Ladies and Gentlemen, I Present The President of the United States

Here is in plain English language that both Democrats and Republicans can understand, Trump is a POS.

Democrats need to start acting like the real opposition and fight back and fight dirty because Trump and the Republicans fight dirty.

Petition To Marry Pat Approved!

Pat and Ron August 19, 2013

Just got the notice from the U.S. Immigration Service that my petition to marry Pat was approved! This doesn’t mean we can get married just yet, it’s just the first step, albeit a VERY BIG STEP. Now Pat has to be interviewed by the Canadian consulate in Montreal which should be next month. Then if he passes that interview they will issue him a 90 day VISA in which we have to get married. If we don’t get married within that 90 days then everything is cancelled. The wheels are in motion!

Formal Introduction

 

Pat and me in Rehoboth Beach this past March

I would like to introduce everyone to my fiancé Pat Flynn. We plan to get married this summer after his K-1 VISA is approved. I met Pat in the summer of 2013. Before Bill passed last February he gave his blessing to us. 

I am one lucky man!

A Message For Those Who Leave Negative Comments On My Blog

Me at Arnell Creek, Rehoboth Bay canal, 2005, the first year I started to blog

Twenty years ago I started blogging.

There are several reasons I blog, but mainly I like to write and interact with the world outside my geographical circle. 

When I was a teenager I used to have pen pals. At one time I had over sixty pen pals. I enjoyed writing letters and I enjoyed receiving letters. 

Along the way during my blogging an my pen pals days there were those times my innocent enjoyment was pissed on (occasionally). At those times I thought "What is wrong with those people?" These were occasions where those people, with their superior attitude felt the need to denigrate me. Again, why does it bother these people what I do?

I'll always remember my great aunt Grace (my Mother's aunt)  who said "Why does Ronnie have pen pals? Doesn't he have any friends?" She said that to my Mother in my thirteen year old presence. I've never forgotten that insult and that she, in all her superiority, was so classless to say that insult to me in my presence.

During my twenty years of blogging I've had my share of trolls who felt the need to insult me on a regular basis my leaving nasty and hurtful comments on my blog. I delete them. Eventually they go away when they see their insulting comments aren't being published on my blog.

The past several years the trolls haven't left comments on my blog but one just came back. I was caught off guard this time and I accidentally published their comments until I realized they were probably trying to sell me on a reverse mortgage.  I didn't realize they were trying to sell me on a reverse mortgage until they just left me a nasty and insulting comment on my blog posting saying I was "cutting my nose off to spite my face" by not getting a reverse mortgage and then took the time to explain how a reverse mortgage works. Okay "Roderick" (or whoever you are), no need to explain to me how a reverse mortgage works. I KNOW HOW A REVERSE MORTGAGE WORKS! I also know that the person who sells me a reverse mortgage gets a BIG COMMISSION UP FRONT on a reverse mortgage. 

I deleted that conversation "Roderick." Don't leave any more comments on my blog. I will also delete them. You don't leave insulting comments on my blog and expect me to publish them. Mind your own business. 

Now I don't know for sure if this "Roderick" was using some clever ruse to sell me a reverse mortgage. Hey, maybe "Roderick" is Tom Selleck. Even if he is Tom Selleck I would never in a million years turn over the ownership of my house which I worked so long for to own to some salesman to have a big commission payday. Some years ago I actually had inquired into a reverse mortgage and the salesman was here at our house. Oh he was a slick one for sure. I was burned once back when I was twenty-one years old to buy a life insurance policy that I didn't need or afford. Promises were made that were not true. I was also burned another time by a stock broker to buy "guaranteed" 6% REIT (Real Estate Insurance Trusts). Yes, you know how that "guaranteed rate" worked out. Dean Witter was sued by the state of Pennsylvania for fraud on that one. I was invited to testify before Congress as one of the victims for false advertising. To "Roderick", who so thoughtfully sent me the details of a reverse mortgage, you left out how much commission the salesman (you?) gets on a reverse mortgage. 

I don't like to write negative blog posts like this but occasionally I do to remind some of my blog followers that my blog isn't an opportunity for them to sell me something or to provide a forum for your hate. 

If readers of my blog don't like what I have to say in my blog, then move on. But if you feel the need to insult me or denigrate me, just move on. I will delete your comments. 

To others, who have been reading my blog for the last twenty years and find some pleasure in reading it, I apologize for this negative posting. But at this time of my life, I have run out of patience with those who have no respect for me and feel the need to leave negative comments on my postings. I'm not having it. 

Sixty Years

Ron 1960

Ron 2020

 Good morning folks!

A beautiful sunny day here in southern coastal Delaware! 

Finally we're going to get above freezing today. Not much (35 degrees) but at least it's ABOVE freezing. First time in about three weeks. Perhaps now some of this snow will melt. God, I hope so!

I spent most of this morning reviewing some of my pictures on my computer. I came across these two photos, taken SIXTY years apart. Lots of water over the dam in my life since the first picture was taken. 

That picture was taken when I was stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland. Me and some of my Army buddies visited the White House in nearby Washington D.C. 

The next picture was taken the last time I was in Palm Springs in 2020. Oh how I do like bling! 

I'm going back to Palm Springs next month folks and I'm wearing those glasses! 

A Trip Down Memory Lane and Thoughts Of The Future

 

Time for another trip down Memory Lane.

Hard to believe but this photo was taken twenty years ago on February 2, 2005.

In the photo are my friends from left to right Jim Donahue, Bob McCamley, Bart Rhoades and yours truly. It was taken February 2, 2005.

As is almost aways the case now these friends of mine has passed on to the Great Beyond. 

I am confident that I will see them again as I will Bill and my beloved five Pomeranian pups.

I don't remember what restaurant this photo was taken but I remember the occasion. I was housesitting for about a month at the house of two women who were golfing in Florida. 

That was the first time I got a taste of what it was like to live in southern Delaware. This was during the time I decided to move to Delaware permanently. 

During one of my daily outings I found a model house by Ryan Homes behind the local Lowe's. It was the perfect house for me. Then and there I decided to make my Last Move.

Thus began my nightmare of selling our home in Pennsylvania and build our new house in Delaware. 

The following November, Bill and I moved into our new house in Delaware. 

So much has happened since that date twenty years ago. 

Most of my friends of that time have died as has Bill.  I've made some new friends. 

I am alone now adjusting to my new life without Bill.

I'm still waiting for Pat's K-1 VISA approval. Hopefully we'll be married this summer, June preferably. 

I'll probably still be living alone. 

These past two weeks, I've been ensconced in my, a hostage of the snow and cold. This has given me time to think about the last chapter of my life. 

I have come to the conclusion that now is the time to prepare for my Last Exit. Yes folks, my time has come. 

I'm in the process of disposing of a lot of times I've accumulated over the last eighty-three years of my life. Not everything but a lot. Much I will continue to keep because those memories give me comfort. And comfort is what I am after at this time of my life. I just do not get around like I used to.

This morning I went out for the first time in several days in spite of the bitter cold. I just had to get out of the house. I love Casa Tipton-Kelly but I cannot stay here all the time. I get cabin fever. 

This morning I made a run to Food Lion, the Post Office and the local Ace Hardware. During those pit stops I ran into a lady who I know casually from other friends. This is her picture that I took from the Ace Hardware parking lot. She would like to go to lunch occasionally but I'm not doing that these days. I told her that. She said "When you're ready, let me know."

With the recent rise in inflation and my reduced income circumstances I just can't afford it. I like her so I'll have to figure out something else instead of spending $45 and up for a lunch that I don't even like the food. I make the best lunches for my self and I prefer to eat alone anyway unless I'm having lunch with Pat. And even those restaurant visits, Pat and I will have to cut back on. Our income just isn't keeping pace with the $15 minimum wage that restaurant workers get paid now. Gone are the days when I could eat out all the time. I'm caught in the crunch of inflation and my fixed income which has been reduced almost in half since I stopped working and Bill's Social Security income isn't coming into Casa Tipton-Kelly. 

We all have crossroads in our lives where we have to make adjustments. I have arrived at another crossroad. This past year, I have proven to myself that I can live alone both emotionally and economically without Bill. Oh I still miss him terrible and probably will the rest of my life. I can hardly get through a day without choking up when something triggers a fond memory of Bill. After all, his ashes are still downstairs in his bedroom along with hearing aids (still on the charger likes he's coming back). I leave the lights on for him just in case he comes back.

Speaking of which, he did contact me again this morning. That Bill, he is so clever in finding ways to contact me.

I don't know if I told you but my "suitcase" (a USPS mailing box) arrived at my friend's home in Cathedral City (Palm Sprigs) California. A couple more weeks and I'm off to WARM WEATHER. 

I cannot wait!

Have a great day everyone!

Congratulations Geniuses!

Hey Trump voters! Happy now? 

This man says exactly what I've been saying. 

Geniuses! 

Visit From a Friend I Haven't Seen In Forty-Six Years

Yesterday I had a visit from a friend I haven't seen or talked to in forty-six years. Yes forty-six years!

A brief history, the year was the summer of 1979. I was thirty-seven years old working at my job at a Philadelphia center city bank. 

At the end of one of my very busy days as a Trust Operations manager, I came back to my desk to clean it up (I always left a neat desk). I found a small folded note on my desk. "What is this?" I thought.

"A complaint from one of my employees?"

"A question from one of the trust administrators I dealt with everyday in my capacity as a coordinator between the operations department and the administors who dealt directly with the trust customers?" 

Puzzled, I unfolded the note and (I'm paraphrasing here") read this note from an unknown admirer. 

He basically told me he was gay and had admired me from afar and would like to "get to know me better."

WHAT?

To make a long story short he was a twenty year old college student who was working for a straight friend of mine in another department. His college program had a program that they would work so many months at a business and go to school so many months before they got their degree.

I called my friend Rich, who was his boss and asked him what was going on. Rich of course knew I was gay. Rich told me that this student asked him if he knew me. Rich told me that he told him that I was gay. Rich didn't know this student was gay when he told him who I was. 

Rich pointed him out to me. 

Oh my. He was a very attractive kid with a knockout body. Rich also told me that this kid was a soccer player. Well, that accounted for his great buns. My apologies if I'm offending anybody but I'm just telling you like it is/was.

I contacted this kid and told him that I could meet him after work......at the local gay bar just a few blocks away from the bank where I worked.

Thus began my change of life summer affair. Yes, I was with Bill then but we had an open relationship. 

This kid, who name was/is "Bob", had never been to a gay bar before nor a relationship with any other man. Of course I was only too glad to "oblige" him.

Thus we began a very eventful summer for the both of us, resulting in a bad ending at the end of summer.

"Bob" was like a kid in a candy store for the first time. I fell for him but he fell for just about everyone he met, including some of my friends. 

The final straw in our relationship happened when I took him for a week's vacation to Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was supposed to spend the week with me (that's why I took him), but after one day he met a businessman who flew his own plane up from North Carolina. For my longtime blog readers, I've recounted this story several times over the years in this blog. 

I was very hurt because I really cared for him. In fact I was seriously considering leaving Bill for him. What a BIG MISTAKE that would have been! This is one of the many times my lifetime guardian angel was looking out for me. Oh yes, I have fallen in love (foolish me) several times since then and almost left Bill but Bill always stuck with me during these foolish episodes of my life. This is just one of the many reasons I loved Bill, he stayed with me through all these "adventures" of mine. That's why I believe life is a learning experience and man oh man have I ever learned. 

When we returned from Provincetown I ended the relationship. "Bob" apologized to me many times and begged me to take him back but I had finally came to my senses and didn't have any more contact with him. I was hurt, badly because I had really fallen for him. Now I realize I was just foolish but I never forgot how Bob took off with that businessman for the whole week. 

Me during July 1979, the week I spend my vacation alone in Provincetown, Mass. I wasn't too happy to say the least. 

Here I was, a fairly attractive thirty-seven year old gay man with a well paying professional job in perhaps the best physical shape of my life providing an all expense paid week's vacation in the gay wonderland of the East Coast but I didn't have my own private personal plane. So I was dumped. 

Looking back in retrospect I now realize how foolish I was to even begin a relationship with a 20 year old let alone one who was just coming out in the gay scene. 

My "boy toy" at the Provincetown airport in July of 1979 that I took to Provincetown and promptly lost him to the businessman who had his own plane. I couldn't compete with that kind of asset. 

I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY!

MY STUPID!

MY BAD!

Okay folks, now fast forward to this past summer.

I receive a Facebook post from "Bob" informing me that he has now moved to Rehoboth Beach with his husband, reminding me if I remembered him and if we would like to have lunch and talk over what we've been doing for the last forty-five years. 

I have to admit I was a bit stunned. Most of my friends from that period are dead. In fact all of them save one and he lives in Florida now. 

At first I thought "No way."  Why would I want to see this guy who caused me so much grief and pain that summer of 1979? But then the more I thought about it I thought it might be interesting to find out what he's been up too all these years. If nothing else, I'm always curious about life and what people do with their lives, including me. And what a perfect capstone to my life, which is coming to an end soon anyway. 

Now to find the right time. Yesterday was the right time. I texted him and asked him if he was free for lunch. 

We met for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant in Milton. Of course he's changed a lot. I haven't (of course.....yeah right). But when we met he said "I would recognize you anywhere!" I have to admit, I wouldn't have recognize him. In fact I think I've passed him several time here and about in the Rehoboth Beach area. 

I was hesitant about meeting him, didn't think we would have much to talk about but now I'm glad I did meet him. He's had a very interesting life. He did most of the talking. He was nervous, which I felt bad about. In one way, he hasn't changed.....he didn't ask anything about me but that's all right but maybe that's because of his nervousness. 

He's had a good life and lives in a lovely house in a very nice part of Rehoboth Beach. His house backs up to the woods, just the kind of house I would have chosen, which we talked about. His partner bears an uncanny resemblance to me which I mentioned to him. He said "Well, you know me I was always attracted to older men, tall and slim."  He is still very involved in sports. That hasn't changed but I found he has a talent for wood work. 

He's sixty-six now and has a good life. He has a lot of friends and is very involved in the gay Rehoboth Beach social scene (which I am not). I'm happy for him. 

The video at the beginning of this blog was him leaving my house yesterday. I had brought him back to introduce him to my neighbor who has the same very name he has. Yes, when I moved here in 2006 I thought it was very amusing that my neighbor was another "Bob" (they also have the same last name). 

We encountered my neighbor "Linda" who was walking her dog "Zeus." Bob loves dogs, and it is apparent by how Zeus took to him right away. Zeus never gave me a kiss like he did Bob.

Yesterday, was a good day. I'm glad he had lunch and  talked. We didn't talk about that summertime week in 1979 in Provincetown. That was a learning experience. 

At lunch yesterday with "Bob". We never did eat a meal together in Provincetown 1979 nor did we have a picture taken of us together. This joint photo was a long time coming.

Life goes on.

Charles Phoenix JOYRIDE - 1960 Plymouth Fury

Charles Phoenix is the best!

This is one of the people Pat and I will see when we visit Palm Springs in a couple weeks.

Our first encounter with Charles was one of those double decker tour buses that take tourists like me and Pat to visit celebrity homes. 

Pat and I were up front right next to Charles as he conducted a very enthusiastic tour of past celebrity homes. The only downside was I didn't have too much leg room for my long legs on that bus and I wasn't wearing sun glasses. Lots of Palm Springs sun the day we took the tour, upper level of the bus.

Pat and I both love these classic old cars.

I'll make sure to take at least a few pictures of us all together and maybe even a short video.

Hey folks, I'm getting hyped up for my Palm Springs holiday. This will probably be my last hurrah. I'm going to make sure I go out with a bang. 

Ten Commandments For Seniors

Number 7 is especially appropriate for me. I've noticed how people my age look so much older than me!

 

Gay USA 1/15/2025 | The Passing of Anti-Gay Leader Anita Bryant

Hey folks! I just found this website. 

Oh how I remember Anita Bryant. Yes, I was a fan of hers until she came out against my very existence. 

Bye, bye Anita. 

Still Cold and Other Observations

 

All right! This is getting ridiculous now. Still cold!

Yesterday I gathered up all my chargers and tech stuff for my trip next month to Palm Springs. I don't think I forgot anything. If I did, I'll just buy more when I arrive at my destination. So many devices and so many different chargers. 

Yesterday I had a spooky experience. I made my weekly visit to my favorite thrift store. I think I have a stalker now. This guy who volunteers at the thrift store kept following me around. Literally right behind me. Last year he delivered a bookcase to my house and I think became enamored of me because he is MUCH too friendly whenever I encounter him at the thrift store. Now I know how women feel with unwanted attention. Creeped out. He keeps trying to engage in conversation with me. He even followed me out to my car. Damn! 

Of course I may be totally imagining things. But I don't think so. 

Never a dull moment around here folks! 

GO AWAY SNOW!

Selfie taken of me this morning in my driveway of the sunrise. Today will be a wonderful day, we're melting some snow today!

 Finally, a day with above freezing temperatures!

The snow has been hanging around here since last Sunday. I am so tired of it. 

The forecast today is a high of 41 degrees. I'll take it!

Today I finalize the packing of that box I'm sending out to my host in Cathedral City, California for my Palm Springs visit next month. The box, which I'm probably sending by Fed Ex, contains clothing, and my medications and a few other necessities that I normally would put in a suitcase and pay American Airline to lose, misplace, send to my destination in California. I got my new chargers for my iPhone 16. I'll put them and my spare teeth and my MacBook Air in my carryon bag.

I think I'm ready to go folks! 

Driveway Shoveled!

I did it! 

That wasn't my intention this morning when I got up and no snow has melted. Normally when we get snow here in southern coastal Delaware, it's gone the next day or two. That's because the snowfall is rarely above two inches and the snow melts the snow the next day. Not this time though. This snow descended upon Casa Tipton-Kelly this past Sunday night. I haven't been out of the house since. That all changed this morning. I felt cabin fever creeping in so I decided to attack my ice and snow driveway. 

I wasn't intending to do the whole driveway but once I started I kept pushing myself 

First thing I did was that ice and snow barrier at the end of my driveway that the community snow plow left me with. That took a while but I got it done. Yes I did! 

Then I got my big snow shovel out and finished the rest of my driveway. First I had to get my shovels which I had stupidity moved to my shed at the edge of my lot. That took a trudge out through the foot high snow in my acre back yard. Fun times. That was slow going. It took a while but I got it done. Yes I did!

I completed shoveling the whole driveway in two stages. The first stage was that barrier at the end of my driveway and breaking up a swath of ice on the road. I didn't want to get stuck there with my 2010 Subaru Forrester. I had that picture in my mind, spinning my wheels, stuck. 

All told it took me about four hours to complete the job. Yes, I got it done. This is the first time I've ever shoveled the whole driveway. Bill would have been proud of me. In fact, I believe Bill helped me.

Now the consequence of pushing myself, I have muscles that I didn't know I had that are aching now. 

Oh yes, more snow expected tonight. 

Cabin Fever

 

Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk after the snow

All right folks, I'm feeling the effects of cabin fever.

I have been out of the house since last Saturday. 

My driveway hasn't been cleared. The temperature hasn't risen above freezing since the snow storm of nine inches last Sunday night. 

Yesterday I guy trudged through the snow to knock on my door and asked if I wanted my driveway shoveled. I turned him down outright. I didn't even ask how much he was charging. On the NextDoor app I saw where these guy were charging $100 and up. I am not paying $100 to have my driveway shoveled for $100. Maybe $30 but NOT $100 or even $150. I even read some reports on NextDoor where some people paid up front and yes, the shoveler only did a half ass job and left. 

NEVER PAY UP FRONT FOR ANY JOB!

Tomorrow is trash pickup day and this week is recycle day too. I'm not putting out my two trash cans. I couldn't get them over the frozen humps of snow at the bottom of my driveway. I checked with my neighbor, who ventured out yesterday, and he said the main roads were clear. I have a Subaru all wheel drive and could probably get over the frozen humps of snow but I don't need to go out now so I'm not taking a chance of getting stuck. 

Here I am complaining about being stuck in my house when those horrendous California wildfires are happening in the Los Angeles area. Just awful, those fires. What a shame! My heart breaks for those people who have lost their homes. This morning I was watching a report on this actor who was venturing into those burned out areas trying to save pets who were left behind. I can hardly bear to think about it.  Blessed are those like this man who tries to save those pets. People like him renew my faith in humanity. 

I just about finished my packing for my trip to Palm Springs next month. As usual I was taking too many clothes. Pat talked me out of them. One thing I can't do without is my meds. Check it out. Had to refresh all my pill holders. I had label them. I can't remember them all now without labeling.

God, I wish I wasn't taking this trip. So much hassle and I haven't even boarded the plane. That should be fun, me with my cane, which I do have labeled with my name and phone number.

Last night I spent quality time with Bill. Yes, he came back to visit me by that Christmas light that he blinks on and off. That's Bill. I feel his presence when that light is on. I don't care what any one says, I know what I know. That is Bill. 

Bill's light, the yellow light in the middle of this photo at the top. 

By the way, I just checked to see if the light was on now, it isn't. But if it comes on later, I will sit in my living room and be with Bill for a while like I was last night. 

Lately, the past week or so I've been having dreams that others are in my bedroom with me. The sounds remind me of the sounds of the second floor apartment building where I grew up on Washington Avenue in Downingtown. That was Grand Central Station with people coming in and out (relatives who also lived in the same apartment building). I haven't heard those sounds since I was eight years old. At first I didn't recognize them. They sounded familiar but I couldn't place them. Now I know what they are. 

I do think when we have a physical death from this life that we are reunited with our friends, family and pets from our life. Oh what pleasure that gives me to think that is what awaits me when I return to my spiritual world.

Stay safe out there folks!

Snowed In!

 

Anderson Corner Road, where my late friend Bob McCamley used to live. I obtained this picture from a local news website showing the amount of snow on the roads here in Sussex County. This is rare for us folks. Probably the last snow of this amount I will see in this lifetime. The last time we had this much snow was about eight years ago. The difference was it was mostly gone in two days. This snow is going to hang around a while, just like it used to when we lived in Pennsylvania. 

I'm snowed in here folks!

Usually when we get the rare snow here in southern coastal Delaware, the snow is gone the next day. Not this time! This snow is staying a while.

The reason why is because the temperature is below freezing and forecast to stay that way for at least the next two days.

I didn't go out at all yesterday nor did I go out Monday. My driveway is unplowed and will stay that way until the sun melts the snow from said driveway. No way I'm paying $100 or more to clear my driveway. 

Everything is so expensive these days and my modest pension payments from three of the banks where I worked are the same as they were when I started to collect those monthly payment eighteen years ago. Thank goodness my Social Security payments have increased or else I would be in a world of hurt now. This year I've had a triple whammy hit me, no income from my part-time job at the hotel and no income from Bill's Social Security payments. I have some modest investments earning dividend income that helps with my major expense.......insurance payments. You know, that "free" Medicare "entitlement". Seems to me I remember paying into that for all my working years. But I'm not going to go on that rant now. My house is paid for and I can keep the heat and electric on, at least for as many years as I have left to live which isn't a whole lot now.

Speaking of which, Bill has contacted me a different way now. He turns the exhaust fan off then back on in my little toilet room off my bathroom. That Bill! Still has his sense of humor.

I'm trying not to watch too much of the news. Trump is up to his same old shit. Now he wants to take over Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal and rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." What a fucking idiot! I wonder if my fellow Americans who voted for Trump

can get their head out of their ass long enough to finally admit that they made a BIG MISTAKE putting Trump in office. Hey folks, he ain't going to lower the price of eggs. 

Nine Inches

Nine inches. 

That was the amount of snowfall we received here in Sussex County, Delaware. 

I'll be snowed in for the next few days.

I won't even attempt to shovel myself out. If I did my eighty-three year old heart would probably give up the ranch and one of my neighbors would eventually find my half frozen body in my driveway. I still have that very expensive Palm Springs trip next month that I've already paid the airfare and VRBO rental. Can't let that go to waste. That trip will be my "last hurrah" as a name dropping Older Gay Guy making feeble attempts to impress one and all with my annual holidays in Palm Springs, the Older Gay Man Mecca of the United States. Unfortunately, after this year I can no longer afford to make the trip nor can my body hold up for getting there by flying connecting flights and then once I am in Palm Springs I just can't walk around as much as I used to in my Foolish Youth.

My neighbors returned for a week's stay at DisneyWorld late last night to this maelstrom of snow and icy rain. They had to get out of their driveway because both of them work and their kids have to go to school. Oh I am SO THANKFUL I am not working anymore and worry about how I was going to get to work at the hotel. Those days are in the past. Part of my very interesting memory bank.

If Bill was still here, he would be outside shoveling the snow right now. Oh how Bill loved to shovel the snow. This snow just brings back more memories of Bill. Every day it seems as if something reminds me of Bill. Bless his heart. He was so good to me. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him!

Bill shoveling snow from our driveway back in the day March 3, 2014

So how do I keep myself entertained when I'm snowed in like this? NOT.A.PROBLEM.

This morning I made a cherry pie. I pitted those expensive cherries imported from Chile that I brought a week ago ($4.99 a bag). That takes a while but I don't mind. I love to cook for myself. I'm still taking on the challenge of making that Perfect Pie Crust which I think I have finally mastered by using my food processor. I make a butter pie crust. SO GOOD! I made another apple pie over the week. I kept a couple pieces but froze the rest. Fruit pies freeze very well. I freeze individual portions. Works out well when my sweet tooth hits after my evening dinner. I do what you're not supposed to do, eat a dessert before bedtime.

My homemade lattice apple pie. Watch out Martha Stewart!

I hope this is the last snow of the season for here. This amount of snow is very unusual for Sussex County. I think the last time we had this much snow had to be at least ten years ago. I think snow is pretty but I would prefer to see it somewhere else than here. 

Winter Storm Watch

 

One of my neighbor's fur babies I'm watching while they're in Disney World

We're going to get some snow here folks! 

The snow is forecast to start at around 11 PM tonight and continue for the next twelve hours.

We don't get much snow here in southern coastal Delaware. However, every now and then we get walloped. I hope this isn't one of those times.

I think the last time we got any significant snow was at least five years ago. I know it was before I was caregiving for Bill and that was four years ago.

I used to dread the snow. Actually I still dread the snow but this time it won't be as bad because I don't have to travel in it

When I worked at the hotel I had some really scary times. I remember one time that the snow began coming down heavy about an hour before I left work for the night. By the time I was out on Route One, I couldn't see the highway, everything was all white. I had considered going back to the hotel (I live four miles from the hotel) but I was about halfway home so I decided to chance it. I was lucky, I made it home without any mishaps but it was close because I literally couldn't see where the side of the road ended. I feared going off the road and getting stuck in a ditch and thus stranded and thus freezing to death. Phew! I used up on of the remaining nine lives that night.

For this snowstorm I am comfortable ensconced here at home. My very comfortable and warm home. And here I intend to stay. This would be a good time to pack my clothes and send them to Glenn, my host in Palm Springs for my holiday next month. I'm not taking a suitcase with me on the plane. I'm mailing my clothes Priority Mail USPS. I don't want to go through the hassle with checking my luggage in on the plane, especially since I have to make connections. Phoenix going out and Dallas/Forth Worth coming back. I'm giving the United States Post Office a month to get my parcel of clothes out there to Palm Springs. Think that's enough? You never know with our Post Office. 

I hate to say this but in a way I wish I wasn't making this trip but I've already committed to it. This will be my last hurrah. Me and Pat's annual trip to Palm Springs was different when Bill was here at home. I loved Bill but it was nice to get away for a while. Now that I am here alone, it's different. Yes, Bill's spirit is still with me which I much appreciate but I'm just too comfortable here at home. I actually live in a resort, the Rehoboth Beach area. 

The past week I've been watching and taking care of my neighbor's fur babies (a dog and a cat) while they are enjoying a holiday at Disney World in Florida. They will collect my mail while I'm away. My neighbor on the other side also will be watching my house. He's a widower like me. We watch out for each other. I am so lucky to have such good neighbors. 

Now to settle in for the white stuff. 

So glad I don't have to travel in it.