Bikers are back

Mom took me by Gilly's Pub 44 to see how packed in the bikers were for Bike Week. It looked busy, but not extremely busy. Mom pulled into the ice cream shop called Frozen Gold on the other side of the Harley Davis and turned the car around. We headed back into New Smyrna Beach on State Road 44 passing Gilly's again. We did spend a cool session on the North side of the beach. The wind was cold. Mom had a sweater on and I had my heavy dark blue hooded jacket. She walked up close to the shoreline and I spent the time on the park entrance to the beach taking pictures. What an escape from the rush of the world's events. No one worries about a recession when gazing into the cold wind blowing over a calm ocean which my mom calls Lake Atlantic. The seagulls were very abundant and stayed around to beg for food. I felt bad not having a loaf of bread to give the birds which were all excited and into a fight mood. They do battle with each other just to get the one morsel of food no matter how small the piece of food. I was happy the one young viewer from a previous entry decided to read some of my blog. I hope this person has an awareness of how valuable animal,bird and plant life are to make our world a better place to live. I hope Lew is also successful at starting a hummingbird feeder and to attract a hummingbird which he could take a picture and maybe even record the sound. I think this would be an awesome challenge.

American Idol hits a sour note

I have no complaints about the democracy form of voting for your favorite American Idol contestant. I would think the best of the best would be voted to the next round. However, last night, the frog in agony named Adam was voted to the next round. He was the third and final person who squawked like a frog in agony singing " I can't get no satisfaction." Mick Jagger would be pleased because this was the Rolling Stones prize song screamed to the audience and Adam accomplished this task last night. He screamed on key to the audience and they loved it. Paula Abdul was commenting the night before on how amazing Adam's upper register was when he sang. This did not appeal to me at all and last night's show sealed the deal. I hope next week the talent will be more like singing and less like squawking. The show "America's got talent" was more in line last time on how I would like to see a singer sing to the audience. The tunes were songs you could understand the lyrics and the singers did not scream at you. Mom compared Adam to a modern day Elvis with the appeal to the young girls of today. I compare Adam to the look of Adam Ant the singer. I do stress the singer's look and not his voice. This picture is of the honeysuckle in the backyard. This is where I belief the hummingbird hangs out part of the time.

Thursday is almost Friday

I have seen a picture of mom's English Bull Dog Gus as she was growing up in Indiana. He looked like an average English Bull Dog. However, mom said he would cry if anyone left him. I kind of remember my former neighbor's English Bull Dog Chainsaw. His breathing was just like a chainsaw. You could tell he was coming before he got there by the chainsaw sounds he made. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday church services which mom and I stayed home. Mom and I did go without meat. I made the spinach and cheese casserole which was pretty good. I am hoping for some sunshine. I would like to see if the hummingbird comes around.

Who is in charge?

The sun is glistening on the green plants across the road. There is a kind of hazy off white sky. It is like thin white paint. The watered down paint which kind of runs where you don't want it to go. A bird is chirping outside saying" ta tweet, ta tweet, ta tweet. I have no idea if the bird is a mockingbird or something else. Last night's dinner was meatloaf with the little bit of sausage cooked in the microwave. I have to kind of explain about the sausage. The sausage was a little bit leftover from making a sausage patty from the other sausage which I made a sausage gravy to have biscuits and gravy for last Sunday"s breakfast. The sausage patty was still a bit frozen, so I stuck it into the microwave to take the chill out. I cooked it a bit too long and the sausage grease came out. The meat was cooked through well. I combined the sausage with most of the hamburger meat mom bought from the store. I did save a portion out and froze it. I added one egg, a little tomato sauce, Ritz crackers and a little saltine crackers, finely cut onion and cut up green pepper. I placed the mixture into a bread baking pan and cooked it with a couple of potatoes and lima beans. I also placed a dish of tomatoes in the oven which I later added to the top of the meatloaf. Mom bought a little chocolate treat to celebrate Mardi Gras. We watched the Obama speech last night. I liked Michelle Obama's purple dress. Barack spoke with very hopeful words. I truly hope to see good things happen with his goals. Mom just loved his speech. She sat on the edge of her chair taking notes. She was impressed by what Obama said. She also pointed out the lack of positive response coming from the Republican Governor Bobby Jindal from Louisiana. This is a picture of a couple of dogs meeting on the North end of the beach. One is a pit bull 9 month old puppy. They both wanted to play with each other. It kind of reminds me of a Republican and a Democrat. We are together, but we are cautious of each other.

Feed the birds

My last visit to the Oncology Department of the local hospital Bert Fish where I had my blood level checked emerged an interesting situation. This elderly gentlemen was walking out with a hat that looked like a golfer's visor and it looked like he had hair that spiked up top. I didn't think anything of it, until he removed his visor. The visor came off his head along with what looked like his hair. He was really balded up top and this was just to give an appearance of hair.Yesterday, mom and I briefly stopped at the North end ot the beach by Flagler to feed the birds some leftover bread. This was after my trip to the local doctor where he said my blood sugar was up, but my cholesterol was 176 which was pretty good. The seagulls in the picture acted like the birds out of the Afred Hichcock's move "The Birds." They squawked at me and try to invade my space while I tried to throw the leftover bread into the air. The pigeons were down below at my feet. One kept pecking at my heels while I was tossing the bread out. I like throwing slices out and watching the seagulls chase after one seagull with a full piece of bread in his beak. The lead bird usually heads over water where he drops the bread and it is lost to everyone. I think it is still fun to watch the chase. The weather was kind of cool yesterday. I don't know what it will be like for today. I guess it will be a suprise.

Whats on television?

I found it harder to look up a good clean joke. The more I looked the worse the jokes turned out. I only sent two out, so this person will have to be happy with what he received. The weather was cool over the weekend. I really didn't go anyplace. I just did laundry and listened for the hummingbird. I know I heard the hummingbird, but I didn't see the hummingbird. The turkey thigh dinner did turn out pretty good. Mom made dressing and gravy and cooked a sweet potato which we split into two. Mom also cut up some fruit to eat with the meal, but we both were too full to eat the fruit. I fell asleep last night during the Oscars, but it was still going on when I woke up. Mom said she got bored with the musical number. I like Hugh Jackman as a host, but his singing should only be kept to his shower. I have heard better singing on "American Idol." Tonight is" the Bachelor" and Tomorrow is "American Idol." I am looking forward to some good television.

Nothing new

I did hear from my former lunch buddy Lillian. She and Aaron (her future husband) are apartment seeking for Lillian's parents and Uncle. The note describing the layout of some of the apartments as being one bedroom with stairs to climb. Some don't have kitchens and some have two bedrooms. Lillian should have an interesting time in Delaware. I did a little planting yesterday of the key lime tree in the front yard. I took out the overgrown grass and twig stuff which was there. I also stuck a small poinsettia in the same area. The soil harvested a few earthworms which was a good thing for the soil. There is a big load of clothes to be hung out to dry. The sun is pretty much out so they should dry good. Mom bought a couple of turkey thighs, so we will have this for dinner tonight. My sister Glendon told me her co-worker Cathy said turkeys have high blood pressure. I have been trying to look something up on the subject which I have been unsuccessful for now. The material which keeps popping up is that lean turkey meat is good for high blood pressure with humans. I wasn't trying to get humans. I wanted the bird's blood pressure. How would someone measure a turkey's blood pressure? How do they know if the pressure is good or bad? Do they compare it to human blood pressure? The mystery is still unsolved.

Start the morning with coffee

I open up the spam after finding nothing in the regular e-mail and it is all scam artist material. This trash states" we are transferring your money from Austria or Nigeria." Can you say SCAM? I took my Lutein and found it to be very routine. I took my Beta Carotene and found it gritty and suddenly the carrot taste started coming through squishing in my mouth as I chewed on the gel capsule. I drank some coffee to wash the flavor down. I took my big giant vitamin D pill and washed it down with some coffee. I bet it is not as fun just taking one multi-vitamin. Do you remember taking kid vitamins like Flinstones? I remember taking kid vitamins, but I don't think it was Flinstones at the time I was growing up. I can not remember what brand it was. I do remember the vitamin had either had an orange flavor or cherry flavor. Do you remember the cereal King Vitamin? I use to eat this cereal as I was kid, but I have seen the cereal on the store shelf not to long ago. I remember it had a real crunchy sugary flavor when you first pour on the milk. The longer you left the milk on the more soggy the cereal turned. I remember Life cereal was the same way. I took the picture of the RV on the beach because I don't see many RVs on the beach anymore. It seemed like a rare event. I did hear on the news where Indiana has a real crisis regarding building RVs. The economic crisis had scared customers away and jobs were vanishing. I think this is sad. I remember when RVs were the popular thing to have. In fact, my dad, mom, sister and I took a rented Winnebago to Tennessee. The trip to me was lots of fun. This was family togetherness. We lasted through an axle being fixed. My dad did most of the driving. I was too young to drive at the time. I enjoyed the bunk bed area over the driver's seat in the front. I enjoyed the cool fall like air in Tennessee. I enjoyed eating wild onions which grew in the ground like weeds. I wish I could remember what was said during this trip, but with time valuable memories got replaced. This morning I talked briefly with my sister Glendon about her work day. She says programs the Vets undertake at the College are being cut, so there is less work for her. At least she still has a job for now.

Weekend stuff

One show I will miss is the horse and carriage show located in Lady Lake, Florida this weekend. I can picture in my mind how beautiful the carriages would look. There might even be a stagecoach there. Many years ago when I lived in the city of Oakland, Florida, my sister had a buggy pulled by her Tennessee Walking Horse Laddie. It was a big yellow buggy and fun to show off around the city. There were lots of clay roads and a nice little post office. One day my sister's horse Laddie broke loose from the buggy and we had to round him up and take to buggy back to the stables. The day seemed ruin and the buggy had to be fixed up. I think my sister eventually got rid of the buggy and gave her horse Laddie away. I can just imagine the type of horses pulling the carriages at the show. I would figure maybe some draft horses or teams of six or eight really fine tall muscle good looking breeds of horses. I wonder if there will be some people dressed in upper aristocratic outfits to show nobility with the horse carriages. Will also the horses carry some fancy ornate head gear to display while on a carriage team? Maybe there will be a story on the news when it is over.

Where is the money?

Mom wants to cook beef stew for dinner. I heard there will be rain this morning on the news, but I don't hear any raindrops outside my window. I had an hour of the television show Becker on last night. I loved the show because he is like the Archie Bunker of the Doctor world. This show was before he let his hair go snow white. I saw Ted Danson, the star of Becker, in the audience of American Idol the other night. He looked about the same, but his hair was snow white. I don't know what the other members of the cast are doing now, but I am pretty sure they must have changed. The song title " Tears of a Clown" sung by Smokey Robinson holds true about what I hear about the cuts made in the school system. Plus the job cuts are still happening. No one I heard about is reversing the trend. The local Expressway authority says jobs will be added if they can raise the toll rates. They suddenly after 19 years have the urge to raise the rates 25 cents a toll and will go up every three years. Where is the salary cap? The accountability for the money the average citizen pays them to maintain the roads. Maybe schools should be done away all together. We can have a nation of online students. Spend the money on getting every child an online computer and have all the classroom assignments done and graded online. The parent doesn't have to drive his or her child to school and back home. The school doesn't have to send out buses to pick up the kids. The teachers can work from home in their pajamas and slippers. Class reunions can be one big chat room. Moms can also pick up an extra check by being a mystery shopper and completing an online survey. These are just some ideas for the future.

On the teeder todder of life

Denied coffee until the blood test was complete, the day was looking tough. However, the weatherman says rain doesn't come until tomorrow. Today was yard trash day and I didn't have any yard trash placed outside. I drove to Quest after making my mom coffee and not drinking any for myself. I was the last one called and the wait was almost an hour. I even had to use the restroom before having my name called. I kept anticipating my name would be called sooner, but it wasn't meant to be. However a sales rep. whom the girl behind the front desk scolded because he came in while she was in the restroom left a dozen Dunkin Doughnuts. I thought how delightful and she was worried about the fat. She offered me a doughnut after I took my blood test. The lady extracted four vials of blood which I didn't realize was done. I was distracted by the picture of the bird and the flower on the wall. It seemed to take a couple of minutes for me to realize this was a hummingbird. The test was over and I opened the box and thought I had gone to heaven. I commented " I died and gone to heaven." "May there be doughnuts in heaven." My choice of doughnut was the one with chocolate icing on top and Boston cream filling in the middle. I could relish every morsel before I ate my first bite. I started eating the bottom of the doughnut before I opened the door to leave and got to the good stuff when I reached my truck. Never mind the banana I brought for potassium. I had second thoughts and ate the banana thinking it could be like the chocolate covered banana I use to eat at Disney World. I had wanted to eat breakfast out, so I went to the Little Drug Store where I had one biscuit with gravy and a scrambled egg with coffee. I threw out the banana peel and what was left of the doughnut before entering the store. When I finally did come home mom had made some oatmeal. I finished up what was in the pan along with drinking some billberry juice. This is all before 11 o'clock and the rest of the day to play.

Your Chauffeur awaits

How come the Utilities keep raising the rates of usage concerning electricity and water, but are suppose to come up with all these money saving ideas on how to better use our energy? How come the Post Office keeps raising the postage rate for a mailing stamp? If you buy a forever stamp at today's rates, you can use the same stamp to mail a letter at tomorrow's rates. The price of gas is up to $2.13 per gallon. How much further will the price increase? Dare I ask? As a kid, did you get dared into doing something you regretted doing later? Yesterday was a little too cool for the beach. Mom and I saw two separate movies. She saw "New in Town" and I saw " Pink Panther 2" with Steve Martin. He was good in the role, but I still like Peter Sellers a bit better. Mom enjoyed her movie" New in Town" a lot. This reminded mom of our relationship with our Minnesota friend Joe.

Start of a new week

Mom liked this picture. She thinks the girls were interesting subjects. As I look at the picture of the Great Wall of China, I see miles and miles of wall were people could walk in isolation. The picture shows snow on the ground. The area around the wall are small mountains which are pretty to see, but give me the city. Lots more people and entertainment. Today is garbage day , I got a doctor's appointment day, and Presidents day.

Garbage needs to go out to the curb early because the garbage truck comes around 8:30 a.m. The doctor's appointment is at 10:15, so I should leave around 9:30. There will be no mail pick up today due to President's day. This is also the last day of the Bealle's sale. I don't think mom and I will be going this time. The library will be closed, so I won't bring my library stuff back until tomorrow. The rain chances should be lowered, so it would be a good day to wash some clothes and let them sun dry. I will call my sister a little later. She doesn't work today, so she can recover from her hard labor over the weekend. I have no idea what will be for dinner or what tomorrow will be like. It will be something to anticipate.

Sunday Morning

The valentine lunch was really good. The Breakers restaurant was packed full of people. Both mom and I didn't think we would find a place to sit. Someone finally did give up their table. The only drawback was the chairs were highchairs. You had to crawl up on the lower rim step of the chair to try and sit on the chair. The chair was light weight and subject to moving every which direction. Someone had to hold my chair, so I could barely make it into the seat. Mom had a little less trouble, but it still was a chore to get into the seat. We met our neighbor Pauline, her daughter Susan and Granddaughter Faith for lunch. Pauline had a big grilled bacon cheese burger. Faith had a burger with lettuce, raw onions, and tomato. I had the New Smyrna Beach burger which had lettuce and tomato with green peppers, mushrooms and onions fried together. Mom had a Ruben with fries. I also had fries. I didn't pay attention to the others who ordered fries. Susan ordered blacken Mahi Mahi which she shared with Pauline. The place was piled with people talking, drinking booze and moving in and out of people lines. I heard one customer say it was race week which accounted for the extra number of people in New Smyrna Beach. We parted ways after lunch. Pauline and Susan went on to Bealls, Mom and I went on to Publix and Faith went home to Edgewater. This was a nice little get together with the neighbors down the street.

Happy Valentine's Day

The ocean last evening was a place of reflection. There were seagulls begging for food and a few people on the shoreline. I had a guy standing close by where I was taking pictures spending a moment of gazing time to reflect. I could see he was dressed with nice work shoes that had a nice shine. His work clothes were dressy, but casual. I figured him to be some sort of business boss who had a nice family waiting for him at home. I figured he was just taking a couple minutes out of his day to unwind by gazing out into the open water and let his thoughts drift away. Mom and I had just finished our dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and some mixed cooked veg tables. Mom made some tapioca before we left on our evening journey. When we finally got home we had tapioca and strawberries. This is a picture of the South bridge right at sunset.

It's Friday The weekend is here!!!

In the kitchen area next to the computer The First Choice calendar sits with the picture of The Great Wall Of China. The wall seems to stretch for miles. I thought how facinating to walk on the wall, but where are the bathrooms? At the local Chinese Buffet sits a picture of a waterfall with the sun peaking above the misty clouds and a brown eagle at the center of the picture. I know I will never see this place in my life time, but I can always look at the picture when I go eat at the Chinese Buffet. I think by what I hear the weathermen say on television the cold weather is gone for good. The weather has generated great humidity over at the beach. I have serious doubts the clothes are going to get dry on the clothesline, but I still end up hanging them out. The clothes usually almost get totally dry. I just heard the paper being dropped off by a passing car. There is no paper boy on a bicycle throwing out papers here. The paper is dropped off before daylight so when we put out the garbage or have some other reason to go outside the paper is there. Happy Valentine's day tomorrow to all the people who view the blog today. I think mom and I settled on going to the Breakers tomorrow to celebrate Valentines by buying a big juicy grilled fancy hamburger. I have been craving the burger when I am around this restaurant on the beach. The grilled hamburger odor carries over to where I am trying to take sea pictures. It is a temptress of smells that says" come and eat." I hear and obey. Do you remember handing out candy hearts to your classmates in school? Did you also hand out those little valentine cards with cute sayings? Do you remember your school crushes? Do you know of anyone who had a crush on you and did they tell you? These are just some of the memories of past valentines.

I am hoping for a sunny day

The hummingbird does come in the morning and early afternoon. He likes my neighbor Carol's oak tree. He comes over to our oak tree and tweedles at me while I hang up the clothes. I refer to the bird as a he because it is easier for me. However, he could be a she, but I can not tell. You might think the bird is a she because it likes to tweedle (sing) a lot. I consider the bird to be chatty. I think it is trying to carry on a conversation with me as I try to hang up the clothes on the clothes line. The best I could describe the bird as having a soft green color body about an inch long. It has a long narrow black beak. In fact, I would say the beak looked like a sewing needle. When it was sitting on a branch on the oak tree while I was hanging up clothes, I saw the beak move side to side in an animated motion. I still don't have a humming bird feeder. I don't go to the store very often to look for a feeder. This is a picture of a few doggies at the dog parade. I guess they were waiting on who won the judging contest.

I like pretty pictures

Mom and I did spend the evening at the beach yesterday and I saw two pelicans dive together to get a fish out of the ocean. I took my camera, but the batteries were no good, so I could not use my camera to take pictures. There was a small boat way off in the distance, but I couldn't tell the make of the boat. I couldn't see any whales or dolphins out on the water and very few people out walking on the beach. Mom made pork chops, mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. I thought dinner was really good. I was expecting a phone call from a potential tutoring job which never came. I was mildly disappointed because I was looking forward to the challenge of teaching what I knew about English. I wasn't an expert on the subject, but I do have a love for creative writing and I wanted someone else to feel the passion of expressing their point of view. This is another little dog at the dog parade.

Tuesday is American Idol Night

This is another picture of a dog at the dog parade. It looks like a black Labrador retriever. Dinner last night was hamburgers. Mom made a banana pudding pie with banana slices in the pudding. I enjoyed the pie. Today, I am not sure what will happen. I did loose my attention span with Obama's speech night. I found out it was a bit too long. He was good at the beginning, but the longer he took the more tired I got. I don't know what is going on today, but I hope to enjoy some nice weather. Maybe,I will see the hummingbird today or go to a movie. I could do both. I just haven't decided yet.

The smell of food

The guy in the picture is making kettle corn. It had a nice smell and I saw people eating big bags of the kettle corn at the dog parade in New Smyrna Beach. There are certain places around town where the smell of food is overpowering. The Breakers restaurant on the North end of the beach has a delicious smell of grilled hamburger. I fight temptation leaving to go home when I am park across the street. Also driving past Publix on the beachside, I can smell the odor of deep fried chicken. Publix has a certain odor of chicken fat or grease smell which is sometimes appealing to me as I drive home. On State Road 44 beachside there is a restaurant called "The Garlic." This restaurant has a very powerful smell of garlic which bowls me over when I am sitting in traffic. I went once to "The Garlic" and was not overly impressed. It was kind of a trendy young crowd Italian want a be type place which wasn't really to my liking. I guess I was spoiled with Vincenzo's which was more like my own home cooking. I still haven't brought myself to try the new burrito place which took over the spot where Vincenzo's use to operate. I don't find much in the way of seafood smells around here. We have a few restaurants, but no seafood odors. Shells closed here and left an abandoned building. We have The Boston fishhouse which is a deep fried overpriced fish and onion rings restaurant. I use the term restaurant loosely because when I ate there and the place had more of a McDonald's feel about the atmosphere. The tables were more like the benches you would see at an outdoors behind the McDonald's building. The onion rings are plentiful and just looking at them will give you a cholesterol high. Can you say Supersize me? Last night's dinner at my house was stuffed bell peppers. I enjoyed it very much and didn't even have to tip the waitress.

Time to crawl back under the covers

I had my one cup of coffee. It was eight o'clock coffee which does not have the kick start bite that Folgers carries. Mom doesn't want to pay the price of Folgers. This is why mom and I are drinking another brand of coffee. Yesterday, mom and I went to a dog parade contest. The dogs were decorated to fit the occasion. I like being under the covers until the sun comes up. I may do this after the picture pops up. My sister is completing her final day of work for the weekend. She goes back to work next Friday. She says she has to clean four stalls today. Glendon works very hard and gets very tired at the end of the day. This dog looks so frilly in his red outfit. I hope he wins many awards in the dog contest.

It's laundry day

I like the cool weather, but the laundry sure has piled up high. The nice thing about a warmer weekend is I will get the clothes out on the clothesline to dry. The clothes will smell like fresh air and maybe slightly warmed by the sun. I might even see my hummingbird friend which I nicknamed Tweedles. Mom and I met our friend Lillian for lunch yesterday at the Ocoee Cafe. I pre-ordered my lunch ahead. I ordered a fried chicken dinner with fries and apple sauce and clam chowder. Lillian had a sandwich and fries. My mom had a big bowl of Lima beans and corn bread. Lillian had a start on her invitations. Mom filled ours out at lunch . Mom ordered a Ruben and Matzo ball soup for her wedding menu and for me it was chicken and Matzo ball soup. The invitations have little maps inside which is cool, so people know how to get to the wedding. Mom stated to Lillian " so this is really going to happen." This statement seemed like a final farewell to Lillian as a single person. She is in for more grand adventures ahead.

Admiring cars

I like fast, ultra modern sleek looking cars you see on calendars and would never see on the street. The car would cost too much to take it out into the public for display. I saw one recently on MSN which had four wheels in the front with a silver body and looked like a mid-size bat mobile and could easily whiz down the road over a 100 miles an hour with out any engine trouble. When I use to work as a custodial of file records, I would have a calendar of fast cars displayed on the bathroom door. Since, I worked alone this was purely for my enjoyement. Today's street car would be the Honda Civic or Accord juiced up and lowered to the ground. When I started attending junior college, I was smitten by a dark blue Pontiac Trans-am with a T- top roof and the firebird emblem on the turbo charged hood. I was driving my mom's Chevy Chevelle which at the time didn't have air conditioning. I remember I would sweat on the way to class. It did have good pick up power and it had a good heavy V-8 engine. I use to imagine fixing up mom's Chevy with a turbo engine and a top of the line paint job. Plus, big fancy silver rim wheels that would hug the ground real secure. This never happened while I drove the car. Instead, I watched as the Trans-am and I drove evenly down Kirkman road and the driver would excel past me to catch the East-West Expressway which is now labeled the 408. I got to ride in the Trans Am once when the owner came out for my birthday. I was suprised how ruff the ride was on the inside. It was a stick shift and I could feel ever shift he made into another gear. I decided after the ride, plusher cars were the way to go. I still like looking at the sleek cars, but I know a nice ride is more important.

It is almost the weekend

I wish there were something like a coffee drink for plants to keep them perking in the cold weather. I have to say I like the cold because when the heat comes back in the summer I will be complaining about how hot it is. Plus the humidity is very bad in Florida. It drains the juice right out of me. The cold usually lowers the humidity level. I like looking at the starlight during the cold weather because the starlight seems to be more vivid in texture and color. I am grateful not to be in Minnesota where our family friend Joe sends us pictures of him ice fishing. The pictures look to frigged for me to enjoy. I am not there, but I can feel the cold through looking at the ice in the pictures. This picture mom likes I guess because of the reflection of the birds in the water on the shoreline. The birds were facing West towards the setting sun ; except for, the two which have their heads turned the other direction.

Food for the seagulls

Towards evening time, mom and I went to the North end of the beach where the hungry seagulls were quietly waiting for their dinner. They saw me descending down the steps with a full plastic bag which they presumed carried food. Some of the birds flocked over as to greet me on the wind currents as if they were kind of doorbell ringer, a sort of call to dinner kind of greeter. I went to the edge of the shoreline with my bag and started with a partly open bag of popcorn. This was delightful for the seagulls. Those massive squawks were followed by fights for every morsel ounce of corn. I even think they went for the popcorn seeds. After I emptied the first bag, I opened the second bag which also had some bread crust which they devoured in no time at all. I finished with a loaf of bread. I would throw whole slices out and see the seagulls pick up the slices with their beaks and run with many other seagulls chasing after the one with the bread. I did throw some on the ground so the birds could fight over what to eat. The loaf was gone it seemed in no time at all. I was joined by a man and woman taking pictures and speaking only German. I didn't understand a word, but I understood the way the German word sounds. I figured they were tourists. They left in a yellow car before mom and I took off for home. Dinner last night was clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches. This morning was sort of a late start to the day. Our neighbor Pauline returned the movie Wallee, but didn't understand what the theme of the movie was about. My mom said she and my sister had the same reaction. It is kind of cool this morning with the wind blowing in the trees. The sky is a solid baby blue color and the dark oaks have crystal sunlight dancing on the darkened green leaves swaying in the wind. The chimes are softly singing outside the warm toasty house. I will grudgingly work on taxes. Hopefully this will pay off on Friday when mom and I visit the tax man in Pine Hills.

First Tuesday of February

This is a picture of my sister's former neighbor Skag Wylie from Montana. The young man sitting next to him is Shawn Michael. Skag's former wife Nivea's grandson. I remember Shawn Michael as a small boisterous boy with big ideas. He use to stay with Skag and Nivea when they were married and his mom was trying to discover her role in life. His mom found a guy to marry and Shawn Michael was brought back into his mom's life. The removal of Shawn Michael added to the tension of Skag and Nivea's marriage. Sadly the marriage did not hold together. I was use to thinking of them as a couple and not separate hearts with no one to love. People tend to grow up too fast. Yet, I still have the pleasant memory of my Granddad teaching me to bait my hook with a giant squishy earthworm that was cold and slimy to the touch. I would toss in my line from the neighbor's dock along the Tippy Canoe River and get my line stuck in the rocks. My Granddad would fuss at me and try to teach me how to untangle my line. Lots of times he had to do it for me. Yet he seemed more patient about it than my dad. Somehow getting my line stuck in the rocks took the fun out of my dad's fishing. My Granddad seemed to go with the flow and accept it as part of the fishing experience. Skag did help my sister bury her prize baby horse that killed himself by running into a tree. This was lightening of a great burden for my sister. I am sure she appreciated the help he gave her. I was always kind of amazed how my mom knew so well Logansport where she grew up as a child. She could identify buildings, places, rivers, and things that were no longer there. I felt like I was sharing someone else's history. It was like stepping into a time machine with my mom and traveling with her to her youth. I would choose to attend my parent's wedding, if I could step back in time for a brief period. I would love to hear the "Ave Maria" that was sung. I would love to capture the expressions of the bride and groom as they exchange their vows of marriage. I would love to see my Aunt Jean as the Maid of Honor. I would love to see the facial expressions of the members of my dad's family and members of my mom's family sitting in the pews. I would love to see the friends at the wedding and establish how they were connected to the bride and groom. Sadly this could never happen, but I can have the memory of my mom and Uncle Forrest fussing over who was going to pay the check when we went out to eat. I found it humorous to see two grown people argue over a small subject. I looked at it like a source of pride. One thing I can say about the people of Indiana, they have the most giving spirit of all the states in this country. They don't think twice about giving to someone in need of help. I don't have such an elaborate history, but I can look at events happening on the Internet. I do have Lillian's wedding to enjoy. I can enjoy the sea life of the pelicans, sea gulls and occasionally see a dolphin in the water. I can look at the beach goers and try and capture the interesting ones on my camera. This is what a new day brings in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

Is it Groundhog day?

I took the groundhog test and failed every question. Bummer! At least, the Steelers won the Super Bowl and Tampa has a lot more money. The weather is suppose to be raining this evening and turning cold again. The key lime tree has to come back inside, so the baby fruit will be ok. Some of our plants are just sensitive to cold weather. The fried chicken was excellant yesterday. I also liked the mashed potatoes and gravy along with the broccoli vegetable melody. Tonight dinner is black bean soup with ham. I also heard someone won the 22 million dollar lottery. I didn't even play power ball. The dreaded tax stuff has to be tackled before Friday. Mom and I have an appointment on Friday to see the tax guy in Pine Hills to go over this years tax stuff. Maybe if it rains, it will be easier to work of the tax stuff.

A new month and maybe some new ideas

Mom and I attended the New Smyrna Beach High School Annual Spaghetti Dinner. The cost was five dollars and I guess it was suppose to help the kids out with their education. It was the next big main event to the New Smyrna Beach Images Art festival. Mom and I missed hearing Suzanne Kosmos who won the election over Tom Feeney to represent our area in Congress. It was on the cool side Saturday morning and all I cared about was being snuggled under the warm covers and catching up on my sleep. The art Show was a bit too crowded. Mom didn't even think she could find a parking spot. All of Downtown was pretty well parked up. The spaghetti dinner was a portion of spaghetti along with some salad and dinner roll with one small package of Parmesan cheese. We got a small cup of either diet coke or regular coke to drink. We sat a table in the cafeteria and saw our neighbor Laurel finishing up her spaghetti meal and getting ready for the entertainment across the hall in the auditorium. The entertainment was "The Bert Fish Bedpan Band." Yes, you read the last statement right. This is a band of Seniors with white shirts and short red flashy ties who play bedpans. Bert Fish is the name of our local Hospital.