Florida's Winter Wonderland

It's been the weirdest winter for us this year -- we have the heat on for a few days and suddenly the temperatures are back up in the 80's for several days! One day I'm wearing shorts and the next I'm wearing sweats! I'm definitely not complaining 'cause winters here are a dream -- as April rolls around I start dreading the humidity that's coming.

Our car was at the mechanic's for a full week -- it was stalling frequently, the front brakes were bad, the battery was next to dead (we just got a new one a year ago) blah, blah, blah, and a bunch of stuff was wrong that I don't understand (fuel injection and stuff like that). It ended up costing $750! Ouch!

Steve had quite a day today fishing off the dock. The temperature was only in the upper 50's today and the fish were biting. I was playing around on the computer when I heard him yell that his pole had gone into the river. This particular pole had a reel that was a gift from a friend who paid over a $100 just for the reel! A fish had taken the hook and yanked the pole right out of his hand! He ran into Wayne's apartment and asked him to bring out another pole to try and get it out, but that just didn't work. He decided he had to get the pole back, but the only way was to dive in after it. The water is very, very cold at this time of year. He ran upstairs and put on a pair of shorts while I grabbed a towel and followed him to the dock. He dove into the water and came up with the pole with the fish still on it! He reeled it in and had a 10.5 pound redfish (one of the best food fish here) that was about 27" long.





Needless to say, he hasn't stopped talking about it! We'll be dining on that fish with our neighbors on Sunday before the Super Bowl.

Countin' the Days (Daze?)

Today is Day 20 of not smoking. Steve has stopped wearing the Nicoderm patches and hasn't noticed any particular change in the way he feels. I've used nothing and find that I'm okay as long as I'm not around another smoker.

We went for a long walk today and Wayne was out with his dog as we got back. He was smoking a cigarette and I asked him for one puff and he refused! He said he considered himself to be like a sponsor for me in this effort. I told him I hated him and would continue to hate him forever. This didn't seem to have any effect on his decision. Now I'm glad he didn't give it to me.

Here's a shot of Beanie partying it up during Obama's inauguration -- she's back to wearing a lampshade when she sniffs too much nip! What a party animal!!!

For My Dog-Loving Friends

A Lesson in Humility

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you, when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color or politics,

Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

Anonymous

Courtesy of the Utne Reader

The National Conference of Editorial Writers recently released a list of their most-hated journalistic clichés, the mushy euphemisms and trendy phrases that they think ought to be banned. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch excerpted the survey, along with some of the editorialists’ biting commentary:

Issues and challenges: “No one has problems any more. We have ‘issues.’ Likewise, we have ‘challenges.’…Why isn’t that a ‘problem’?”

Faith-based: “Almost 100 percent of the time this phrase is used, the user means ‘religious,’ and they should just suck it up and use the real term.”

Declined comment: “We’re not inviting people to tea parties here. We’re asking questions....They didn’t ‘decline comment.’ They ‘would not comment.’”

Closure: “An appalling word that crept out from the woodwork of psychobabble where it squats, poisoning the language, above all in journalism.”
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Killin' Time on LaSalle Court

I've finished reading the four books in the "Twilight" series which was mostly written for the teenage set, but I decided to read it to ascertain why it's so popular. Now that I've read them all, I still get it unless you happen to be a vampire-werewolf lover.

The first book was interesting because it dealt with a new perspective on the whole vampire thing, and after that the author introduced the local werewolf gang and things became tedious. The mortal girl in the story who falls in love with the gorgeous vampire-boy has a child that's half of each and this causes all kinds of problems in their world, blah, blah, blah.

Oh well, at least I can say I read it.

Now I'm reading "Marrying Mom" by Olivia Goldsmith who also wrote "The First Wives Club." She's very funny and almost anyone can relate to her sarcasm about family relationships, marriage, etc.

I've played so much Word Twist on Facebook that now when I'm trying to get to sleep I find myself coming up with six-letter words and finding smaller words from that. What can it mean, what can it mean?

Steve hates it when the temperatures drop to around 60 here -- I totally love it. It's the whole reason for living in Florida besides the ocean! I love not having to get up for work in the morning and just staying under the covers playing with the cats for as long as I choose!

We're on Day Ten of not smoking!!! Steve's using NicoDerm patches; I'm using nothing. It was strange being in the supermarket the other day and not buying cigarettes!

Our Strange Language

You think English is easy?

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

These are our neighbors, Bionett and Leo. They're both Spanish and grew up in New York City. Bionett is attending St. Pete College to become a crime scene investigator and Leo is a vehicle detailer.










Here's Bionett and Steve with Wayne, our downstairs neighbor.










This is Bionett in our kitchen frying up her empanadas. They're too good!













Here's the end result of my maiden voyage with the new cookie press. It took awhile to get the hang of it, and I had to eat some of the dough that didn't come out as complete cookies. There's a whole pound of butter in these so you KNOW they're light!

Say What?

"Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, 'I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream.' The waitress replies, 'I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?' "

— Unknown
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"I intend to live forever. So far, so good."

— Steven Wright
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"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen."

— Steven Wright
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