Sunday night

I seemed to learn a lot from someone 's disaster. The earthquake that measured 8.8 was in the country of Chile in South America. My friend Dee, wanted to know what other countries are in the continent of South America? We looked the answer up and it all sounded familiar again. Bolivia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile,Peru and Brazil. This is a different part of the world which I have only experienced through books and television. Tonight was the steak dinner with mushrooms and mashed potatoes.

I enjoyed dinner real well.

Cat bird

Dinner was chicken noodle soup. It makes a good meal when the weather is gloomy. Tomorrow mom places on steak and mushrooms for dinner.

I was told by my friend Dee, this bird was a Cat Bird. What an interesting type of bird. I think he is kind of cute.

Reflections from the past

I have no idea what picture or a couple of pictures I will be using this evening. There was nothing good on television, so I have been on the computer sending out little notes to people. I don't know if they read the stuff I send, but at least it doesn't cost postage. Dinner was a pork roast with half sweet potato and half regular potato. Mom made an apple pie for dessert. There was a full moon outside when I looked. I could hear the ocean and the traffic on Atlantic Avenue. I spent a little time reflecting and looking at things that were outside at night. These two pictures were taken at my mom's former place of work. This was her retirement party where, Harlan her former boss, was cooking in the deep fryer. This party was one of the better because it was less formal. Plus, I do like Harlan's cooking.

Cold weather

The weather is getting colder overnight. It should be in the low thirties. Dinner was frozen pizza "Tostinos." There is a tiny bit leftover. My sister goes to work tomorrow at her weekend job at the University of Florida. She is a ranch hand at the Vet school. The weather should be in the twenties and she has a lot of stuff to do. She will also leave her baby chicks for the first time to work for half a day. Saturday and Sunday will be whole days away from home. She seems to have lots of stories generated from her interaction with the animals. She feeds and cleans and loves all the animals she meets. They also love her back. She has some of her animals waiting for her at the fence when she arrives home. The animals follow her around the house when she feeds or just walks in the yard.

Ocean view

I got to see one ship on the ocean today. The sun came out around noon and I got pictures because this boat came close to the shore and the sun produce good light. I took pictures of pigeons and seagulls. There were no sail boats and no one para sailing. I did not see any sun bathers, but I did see bikers and older retired out of state people looking at the ocean and talking about all sorts of social subjects. The birds will come close, if they know the food is within reach. However, if you show them no food, they show you no love. I was watching the courting of the male pigeon and the female pigeon. The male ruffles up his neck feathers and sticks his back feathers and tail feathers in a downward position. The female usually ignores the male and flies away.

Tuesday with the television

February is getting close to being over. March is close by. Rain will be coming tomorrow and the weather is suppose to turn cold. Mom wants to take me to the library tomorrow night to hear a lecture on "Marjorie Kinnon Rawlings." I hope it will be interesting. Dinner this evening was scallops with broccoli and cheese. Plus a baked potato cooked in the microwave. Tonight is "American Idol." Mom likes some of the singers. I am not sure of the singers abilities. I haven't heard much power from their singing. I lost track of what the Olympics is doing.

The stormy weather arrived

The news media is giving a little more details about the three girls who were killed on the railroad tracks in Melbourne, Florida. They considered the railroad tracks a shortcut. All three went to a Middle school. This is a tragedy that will stick in a lot of the fellow students of the same Middle school. I like this picture because it shows a nice wave in the background and the girl looks like she is looking down at her reflection in the water. Tonight, was a hamburger casserole with a mixture of yellow and brown rice. I baked some butter milk biscuits which was done after mom and I ate the casserole. The weather was pretty stormy for a short time and now it is just getting dark.

Beware of train tracks

What a tragedy! The three girls killed on the railroad track. It kind of reminded me of the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes." There was a scene where the young star has a crush on an older guy who gets killed because his foot gets stuck in the railroad track when the train was coming. I know you can not fix the past, but I still wonder why those kids would take such a chance again a train which could not stop in time to save their lives? I wonder if the boy who survived learned, not to tackle something that he could not control? I renewed my books , so I can keep reading about other people's adventures. Dinner was mushroom burgers. I made tapioca for dessert.

Speedy Saturday

It was a nice cool day . Mom went to the Farmer's market and the store. I stayed home and hung out a load of clothes. I talked on the cell phone and the time just seem to fly. Mom was home after the call and we got the clothes off the clothes line. Plus, mom took me to Saturday Church which was packed full of people. We sat in the back where some members set up extra chairs. When we came home, mom made a turkey vegetable stir fry. It was pretty good. It was time for the Olympics and the day was gone.

Closing down the space program

The space shuttle comes back Sunday night around 10:20 p.m. There will be only four more missions until the space shuttle is taken out of commission. There will be no more missions after the last shuttle. There will be no return to the moon or on to mars. The space program will be placed into private operations. The famous NASA and National Space Alliance will be gone forever. This picture was taken inside my house looking out through the glass window door in the front. This is the back of my truck which the Egret landed and looked like he could take off at any second. He did jump off the truck after I took the picture and skirted across the front yard into the neighbor's yard. I took one more picture and the bird was gone. Tonight, I had a turkey breast and a baked potato with gravy for dinner. The turkey usually makes me sleep good.

Raisin, the doggy visitor

This is Raisin, whom I got a planned visit from her today. Raisin's owner Howard and the other dog, Holly came over to visit. Howard worked on fixing a light out in the front yard, while mom and I got some quality time with the dogs. Raisin likes to play catch. Howard showed mom and I, Raisin likes to retrieve the stuffed bear which he threw across the room. Raisin trotted back like a dog with a prize in her mouth. She walks with swagger. She dropped the toy in front of me signaling completion of her task. I picked up the toy and through it again which she went back after without hesitation. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with mushrooms. We have lots of leftovers for tomorrow.

Cold day at the beach

Mom and I had tuna fish on Ritz crackers and clam chowder from a can. Mom dressed it up with some onion and herbs. I made tapioca for dessert. This was a day where people were bundled up at the beach. There was one guy shirtless who faced West in a lounge chair hoping to catch a tan. No one was swimming in the water. The seagulls were making seagull sounds while catching wind currents before landing in the water or on the shoreline. When a bird stretches out on a wind current he seems to own the sky. He can glide and land where he wants. I have seen some graceful flyers around New Smyrna Beach and I am simply amazed.

Monday in town

Dinner was a chuck roast with cooked carrots and potatoes. The chuck roast was pretty tender. I saw no signs of the falcon today. I had lunch at the Little Drug store. The place was full of people with different life stories. One man and women were talking about events happening at their church. There was another couple where the guy kept talking about the diabetic diet at a place where they only cut back on the portions of forbidden foods with sugar for people with diabetes. I assumed the place could have been a nursing home. I listened while I ate my mushroom burger with fries. I had nothing to contribute to the conversations around me. All I could do was to listen. I even heard Barry Manilow singing in the background "It is all in the game" which is a real old song. This is a picture of "Velvet the Thoroughbred " drinking water from the tub. She belongs to my sister Glendon.

The Guardian of New Smyrna Beach

A guardian, protector, and a predator. He is a bird of nobility. The falcon made an appearance this morning around ten after the ice had melted on the back of my mom's car. My camera was weak on battery power, but I took what I could before I could take no more pictures. I did change the batteries out of the back of the camera. However, when I went out front to check on the bird he was gone. I am assuming this is a male. However, I don't know for sure. It could be a female, but I would think a female would want to build a nest some place and send the male out to hunt for food. The weatherman says we are in for more cold weather, so I guess it is stay at home in the heated house. Dinner tonight was hamburgers and chips.

Happy Valentine's day and Chinese New Year

It is Sunday February 14, 2010 and I am back writing on the blog circuit again. I missed writing daily things,but my computer got hit with a virus that froze all functions of the computer. This virus was called " PC Protector." It was vicious and deprived both mom and I the use of the computer. I even sought advice from a computer person who guided me through every sub file he could find. However, it took a technician from "Computer Central" and the Norton anti virus 2010 to get the machine back to the way it use to work . Dinner tonight is a Porterhouse steak from "Outback Steak House." The steak is well done and I split it with my mom. along with the baked potato which I poured the steak juice on the potato to make the potato taste extra good. One big plus is they did not salt the potato skin, so the potato taste normal and not over salted. They also included a salad with ranch dressing which I will split with mom when she returns from Wal-mart and the library. It is also Chinese New year. The year of the tiger. I always did like tigers because they are protective. I hope this will be a wonderful year full of good things to brighten our days ahead.

What a weekend

This is the latest on the night time shuttle flights. This is the "Endeavor" which takes of at 4:39 in the morning. It was windy and cool today. I hope the shuttle can go. Dinner was chicken noodle soup and dessert was tapioca pudding. Tomorrow is also the Super Bowl. I hope it is a good game and everyone has fun who watches it. Also, the races are going on in Daytona.

The stormy weather is gone

This is a picture of "The Breakers" restaurant and bar. They make really great mushroom burgers. They grill the burgers and it smells so good. Mom and I made it through the bad weather without a tornado. The weathermen made the weather sound so scary. The picture on the television was a deep blood red and they said it was all coming to New Smyrna. Doom and Gloom it was like one of those Science Fiction movies where the whole town gets swallowed up by a natural disaster. Guess what? It didn't happen. We got a spurt of heavy rain and it was gone. Dinner tonight was fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Day at home

Mom and I had fish for dinner. I bought Ma hi and Red Grouper. The Grouper cost nine something for half a pound. The Ma hi was $5.99. Both pieces looked small. The food was good. I hung out four lines of clothes which dried nicely. Tomorrow the rains will come and the new movies will be opening up. The flowers are beautiful in the picture. It is nice to look at a picture and you don't see the frost bitten ground. I hope in time things will look this good again.

Looking ahead

I found out via e-mail that I did not pass the test for the job, I was applying for. This means I am out of the running all together for this job. However, like the weather the sun will come out. There will be new opportunities and chances to improve and make positive changes. I will go back to enjoying my picture taking and writing in my blog. I hope to experience more of the native birds around here. I would like to take the nature tour sometime at the Marine Center on the North Causeway. Tonight's dinner will be pork chops and mashed potatoes and slaw for salad. I along with countless of others who did not pass the test will go on to a better future.

What is our future?

I use to wonder where all the money to run our country was generated. First, it was millions, then it was billions and finally trillions. This is more than I will see in my life time. I could not imagine being in a room with all those amounts of money. How does America run with those vast amounts of money? If I could imagine what to do with those vast amounts, I would imagine a grand country with streets of gold. There would be no starvation. No one would be without a job. Everyone would have a grand place to live and there would be no violence anywhere. Also, we the USA would have the most advance space program in the universe. Now a check in with reality. The streets of gold are the widening of a two lane bridge on State Road 415 to a four lane bridge. Also, the widening of a four lane State Road 434 to a six lane 434 minus some trees and houses. Plus, a bullet train which will link Orlando to Tampa in the year 2015. The no starvation is all the aid that has been mustard up for Haiti's victims, but meantime we still have the homeless here in Orlando who are only remembered around the Christmas and Easter holidays. No one without a job has not been achieved yet, but I do have the chance along with countless others to apply for a job today. I like my place to live because it is home. It may not be as fancy as other places, but it is cozy and a soft place for me to land when times get tough. The violence is there, but seems so pointless. No one wins and no one is happy. The space program is suffering a severe job cut and goal destruction. The Ares rocket has been eliminated from the budget. The goal is to turn the rockets over to private companies to build and launch. Is this a good decision? Can private companies do as well as NASA and their budgets of the past? If there is an accident and people get killed, who is held responsible? Does the things we left on the moon get taken over by the Chinese? Can Russia be relied upon to take us to the space station and back home again? Is there a future for NASA? Time will be the deciding factor on all issues past and present. We will see tomorrow what the results are from today's decisions.

It is raining

Dinner tonight was leftover pork and a can of Progresso soup. It made a good dinner on a rainy night. The weatherman says the rain will stop tomorrow afternoon. We are suppose to get a break from the rain until Friday. Tomorrow, I go on an adventure to Daytona Beach for a job test. I am just hoping for a successful trip. I hope the traffic and the weather will not be bad. More rain on Friday will be good for the soil. I will have a new adventure to write about after my trip tomorrow. It should be an interesting time.