Halloween 2022

 

Me in Philadelphia 1980 after one too many drinks I had to remove my werewolf mask and figure out where I got that extra hand!

This year we are doing Halloween here at Casa Tipton-Kelly!

Bill and I moved here to southern Delaware in November of 2007.  Since that time we only open our house to the neighborhood trick or treaters once. It went well but there weren't that many kids in our neighborhood. Most of the homeowners here in our fifty-seven home development were retirees escaping from high tax neighboring states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York or second home owners who are rarely here in October. Across the street a few houses down was the rare family. They had a little boy (who is now a man) and two older sisters who brought him up to our house to trick or treat. He was cute. There were a few people outside the neighborhood who stopped by but I'm not a fan of strangers trick or treating in the neighborhood where I live. If that happens this year I'll close our door and turn off our porch light. They can go buy their candy at Walmart, I don't need to supply them.

This year we have several families with small children in our neighborhood. I know the little girl across the street. She's a sweetie. There are also other kids I know of but don't know them. I see them waiting for the school bus in the morning.

Halloween was always a big deal for me when I was a kid under ten years of age growing up in the small southeastern Pennsylvania town of Downingtown (pop. 5,000). This was in the Fifties when our society was safe enough for kids to go out on their own for Halloween night trick or treating. And also, the candy and other treats we collected was something we REALLY appreciated because we were poor as fuck. I was a big candy eater in those days. Candy and comics books was where I spent most of my $5.00 a week paper boy money. Thus if I could get free candy once a year, that was a TREAT! 

I wish I had some pictures of my Halloween costumes for those years but alas, parents weren't involved. We lived in an apartment on the 100 block of Washington Avenue. My elementary school was on the 300 block of Washington Avenue. Our trick or treating area was those three blocks. It was very safe but of course back in the Fifties that was a different time, we didn't even think about any danger. Innocent times, those times. The only caveat my Mother would give us was to "Don't stay out all night!" Now here's a little secret that I haven't told many people, what costume did I wear? Would you believe that this was the one time I had a chance to dress up in drag? OH YES! I LOVED wearing women's clothes.

So let's examine this proclivity that I had at such a young age. I didn't know anything about gay or drag, all I knew what I liked women's clothes, especially those big puffy gowns that Maureen O'Hara used to wear in those pirate movies when she was being transported to the New World in full dress regalia for a wedding to the governor of Jamaica. Oh yes, THAT was what I WANTED to wear! Here is a publicity photo of her for the movie "Spanish Main":

I couldn't find a color picture of Maureen in one of her resplendent pirate ship gowns. Nowadays it seems you have to PAY for any images you steal from the Internet. But I managed to get this one. 

Of course my Mom had nothing like this fabulous gown in her closet so I made do with a sheet (can you believe it)? Of course my "gown" didn't look anything like Maureen's but I like the FEEL. 

I did the women's clothes things for a few years every Halloween but then at some point I lost interest in drag. I don't know what happened, I just didn't have a desire to dress up. I've only "dressed up" once since that time (1950) and that was a few years ago when Spo and his gang were in town for our second Bloggerpalooza in 2014. I'm told I looked good and you know folks, I felt a "little" good but Pat wasn't too happy with my "new look."

Me with "you know who" at the 2014 Bloggerpalooza

Interesting fact, about the same time I was interested in dressing up in Maureen O'Hara pirate movie ball gowns my straight friend Lar was interested in pirate women. Here's Maureen "Larry style":

Maureen O'Hara in "Against All Flags", a straight man's fantasy

These day for Halloween I love to dress up in werewolf of vampire costumes. I especially like the long black silk cape of Dracula with the red lining. In fact I just bought a new one this year. Unfortunately no one has invited me to a Halloween party so I'll just have to store that fabulous cape until Pat and move to Palm Springs and attend one of those many gay Halloween parties that I'm sure is happening every Halloween. Nobody celebrates Halloween better than gay guys!

Yes, that is me in the background photo in this blog as the werewolf. Photo taken in 1980 in Philadelphia.

Me and my late friend Bob McCamley at the Philadelphia Gay Center in Philadelphia 1980

The same year I also dressed and went out on the streets in Center City Philadelphia and made the rounds of the bars dressed as an Arab Sheik. My excuse to wear flowing robes!

Me as an Arab sheik 1980 Philadelphia PA

One of my goals before I check out from this earthly existence is to dress up as an evil clown. I've ALWAYS wanted to go out as a clown, something I've been all my life at heart. Not necessarily an evil clown but a clown nonetheless. 

Whaddya think?

I'm ready. 

Happy Halloween everybody!

I Voted!

Local firehouse where I voted early today

 Today I voted early! I liked this!

Last year was the first year I voted absentee ballot. All my life before last year I voted in person. I always valued that experience but last year, with the COVID threat, voting in person was out of the question. 

I was planning on voting absentee ballot this year but one of the local (Sussex County) Republicans brought suit against absentee balloting voting (without a reason) and the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that yes, it was unconstitutional. WTF? What is it with Republicans? Actually I know, the less people vote the more they will stay in power. They lack the majority in our country and they want to cling to power any way possible. I could still fill out an absentee ballot but I had to fill out a different absentee ballot request form stating my reason for not being able to vote in person. Actually I had several reasons that qualified, the main one being of course that I am the full-time caregiver of a 94 year old stroke survivor. 

I was going to fill out the absentee ballot request form but stopped when I saw they wanted my FULL SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. No, I don't think so. Even with the VA I only have to give "the last four." No, I'm not going to send in a form to who knows who with my full Social Security number.

Last week I saw on the Next Door app that early voting was available in Delaware. My voting location was just down the road at the Lewes Fire Company. So I loaded up the care with self and Bill and drove down to the fire company. Oh uh, a problem already as soon as I pulled into the fire company parking lot. A FULL LOT. A LONG LINE OF VOTERS WAITING OUTSIDE IN THE COLD WIND.  Self decided that I would pass up this opportunity to stand in line for God knows how long to VOTE EARLY.

I returned home dejected. I geared myself up for voting on Election Day, come rain or shine and probably stand in line for a long time.

When I woke up this morning, and after I gave Bill his Every Third Day Shower, he asked me "Are you going to vote today?" I thought, "Why not give it another try. Maybe the folks down at the firehouse have their act together now." Well, guess what folks? They did!

As I drove into the fire company parking lot I had my choice of parking slots. And no waiting line of voters outside! Viola! 

I climbed the steps to the building and was greeted by a poll worker. I was ushered right inside and the nice lady found my previous voting record within a minute after I showed her my driver's license. I was ushered to a booth and for the first time in my voting life, was facing a digitized machine. Viola! Will wonders never cease? 

I voted (for two Republicans, state senator and state representative) and the rest of every Democrat on the ticket wether I knew them or not. This is the first time I've voted for any Republican since Ronald Reagan. I used to be a registered Republican for many years (my very first vote was for Barry Goldwater in 1964) but I lost it with the Republicans when George W. Bush and Karl Rove tried to discontinue my veteran's medical insurance coverage because I didn't have a service connected disability. When I was asked (and yes, I was asked) to join the Army one of the promises was lifetime health care "if I needed it." And now the Republicans are going to take that away so they can give more tax cuts to their rich pals?  I don't think so. Fuck them. I've voted Democrat ever since. The only reason I voted for two Republicans this time was the local Republican candidate for Delaware State Senate this year is a good and decent man who has shown me more personal respect than the so-called gay inclusive Camp Rehoboth Community down here in Rehoboth Beach. Camp Rehoboth is good at soliciting funds for themselves but they never did anything for me or Bill which surprised and disappointed me because that was one of the reasons I moved to this area. And by doing anything "for me" I only mean at least acknowledge I exist. I've been to a few of their functions the sixteen years since we moved to Delaware and I might as well be invisible. Even when I introduced myself, they couldn't be bothered. I've since found out they're a club of mostly higher income retired government employees from Washington DC and Baltimore. Philadelhia gays need not apply. Fuck em. But I digress.

I voted early today and it went great! I hope I can always vote early in the future. In fact, I hope I can vote in the future. If enough of the traitorous Republicans who refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the presidency get in office, that's not guaranteed. If the Republicans get in power, retirees like me who depend on Social Security to live and gays like me who want to continue to be married with all the respect, benefits, and security of marriage will lose all that. Think that's hyperbole? Think again. Anyone who continues to support The Criminal Trump and the Coward Republicans is living in a dreamworld. But here I go in a rant again. 

One of my few solaces in this time of the greatest threat to our democracy is that I won't be on this earth that much longer. I just hope that before I die we don't lose our democracy that was the one thing I always took for granted. 

Medical Update October 26, 2022

Bill enjoying a Viennese Crescent cookie

 Here is the latest medical update on me and Bill.

We're both doing fine. Bill has much improved since his two back to back strokes in January of 2021.

Bill still needs and will probably always need help dressing, washing, eating and taking his medications. His cognitive abilities are not what they were before his strokes but he has stabilized. Bill, bless his heart, still is able to get around on his own. 

Every morning I wash him (every third day is Shower Day which he still hates), change his Depends, give him his medications and prepare his breakfast. His diet is still the same. The two main meals are oatmeal with extra sugar and half and half cream. I have to fine ground his oatmeal because he can't swallow regular oatmeal. Lunch time is a high protein Ensure. During the day he snacks on thin cookies, his favorite being crescent cookies that I make for him. They are shortbread cookies consisting of butter (lots of butter), flour, sugar (both regular and confectioners) and a dab of vanilla. Those are his favorite cookies. Labor intensive to make for me (I always end up with an aching back after I roll them out for the umpteenth time in confectioners sugar) but well worth it for he so appreciates them. He also likes caramel candies. Doesn't seem like a varied diet (where are the fruits and vegetables you ask?) but this seems to be working for him. 

This week we both have doctors' appointments. Mine is tomorrow with my VA care provider. Annually I give blood for my labs and my care provider goes over the results. This year he's ordered a CAT-SCAN for me. I don't know why but I'm not doing any more bone marrow tests or that test where they stick an instrument with a camera on the end up your penis into your bladder to check for bladder cancer. My brother Isaac just had that procedure. Twice I've turned down that procedure.  Once about twelve years ago when a doctor at the VA in Wilmington was pressuring me and another time with my former urologist who scheduled the procedure for me without even informing me or discussing the NEED for that procedure. That procedure must be a profit center. No thank you.

My arthritis is gradually getting worse. Not much I can do about it other than take Advil when my back aches become too painful. Advil will give me a few hours of relief. I'm also having more trouble with my legs. If I get down on the floor I have trouble getting up on my own. I have to grab something to grab onto help life me up. This problem has been creeping up on me for the past twenty years or so. Again, not much I can do about it other than to take my regular walks.

My mental health is doing fine these days. For several months after Bill came home from the rehab facility and I became his full-time caregiver, I was feeling trapped. Even though I was thankful to be able to care for Bill here at home where he is most comfortable (I just cannot imagine him living in a nursing home like facility) I felt like I had a ball and chain around my ankle. I don't feel like that now. I am resigned (?) or comfortable with the fact that for the foreseeable future, even though that may be years, I will always be here at home taking care of Bill. We have a very comfortable home and life here in southern Delaware is like a permanent vacation. Of course I miss my trips to Palm Springs, Philadelphia and Canada with Pat, but I didn't have those trips before I met Pat. Again, life could be a lot worse. These days I compare anything I complain about with life in Ukraine. Extreme yes but true. 

One thing that is making life easier around here is my discovery of hour long continuous club music on You Tube. All these years I've been paying for a premium membership in You Tube and I haven't been taking advantage of this free music! I'm making for lost time now. 

The one thing I do miss though is my part-time job at the hotel. This January it will be two years since I left my job abruptly to take care of Bill. Hard to believe so much time has passed by so quickly. Maybe someday I'll go back, if they'll have me that is.

Have a great day everyone!

Go Phillies!

 

Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies hitting the pennant clinching home run

How sweet it is!

Yesterday I watched Bryce Harper of the Phillies hit the winning home run to clinch the National League Pennant for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies will meet the Houston Astros this Friday in Houston for the first game of the Word Series. 

I'm excited!

I started following the Philadelphia Phillies way back in the 1950's. I fell off when they blew the 1964 National League pennant by losing THIRTEEN GAMES IN A ROW when they only needed to win ONE GAME to clinch the pennant. 

I had to wait THIRTY-SIX YEARS for the Phillies to win the World Series, which they did in 1980.

I was so fortunate to have lived and worked in center city Philly when the Phillies won the World Series. I was right in the center of the victory celebrations. Of course I had my camera at the ready. 

Me in 1980 during the Phillies victory celebration in center city Philly for their  first ever World Series win

These days I don't follow the regular season games but I am a BIG FAN at the end of the season should the Phillies find themselves in the playoffs. This year they were one of the wild cards. I had a hunch they would do well and they did!

Watching the game yesterday was nerve wracking. I tuned in on the seventh inning when the San Diego Padres were leading 3-2. I had a problem finding the game on my TV since I don't live in Philadelphia or a suburb like I did when I lived and worked in southeastern Pennsylvania. But find the channel I did (on my DirecTV) and I settled in for a dramatic game and I wasn't disappointed. 

I watched the Phillies fans in the driving rain never giving up hope when Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate and he didn't let the fans down. 

What an exhilarating feeling, just what I needed on a rainy day here in southern Delaware, where many a Phillies fans have retired or moved to.

Now on to the World Series, I WILL BE WATCHING!

Pure Heaven

In a few weeks I'll be eighty-one years old. Hard to believe fifty years have passed since I was a disco fanatic. Oh yes, I was one of THOSE oldie goldies for which I offer NO apology.

There is good disco (the continuous disco mix above) and boring (bad) disco. There is/was a difference. This is the GOOD disco.

I discovered disco when I first visited Provincetown Massachusetts in July of 1974. Oh my, I found my perfect place. I LOVED DISCO and of course still do. Lately I've been looking for a good continuous disco album on iTunes but could only find an Italian disco mix, which was good but not THE disco mix I spent many a glorious summer vacation nights in Provincetown, Massachusetts. If you have time listen to this disco mix I have posted and you have to agree (or not) that it is HEAVEN. 

Regular followers of this blog and me know I'm not your typical gay who ADORES Broadway show tunes. Not being judgmental (or maybe I am) I just never GOT the whole Broadway show tunes gig. To me that music (noise) is just Rex Harrison talking a song. BORING. On my first visit to Provincetown my friend Bob McCamley asked me to join him at one of the Provincetown hotspots where there was a piano player playing Broadway show tunes. I declined. He asked why. I told him I would rather eat rats at Tweksbury. Actually I didn't say that but something similar. God, I couldn't think of anything more BORING than hanging around a piano with a has been or never been Broadway show type guy singing too loud (and they always sing too loud). Oh sure, I can understand other enjoying the camaraderie of that group sing, singing along as they do, but not for me Mary (whoops!) I HAVE to dance and one definitely CANNOT dance to "Tomorrow" from "Annie" (which has to be my most despised song ever). I have this demon inside me that has to be exorcised and the only way that can happen is to shake my booty on the disco ball glittering dance floor. Odd thing though, for all the photo and videos I've taken over the years there is nary video of me dance. But wait, there is one picture. It was taken in 1979 at The Boathouse in Dewey Beach, Delaware. I even remember the song I was dancing to, "Funky Town" my Hot Lips. 

Me and my friend (still) Howard Spencer at The Boathouse Dewey Beach 1980

And now that my memory has been jogged, there is actually a video of me dancing disco. It is at "Oil Can Harry's" in West Hollywood, California in 2015. Disco was way past its prime as I was also you can tell by my dancing (if you can call it that). These days arthritis has severely limited my physical flexibility but my brain is still wired to that pulsating disco beat. 

Visitors From Palm Springs

My friend Glenn (not the band leader) Miller and his partner Kyle T. visited us this past Monday. 

Glenn and Kyle live in Palm Springs (my ultimate destination) and were on an East Coast swing to visit Kyle's brother in Virginia. Prior to making a pit stop here in southern Delaware to visit moi, they visited New York City. Kyle showed Glenn all the usual places to visit in NYC including the World Trade Center Memorial ("very impressive" Glenn said) and St. Patrick's Cathedral. They also went to a Broadway show which both of them enjoyed immensely, "The Book of Mormon." "No holds barred" Glenn said.

I've only known Glenn from the time of Bill's stroke in January of 2021. The night I came home after Bill was airlifted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia I was beside myself because I thought I would never see Bill again. That night I saw a neatly printed envelope addressed to me in my mail. It was from Glenn. I knew of Glenn but never personally talked or communicated with him. His previous partner Mike Wilson used to follow my blog for years and always sent me a Christmas card from the both of them, Glenn's name signed too. The reason Glenn sent me the note was to inform me that his Michael had died the previous month. He was notifying everyone Michael knew to tell them that Michael has passed after a long illness, in which he (Glenn) was his caregiver. I had always wondered why Michael had stopped commenting on my blog, I thought I had written or said (I called him once to thank him for a Christmas gift he and Glenn had sent me, one of those Christmas gift baskets) something that had offended him. When Glenn told me he was ill for a long time, seriously ill, I now understood. 

Because I was bereft with the imminent loss of my Bill I needed someone to talk too. I called Glenn and we talked, for a long time. I immediately connected with Glenn and we became good friends. Since then we've been in frequent contact via Zoom and FaceTime and with Pat included (of course)! 

Glenn and Kyle were the best guests, like Pat one hardly knew they had stayed in one of our guest bedrooms. I took them on a tour of Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, North Shores (near president Biden's home) and Milton. We ate at a couple of my favorite restaurant where I noticed the prices have really gone up (inflation). They only stayed for one day (the 17th) and left early on the morning of the 18th. 

The visit was a little disruptive for Bill (he hates to have his routine disrupted) but Bill is generous and wanted me to have a good time with my friends. 

Of course I took a load of pictures and videos which I will probably share in future blog posts.

It was nice to have visitors but we probably won't have anymore (except at who is family). That was Bill who said Pat was "family" by the way. 

Perhaps sometime in the future is I perchance outlive Bill there will be more visitors like Kyle and Glenn but for the time being I will savor the new memories we have created with friends. And by the way, you know what's interesting? I always thought when I was a young and foolish and self centered gay man that if I got old I would have no life. But that has never happened for me. My life is just as fulfilling but in a different way. Just goes to prove, life is what you make it. And I am indeed fortunate to have such good friends. 

MORE MICE!

Dryer exhaust hose, hole is on the bottom where you can't see it 

 Where are these mice coming from? 

Since my last post I've caught TWO more mice in my Victor super duper traps. TWO MORE MICE! 

WTF? Where are them coming from? 

I've checked the usual entry points (the garage) and set traps along their usual route. No mice caught. Yet another one got in last night that I promptly sent to Mouse Heaven. The night before I caught another mouse, a pregnant female! The one I caught last night was also a female. Mouse Heaven baby.

So I was in a predicament? How are these mice getting into our house. This morning my good blogger friend "Woody in Ohio" provided the answer. They're getting in though my dryer vent! DAMN!

He said he had mice getting in though his dryer vent. When I read that I pulled out my dryer and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I went out side to check the outside vent, yep that's an easy entry point. When I got back inside I decided to clean out all the muck on the floor (fourteen years of accumulated dust and dryer lint) and just on the off chance I placed my right hand around the metallic four inch house and viola! There was a HOLE on the bottom of the hose, not visible by my newly cataract corrected yes. So that's how the little buggers are getting into our house. Well, I'll take care of that.

I called Scott K., my local handyman who helps us out (for a fee of course) when the job is beyond my ability. I do a lot more handyman work since Bill can't do it anymore but sometimes it pays to hire a professional and Scott is very good and reasonable. 

I called him and he answered right away. Phew! Sometimes he's on a big job and not available for a while and I have to keep following up with him but once I get him, he's good. But that's me, I'm a bit of a "Karen" when I need something done. I expect people to drop everything and take care of my needs. But that's me, to know me is to love me and most do get by that minor flaw in my character.

Lots going on around here. I've been preoccupied with this mouse problem and haven't shared some of my other daily challenges which I will do as soon as I get this mouse situation straightened out. 

Thanks again Woody! 

Last night's catch

A House Without A Mouse

 

Ah yes, now I can sleep well tonight. Last night my invited mouse guest met his/her end. 

When I woke up this morning and rounded the corner from my bedroom to my kitchen I opened the first pantry closet door and was pleasantly surprise (and relieved) that Mr./Mrs. Mouse met a quick end with my new and improved Victor Mouse Trap. This is the same mouse trap that Mousey has twice before managed to set off and escaped its neck braking bar.

After breakfast I next emptied out the floor of both pantry closets (yes, I have two, one I got as an extra add-on when I had this house built because I tend to accumulate packaged food, a bad habit that I'm trying to break myself from). I cleared the floors of both closets out in order to throughly clean the floors of those nasty little mouse turds and any mouse urine. Oh how I hate doing this. Cleaning floors is especially hard for me now because I have trouble getting up because of my weak legs. Old man here. 

Clean the floors I did and I spent the rest of the day content in the knowledge that I am no longer sharing our kitchen with a smelly, nasty rodent. And I have to admit I have a totally new understanding of my friend Spo who lives in Phoenix Arizona who is often surprised by his Uninvited Guests . . . SCORPIONS!  Oh my, I can just image opening  up my utensil drawer or putting new sheets on my bed and revealing one of those little monsters with the curly cue stingy tail. I don't blame him for dispatching those critters forthrightly. 

A Mouse In The House

 Four days ago when I went into my pantry closet I thought the smell was different. "What was that smell?" I thought. Then I dismissed it my first thought that a mouse had indeed entered our house (through the garage into the kitchen door) and was preparing to winter over in our pantry closet. Each year I have this problem. On two sides of our lot we're surrounded by corn/soybeans fields. 

Last year I caught the miscreant mice with the good old fashion mousetraps. Brutal but effective and humane I might add. The mice don't know what hit them when that metal bar slams down on the back of their neck. The local vultures around here had a steady died of about forty mice. The other thirty-six or so mice I caught in my garden shed. For years they used to winter over in that shed, no more. I had a regular killing spree. Almost every day I was putting out "tidbits" of dead, bulged eyed mice with broken necks out as offerings to the buzzards of Sussex County, Delaware. Word soon got around in the buzzard community and they got to where they were waiting for me to place the dead field mice out in the center of our lawn. I felt guilty when I ran out of mice. But here we go again this year, come on mice.

I had sharing my kitchen with mice. HATE IT! I have traps out now (which I also hate setting) but that's the way it has to be. One good thing, I don't have to worry about finding a scorpion in any of my drawers.

The Rains Have Finally Ended

 

Gentle rain filling up my new pond

I've always wondered what it would be like to live in Seattle Washington. The last five days gave me a taste of that weather. I didn't like it. Rain, rain and more rain. 

Two good things that came out of this deluge. One is that the repair I had done last year of the sewer pipe going out our basement wall worked. Thank goodness! The second thing is that my new pond is full. And looking good I might add.

But to live with all this rain. This weather pattern was the remnants of Hurricane Ian.  We didn't get hit with the ferocity of Hurricane Ian but we did get stuck under Ian's weather pattern. This is the kind of weather pattern that is normal for the northwest of our country. Seattle Washington and environs. 

We needed a good rain though. This summer has been very dry. Most of our summers are very dry. Suffocating heat and humidity and little rain. This summer was no exception. I'm ready for some really nice fall weather now.

Rain, Rain and More Rain!

 

BJ's parking lot, feeding the seagulls

Be careful of what you wish for.

For most of this summer we've had very little rain here in southern Delaware. I've had to fill watering cans full of water to tend my flower border garden almost all summer. Not now though.

For the past two days we've been under a deluge of rain. right now it is 10 AM Monday morning and the rain is softly falling on the roof of this room where my home office is located. This room, which was a small bedroom that I converted into a home office (Question: why don't they build houses with homes offices now? Aren't we past my Mother's era where the home office was the kitchen formica table?) But I digress. This room has a pitched ceiling which I've always found so cool, especially when it's windy or rainy outside. So comfy in this room when the weather gods are sorting things out outside. 

I don't know if this rain is the remnants of Hurricane Ian, all I know is that it's been raining steady for two days now and forecast for two more days. 

We got stuck in the rain yesterday when I drove me and Bill down to Millsboro and B J's Wholesale to stock up on bulk household essentials like oatmeal (for Bill), Puffs tissues (for both of us) and Healthy Choice fudge pop sickles (for me). I got a late start yesterday because Sunday is my weekly Zoom meeting with my friends Stuart, Pat and Larry at 10 AM. If I hadn't had that Zoom meeting I would have missed the downpour we were caught in when I exited BJ's with my cartload of goodies. I did hang around the entrance waiting for the downpour to let up but it wasn't doing it. I checked the satellite map on my iPhone and it looked like the rain was going to be awhile. I decided to make a dash for our car which, of course I parked at the far end of the parking lot because I had brought down some old chips and tortillas for the sea gulls. 

Dash I did in the maelstrom. By the time I got to our car, the rain let up (of course) and I was soaked. Nice move Ron. And I mean SOAKED. Usually I guess these things right but not yesterday. I drove us home a soggy mess. 

Looking out the window now I see that the rain has let up a bit. I would like to stop down at the Rehoboth Walmart to see if they have any of their cinnamon crunch cereal which I have recently fallen in love with. You know Walmart has the best cereal and cheap. Have you checked the prices of cereal lately? Approaching five bucks a box. Walmart cereal I can usually get for just over two dollars and it's good! I especially like their 100%  bran cereal that gives you almost 100% of all your daily vitamins intake. I recently bought a box of Kellogs bran cereal which offered a similar high dosage of vitamins because Walmart was out of bran cereal, which they often are. Seems like I'm not the only one in on this secret. Well, the Kellog's Total cereal at over $5 a box, flat tasting. Awful. I think I'll feed that one to the birds. They're not as picky as me.

Rainy days like this make me sleepy. I think I'll take a little nappy poo. 

Again, so thankful that we didn't get hit by Hurricane Ian like those poor folks in Florida. I just can't imagine. 

Have a great day folks!