By the time I signed in to post something, I'd already forgotten what to say.
I've been really busy and haven't thought much about writing here. I'm putting in some overtime at work. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm back in the storm unit again. We've had some pretty bad wind and hail storms in the last few months, plus I'm doing supplements and setting up re-inspects for Katrina. So the work has be piling up and up and we've been trying to tell our manager, but he is very passive. Finally things have gotten so out of control that, for the last few days, I've seen him sitting with his head in his hands. Then, last night he got up to leave and said, "things are really blowing up around here." I was passing by his desk at the time, and although I didn't say anything I was thinking that it was about time he noticed.
This morning I have a photo shoot. This time I'm bringing all my equipment with me. I need to get my act together and write a business plan.
I had a busy Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday we (my daughter and neice) drove to Dade City to browse the antique shops. It was fun. We had lunch at "Lunch on Limoge," which was a wonderful dinning experience. Sunday afternoon my husband BBQ'd and some of his family came over. We had a nice time. On Monday I had a photo shoot early in the morning. If everything could go wrong it did. Thankfully, I've taken photos of this little girl that came out really good. It was also a no pay job. But the lighting was horrible. At 9 AM the light was harsh and bright, the gardens that we went to were closed, and I couldn't get her skin tone or dress right. She has dark skin and was wearing a light yellow and white dress and the white in the dress would be "blown out" when I got the skin tone correct. If the dress wasn't blown out, her skin was too dark. I'll have to do a re-shoot.
That afternoon I saw the new Spiderman movie, which I enjoyed. Late in the evening I watched the movie Crash. I hadn't seen Brendon Fraser in a movie in a long time. It was nice to see him in a serious role.
I'm reading "Covered Wagon Women," volume 2. I read volume one and skipped 2, and read 3. It's not a big deal skipping, because each diary and journal is different and most of the entries have to do with everyday life. I'm reading the diary now of Margaret Frink. It is immensely interesting in many respects, but one particular item she mentions caught my attention:
"After putting in our provisions, and other baggage, a floor was constructed over all, on which our mattress was laid. We had an India-rubber mattress that could be filled with either air or water, making a very comfortable bed. During the day we could empty the air out, so that it took up but little room."
That entry was made in 1850! Who knew they had air mattresses that long ago?
It's also interesting to note how differently the women respond to their journey. Margaret had a very real fear of Native Americans. She spoke of it often in her diary, yet another traveller was merely curious and eager to meet some of the Native American women. Other women made constant note of the graves they passed along the way. I suppose, they did this to pass that information on to the folks back home and also because they had a fear of catching a disease and dieing. Disease, confrontations with natives and drowning are the calamities that are written about most of all.
Let's see. This weekend we went to the Redfish Tournament in Port Charlotte. My husband had some friends that made the finals. They didn't win though. On the way home we stopped and had some BBQ chicken. We spent a nice day.
Yesterday it was so smokey from the fires. I decided to take Abraham to the beach. I can't take them both because I would not be able to handle them. Abraham never gets to go to fun places so I decided to take him. I took lots of precautions as to not lose him. He had such a grand time! He chased the waves and tried to bite them. He ran around like crazy on his 50' flexi leash. He explored sand dunes. He tried to hunt down a large pelican that was on the beach, by crouching low and sneaking up on it. It saw him and flew into the water. He went after it and thought that the water was shallow like it was at the other end of the beach where he was playing in the waves. To his surprised, it dropped off, and I actually saw a look of confusion as he dog paddled about. I called him to shore and he came. It was a good experience for him. It didn't frighten him because he was right back in the waves later on. When it was time to go home he was a tired out, tail wagging, tongue hanging dog.
Ralph
My dog walker is a retired man from New York. I'm not sure what his prior profession was, but he is now a philosopher and dog walker. He is in his late 60's and is probably in better shape than most 25 year old men. You'd be too, if you spent your day exercising.
I know he used to be married, but now he lives alone. I think dog walking gives people a lot of time to think. It must be difficult thinking so much all the time and then not having many people to discuss your thoughts with. I guess you could talk to the dogs, but the problem is that they don't give feedback and all too often they become rather bored if the conversation does not involved a recognizable food word or cats. So every time I call my dog walker on the phone, the conversation swiftly turns from scheduling and dogs to philosophy. The calls usually last from 30 minutes to an hour. For some reason, my husband refuses to call him.
I am eternally grateful....
I've been very worried that our insurance company would not renew us. If you haven't heard, the state of homeowner's insurance in Florida is a mess. I've been telling my husband about it, but I was not sure if he had been listening. He brought the mail in last week and handed me an envelope from our insurance co. He said, "I've got some really bad news." I read the letter and it said that they had done a valuation on our property and that we would have a rate increase when our policy renews next month. I was thrilled. I had been worried about finding a company and didn't want to end up with Citizens. Valuation? Pooh! We were due for one anyway. That letter made my day.
The incident at Virginia Tech is so incredibly sad. I listened to the radio on my way home last night. One of the roomates of a victim was on the air. She had known her roomate, Rachel, since high school, and she had to help Rachel's parents pack up her things. I was in tears listening to it. You never think this sort of thing can happen to your family, but it can.
In our own situation, the young man that killed my in-laws is going through the appeal process. It seems like it never ends.
