I am at work, and don't have my pictures here from my vacation to download, but... wanted to post something anyway... :)

We have tropical storm Ernesto coming through right now... Well, not exactly right now as I speak but today.

It is really not as bad they had predicted. Well first they were predicting a hurricane, then a tropical storm, and now it has been downgraded to an inland tropical storm, which baskically means rain and wind. I guess you could call it a bad rain storm.

That is the good thing. Well, I guess. Actually they are predicting 35 mile an hour winds... On some streets in Winter Springs, that wind could get a ticket!

Of course I am like a little kid, and would have liked a hurricane day off from work, like we got snow days off from school. Oh I loved those days... the whole family home, staying in our pajamas, not going anywhere. Guess I have to move back up north for that... huh... Or retire!!!!

Just made reservations for the Hoop-de-Doo Revue at Disney's Fort Wilderness, for next Thursday night. Hope that works out for Carol and Richie. Richie has to work on Friday, so he will get up Friday morning, and get dressed in a suit and tie and go to work from the campground. God, I hope they enjoy themselves.... Camping, even at Fort Wilderness can be miserable experience, if something happens to make it that way. Anyway, the dinner is pretty nice, Loin of pork, veggies, salad and desert, and a show. I hope Richie likes it. Of course he can always have a veggie option. I guess I need to check with Carol on that too.

Well, better go. Have a ton of orders, and will probably be working through my lunch.... Anyway, my break is almost over....

Monday in Philadelphia

Well, Monday we got up and got ready early, 6:00, and went out for breakfast. We found a cafe on Saturday, that was very good. The Midtown III Restaurant. It was open 24 hours, and it was reminiscent of a diner in NY. I thought the waitresses were great, although George had a bit of a problem with the little dark haired one. She was gruff lets say, be she was soft around the edges when you gave her the chance. I think George was half playing when he complained about her. Anyway, their Mediterranean omelet was great, with tomatoes, feta cheese and I think spinach. It was pretty rich, but a great omelet. And I am not an omelet fan.

George walked me to the train station, and I got on a train to Ambler to see my friend Audrey and her significant other (soon to be fiance'), Al. It was about a 30 minute train ride and Al and Audrey were there waiting for me when I got there. That is Audrey and Al in the picture. I met Audrey about 28 years ago. We worked together, and in fact when I moved to Florida, I moved here and lived with Audrey. She also helped me get my job at the phone company.

Audrey lived in Plainview, and I met her at the shoe store I worked in at the time. Import Shoe Fair. It was on 15 W. Marie St. In Hicksville. Audrey was married to Artie. She has two boys with Artie. He passed away last year in November.

She was in touch with friends from school, on the internet, and that is how she ran into Al. One thing lead to another, and they met, and now they are getting married.

First we went to the Post Office, so that Audrey and Al could get their passports. Then we went for a little ride to view the sights of Ambler and vicinity, then we went out to lunch to a neat little place, with the best french fries. Al went to the dentist and Audrey introduced me to her neighbors. Then we just sat and chatted. It was neat. I miss doing that with her.

Anyway, Audrey lives in Levittown NY during the week, and Ambler Pennsylvania on the weekends. Pretty neat.

Kind of like I want to do. Only I want to spend June to September up north, with property, and October to May in Florida. One day......

When I got back to Philly, George met me at the train station, and we went to a Chinese restaurant, vegetarian restaurant had Dim Sun platter, all you could eat. I had the tea... I love the tea... Then we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Combining Saturday and Sunday in Philly

Ok, so we went to bed Friday night, and woke up Saturday morning to go to the Clerk Craft Conference. Then we went this little vegetarian place in South Philly, known for it's Vegetarian Philly Cheese Steaks. It was called Gourmet to Go/Govinda... It was pretty good. Not in the "best" neighborhood, but they were young and hard workers, and very polite. George loved it, and I have to admit they had a good selection, and if I went back, I wouldn't order the Philly Cheese Steak (I make a pretty mean Philly Cheese Steak with Morning Star Farms steak strips), but they had some other stuff on the menu that looked very good also. The Cheese Steak was good though.

Sunday after the second day of the clerk conference, we met up with George's local and had pizza at Olde City Pizza, down in the historic district. Pizza was OK, and the service was not so hot. Well, let's put it this way, the way George like Pizza, and we ate it again that vacation, we didn't go back there.....

Then we walked around the historic district, and went to the Liberty Bell.

We walked around the Historic District with plans to go back later in the week. We went to Carpeters Hall, the 2nd Bank, a few other places. All with plans of going back later in the week to do a real honest to goodness touristy thing, but it didn't actually work out that way... You may be seeing another entry in my blog about Heidi & George's REAL VACATION Trip to Philadelphia.

Anyway, then we went down Elfreth Alley. This is the oldest residential street in the United States. These houses date between 1728 and 1836, and people still live in them, I mean all but one are private residences! Now keep in mind that the first black and white picture was probably taken in the early 1900's. The color one of course was taken by us... (bet you never would have guessed) you can tell because that is me standing there with my hand on my hip. I am standing "kinda" between the second and third houses in the old picture. You can tell by the different arches over the doorways. The first house must have been knocked down.

Then we ate at a cafe, had desert and coffee, and that is when one of those BIG city pidgeons shit on my head. Everyone was pretty grossed out by it, and I have to admit, it was pretty gross, but George got a we paper towel from the rest room, and wiped it off, and then I just tried to forget about it. It was before we were served, and Hans has pooped on my plenty of times, so no biggie. When we got back to the hotel, I took a shower and washed my hair. None the worse for the ware...

Well that is pretty much all we did that day.

We have pictures!!!

This is the view from our hotel room, on the 26th floor of the Sheraton on Race and 17th Street, in Philadelphia. That building off to the right or the circle (which is called Logans Square... ) is the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That is the building that Rocky ran up the stair to in the first Rocky movie. So when you go there most of the people are just running or walking up the stairs and when they get to the top, stand there, with their arms up in the air (like Rocky did) and then someone takes their picture... It really is a great place to people watch.

Straight ahead in front of Logans Square is the Franklin Institute. off to the right of Logans Square is the Free Library.

The top picture is the same shot at night (bet you couldn't figure that out could you...). Pretty nice shot huh? This is a great camera....

This was a great room. Big room, and on the corner of the building, so it was bigger than the others. The only problem is that there was some sort of HVAC piece of equiptment on the roof, and it made the walls tremble alittle, and there was also a sway that I felt mainly because my sense of balance is off since I had the mild stroke last year. I shouldn't say my sense of balance is off, it is just very sensitive.

One night we come home later than normal, and walked into the room, and there was a crib in the room. I was startled to say the least. My first reaction was to close the door. I am not sure why, my key opened it, but that was my first reaction. What I didn't see was that there was a twin size roll away bed brought in the room also.

We called the front desk and they came and took it out, and brought it to the correct room, which was right next store. How I know is that the baby that ended up in that crib cryed allllllll night long. I mean wailed. You know the kind of crying a baby does when it crys do hard it can't catch it's breath. Well it was like that. I was about to call the front desk and tell them that I thought the baby was left alone in there, because how anybody could have let a baby cry like that, in the same room and not attend to it, had to be either dead, unconciuous or an animal. The little on finally stopped, or passed out was more the case, which is what I did also.

Well, better go.. I am in the middle of ironing and Tony and Carol are coming over so I can help them cut some fabric for drapes for Tony's house.

Honestly, I don't know anything about cutting fabric for drapes. I think she just wants to bring Tony over here. I mean she brought him over when the house was under construction and took him on a tour....

Today I cut back the Grapefruit trees and the Gardenia bush, and also planted some Cone Flower/Daiseys. They are perenials, and I planted the seeds during a rain shower. I think it should be alright, even if it is August, but it is almost September, and this is Florida. I'll let you know.

Yes, Yes, I know... no pictures yet... Well, that is because they are still on the laptop.

Today is Thursday, tomorrow is payday. And September will be a busy month. We have Hans' (remember my friend from Germany) sister coming with her little girl, and 2 others on Sunday, September 3rd. I am going to make Chilli, hot dogs, (veggie and meat), cole slaw, cucumber salad, and I am not sure what else. For desert I am making a fruit and custard pie, a chocolate rouladen, and fresh fruit.

Then on the 8th of September, we are going camping with Carol and Richie. I think we will make spaghetti one night and not sure what we will make the rest of the time. Carol and I had started to do a menu for the weekend but it was getting alittle bit confusing. I think I still have the list, I guess I should look it over.

On the 23rd of September, George and I are having about 10 or 11 people over for the afternoon, and I was planning on doing Shish Kabob, and alot of other stuff. I made a list for planning purposes, I really need to figure out what I will need to get.

So, September will be a pretty busy month. I have the first weekend of company pretty well set. Once I get through that I think I will be pretty much ready for the next weekend, and so on from there. I love to entertain like that, but then I get nervous that something isn't going to turn out ok. I don't know why, so far I have been pretty lucky...

Haven't gotten my pictures from Philly off the laptop yet. I promise I will have them soon.

In the mean time it has been brutally hot here in Florida. The weather is just starting to break now, with cooler temperatures at night.

Luckily Wayne (My Pets Friend) was able to water for me while we were gone. This week they have been predicting rain all week. 60% chance, and that is usually a sure thing, but it is a 60% chance if you happen to be in the "spot" that it is supposed to rain, and if anyone knows Florida rain, that could mean across the street, but not where you are standing.

Well today, they raised it to 70%, with more wide spread coverage. Keep your fingers crossed. I love the rain. It just cleans everything. Hard to explain.

I am glad to be home... not glad to be at work.. but glad to be home. Work is a real chore for me lately. Not sure what it is. Just a chore, bordering on burden, but don't think I will get there because that paycheck usually brings me back to reality real quick.

I just think about the things I would rather be doing, like, working on my bench that I am refinishing, the slip covers I keep thinking about, I have all the supplies to get them done, but not the energy when I get home, the dusting, the bathrooms, the vacuuming, the bird cage or the fish tank. All things that are tremendously more productive than what I do here. Except for the paycheck, which is the end result of all those seeminly unproductive hours I spend at work.

Here I am 48 years old, and I look forward to retirement. How sad is that!!!???!!!

Well better go, have to get back to the unproductive stuff that pays the bills. Break is 1 minute away from being up....

Back from Philadelphia!!!

We had a nice time, I walked my butt off. I mean I walked everywhere. My feet were killing me. I did weigh myself this afternoon, and I gained 3 or 4 pounds, but I think it was in muscle... (yea right!)

Well, we ate pretty fattening breakfasts, and pretty fattening dinners, compared to what we did before, but we didn't over eat. We ate breakfast, then we at dinner. But..., we had dessert every night. It was good though, and it made it a real vacation. Afterall, this is it, until next year for me. Except of course for the weekend we go camping, or the weekend that Mathie and Wesley have their teeth cleaned.

I visited my girl friend, went shopping, sight seeing, etc. I will be posting pictures of my different outings.

It was good to get home though. I missed my kids, and spent most of today, just hanging around with them. George is suffering from a tired stomach. One night we went out for pizza, and he went hog wild. I think he ate 7 pieces of pizza, plus salad. The salad was out of this world. We went with Dave and his wife. It was fun, and I will tell you about it later in the week.

Anyway, that is it for now. Going to play around on the computer, and will be back tomorrow.

Today we leave for Philadelphia... As always when we go away, I am excited up until the day before we leave... then I look at my kids and my house, and I start to feel bad. Especially about the kids... I just love those guys. And they love us... I almost feel like I am letting them down, but, they have Wayne (My Pet's Friend), and he loves them too. And they love him too... and now that everybody loves everybody... I just hate to leave them.

And to add to my angst, is the fact that there is heightened security at the airports, which means heigtened attitudes... In other words, everyone is going to be wound alittle bit toooooo tight today. So part of me just wants to get to Philly and get to the hotel, while the other part of me wants to curl up in my bed with Mathie... I am a real head case.....

So... hopefully Philly is safe, and I will not be intimidated by the local color. I plan on going to see Audrey in Ambler, and then the usual sights and attractions... so I should have lots of pictures when I get back.

Ok everyone, I have added a picture of me... and..... John Kerry... Yup, I met him, shook his hand and everything. Introduced myself to him, the works... I have it on video also.. Let me tell you, if I had Grandchildren they would hear this story many times.

See, we had free tickets to somewhere on Delta. So George said to me do you want to go somewhere like New England or Iowa to see John Kerry while he is campaigning. So you know I jumped at that. See I was a John Kerry supporter since March of 2002, when I saw him at the Florida Democratic State Convention. Then he sent a letter to the Orlando Sentinel in April, ripping (very eloquently I might add) Kathleen Parker a new one (if you know what I mean.....), and I thought, this guy knows what is going on. He knows what is happening all over. So that was the beginning.

Well then George said, you can't just sit back and listen to him speak, or watch him, you have to go up to him and speak to him.... OH MY GOD!!!!!

But I did. Then his assistant took this picture... George was in it also, or is in it, but he cropped this one for me for another reason, and it has come in very handy since then.

Anyway, when he lost the election (and what a damn shame that was....) I was devastated for about 3 days. But, I still have his bumper sticker on my car, because I am counting on him running again. A far better reason then why all those yahoo's have "W" stickers on their car. We know he ain't running again... thank god!

Well, just wanted to post something with the addition of the picture...

Ok. gotta go, have tons to do...

YEA!!!!!!!

Josh Blue won Last Comic Standing..... Who cool is that!!!!!????!!! Honestly, I would have been shocked if he didn't win... and I think the audience would have stormed the stage. I think I will have to look for him and see if he gets any better well know than the others that have won...

Anyway... just thought I would bring that up... Now, that is done, I won't bother anyone now, but I will be back in a few months to talk about the Presidential election coming up in 2008. We have to start thining about that now...

Leaving for Philly tomorrow, and will be back with some pretty neat pictures, I hope... I will probaby check in periodically during the week.

See ya later...

Pest Problem....

This is my Gardenia. I had some pretty flowers on here this year.... but then I got aphids. I have plants with other problems also...

Above the Gardenia you will see my Grapefruit tree. It has leaf miners.... I love Gardenias, and I love my grapefruit tree, because the Gardenia has beautiful flowers and the grapefruit tree is the off spring of the tree I grew from a seed in NY, and Daddy brought down to me when I bought the house in Winter Springs.... That was my baby, and I recently discovered that the girl who bought my house, cut down my tree. This tree is almost my legacy... I will not have any children, and now it is gone, so all I have left are these 3 babies that I again grew from a seed from the fruit of the tree that I grew from a seed. I have to save these... period end of subject.

I tried cutting the affected leaves out, but they grew more leaves and the leaf miners went after them. I got my Rodale's Organic Gardening book out, and it said that they come from the dirt. They also said that a Nicotine tea will kill them, and the aphids, so with the assistance of my girl friend who smokes, by her donation of a pack of cigarettes, I made 1/2 gallon of Nicotine tea this weekend. The way I did this was to soak 1/2 cup of tobacco in 1/2 gallon of water, with 1/4 tsp of pure soap. I soaked the tobacco in the water, in the hot Florida sun for a few hours, then I strained it through cheese cloth, and sprayed it on the leaves, and then even put some of the tea on the dirt the plants are growing in.

So, this is what they look like now, in a few days I will cut them back, and hope for the best.... I will follow up with some pictures of the demise or the celebration.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.... These Grapefruit trees are very dear to my heart. I kid you not, the parent tree was once a seed on a plate 35 years ago, in Farmingdale NY. My mother was on a grapefruit diet, and I was cleaning the breakfast table off, and saw that one of the seeds starting to germinate, so I carefully assisted it along. Before you knew it, my Dad and I were planting the tree outside in May, and bringing it in, in November. We did that for about 10 years, and when I moved to Florida in 1985, and bought my first house in 1987, the first trip my Mom and Dad made down by automobile, was with my Dads van, and in the back was my grapefruit tree. Boy I had a great Dad....

Then when we had a freeze in 1988 or 1989, when my Dad was here, and he wrapped the tree in a heavy drop cloth, and put a 75 watt flood at the base to keep it warm. Then he woke up all that night in regular intervals to check on the tree. The following January, I had my first buds, and the following December, I had my first fruit. And it was good fruit....

Well anyway.... do what ever it is you do... keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer, wish real hard... what ever works... and then check back.... :)

Hey!!! Has anyone been watching Last Comic Standing this year.... We have, and we are voting for and pulling for Josh Blue..... He is very funny, and I think he deserves to win. George likes the other guy with curly hair too, but I am 100% behind Josh. If anybody reads this blog, tell me what you think.

I think the guy is just a funny, sincere guy. Actually I think the guy that comes up 2nd does pretty well career wise.. I mean, I don't follow the stand up comic circuit, but I see more of Ant than I do the other guy. (See what I mean!?!)

Anyway, everyone should vote for Josh, because Josh is the best, and deserves to win. So anyone who is reading this...(hello....!! anybody out there!!!???!!) should do me a favor and vote for Josh. Please... my political candidates never win... (yet), my Dancing with the Stars candidate didn't win.... , not even my Apprentice Candidate from the season before last won.... I just want Josh to win. Then we can talk about the Presidential election in 2008.

I wanted to add a blurb on the internet about our pet sitter. His name is Wayne Tracey, and his business is called My Pet's Friend. He covers an area in central Florida including Oviedo, Winter Springs, Casselberry and parts of Winter Park.

This guy is great and anyone who is wondering if they should use his pet sitting service, let me tell you, don't give it a second thought.... Ask for references, you will find one from me!!!

I have recommended him to numerous people, and they have all come to me a later dates and thanked me.

Let me tell you why he is good. Wayne does this because he loves animals.... He isn't just the owner of the company... he is the company.... When you hire My Pet's Friend... you get Wayne. I have been using him for over 5 years, and he has never let me down. He doesn't have a crew of pet sitters. He is not the "Molly Maids" of pet sitters.

Our dogs and cats know and love Wayne. They know when we are gone, Wayne is coming to walk them, and talk to them, and spend time with them. It isn't just a dog walker, it is their friend....

He worries about your animals the way you do. I have since found that there are alot of options out there... but... I believe that they would be hard pressed to be as good as Wayne.

This is Hans... He was the first addition to my family when I moved to Florida. He was born in April of 1986, so that makes him over 20 years old.

He is very smart, verrrry handsome, and all business. Most birds like toys and gadget in their cage, but not Hans.

He loves potatoes, especially mashed. He loves Cream of Wheat cereal, and he like good rye bread.

He has been all over, because I used to take him with me where ever I went. He has flown to NY numerous times. He and I grounded a Piedmont Airways plane out of Baltimore once... and we won... with the support of the rest of the passengers.

He loves dish towels, and he will whistle with you if you are patient with him.

When my Dad had his last stroke 2 years ago, we had to rush to NC, and we didn't go through the normal preparations before leaving, so he obviously knew something was wrong. After 3 days, he decided to go on a hunger strike. Luckily our Pet Sitter, Wayne Tracey (My Pet's Best Friend) , the best pet sitter in Central Florida, recognized something was wrong, and rushed him to the hospital. They tube fed him twice, to get him eatting, and the spent the rest of the 2 weeks at the front desk greeting patients.

He comes in the bedroom with us everynight. Has done that since the day I brought him home over 20 years ago. If you leave him in the bedroom in the morning when you get up, and start your day, he will yell until you come back to get him.

He and Putzen are very good friends, and he is a very important part of our family.