Another Video Update!

Hey folks!  Here's another video update.  Don't panic, I'm not going viral in my blog posts.  I thought I would do something a little different this morning and make back to back videos, one at night and one in the daytime.  I might have to rethink this because I look like a tired old man in BOTH videos.  Oh well, as that anonymous philosopher said "It is what it is."  Aren't you glad you got up this morning to get these pearls of wisdom?  I thought so. I should rename my blog "Cliches Are Us." 

So the big news around here is that we're going to lose our beautiful arborvitae tree at the entrance to Casa Tipton-Kelly.  Arborvitea trees and bushes, I just don't have any luck with them.  When we lived in Pennsylvania the deer would come right to the house in daytime and munch away at the arborvitae bushes right below the kitchen window.....I know because I would watch them as I did the dishes!

Bill and I tried to knock the little buggers (bagworms) off our beloved tree but we soon realized this was a losing cause...just too many of them.  So, I made a call to my landscaper Miguel.  He came over about an hour later and gave me a bid on removing the arborvitae, $60.00.  Now I'm trying to rationalize why it is good not to have that arborvitae tree right on the front corner of our house....it was going to get too big anyway.  Yeah, that's it.  

Driving out my neighborhood this morning I noticed that more than a few of my neighbors also have arborvitaes; on nearby neighbor has a whole line of them bordering his property.  And to think I was once going to plant arborvitaes bordering Casa Tipton-Kelly.  Dodged a bullet on that one (another cliche). 

I'm finishing this post; lunch, nap then to work today. I only have to work one day since I worked Sunday.  Good news.  It's so hot and humid around here that all I want to do is keep myself ensconced in this air conditioned house.  

Stay cool!

Too Darn Hot!

The temps have lightened up a bit but it is still TOO DARN HOT!  This is Texas weather mother!

Fall, where are thy cool breezes to caress my wrinkled visage?

Last night, during a break in our current heat wave, Bill mowed the lawn and I did the trimming.  I was a couple weeks behind the trimming, the long grass was starting to go to seed.  Bill and I have discussed about letting the backyard go "au naturale" but I don't think the neighbors would like it.  We don't want to be one of THOSE neighbors.

Today I go to work.  We had a problem last week cooling down the VIP suite because of the 100 degree plus heat.  Had to comp the room.  I hated to do it but we have to keep the guest happy and they don't spend that kind of money for a hot room.  I agreed to check in the guest early.  My mistake.  That won't happen again.  Apparently I was supposed to know to turn on the air conditioning the night  before.  Something I didn't know but I do now.  No more hot rooms for hotel guests.  No more checking in early either.  Lesson learned.

Thank goodness our electricity is on and air conditioning working.  We keep the temperature at 78 degrees in Casa Tipton-Kelly.  Sounds warm but when we come in from the sauna outside, it feels like we stepped into a walk-in freezer.

I can't do too much outside unless I want to have two and three shower days.  Last week I had a couple of three shower days.  Every peel off a T-shirt that is soaked?  Lovely.

Alright Repugs, how come I don't hear you all whining about the hoax of global warming?  All I hear is silence (crickets chirping).  Same as with I don't hear anything about blaming Obama for the high gas prices.  Oh wait, the gas prices have fallen.  Crickets chirping.  I guess the Repugs are too busy voting again to repeal Obama Care....for the 31st time.

How did I degenerate into a political rant?  Sometimes I just can't help myself because it is:

TOO DARN HOT!

Lazy, Hazy August Sunday

Bill trying to make out the writing on an old tombstone near Milton,, DE 

Just another quiet day here on the eastern shore of coastal southern Delaware. Today sure is a lot different from last Sunday, the Day After hurricane Irene.  I'll take days like this anytime.

I feel confident that the thousands of tourists who descended on our little peninsula here on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean for the Labor Day weekend are happy that we have had beautiful, sunny days this weekend for their Last Fling of Summer.  Of course I stayed away from the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach this weekend.  I know it is just lovely down there and I would like to hear the waves rolling in on the beach and the sea gulls screaming for more french fries but I'm just not in the mood to fight all that traffic, bicyclists, and people this delightful late summer day.

Bill and I took a ride to the other resort town (our little secret) of Milton this morning.  While Milton doesn't have the Atlantic Ocean it does have Wagamon's Pond.  What?  You've never heard of Wagamon's pond? Well count yourself among the million or so folks who never have heard of this pond in the center of downtown Milton.  Next time you're in the area you'll have to visit Wagamon's Pond and see what all the fuss it about.

On the way into Milton on Cave Neck Road Bill and I stopped at an old family cemetery.  This one was call the "The Weigands Cemetery."  There must be hundreds of these old family cemeteries along the roads crisscrossing southern Delaware. One wonders what has happened to these old family cemeteries in the north of the state of Delaware, where it is much heavier populated.

Some of the headstones were so old we couldn't read them.  We're going to stop back tomorrow with a little Fantastick and an old toothbrush to clean away the mold and funk of a hundred years or more to identify some of these headstones.  If we don't do it now the information on these headstones will be forever lost to history.  That's why I like roaming graveyards and recording the information and photos on Find a Grave.com.  Long after I'm gone the history will be there for future generations. That gives me a senses of purpose.

Yesterday my blogger friend Dr. Spo called me on FaceTime and we discussed that to live the healthiest life one should have a sense of purpose.  I have several, one of which is my genealogy research.  The second being my Find a Grave projects.  And of course another one is what I am doing right now, writing this blog that gives me a sense of purpose and perhaps some who read it, an insight into someone else's life which they may find interesting.  I know that I find those blogs that are personal the most interesting blogs to read.

Have a great day everyone!

On Hold

My neighbor's lawn service deserts gets caught in the rain

Finally, the summer long heat wave broke yesterday.  The rains came yesterday afternoon.  The guys from Lawns Unlimited who were mowing my neighbor's lawn got caught in the sudden summer afternoon storm.  I don't know where they went but they left all their equipment as the picture above attests.

This morning the temperature is a realistic 73 degrees.  Wonderful!  Bill even put on his old man sweater this morning as he headed out the door.  I don't know where he went (he doesn't have to report in like I do to him) but he is enjoying this rarity, a nice summer day.

I'm off to work today for the next three days.  This Friday I have an appointment at the VA Medical Center in Georgetown for another blood test to recheck my PSA levels.  Everything is sort of on hold since then.

I've been spending most of my time lately updating my Ancestry.com and Find a Grave.com accounts.  This is my way of relaxing.  I love gardening but I just can't work outside in the heat and humidity of the past month or so.  I used to do counted cross stitch and crewel work projects but that was before I got a computer.  Now that I have a computer, I pretty much spend most of my day on my computer.

The first Sunday that doesn't have the threat of rain or heat, we're off to Pennsylvania.  While Bill visits our former home, I'm visiting cemeteries. I have a feeling my life if going to change, just a feeling.

Rain

Through our back door to the deck after the thunderstorm last night - WET!

The rains cometh!  Yes, last night we finally got a good old fashion thunder storm that dumped about two inches of rain on our parched earth.

Last night, just as I was bout to embark on my daily early evening walk in the Oyster Rocks development behind me, the skies darkened and the rains came.  Normally I would be disappointed and complain about the timing but not last night.  Like most of the rest of the country, our little patch here on the Delmarva peninsula on the East coast has also been baking under 90 plus degree heat for about three weeks with temperatures occasionally reaching into the triple digits.

Bill and I ride by the cornfields that are not irrigated and see only dry corn stalks, brown and brittle under the blazing August sun.  As if the economy isn't already bad enough, the poor farmers have to suffer.

Chickens on their way to their doom

The other major industry down here in Slower Lower (aka Sussex County, DE) is the poultry industry.  Yes, the chickens are still being hauled to their doom at the various butcher processing plants panting in cramp cages stacked high on a flat bed truck not knowing what fate awaits them.  The corn to feed them is so expensive now that one of the chicken killing processing plants declared bankruptcy.  Not to worry, a Korean conglomerate bought the so business will continue as usual but with an Oriental twist (I thought the Koreans preferred to eat dogs).

The hoards of summer suckers tourists are still descending on our main parking lot through route (Route 1 - The Coastal Highway), seeking relief in the murky waves of the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean washing ashore in Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethaney Beach and Ocean City, Maryland.

The traffic starts streaming down south to the shore points unabated on Thursday and goes the opposite direction on Sunday.  Clogged traffic on Route 1 in the summertime is as sure as the sun rising in the morning, lousy economy notwithstanding.  In fact, many of the new guests I'm checking in the hotel are from New Jersey.  Talking to them I found out they have decided they had enough of the "Jersey Shore" doofuses kids and wanted something "quiet" but not too far away.  Hey, that's what the Cape May-Lewes Ferry is for.

We have about three more weeks of this madness summer season then it's Labor Day and the Beginning of the End.  Hey, I am so grateful for all the money the Horde summer guests leave on our fair shores but it sure will be nice to get our town back again.  It's going to be great to see the temperatures "cool down" to the 80's too.  I can't wait!

The Endless Heat Wave

Fuchsia Clematis

Like most of the rest of the country, we've been suffering from a prolonged heat wave around here.  Some of my favorite plants are giving up, no matter how much we water them.  In front of the house where we have our impatiens, they are wilting under the heat.  The front of the house is usually the ideal place for impatiens because they get the morning sun.  This summer the morning sun is about 88 to 90 degrees.  The poor impatiens just can't take that sustained heat.

Even my clematis, which usually do well all summer are giving up.  The picture on this blog was taken about a month ago.  This poor clematis is long gone, burned up under the cruel rays of the sun.

Last year we had an extended heart wave.  Bill loves the impatiens, because they bloom all summer up until the first frost.  I don't think they're going to make it through August this year.

In the back yard I put three bird baths under the newly planted river birch trees.  The birds flock to it.  This heat is hard on them too.  As soon as I fill the bird baths and even before I get back into the house they are in the bird baths splashing around, drinking, and cooling off.  I'm filling those bird baths about eight or ten times a day.  Bill thinks I'm crazy.  No, I'm just helping my feathered friends.  I might come back someday as a bird.  I would appreciate someone helping me out.

It is so hot around here that even the mosquitoes have disappeared.  I'm not taking my daily walk on the boardwalk.  In fact, I'm not doing too much of anything outside.  I haven't weed whacked in about two weeks.  I don't care.  I'm letting the backyard go au natural.

The challenge for tomorrow, Bill and I are going to go down to the Delaware DMV to get our driver's licenses renewed.  Even the DMV now has Security Theater because of 9/11.  Now we have to take our birth certificate, Social Security Card, two forms of mail to verify our address, and submit to a whole body scanner.  I was just kidding about that last part but I wouldn't be surprised if they groped us too when we went in.  The good thing is once we jump through these hoops our licenses are good for five years.  That should take both of us out to the End.

Anne Marie of Philly

Me and Anne Marie of Philly (in my Spo Shirt)

We had a visitor in Lewes this morning, Anne Marie of Philly! Yes, this is the infamous famous "Anne Marie of Philly" who often leaves witty and caustic remarks on my blogs and some of my blogger friends blogs (lot of "blogs" there).

I met Anne Marie on this summer Saturday morning in the heart of downtown Lewes in front of Cafe Azafran.  She was in the Washington D. C. area this weekend on business decided to meet up with some of her blogger friends.  That would be me and Mark of "Tales of the Sissy."  She is the houseguest of Mark and Joe this weekend.  Mark had an appointment this morning from his new job as a real estate agent par excellence.  Joe had some personal chores to attend to. Thus Anne Marie had the morning free and suggested that we meet.

We were to meet for brunch but Anne Marie was still full from the dinner that Joe and Mark took her too at Saketumi last night.  Mark sure does love Saketumi.  He writes about this new Japanese restaurant all the time in his blog.  I'll have to check it out.  I'm not a seafood or sushi person but maybe I can get a hamburger. Maybe not.

I wasn't hungry either for a brunch so I suggested that I take Anne Marie on a mini-tour of Milton and along the way take her to Casa Tipton-Kelly.  She would be one of the few people to actually meet in person my spouse, The Bill.

Anne Marie (with my Spo Shirt) talking to Dr. Spo via FaceTime on my iPhone with Bill 

We drove back to my home and we had a wonderful visit with Bill.  Anne Marie loved the cool breezes and peaceful quiet of our back deck.  Then I had a great idea, why not call Dr. Spo on my iPhone via FacetTime?  Anne Marie has never talked to him face to face so I thought this would be a fun thing to do.  I called Dr. Spo, and the dear, sweet man was home!

Anne Marie talking to Dr. Spo face to face via FaceTime - ain't technology wonderful?

Anne Marie had a delightful conversation with Dr. Spo.  I could tell she was thrilled as a schoolgirl meeting to her First Crush.  Dr. Spo was so sweet to take time out of his busy morning to talk to us.  He is such a delightful man.

I heard Anne Marie mention that she is still waiting her turn on receiving the Traveling Spo Shirt.  Then I had another great idea (two in one day!  What are the odds?)  I brought out my very own Spo Shirt.  Anne Marie was thrilled!

Me and Anne Marie and Dr. Spo (via FaceTime) and the Spo shirt on my back deck this morning

Then of course I had to bring out my camera.  You know me;  Record the event with pictures, pictures and more pictures.

I noticed the clock was ticking and we only had about a half an hour left before I had to return Cinderella  to Mark and Joe, they're going to a party tonight (my invitation must of gotten lost in the mail).  But before we left, I wanted to take this opportunity while she was in the area and take her on a tour of Milton and show her what a delightful town it is.  Milton was a dying town about ten years ago until The Gays folks moving to the area discovered it charm and began buying up properties to transform into a southern version of New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Anne Marie in front of the Dogfish Corporate Offices in Milton, DE

I drove Anne Marie around Milton on a quickie tour, making a quick stop at the Dogfish Brewery to take her picture for her husband, who is a Dogfish beer fan.

Then Anne Marie remembered her meter where she parked her car had probably ran out where she parked her car by the tennis courts in Lewes.  I had to rush her back to Lewes.  The meter readers are very efficient down here in these seaside resort towns (meters and fines being one of the major sources of income for our tourist trap towns local economy in the summertime). I didn't want Anne Marie to have a $75.00 souvenir to remember her stay in Sussex County.  I'm sure that the memory of her blogger friends' hospitality would be more than enough to bring a smile to her face when she talks about her visit to the Nation's Sumer Capital, Rehoboth Beach and Lewes Delaware!  She certainly doesn't need a parking violation ticket.

I put the pedal to the metal and zipped her down to Lewes (without exceeding the speed limit, another source of revenue for the local authorities) and got her to the tennis courts parking lot in Lewes and viola!  NO TICKET!  You dodged one there Anne Marie.

Have a safe trip home Anne Marie of Philly!

Anne Marie leaves the tennis court parking lot in Lewes, sans parking ticket!

Mid Summer Break

Hey folks, I think I'm going to take a few days off.  A mid summer break.  I've been neglecting some of my other fun things to to on the Internet like updating my Find a Grave account and my Ancestry.com account.

I'm not sure how long I will be gone.  Maybe a few days, maybe be a week.

I'll still be checking in on my favorite bloggers and leaving comments were appropriate.

This recent heat wave has really taken a lot out of me.  I feel like I'm trapped in the house.  I finally got out for a walk tonight, my first in a week.  That was only possible because we had a thunderstorm roll in this afternoon that cooled things off a bit, if only for a little while.  At the end of my walk tonight I could feel the humidity creeping back in with its strangulation around my neck.

In the meantime, talk among yourselves.

When To Say "No"

My wise Bhudda this evening after I returned from my Friday Night Dine Out Group

The sun has set but the heavy blanket of heat and humidity is still laying on the land here in my home of choice, southern Delaware.  We're not used to this heat.

The temperatures here rose to 105 degrees.  And this isn't the "dry heat" of Arizona.  This is the heavy heat of Florida.  We're not used to this heat.  Man oh man.

So I ventured out into this oven of heat to meet with my friends for our weekly Friday Night Dine Out Group meeting.  This week we met at the Texas Bar and Grill on Long Neck Road, somewhere down near the Indian River Bay (I don't remember the name of the community.)

The Texas Grill on Longneck - it's OK but I wouldn't make a special trip there

My friends Bob and Jim were there with their longtime unemployed houseguest Kenny.  Kenny looks like a concentration camp inmate because of all the weight he's lost only eating one meal a day.  Before I saw him tonight I didn't have much sympathy for his plight but after seeing him skin and bones, my attitude has softened somewhat.  Not so much that I'm offering him a place to live but I do feel sorry for him.

If you all remember my friends Bob and Jim, both show signs of dementia.  In the past I've helped them with installing a satellite TV in their home (they had no TV) and trained them into how to do e-mail (a waste of time because they promptly forgot what I taught them every time I left).

The last time I talked to them I had a falling out because I grew so frustrated with their dithering and confusion and hesitation on making any decisions.  I'm not a care provider.  I have no shame in admitting that fact.  I have my good qualities and skills, caregiving is not one of them.  I have little if no patience.  It's all I can do just to take care of myself and my 82 year old spouse.

So it took me quite by surprise this evening when Jim asked me to fill in the function of "friend" in dealing with the woman who is selling her trailer to them.  He said she is not using a real estate agent and their realtor advised them to "get a friend" to help them deal with her.  Excuse me?  A "friend"?  Me?  I don't so.  Why would I want to step into that quagmire?  Especially with my past experiences with Jim and Bob who absolutely cannot make a decision on ANYTHING.  Why would I want to do that?

I have a hard time saying "No" but I did say "No" to Jim.  He was taken aback but he shouldn't of been. Even if he did secure a "friend" to help him deal with a lady who is trying to save real estate commissions by selling her trailer herself, that wouldn't be guarantee that all the i's were dotted and the t's crossed.  I advised him to get a lawyer.  He said he did have a lawyer for the settlement.  I asked "Why isn't the lawyer working with you during the whole transaction?"  His answer?  Jim is going to save a few bucks by not paying a lawyer.  So he asks me to fill this function.

I turned him down flat.  I advised him to spring for the few bucks and get a layer.  Like me, he just inherited money from his Mom's estate so he has the cash to cover this expense.  So I said "No."

Do I feel a little bit guilty?  Sure. I like to be a hero to but I have to be realistic.  I've dealt with Jim before and it's no picnic.  Bob, my dear long time friend, is almost totally out of it.  These guys need help.  But that help isn't coming from me.

Maybe after all these years I've learned my lesson, no matter how much I try to help someone it always comes back to bite me in the ass.  I've been down this road many times before.  Maybe sometime I'll tell you about it.  But for now I'm leaving these two friends to seek professional help, which I am not.

Brutal

Spidey awaits

I had just sat down at my computer a few minutes ago when Bill called me:  "Ron, come here quick!  Here's a picture you want to take!  There is a HUGE spider right next to the garage door."  


At first I was annoyed by the interruption because I had planned to veg out this morning and upload some of my hundred or so gravestone pictures that I took earlier this week to my Find A Grave account.  I have no plans to go out today at all because of the brutal, oppressive heat and humidity.  The only venture I considered was going out tonight for the Friday Night Dine Out Group gathering at the Texas Bar and Grill on Long Neck Road.  That confab of old, over the hill, past their prime time, has-been, retired gay guys takes place at 7 pm when, hopefully, the temperatures are less brutal.

So, in order not to upset Bill, I decide to go out and see what's got him excited.  On the way out I grab my new $765 Canon EOS 550D Rebel T2i digital SLR camera (is that a mouthful or what?) to record this momentous opportunity to catch a creature of nature going about their business of survival. I walk out our garage and into a wall of suffocating heat and humidity and sure enough,there is a spider just like the one I took a video of yesterday weaving her murderous web right outside our garage door!   What better time to test the closeup aspect of my new expensive Canon SLR camera than now?

As the stifling, beath catching heat and humidity of the day settle down around my head and shoulders I take the lens protector off of my too expensive SLR camera and set it for closeup.  Thus the picture you see posted on this blog.

This spider is a perfect metaphor for today and this past week of brutal heat and humidity.  This weather is a killer and so is this spider. Danger!

I'll keep an eye on Spidey and if she snares a victim you can be sure I'll post it here tomorrow.  You know me, I love to share.

Stay cool and watch out for those head level spider webs, you may be the next victim!

Spidey Gets a Big One

You think you have problems?  How would you like to be in the position of this June bug who obviously took the wrong turn somewhere and ended up getting wrapped up for Spidey's future lunch?

I went back about an hour later and the "package" was gone.  I suspect one of my Purple Martins or starlings made off with the June Bug wrap.

All this life and death drama going on right in my own backyard.  Sort of puts things in perspective doesn't it?

I just got off the phone with my dental insurer.  After going through the Menu Hell I finally got a real person.  When I explained to "Jerry" that they sent my dental reimbursement cleaning check for $166 to the dentist when it clearly says on my form "Send check to insured", he said he would have to "investigate."  Another delay.  I told him that ever since I changed my dental plan, not once...NOT ONCE has my claim process gone smoothly.  I asked him "Why is that?  Is that part of your procedure?"  Again, he didn't have an answer bur assured me he would "call be back."

One of my pet peeves is lousy customer service.  Incompetent customer service.  Also insurance companies.  They don't make it easy to get a claim fulfilled.  That's not an accident.  That is their policy.  But after seeing June bug ending up in a wrap for Spidey's lunch, I guess I have to take things in context.

Last Blast of Summer

Brandywine, Struble Trail, Downingtown, PA January 2005

The skies are gray.

There is a chill in the air.

There is a dusting of light snow on the cold earth.

It is January, 2005 on the Struble Bike and Walk Trail in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

Think cool thoughts on this hot and humid late summer day in September in Sussex County, Delaware.

At 97 degrees today, new heat/humidity index records were set in Georgetown, Delaware.  

Today is the Last Blast of Summer 2010.

I just got off a three day work stint from the hotel.  

It was good for me to go right to work after I returned from my Mother's funeral services this past Monday in Pennsylvania.  The weather on the day of her services could not have been better.  The skies were clear, the temperature was mild and the humidity was low.  Mom would have liked that.

How am I doing?  Just fine.  Better than I thought.  In many ways I feel relieved that Mom's suffering is finally at an end.

The only negative from last week was my mistake in leaving out the names of my Mother's two sisters from the obituary notice that was placed in the local newspaper.  I don't know what I was thinking by forgetting them.  

I remembered to place the name of her one full sister Jeanette who now resides in Simpson Meadows Nursing Home.  Ironically, Simpson Meadows is right across the street from the James J. Terry Funeral Home, where my Mother's services were held.  Aunt Jeanette is 92 years old and was unable to attend.  

Mary Moreland Shank was my Mom's step sister.  Ruth Hadfield Steidler was my Mom's half sister (they had the same father but different mothers.)  At the day of the services I thought they were a little "off" with me.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized that I didn't include their names in the obituary.

Yesterday I called and had the funeral home run the obituary again.  I was surprised by how much it cost to place an obituary in the newspaper but to me it was worth it to avoid a lifetime of hurt feelings.  Mom grew up with Mary and Ruthie and they should have been acknowledged.  

The corrected obituary ran in the newspapers today.  I called Mary and Ruthie and told them to check the newspapers.  They seemed happy with this news.  

The only thing I have to do now is write out thank you notes to all those who sent flowers and attended Mom's final services.  Then this chapter of my life will be over. 

No more funeral planning for me.  If Bill goes before I do, his services will be private as he has often requested.  In fact, he doesn't want any services at all and I just may go that route.  

I may attend funerals in the future but this is the last time ever that I'm doing this.  

This weekend I begin to get my life back to my old comfortable routine.  I plan to coast out the next fifteen or twenty years until my funeral.  

And that my friends will be somebody else's responsibility.  

All I'm thinking about now are those cool, autumn days that are in my future.  

Getting Through Another Day

The view from where I work in Lewes of the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal - I love it!

The dog days of summer continue on this last day of August.

I would love to go out in the Back Forty (my backyard) and putz around but I don't feel like getting drenched in sweat again.  So here I sit updating my blog twice in one day.  Hey, I would rather do this than drain myself fighting the heat and humidity that has been unrelenting this whole summer.

I think we had two, maybe three normal days of summer.  Most of the rest of this summer we have been beaten down to a weak pulp with the heat and humidity.  Come on the cool winds of fall.

This morning I took my usual walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth.  Someone planted themselves in my usual seat on the boardwalk so I didn't take my half hour break between my up and down the boardwalk. Since I got there early this morning I was able to cover the boardwalk a total of four times (for a total of over four miles) in one brisk walk.

I was just starting to sweat when I got to the north end of the boardwalk near the Henlopen Hotel where I park my buggy.  I left before 8 am.  I think I accidentally discovered the secret to getting out of Rehoboth and avoiding the traffic.

I usually make my run in the morning sometime between 6:30 am and 7 am.  This morning I was out the door at 6:15 am.  I didn't sleep too well last night thinking about Mom and her difficult nights.

It was a straight shot down Rt. 1 as it usually is this early in the morning.  My only competition are the Sysco food trucks delivering their precooked food to the tourist trap restaurants in Rehoboth.

Coming back is another story.  I have been coming back home around 9 o'clock.  I'm hitting the heavy traffic going north on Rt. 1 at that time.  I can't figure out where all that traffic is going.  Milford?  Milton?  Touristas leaving Rehoboth for their hobbits up North?  What's with that?  Just another mystery that I have to solve.

Well, this morning I hit Rt. 1 at a little after 8 am.  It was almost clear sailing.  Oh sure, I hit the occasional doofus on a cell phone clogging up the passing lane.  The occasional Old Guy or Old Gal gripping the top of the steering wheel. "You'll never pry my cold, dead hands from this steering wheel".

I still had to dodge the ladder topped service trucks that weave in and out of the traffic, speeding toward their destination of the day to to overcharge some defenseless customer de jour.  Oh yes, we are sitting ducks down here in Lower Slower for the Service People.  Hey, at least they're showing up somewhere.  You're lucky if you can even get one of these slickters to show up.

Well, anyway, I made it home in no time at all and I've been here ever since.  Holed up in my air conditioned, fabulous, four year old, Ryan ranch home. One floor living baby....I love it!

Below are some of yesterday's photo journal that I take from that camera that is always hanging around my neck:

A sign that caught my eye from the fruit and vegetable stand on Rt. 5 outside of Milton.  It reminded me of a bad habit I used to have in my bar hopping days.  

Bill and I went to Big Bob's and Jim's yesterday to see Jim's new car.  They live in the woods outside of Georgetown. They weren't home.  We still haven't heard from them.

Big Bob and Jim are world class hoarders.  Here is Bill inspecting some of Bob's goodies.  I have my eye on that lawn chair.

"The Ranch"

Big Bob and Jim live in a double wide on 22 wooded acres outside of Georgetown.  Yes, they do live in  Sussex County Redneck County.  They still keep a low profile.  It's still not safe to come out. Big Bob was one of the original gay settlers of Lower Slower.  I've been visiting him at "The Ranch" (our pet name for his place) since the Seventies.  I "discovered" Delaware because of Big Bob.  I have no idea where I would be living if I hadn't.  Probably still in Pennsylvania, working full-time to try and keep up with the always increasing taxes. 

I owe Big Bob a world of thanks for providing this turning point in my life.  Now they're just two old men living in the woods.  Just like me and Bill, two old men living in a development off of Rt. 1. 

Just getting through another day.

I Scream, You Scream

The Dairy Farm Ice Cream stand on Dairy Farm Road, off of Route 9

Yesterday, for the first time in my recorded memory I had an ice cream cone that bored me.

Both Bill and I are on a diet.  However, yesterday I decided to give ourselves a little treat.  After dinner, I asked Bill is he would like to get an ice cream cone.  We have a dairy farm about a mile away that serves fresh, home made ice cream.  This is not low calorie ice cream.  When you're on a diet, the only way the diet works is that you have to give yourself a little treat every now and then.  Yesterday was that time.

So I rev my new Subaru Forester and we take  off Dairy Cream Road (yes, that is the name of the road to the dairy farm - very original.)  The time is about 6:30 pm, the end of another of our seemingly endless long, hot, and humid summer days.  The dog days of summer.  A perfect time for a cold ice cream cone.

We get to the dairy farm and I see a problem right away.  The place is packed.  I find in my older years, that not only does the extreme heat and cold bother me more but crowds also stress me out.  Especially crowds with a lot of antsy kids running about and screaming.  Yesterday was no exception.  I walked right into the Trap.

I park my Forester and get out and head to the ice cream stand which is located immediately to the left of the cows in the barn.  This being the end of another hot and humid summer day, the odor of the cow poop was particularly strong.  In fact, the fresh Farm Smell was making me light headed.  That along with the families with the little kids and all those baby voices talking at once and scooting around the place was causing me to think I made a Big Mistake.

I go to one of the windows.  There is a family of about 15 at that window.  They want every concoction and different flavor of ice cream that the farm made.  I wait patiently.  Finally, after the last Little Darling got their scoop of creamy goodness, it was my turn.  The young girl at the window was pleasant enough when she said to me "Hi!  How are you? What would you like?" Well, this was different.  When we used to go for ice cream last year I was always waited on my some faceless young girl (why is it that only girls work these ice cream stands and not young guys?  Just wondering.)  She usually gave me a tired look and said "Yes?"  Maybe business dropped off because of this kind of sullen customer service and someone advised them to perk up the customer service angle.  Whatever.

So I tell her "I would like a double dip of black raspberry."  For me, brings back memories of my childhood when after picking raspberries with my Mom and Pop and brothers they would treat us to an ice cream cone at a local gas station on Rt. 322 right outside of West Chester, PA.)  I told her I wanted a double dip of banana ice cream for Bill.

She scoops out the ice cream and gives me my cones.  Already they're melting in the summer heat.

I quickly go back to my car where Bill is waiting for me.  I hand him his cone through the window.  I stand outside and lick my cone because I don't want to take a chance on any black raspberry ice cream dripping on my new gray car upholstery.  I didn't dare ask Bill to step out, I didn't want to get into an argument tonight.

As I was standing outside my Subaru, a local, tattooed, flabby red neck brushes by me and says something to me.  I didn't understand what he said but I sensed by his tone of voice and body language and the way he looked at me it wasn't something kind or complimentary.  I turned and looked at him and he gave me a sneer and look at Bill.  "What's his problem?" I thought.  Then it dawned on me.  Bill and I were the only couple there that was male.  Well actually he was there with three other guys who were seated at one of the picnic tables and were looking at us.  Uh oh.  I think I know what was going on.  Bill and I were out of our Safety Zone and now in Straight Country.  Only families need apply.

You see, Bill and I live on the east side of Rt. 1 in a new development in a diverse community.  In our community there are four gay and lesbian couples that I know of.  There are several black families.  Our neighbor directly across our house are a husband and wife doctor team who happen to be Muslim.  Most of our other neighbors are retirees  I only know of two families in our neighborhood who have small children.  In other words, we live in a "mixed" neighborhood.  And today we ventured into Sussex County.  We crossed over Rt. 1 and then Rt. 9 and deep into Redneck territory.  We were out of our element.  Apparently what my tattooed friend said was a reminder of that fact.

I wasn't in the mood for THAT attitude yesterday.  My Mom's dying, this heat and humidity this summer has been brutal, I'm trying to stretch my retirement income and part time job income into paying every increasing bills and this Sussex County Yahoo is going to remind me that I'm out of place?  I glared back at him daring him to say anything else to me.  I wasn't going anywhere.

Here in our little area of Rehoboth Beach we have what is called Camp Rehoboth.  They like to think that they have made the area safe for gays and lesbians.  That's what they LIKE to think.  In reality all they are is a clique of mostly Washington D.C. gays and lesbians who like to go to each others parties and raise funds to keep Camp Rehoboth going.  They're more interested in drag shows and their various faux causes in Rehoboth than the real life I encountered at the dairy farm yesterday.  I reality I faced down my very own display of homophobia yesterday deep in Sussex County.  Not to brag on myself but this is what I have been doing most of my adult life (since I came out at 21 years of age.)

I have to admit that I was lulled into a false sense of security and safety living as I do in our diverse community east of Rt. 1.  Yesterday was just another rude reminder that homophobia is alive and well.  Even in "enlightened" southern Delaware.

As a result of this drama yesterday, for the first time in my life the ice cream I ate was tasteless.  Oh, it tasted like black raspberry ice-cream.  It was cold and creamy and had the fresh taste of black raspberries.  But I was bored eating it.  I wanted to throw it away.  I didn't.  I finished it.  But I didn't enjoy it.

Maybe I'm getting too old for this blind hatred I have endured all my life from ignorant and hateful people like yesterday.  I am just so tired of them.

Where the ice cream comes from - very ripe smell yesterday - didn't mix well with the ice cream

Dog Days of Summer

A man swims in a fountain outside the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Friday. A heat wave hit central Russia with temperatures rising above 30C (86F), breaking temperature records.

The dog days of summer are officially here.  Doesn't it seem like the whole summer has been the dog days?

I don't know about you but I am so tired of the seemingly never ending hot and humid weather.

It seems like the whole summer has been lost to the heat and humidity.

Last summer it was the mosquitoes.  This summer it's the stifling. oppressive heat and humidity.

This morning I hit the beach again.  I made one swipe up and down the boardwalk but for my second mile I walked on the beach as near to the waves as I could get without getting my Reeboks wet.

Since I'm on the beach early in the morning I'm sharing the beach with the many dog owners who bring their best friends to the beach to play, poop and piss on the beach.

Below is a mini-pictorial show of some of the activity on the beach this morning on these Dog Days of Summer: