ever be near them or any of their friends or family again. Michael Vick should never play another game in a professional sport again. He should not be allowed to work for any broadcast, print or public media. He has joined the growing list of people whose mere picture on a TV screen makes me reach for the channel changer. I also will not buy any magazine, book or newspaper that features him. Except for the fact I cannot avoid the reports of his court cases, I don't want to hear about him or his associates or family.

I think that dog fighting is disgusting. Aside from the cruelty to the animals involved, the activity is surrounded by the worst gambling elements, illegal and dangerous drug and alcohol sales and abuse, prostitution, bribery and corruption of local officials and tax evasion. The dogs involved are worse than wild animals. With a few exceptions wild animals are not mean. They kill when they hunt for food or from fear. Pit Bulls and their relations kill for sport. There have been reports locally of packs of feral dogs hunting down deer for sport. Teasing the animals and then letting the kill lie because they are not hungry. Pit Bull attacks on people, particularly children, are frequent and often unprovoked. Pit Bulls are the SS Einsatzgruppen of the animal world and the people who organize it are worse than that.

Nonetheless the fact that dog and cock fighting and other "blood sports" go on around here has been a badly kept secret since Virginia Beach started growing and trying to clean up over thirty years ago.

If this investigation goes all the way, I would expect many more prominent names to be included. The names may well include more sports figures, political, business and community leaders. They should all end up in prison and forfeit large chunks of their wealth.

This post could go on for a long time, but Molly wants to go to the beach.

Come back next week and I'll let you know how I really feel!

VISITORS FROM THE FOOTHILLS

2007-07-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend Peggy came down to visit with Scot, Henry, Matthew and Meg. We had a very busy and enjoyable time. Friday night we went to see the Tides baseball game. The boys like the ballgame but maybe the like the big helmet cups full of ice cream the most. It wasn't a very good game. The Tides are now the AAA team for the Orioles and they are very bad this year, both teams.

Saturday Morning they came to the beach to see my new digs. All three of the kids are absolutely fearless around water and with a heavy surf in the bay this weekend had to be held and watched all the time. In the afternoon, we took a boat up the Lynnhaven River. The weather was gorgeous. The wind was dampened up the river and while there was some motion it was not as bad as the bay was that day. The boys entertained us by singing endless repetitions of "Take me out to the Ballgame".

I didn't know what to expect, since that was the first time they had been on a boat, but they had a grand time and had no problem with motion sickness. One of the boys volunteered that it was way better than spending the afternoon watching TV. Then we had diner and another walk on the beach.

They visited me on Sunday but they were too worn out to do much. A good time was had by all and I hope they can get back before the weather gets nasty this Fall.

GETTING INTO A ROUTINE

2007-07-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

At last I have gotten the moving down to a few boxes I am trying to find a place for and am getting into some kind of a daily routine.

For everybody's info, it goes something like this:

Get up and put on a bathing suit and take Molly for a walk.
Visit with our friends, two legged and four, and get some exercise. I'd like to swim, but Molly still won't go in the water and neither of us will run anymore.
Come home and get some breakfast and then check my mail and try to write the blog.
Then I may clean or do dishes or continue sorting through the boxes still piled in my living room, read some and maybe take a nap.
After lunch go for a swim, walk on the beach and visit my friends. No dogs on the beach in the day in the summer.
Come back to the apt. and now I'm really ready for a nap.
Get some supper and then take Molly for her evening walk. Then I have free time until the Great Chix's beach pub crawl at all two locations, or may four if I start early. The two restaurants close by 9 PM.

There are variations like yesterday I took out a boat and today I have to go grocery shopping and then there are days when I work at the store.

In between I have check that the tides and that the Sun and the Moon rise and set on time. Tough work but someone has to do it. But this only requires spot checks and no reports.

GLOBAL WARMING

2007-07-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

It is HOT! Yesterday in Virginia Beach the temperature reached 98 degrees F, but it wasn't even a record and we do have air conditioning but sometimes it can't keep up. I solved the problem by getting neck deep in the Chesapeake Bay and staying there most of the afternoon, until it was time for my nap. The humidity was high and that spawns the cloud burst that leaves the pavement steaming like it is on fire when the rain stops.

Today I have to work in the store where the AC zone control is no good and the sun through the plate glass windows add to the problem. Must be Al Gore's fault. It is HOT in July in the USA.
When I was in the Caribbean last winter, my Northern European friends (Russia, Scandinavia, even Scotland and Ireland) didn't have a problem with the idea of warmer weather at home. If there were only some way they could do something about the endless winter nights, they would never have to go south in the winter. Good Luck Tovarich!

Which brings me to the silly, stupid series of concerts to stop Global Warming this weekend. What a stupid exercise in hypocrisy. I'll admit that the weather seems milder now than say, forty years ago. We haven't had a significant snowfall here in over five years but it was 1980 that the National Guard Engineers had to come from Richmond to dig us out of a 41" snowfall. For my European fans, that's more than a meter. If I recall the last time Ches Bay froze all the way to Cape Charles was 1975. None the less I don't see daily high temperature records being set.

We only have good records going back about 100 years. I climate terms that is a mere instant. We have no idea what a normal cycle is and we do have historical records of significant climate changes in the past.

I am not in favor of rampant pollution, but this quasi religious fervor is wrong.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

2007-07-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

First, I was looking forward to spend the weekend on the beach doing beach things like watching the waves, broiling in the Sun and digging holes in the sand when I got a phone call and ended working the weekend at the book store. Well, work is the curse of the drinking class and I really like working there, even if I do spend more money there than I make most weeks.

Yesterday I went to the USNA Alumni picnic at Dam Neck. I had not been there in at least two years and was amazed at the construction going on. This was a really rural area until about five years ago. Soon it will be a major suburban center. One more reason to get out of town, although this little area where I have moved retains more of the old beach flavor than the rest of the city. The other reason is the local government. When the city council is not being stupid and incompetent, it is simply corrupt. Better to go someplace where the corruption as at least partially balanced by a degree of competence.

Then I hear that Ed's 2000 Dodge was stolen in DC where he went for a visit. It wasn't much of a car but it is an annoyance and it was almost paid for. I wonder if I took my cars to DC if they could be stolen. That's the only way I will ever get any money for them. Ed's OK and he can borrow one of mine until he decides what to do about wheels.

TWO DAYS IN A ROW

2007-07-06T07:26:00.000-07:00

On the Fourth, my son Ed, and I spent the morning moving more stuff out of my old house. We are almost finished, but I am running out of places to put stuff. Then I went for a swim and a walk on the beach. After supper, we went down to the beach to set off our fireworks (fountains, legal in Virginia).

The display was awesome. That is a word I don't like to use because I think today's young have overused and corrupted it. I can't find a more appropriate word. From the beach here at the end of my street you can see about fifteen miles both East and West and the intensity and volume of private fireworks dwarfed the professional shows that could be seen in the distance. At time the beach was lit brightly enough to read a newspaper. Even Ed who is not known for enthusiasm, was impressed. Then yesterday the neighbors told me it wasn't up to last year.

Now we a dealing with the aftermath. Two days later the waste management dept. is still down there picking up the enormous piles of trash and garbage.

Yesterday, I took a boat on to Chesapeake Bay. It was a beautiful day. This retirement thing is alright!

I'm BAAAAACK!

2007-07-05T07:35:00.000-07:00

As I threatened, I am resuming my postings since I have been chastised for not doing so.

Since my last post I have moved out of my house and put it up for sale. I am now living in a small second floor apartment about one block from the Chesapeake Bay beaches, where I have spending (wasting?) most of my time, when I wasn't moving stuff from my house. Even though I have been living here almost three months, the place looks like the moving van just left. This is a result of trying to fit all my stuff into four small rooms, when I have been living in a big 4br house with an attic and a two car garage.

The break in my postings has been partly due to the fact that it took more than a month to get my DSL connected and the rest to laziness.

I am also getting into some kind of a routine where I can set a time to sit at the computer.

MOVING ON

2007-03-06T04:31:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I signed a lease on a small apartment in the Chix's Beach area and talked to a Realtor about selling this house. This is a wrenching experience for me but it is time to seriously downsize. Even when I am home, I am not in this house that much and even then I have almost half the rooms shut off and never go into them.

I am off to Jacksonville, Florida today to visit Kathy and her family for a few days. Then next weekend Clair and Chris will be here for a visit and the last two weeks of this month, I will be going back to school. I am taking the Masters, Mates and Operators course and then the exam. It has been more than 20 years since I have had this type of commitment, 8 AM to 5 PM for two solid weeks. It will be a shock.

Then in April I move. This is the first move in over 40 years that I will be making alone. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

VACATION PICTURES

2007-02-26T06:10:00.000-08:00

This is the ice sculpture that was on the main buffet table at the resort in Jamaica for the New Years Eve dinner. I spent over an hour on the phone with Scot last night to learn how to post pictures on the Blog. Now I will be boring everybody with my vacation pictures.

Otherwuse I am looking at apartments to rent and tomorrow I have an appointment with a realtor to begin the process of selling this house. Next week I am going to Jacksonville, Florida to visit Kathy and her family. The last two weeks in March I will be taking the course and the exam for the masters/mates and operators license for coastal vessels. That license is a requirement to charter or lease any yacht without a crew. Where I go from there no one can predict. One step at a time.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to visit me here in Virginia Beach can go for a ride on Chesapeake Bay on one of the Freedom Boat Club boats.

FIRST DAY OF SPRING

2007-02-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

This may sound a little strange since it is still a full month until the equinox, but yesterday the temperature was 70 degrees F and sunny in Virginia Beach. Some of the spring flowers are already in bloom. For my Canadian friends and relatives, that is 21C. We may still have another frost and the worst snows here are in late March in the Spring Nor'easters, which over the years have done more damage locally than most of the hurricanes. That is because of the way the coast lies and they stay around for days while most hurricanes blow through in about eight hours.

It took me all this time to get my e-mail back to full use and to find my custom home page. I still haven't figured out how to get my pictures on the blog or the e-mail even though I just spent all morning trying.

I just realized it's one in the afternoon and time to go out and get something done.

BACK TO NORMAL?

2007-02-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have no idea of what normal is. Nonetheless, over a week has gone by since I got home and I am finally settling into some kind of routine.

I still haven't cleaned out my e-mail and the snail mail seems to be getting ahead of me, but I have been making progress on the other things I have to do.

Today I will simply share a few politically incorrect stereotypes with you.

Heaven is where the:
Police are British
Cooks Italian
Mechanics German
Lovers French
and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the:
Chefs are British
Mechanics French
Lovers Swiss
Police German
and it is all organized by the Italians.

If there is anyone I missed insulting, I can make up more categories for more diversity. Anyone can play.

Goodnight all!

SLOW GOING

2007-02-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is the third day and it seems like the new mail is keeping up with my efforts to clean up the old mail, both e-mail and snail mail. But I will get around to it all. Many of the shipmates I had on POLYNESIA have sent e-mails and want my pictures. The digital pictures came through fine and I think there are close to 2000. I also dropped off six rolls of film today and they won't be ready until next month.

The groundhog says it will be an early spring. I sure hope so. This week is the boat show at the convention center. That will provide some diversion. I also canceled the cable TV today. I find that I just never turned on the TV and I didn't miss it. They also raised the price and didn't add any new items.

Tomorrow I will begin to try to post some of the pictures to this blog and to my e-mail. If it doesn't go well, then I will need help.

SNOW

2007-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

It never snows in Virginia Beach! To greet me home from my Caribbean vacation, it did snow today. It didn't last very long and now it is raining with a forecast of cloudy, cool and rain for the rest of the week. It is not cold in the way most of my new Canadian friends would think of cold but the temperature is near freezing and that is cold here.

I forgot to mention that i saw the Green Flash in Jamaica. Fifty years on the water and I had begun to think that it was one of those old jokes like the sea bat, the bucket of steam and the left handed monkey wrench. It does require a perfectly clear horizon, which is rare in the North Atlantic.

I spent the last two days trying to clean up the month long accumulation of e-mail and snail mail. By tomorrow I should have everything urgent taken care of. I did download my camera to my computer and I have a lot of good pictures. I have to spend some time to make up a slide show and put it on disks for everyone. I will try to put some of the best pictures on the blog when I figure out how to do that.

HOME AGAIN

2007-01-31T08:40:00.000-08:00

I got home last night on time and Ed met me at the airport. Remarkably, after five weeks and a dozen places everything was on time and worked as advertised.

During tne last month I tried not to miss any opportunity to have fun. I sailed hobie cats, sunfish and even Denis Connors' STARS AND STRIPES. I swam every day and didn't miss any chance to go out snorkeling. I climed hills and walked to the top of fortresses that were much higher than I thought they were when I started out. I took hundreds or pictures that I hope will turn out OK. I played every silly game and danced at every opportunity. Near the end of my stay in Jamaica, the hotel staff threatened to throw me off the island because I was having too much fun and I might use up all the fun so there would not be any left for someone else. I told them they would need to make their own.

I was in much better physical shape than last summer and better able to keep up with the more athletic set. On the other hand I still don't consider myself to be ready to SCUBA dive and I did not do the rock wall climb or the circus trapeze or gymnastics training. I also resisted the temptation to buy a Yacht, but I was sorely tempted and came very close.

But I am back in the world and it's back to business. I think I made some friends that I will wish to keep in touch with and I already scheming on when my next trip will be. I will be in touch. You may get a Christmas card this month or you may not.

If I offended anyone by not sending them a card or a present or a call over the holidays, I apologize.

SEASONS' GREETINGS

2006-12-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!, Happy Hannakah and Happy Kwanza. I found it very hard to get up any real holiday spirit this year. I am hoping next year will be better. Since I got home from my last voyage, the three months have pretty well gotten away from me. Maybe next year will be better.

I sent out almost no Cards this year and I am sure I missed sending gifts to someone I should have. I think maybe I'll send Christmas cards in February.

for now I am off to Jamaica again and then St. Maarten and the French West Indies. I really will be thinking of all of you. I will send some postcards. They will propably not say "Wish you were here".

Love to all,

Jim

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

2006-11-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

As I promised I am posting my plans for the next two months or so.

I'm waiting for the dryer to finish so that I can pack for the next trip, so I can publish my schedule. I have the tickets and most of the trips are already paid for. I will not be taking my computer with me on this trip. It is much too heavy to tote through all those airports and other locations and once I get outside the USA, internet access is doubtful at best.

Nov. 22 WED Drive to Peggy's in Mechanicsville for Thanksgiving
Nov. 24 FRI Return to Virginia Beach

Nov. 30 THURS Take the train to Philadelphia for Army Game weekend.
Dec. 1 FRI Sightseeing in Philadelphia
Dec. 2 SAT Watch Navy beat Army
Dec. 3 SUN Sightseeing in Philadelphia
Dec. 4 MON Return to Virginia Beach

Dec. 24 SUN Drive to Mechanicsville
Dec. 25 MON Christmas
Dec. 26 TUES Visiting
Dec. 27 WED Return to Va. Beach
Dec. 28 THURS Fly to Montego Bay, Jamaica for two weeks at a resort.
Jan. 11 THURS Return to Fort Lauderdale and then fly to St. Martin
Jan. 12 FRI Three days sightseeing in the West Indies
Jan. 14 SUN Two weeks aboard SV Polynesia in the French and Dutch Islands
Jan. 27 SAT Return to St. Martin for sightseeing and R & R.
Jan. 30 TUES Return to VABCH.
Feb. 4 SUN Back to work

I hope everything goes as planned.

SAME STUFF, DIFFERENT DAY

2006-10-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have been chided by some family members for not posting often enough, but I don't see a lot to talk about. Right now, I'm watching the Mets blow another ball game.

I don't think you all need to know my daily routine. It is not all that exciting. Grocery shopping, doing laundry and running errands. My leg is healed and I'm holding my own working in the Barnes and Noble. James is home but he hasn't been over to see us yet. It occurred to me that I haven't seen him since April, even though we live in the same city. His travels and mine have kept us apart for almost six months.

My next expedition is for the Army football game in Philly on Dec. 2. More about that later.

I will try to post something about once a week until I have something interesting to say. I am planning to go back to the Caribbean after Christmas but only for a month this time and I don't think I'll take this computer with me. Internet access is still very difficult in that part of the world and this monster is just too big and heavy to lug through airports and train stations.

END OF AN ERA

2006-10-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

For me, this is the end of an era.

On Sunday, October 1 my Aunt Agnes passed away. She was 101 years old and even though I didn't see her as often as I wanted to in recent years, she was often on my mind. My father was the youngest of a very large family and his older sister were very close and late in my mother's life, she was my mother's closest friend. She never had any children of her own but she had dozens of nieces and nephews and kept in touch with them and their children and grand children and even great grand children. She was a mother to my cousin Pam and assisted many of us with baby sitting and help when we were sick.

She nursed many friends and relatives through major and minor illnesses and even several through the end of their lives. She was retired from the New York Telephone Company where she was an operator. That was in the days when you talked to a person when you picked up the phone and not a machine. She had many stories about those operators when the lifesaver on the line was the telephone company and not a 911 dispatcher and there was only one telephone company.

She was always "up". I never heard her complain and in the last visit I had with her in her apartment in Mount Vernon, she was full of stories and told us what great fun she had over the years. She told us of the speakeasies and parties from years ago. Somewhere there are pictures that my mother had of all my father's and mother's families taken between the wars. One of the things I have to do over the next year is to sort through all those pictures to see exactly what we have.

I am sorry that I can't go to the funeral, but after three months of traveling, I have left too many things undone here at home.

Goodbye Ag. I sure will miss you and wish I had been able to visit more often.

"THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN..."

2006-09-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Now I am in New York, in a place called Fishkill. Before everyone gets upset, the name doesn't mean kill fish, it means Fish Creek in Old Dutch. The names around here tend to be leftovers from when the Indians sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch.

Friday, I went to my niece's wedding in Yorktown Heights in Westchester. It was all very nice and traditional and I really enjoyed myself at the dinners and reception and then hanging around with my family. We only get together now for weddings and funerals and I much prefer the weddings.

I flew down from Maine last Wednesday and that was an adventure that is becoming all too routine. I don't mind flying but going through airport security is becoming a bigger hassle every trip.

I had intended to come down last weekend and visit with my relatives on my wife's side of the family, but I ended up in a hospital in Central Maine for five days. The injury to my shin that I got in Jamaica wouldn't heal and was beginning to look ugly. When I went to the emergency room, I expected that they would give me some medicine and maybe some pills and send me away. They took one look at my leg and the next thing I knew I was in a bed with all kinds of IVs stuck on me. Then I was put in isolation until they were sure I didn't have some exotic bug from Jamaica. So they let me go but when I get home I have to go to my family doctor as soon as possible.

So no visit to Yankee Stadium or Shea. I'm going this afternoon to visit the cemeteries and my Aunt Agnes who will have her 101st birthday on the 22nd. Tomorrow I may go to the old hood in the Bronx, if I have enough courage, and maybe try to look up some of my old friends.

On Tuesday, I am flying home. Summer is over it's time to go home and back to work, if I can get up the energy.

For those who have been following this blog, the adventure will continue, just maybe at a little slower pace for the next few months.

BACK IN THE WORLD

2006-09-05T09:16:00.001-07:00

It started at the resort in Negril. The 90 minute flight from Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale ended up taking 10 hours by the time I got to my hotel in Florida.

It started with getting my luggage to the porter at 9AM to be ready for the two hour bus ride to MOBAY. The bus schedule was moved up to allow time for the new security procedures. The bus still operates on Island time so it still didn't leave so early. Jamaicans are supposed to drive on the left, but I noticed that like the Italians, they prefer the middle of the road, particularly on narrow country roads. That makes for some interesting moments.

The airport at MOBAY was total chaos. The lines to check into flights stretched everywhere and many of the tourists were from countries where line discipline is unknown. I thought there was going to be a riot at one point. Then the line to get through the door to Jamaican emigration stretched about 200 yards. Then get your passport stamped and the to carry on searches. Then there was the shoe inspection. Then they went through my carry on luggage again and made me take off my shoes before I got into the airplane.

The flight was uneventful, but at FLL we had to wait and the blackshirted Border Patrol came aboard and took one passenger off for interrogation. I began to think about old war movies with the German soldiers checking everyone's papers at every corner.

Then when I finally got to the hotel and settled in, dinner was a bar frozen pizza and a bottled beer with no breakfast and McDonald for Lunch. What a comedown, but I had to come back someday and now I've gotten adjusted to doing for myself again.

BACK IN THE WORLD

2006-09-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Something different

2006-09-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Maine! No half naked Toga parties, drinking games or swimming contests here.

There is a lot of boating to be done here, especially with the remnants of ERNSTO going through.

Last week we went to a county fair. I was surprised to see that people still live that way.

We saw the cattle auctions, milking contests, horse races and the giant pumpkin jugding. I didn't know that a pumpkin could weight in at 400 pounds.

On Friday, my daughter Clair and I drove her daughter Claire to Montreal to her college. She is a senior at McDill College. This is the first time I have been in Montreal in 45 years.

My daughter's friendry Fleightrer made his movie "Don't tell a soul" in Montreal. In the outside scenes. Montreal really looks a lot like like downtown New York.

Then we came back on Sat 3 Sept. It was very interesting. Sat afternoon is the time of Flea Markets and Yard Sales.

From Vermont, through New Hampshire and into Maine, it seems that the main industy in New England is to sell your junk to someone else.

Maybe some more tomorro.

EVICTION NOTICE

2006-08-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

The day before you have to leave this place, they slip a note under your door with your flight confirmation and bus schedule for departure. This is commonly referred to by the guests as an eviction notice or sometimes "hate Mail". No one that I talked to was happy to leave. This is like the land of the Lotus eaters, that you can just drift along. The decisions are that should I take a kayak or a hobbie cat this morning? Maybe I should go to the dining room for a formal lunch or stay on the beach and have a hot dog or a cheeseburger. Tough decisions!

This trip has been marvelously successful. About two weeks into the trip, I found myself walking down the beach strolling to the reggae beat. Last Thursday night I was the first runner up in the sexy toga dance off contest. I don't know what I did. I was sober. I was only drinking plain iced tea at diner. The guy who won had a body like Mike Tyson in his prime, so I was never going to win that one. I was the local celebrity for at least 36 hours.

Nevertheless, I am back in Ft. Lauderdale and I am sore all over. I have had more good exercise in the last month that the last twenty years. I intend to continue the exercise program when I get back.

Sometime in the next week, I will describe the ordeal of the one and a half hour flight from Montego Bay (MOBAY) to Ft. LAUDERDALE (FLL). I have to think about it, but I think I went through five security checks.

FIDDLER'S GREEN

2006-08-14T09:03:00.001-07:00

There is a place where sailors go if they don't go to heaven, because being a good sailor is not the same as being a good christian. It's called Fiddler's Green and it is somewhere in the neighborhood of Big Rock Candy Mountain, which most people have heard of.

The legend is that is a place where the weather is always clear, the winds are always gentle and blowing the way you want to go, the palms sway in the breeze, the rum bottle never runs dry, the women run naked on the beach and there is always steak for dinner and ice cream for desert.

This may not be Fiddler's Green, but it's as close as I am likely to find this side of Davy Jones' locker.

There are thunderstorms most afternoons but they don't last too long, all food and drink are inclusive and you sometimes have to stop the bartender from filling your glass too often. There might not be steak for dinner every night but many nights and there is always ice cream with every meal but breakfast. The food is varied but there is always fresh seafood; fish, shrimp, lobster and the ubiquitous conch. There is usually a joint being carved and a buffet with rice, potatoes, veggies and salad, bread, pasta and desert tables. I even tried the curried goat yesterday. It tastes very good but it is made like oxtail stew with the bone and gristle still in so it takes some effort to eat.

The scale in the gym weighs in kilos, so that is encouraging to someone used to weighing in pounds. Unfortunately, there is about 2 plus kilos more of my than when I arrived.

I think I will probably fly home from Ft. Lauderdale about the 24th to rest, make and mend and plan the rest of the trip. I will leave here on the 20th for Ft. Lauderdale.

Internet access here is slow and expensive but I bought a whole day. If it storms this afternoon I will write another letter and try to send some pictures if I can figure out the software.

FIDDLER'S GREEN

2006-08-14T09:03:00.000-07:00