Thursday, February 28, 2013

The Young Never Have Trouble Screwing


My brother has been doing some work at my mother’s house this past month. It started with fixing the door in the washer and dryer area and wound up turning into new sliding doors and shelving in the laundry area, and a new pantry configuration - same pantry, just a relocation of the doors making it easier to access.  He tore everything out and started from the studs.

My brother had one of his employees, Jonathan, helping him on the job – a young kid who was going to primarily handle all the painting, in addition to some other little tasks.

Like helping my mother hang the quilt she made.

Jonathan was mid-brush in his painting when my mother approached with the quilt in one hand, a screwdriver in the other, held the quilt out to him and said, “I can’t screw anymore.”

He must not have seen the screwdriver in her other hand because my brother said Jonathan stopped and looked at her with an expression that said, I really hope there’s more to that sentence.

But he must have looked, to her, as if he were waiting for her to go on. So she did. “You’re young. I’m sure you don’t have any trouble screwing.”

That’s when my brother piped in and said, “What did you say, Ma?”

“Well, I was just telling Jonathan how I don’t screw anymore. Oh, I used to screw all the time when I was young, but at my age, I can’t do it anymore.  And my hands hurt. Don’t your hands hurt, Michael? Probably not, huh? You can probably still screw.”

“Oh yeah, I still screw. All the time.” He said sarcastically.

And then….this is our favorite moment with our mother.

She got it.

“Michael! That’s not what I meant. Oh my God.” She was flustered. “Oh no. I didn’t mean that. I meant…”

“Yesss?” my brother said.

“Well, what I meant was…”

“What did you mean, Mom?” Michael said, as Jonathan turned to finish his painting.

“You know what I mean, Michael. Now stop it.”

In the end, it was Michael who went to his toolbox, got his electric screwdriver and went to work.

And my mother’s quilt is hanging for all to see.

Proof that someone in the house knows how to screw.  



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: Making Tracks Across The Country
2011: Eddie Is The King Of The Dome
2010: Do It For Half An Hour A Day
2009: Sipping In Nyack
2008: The Tink Tink Tinkle Of Recycling
2007: Ralph’s Service Station
2006: The Isle Of Capri
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Monday, February 25, 2013

My Two Cents On Oscar Fashion

I have never done a red carpet fashion recap - and you may wish I never do another - but the dresses are my favorite part (even though I really enjoyed this year's show) and I thought I'd jump in an give my two cents.  Here we go!
 
Anne Hathaway:  Liked the style of the dress from the front but could have done without her pencil-eraser-sized nipples distracting me.  And her wide Joker smile kind of bugs me.
Jennifer Lawrence:  The hottest body on the red carpet, in a gorgeous dress.  Love the color, love the fabric, love the back train on it.
Charlize Theron:  This woman never gets it wrong.  The dress is beautiful and sleek and her hair is AMAZING.  I want it.
Queen Latifah:  The dress works on her, makeup is flawless, and as usual, she looks like a Queen.
 
Jennifer Aniston:  I like the style of the dress, but think it's a little too orangey-red.  And her hair looks like she just got home from running errands.  Not glamorous enough for the event.
Jane Fonda:  Holy shit.  She looks GREAT.  I'm not sure about the color, but I do love the dress.  Even the shoulder pads.  And hair.  Kinda 1980s, but it looks great.
Sally Field:  This looks one of those sheer peignoir sets my mother used to have from the 1960s, right down to the color.  It's absolutely horrid.  
Fan Bingbing:  Who the hell is Fan Bingbing??  I love the color of this dress, it's rich and gorgeous.  She looks like a doll.  Why was she at the Oscars??
 
Kelly Ripa:  This chick is just WAY too skinny. I can't even get past the emaciated skinny to look at the dress.  Not that it's anything to look at anyway.  But her skinniness ruins it for me.  She looks sick.
Alicia Vikander:  Don't know this chick, but I'm not loving her dress.  Too grandma for such a young girl.
Rachel Mwanza:  I don't like this kind of dress, especially for an event as formal as the Oscars.  She looks like she's going to be performing at Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
Dame Shirley Bassey:  Wow, she looks great.  I mean GREAT.  She's SEVENTY-SIX.  Enough said.
 
Helena Bonham Carter:  She's a little TOO quirky for my taste.  The hair, the dress.  All equals MESS.
Naomi Harris:  I think this dress is just okay.  I do like the bodice though.
Renee Zellweger:  I'm not sure about this dress.  It's too slinky and too gold.  And I sort of think Renee has become unrecognizable.  She just looks weird.
Jenna Dewan-Tatum:  Based on the fact that she's married to my boyfriend Channing Tatum, I hate her dress.
Anne Sweeney:  Blah.
Quvenzhané Wallis:  Cute.  She's nine.  Which is evident by the purse she's carrying.
Emmanuelle Riva:  She's 86.  She looks perfectly respectable for her age and I kinds like the color.
Melissa McCarthy:  OK, I don't mind a fat chick.  Especially a funny fat chick.  Hell, I'm a funny fat chick.  What I do mind is that she's wearing gray.  That much gray makes her look like a manatee.  And if a rich actress can't get fashion for fatties right, there's no hope for the rest of us.
 
Zoe Saldana:  Not loving the tri-color hem.  The belt.  Too much goign on in the bodice.  Yuck.
Catherine Zeta-Jones:  It's okay.  I like the gold.  She's starting to look a little tart-ish though.
Amanda Seyfried:  Hate neck things on dresses.  Hate the dress.  Hate the color.
Jessica Chastain:  My friend said this dress was one shader lighter than her hair and one shade darker than her skin.  I agree.  But I still like it.  It fits nice and the shimmery stitching was very old Hollywood to me.
Halle Berry:  She's always incredible.  I am in love with her hair.  Her skin is beyond amazing.  And this dress is stunning.  When she walked out on stage for the James Bond tribute, everything on her slinked.  Slunk?  Whatever...she was slinking across the stage.  And the dress looked amazing coming towards the camera.  In love.
Salma Hayek:  What the hell was she thinking??  That neckline is ridiculous.  First, I hate dresses with necks, as I just mentioned, but Salma is 5'2" and a third of her body is boob.  She doesn't really need any kind of design element to shorten her even more.  Worst choice ever.  I can't even look at it. 
Sandra Bullock:  I love Sandra Bullock and this dress was just okay.  Shimmery, but not crazy, and fits the event.
Nina Garcia:  Nina, Nina, Nina.  You're the Creative Director for Marie Claire magazine.  You've been in fashion most of your life.  You are a judge on Project Runway, for Pete's sake.  This is a huge miss for me.
 
Maria Menounos:  Hate the dress, hate the hair.
Nancy O'Dell:  The dress is okay, don't like the color.
Gloria Ruben:  I like the colors, but together they don't do it for me.
Bombay Jayarshri:  This is culturally pretty, but it looks like every sari I've ever seen.  Is this supposed to be a formal sari?

 
Kelly Osbourne:  I like this dress.  Especially for her - the strapping is edgy and it fits her age.  And I like her with the purple hair lately, but I don't like it with this dress.
Kristin Chenoweth:  Now this is what a munchkin should wear.  Kristin is 4'11" tall - Salma Hayek should take a lesson from her.  Although, I would have gone with a less tight bun. 
Kelly Rowland:  The dress looks like it's falling off her shoulder.  I don't like it.
Lori Singer:  Horrid hair.  Out of control branches on her dress.  Hate it.
 
Adele:  I love Adele.  LOVE.  Her dress is boring though.  It's hard to dress a big girl, I guess.  I covet her long, lush, thick  
Naomi Watts:  I really love this dress.  Love the silver color, love the fit and really love that weirdo shoulder.  Good choice.
Nicole Kidman:  Eh.  She's so tall, everything looks good on her, but this one is just a fancy dress.  It's not stunning.  I won't remember it.
Norah Jones:  I don't know, this just brings so much attention to her middle, I can't decide if I like it or not.  I'm leaning toward no.

Kerry Washington:  She's got great style and I like almost everything she wears.  This dress is pretty, and I love the beaded bodice.  Don't like the center part in her hair, she should have gone with a sideswept style.
Jacki Weaver:  I love the color of this dress and I like the bodice, but I think it should have gone further down to the waist.  It looks like the dress is choking her.
Olivia Munn:  This dress is phenomenal.  Color, bodice, draping, fit.  It's a real beauty.
Marcia Gay Harden:  Hate these sleeves on this thing and wish the bust fit better.  From the sleeves down, I like the dress, but I hate it on her.  Also, her hair is way too long for her age.  She looks old.
 
Reese Witherspoon:  You need to enlarge this picture to see how really hideous this dress is.  I think it makes her look fat.  The bustline is weird, all stitched and seperated like that, and that dumb little bow.  And I hate the color.  And her hair.  I'm disappointed, Reese.
Jennifer Hudson:  Her weight loss suits her so well.  Her body looks great in everything now.  I am okay with the color of the dress (not the shoes), but I think it's too much dress for her.  It's too covered up. 
Helen Hunt:  I can't hate this dress any more than I do.  It's so boring, I might even fall asleep writing this.  I know it was from H & M, and that may be the problem, but it doesn't fit well at all, the color is okay, but this shape and style has been done so many times, it's unremarkable. 
Robin Roberts:  Don't care a stitch about her or this dress.  She bugs me.
 
This photo with the men (I don't care what they wear, although Bradley Cooper is hawwwt!) is here only because I have to comment on what Mark Ruffalo's wife, Sunrise Coigney, is wearing. 

What IS she wearing??  First, I hate the blue purse.  I like the "pop of color" idea with clothing, but what the hell?  The dress looks like it was made out of my striped bedsheets.  As if the shapeless bodice hanging there isn't bad enough, it's connected to that revolting bedspread/sheet/tablecloth thing. 

I guess Mark is too busy with his activism to tell his wife her dress is
fracking ugly.  He lives thirty miles from where I grew up - next time I'm home, I might have to stop buy and rip that rag out of her closet!

Thanks for joining me while I semi-bashed Oscar fashion.  Now I have to go pick out which yoga pants I'm going to wear tomorrow.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: A Little Nip Of A Love Affair
2011: It’s A Serious Addiction
2010: Why Play Fantasy Football When You Can Spend Your Time Making Lists For The Halle Experiment?
2009: I Hope There Isn’t Going To Be A Quiz
2008: Sunglasses Required
2007: Golden Eye
2006: Making A List And Checking It Twice
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Everything You Need To Live A Bountiful Life Is Inside Of You

The song, "I'm Here", is from the Broadway production of  The Color Purple, and it's fantastic. I came across these two versions and love them both.

Fantasia Barrino, who at 19 years old, won American Idol (Season 3) did a performance of "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess that caused Simon Cowell to say she was the best contestant to ever compete in any competition, including the more than seventy Idol champions crowned nationally and internationally since the show began its first global incarnations.  He said, ever.  That's pretty high praise from Simon Cowell. 

From there, she released an album (which was nominated for three Grammy Awards), wrote an autobiography that became a Lifetime movie in which she played herself -  and was Lifetime's second most watched movie in its 22-year history - landed the lead role of Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway in 2007 (which she earned rave reviews for), won a Grammy, had a baby, and landed on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music.  This is her version of "I'm Here".  Prepare yourself - it's phenomenal.   My favorite part is when she says, "I'll stand as TAWL as the TAWWWWLEST tree."  

Jennifer Hudson, who also competed on American Idol in the same season as Fantasia (she was eliminated several weeks before the finale), went on to have an meteoric career.  In addition to winning the biggies - a Grammy, a Golden Globe and an Oscar - she's won countless other awards including an NAACP Image Award, a Teen Choice Award, a BET Award, a Soul Train Award, and a SAG Award.

Sung at Oprah's request, here is her version of "I'm Here" performed at The Kennedy Center Honors:


Both versions are amazing, but different.  With Fantasia's, you get a real sense of a person who has struggled.  It's emotional, raw and deep.  I can't watch it without feeling like I want to cry.  

Jennifer's version is powerhouse.  All voice.  Dynamic and beautiful.  I'm not sure the addition of the choir was necessary as she was rockin' it all by herself, but I love anything that includes a Gospel choir, so I'll let it slide.

Here are the lyrics if you want to follow along - each singer started the song off a little differently, but then they go on to sing the same lyrics.  I suggest you read them over and watch the videos several times.  Not only am I still watching them, I now have the song downloaded on my iPod. 

I'M HERE

I don’t need you to love me.
I don’t need you to love.
I got…
I got…
I got my sister.
I can feel her now,
She may not be here, but she still mine.
I know she still love me.

I got my children.
I can’t hold them now,
They may not be here, but they still mine.
And I hope they know I still love them.

I got my house.
It still keep the cold out.
I got my chair.
When my body can’t hold out.
Got my hands.
Doin’ good like they s’pose to.
Showin’ my heart.
To the folks that I’m close to.
I got my eyes.
Though they don’t see as far now.
They see more ‘bout how things really are now.

I’m
I’m gonna take a deep breath.
I’m gonna hold my head up.
I’m gonna put my shoulders back,
And look you straight in the eye.
I’m gonna flirt with somebody
Whey they walk by
I’m gonna sing out.
Sing out.

I believe I have inside of me
Everything that I need to live a bountiful life.
With all the love alive in me,
I’ll stand as tall as the tallest tree.
And I’m
Thankful for each day that I’m given,
Both the easy and hard ones I’m livin’.

But most of all
I’m thankful for
Loving who I really am.

I’m beautiful.

Yes, I’m beautiful.

And I’m here.




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: From A Bodyguard, To Men Of Honor, To Good Deeds
2011: Just What I Need
2010: Waterfront Dining
2009: The Best Is Yet To Come
2008: It’s Not Just A Medicinal Oil After All
2007: Tracy Hilltop
2006: Calming The Flatulent Tiger
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Big Fat Proof Of Your Weight

Last week we took a load of concrete furnace parts from North Carolina to New York.  The weight of the load was posted as 45,000 pounds.  What's posted and what it actually is, are often two different things.  45,000 pounds is the maximum amount of weight we can take before we go hit gross at 80,000 pounds. 

We're always leary of a load posted as exactly 45,000.  It's just too iffy - it's very common for the load to weigh more.  We've gotten to places that post it as 45, but then try to sneak on more.  The customer wants to save money by shipping as much freight on one trailer as they can, so they cram it on.

We took a load of fat bees once.  Since most shippers don't have a scale on their property, you have to risk getting caught being overweight, as drive you to a truckstop to weigh and get an official scale ticket.  There's no way to know otherwise.  If you weigh and you're overweight, you have to drive back and have them take something off.  That's what happened with the bees - they loaded too many hives, putting us over gross.  We wasted an hour on that one, since it was thirty minutes each way to the nearest scale.  It happens more often than it should.

So this load of concrete was a concern.  The customer "estimates" the weight of the pieces, and if you're lucky, they know how to add.  The goal is to get as close to 45,000 pounds without going over.   


In this photo, you'll see Ed (on the left, in the blue jumpsuit and white hardhat) conferring with the other guys on weights and placement for the ten pieces we were picking up.
The first thing we did after leaving the shipper, was drive to the CAT Scale.  Luckily, this scale was very close to where we loaded.  My bet was that we were over.  It was concrete, people.  What are the chances that the yahoos at the shipper actually know the exact weight of formed concrete?  

This is our first scale ticket - 80,080 pounds.  We were over.

Sure, it was only 80 pounds, but 80 pounds is enough to get you busted at a weigh station.  I, of course, was annoyed, because I hate being taken advantage of and in this case, they overloaded us.  If they weren't sure of the weight, they should have left off the smallest piece, ensuring a lighter load.  If the decision were mine, we'd have been right back at that shipper and they'd be taking a piece off.  But it wasn't my call, it was Ed's.  And he wasn't going back.

So what we did instead was dump water.  We have 10 gallons of fresh drinking water in the truck, and 40 gallons of water in the tank for showers, dishwashing, etc.  And the toilet tank has a 7 gallon capacity. 

The drinking water would be the last to go, since we pay for that, so we'd have to dump regular water and empty the toilet.  A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds.  That meant we had to dump approximately 10 gallons.

Ed dumped the toilet while I did the last of the dishes.  When I was done with the dishes, I left the tap on to drain the tank a little bit.  There was no way to tell how much I was dumping, but I kept my eye on the lines on the water tank and tried to guess if it were enough.  When all of that was done, we weighed again.

This is our second scale ticket - 80,000 pounds.  Right on the money.
Ed said in his 17 years of driving, he's never seen a printed scale ticket that was exactly 80,000 pounds.  I'm a little shocked myself.  That's like guessing exactly how many jelly beans are in a jar. 

At the first scale we had to cross, I was a little nervous.  I don't really know what would happen if we were a smidge over, as we've never been that close to gross before, but I joked to Ed that I hoped there wasn't a pebble on the scale.  All you need is one scale master in a crappy mood to ruin your day.

We cleared all the scales just fine, but I was happy when we delivered because it meant we could fill up again and not have to conserve every last drop of water.  Not having a full tank meant I had to watch what I was using, and I dislike the inconvenience of that.

Our next challenge would be finding a truck stop in the cold and snowy Northeast that had a hose or spigot with running water - they're usually all turned off at the pumps in cold weather and we have to hunt for water like pioneers.

And I am no pioneer. 

Which is why I stick with Eddie.  He's pretty darn good at the water fetchin'.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: This Could Be Very Confusing For Men
2011: The King Of Thrift
2010: Dances With Sheepskin
2009: The Seat You Offer Your Arch Enemy
2008: The Man With The Silver Handbag
2007: Silver Snowscape
2006: Let Go Let Flow
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Set In Stone

We picked up a load in Champlain, NY last week - so close to the Canadian border that my cell phone was roaming and I could practically see the breath of Canadians in the cold, crisp air - and on the road near the shipper was this fabulous stone house. 

I really liked the rustic look of it.  It may not be old, but it looked old.  Hand built.  The stone looks hand hewn, maybe fieldstone, that someone chopped up, stacked and shoved mud between to make a house.  The windows looked new, but the door was definitely old.  I would have loved to see the interior.
I zoomed in to get more of the stone, but had to do it quickly because Ed was yammering about someone being behind us on the road and he had to move.  There was no shoulder to pull on, so he slowed to a crawl and creeped by it so I could take the picture.  
A house like this conjures up stories.  Who lived here and how long ago was it built?  Where'd the stone come from?  How isolated were they when it was built, since it was pretty wide open now. 

It's the little pleasures I get from driving around the country, day after day, and seeing stuff like this that keeps me in love with this job. 

We'll be up in Champlain again in June, on our way to Montreal for a week with our friends, and I plan on driving by this house again.  Maybe I'll luck out and run into the owner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2012: How To Make A Mustache Famous
2011: Homemade Dessert Is The Bombe
2010: Olga And Eddie Travel The Country Viking Style
2009: They Say
2008: Eddie Lounges In Cozumel Friday
2007: I Think I’m Dating A Narcoleptic
2006: Groundhog Surprise
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Proof That A Snowball Does Have A Chance In Hell

It was apparently big news - my friends in Thailand even heard about it, reported on the BBC.Tucson, Arizona got snow. 

The following six pictures were taken by my mother, on her iPhone.  I'd say she did a pretty good job - not one of them has her thumb in it.

It snowed for hours.  It was freezing.  People panicked.  The National Guard was sent in to escort people home from the usually sunny parking lot of the WalMart.  OK, there was no National Guard, but they did freak out a little. 

They even cancelled part of a PGA event.  Pandemonium! 

This is my mother's backyard:

This is part of the front yard:
This is the bench my brother and I made for my mother and step-father one Christmas.  A mosaic with teeny tiny pieces of tile.  My brother, the tile master, really did all the work.  I have NO patience to chop up that much tile.  The entire bench is made of concrete.  It's a bitch to move.

Notice the flowers?  They're plastic.  And the blue turtle?  And the painted purple brick?  And the yellow, orange and green rubber snake in the foreground on the right side of the picture?  That's all my mother's doing.  She is (at times) what one might call "eccentric". 
The end of the driveway, towards the backyard.
And the last photo of the evening, which is a little blurry, but clear enough to see the snow weighing down the branches of what may or may not be a plastic tree, covering the bench, and leaving the blue turtle to say, WTF? I thought this was the desert?!
And people think climate change isn't real. 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2012: I Just Want Tiny Little Elephants To Massage My Earlobes
2011: App-solutely Crazy
2010: NCIS Investigates The Kitchen Aftermath
2009: Sometimes There Are FOUR Sides To A Story
2008: Made With Pride
2007: Coke Crushes The Competition
2006: Tired And Mute
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Formed Around A Grain Of Sand

See that teeny tiny strip of land there on the North Carolina coast, the Outer Banks, as they are more commonly known?  And see that little red dot down there on Ocracoke Island?  That's where we were. 
FYI - there is NOTHING there. 

They call Ocracoke Island the "Pearl of the Outer Banks".  I'd have to say that's probably pretty accurate, because this place seems to have formed around a grain of sand.  After all, that's what they seem to have plenty of. 

We wanted to drive the entire strip of the Outer Banks, starting in Kitty Hawk, down through Rodanthe (where we'd see the "Nights in Rodanthe" house), and ending at Hatteras to see the famous lighthouse before hopping on the ferry.  But the ferry from Hatteras Island wasn't operating because of shoaling in the Hatteras Inlet, so instead of a 40-minute ferry ride from Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island, we had to take a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride from Swan Quarter.

I'm sure it's perfectly beautiful in the summer time, when there's nothing to do but lay on the beach, but I can't imagine it being very pleasant crawling with hundreds of tourists. I just don't get the enjoyment in that. We often prefer to visit places in the off season to get a lay of the land and then go back when the weather is more suited to the location.  Of course we didn't really "choose" to go to Ocracoke Island, we just went because we had a load that delivered there, so this time of year there were only a few things open - the post office (which we didn't need), a variety/grocery/hardware store, a gas station, and a restaurant.


So we ate lunch, drove to the end of the island, saw some of the famous ponies, took a picture of the ocean, swung by the lighthouse and then returned to our starting point to park and wait for the morning ferry.

Very uneventful.  It's one of those places I'd never go back to - like Key West - I've seen it now, I know what's there, and I have no reason to return.  I might consider other areas on the Outer Banks for a day or two at the beach, but other than that, it's no longer on my list of places to visit.

Seen one grain of sand from the Outer Banks, seem them all.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: Pinwheels, Cartwheels, What’s The Difference?
2011: Maybe You Left It On Mars
2010: The Art Of A French Cooking Friend
2009: Eddie Supervises Friday
2008: Squeaky Clean
2007: Rushing No More
2006: My Constant Gardner
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Frantically Trying To Get Back To Indonesia

At the aquarium, one of the exhibits had two Komodo Dragons in it.  The sign at the exhibit read:

"Komodo Dragons are the world's largest lizards, with the record male measuring more than 10 feet long and 365 pounds.  The animals you see today are relatively unchanged from their ancestors that existed over 4 million years ago.

Komodos use their forked tongues to smell dead animals, their most common food, from several miles away.  Virulent bacteria picked up from eating rotten flesh thrive in the Komodo's saliva.  When dragons choose to attack live prey, the bacteria can infect and kill their victims within days."

I've heard of these things but have never seem them.  And I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd need to change my pants.  I certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to go inside their cage

Here's one, staring out the window, probably contemplating what it would be like to be free.  

And here's a very short (20 seconds) video of the other one, digging in the dirt.  I'm pretty sure he was carving out their escape route.  




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2012: I’d Like Some Snow For Dessert
2011: Getting A Little Carried Away
2010: On A Need To Know Basis
2009: Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong
2008: Flying Into The Sun
2007: Riding The Rails
2006: Keeping Me Quiet With A Chocolate Snap
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Inner Path To The Outer Banks

We're on our way to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to deliver a load of sand.  When we heard it was sand, we thought WTF, who delivers sand to a beach?  We thought maybe a storm washed away what was there and they needed to replenish it, but when we picked up the load and it was in bags (like you'd get in Home Depot) and not the commercial Super Sacks we've picked up in the past, we knew it wasn't regular sand.   
The sand we were delivering was for sand blasting - they're building a new water tower on the island and need it for that.  Awww, shucks, not bringing sand to the beach.  Oh, well.

On the way, we crossed several stretches of water and caught a sunset on the tree-lined horizon.  And I'm hoping to catch at least one glimpse of a really cool lighthouse on our trip.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2012: The Greatest Love Of All
2011: Step It Up
2010: It May Not Be EVERY Day You Learn Something New, But It’s Certainly True Of THIS Day
2009: Dreams Of Do-It-Yourself Dolloping Come True
2008: Rest In Peace Sweet Green Eyed Beauty
2007: George And Ira
2006: Zip It Up!
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Pretty Pink Sailor

This little guy, the Nautilus, is just one of the pretty and unusual sea creatures we saw at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center.  It has a face only a mother can love.
Here's the same Nautilus kissing the glass of the tank, which makes it looks as if he's checking himself out in a mirror.  
The aquarium in general was just okay.  I'm not sure it was worth the $21.00 admission fee, especially since the place was crawling with people pushing SUV-sized baby strollers.  I suppose that's expected when you go to an attraction like this on a weekend. 

When we weren't dodging kids and baby carriages, we were able to see some really cool stuff - huge sea turtles, sharks, a hedgehog, a gigantic lobster, seahorses, and a Komodo Dragon. 

More on him later.




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2012: Many Thanks To Those Of You Who Come To Peer Through My Window
2011: And I Thought My Feet Were Big!
2010: ABC. Easy As 123. As Simple As Do Re Mi, ABC, 123, Baby You And Me
2009: Under The Black Palm Tree
2008: The Zoo In Stateroom 7377
2007: Pillars
2006: Fiori Di Como
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn’t start until May 2005!