Rainbow Over The Neighborhood

After a late afternoon thunderstorm yesterday, a beautiful rainbow appeared over my neighborhood. As much as I loved my home in Pennsylvania, I never saw a rainbow. That was because I lived in the middle of seven acres of woods. I decided I wanted to live out my years in an open area with a big sky. That is why I love my home site here in Delaware. I live on the coastal plain on the eastern side of the Coastal Highway (Route 1). I chose this location to build because it is not that far from Rehoboth Beach (six miles.) My home site does have some downsides. The wind is almost constant, and sometimes quite heavy. But I don't have to worry about a tree falling over on my driveway, blocking my entrance and egress from my home as happened so often at my Pennsylvania home. Also, the power doesn't go out near as often. In Pennsylvania, it only took a strong wind and the power went out, sometimes for hours and days. Located as I am only two miles from the Delaware Bay, there is very little snow. When there is snow, it is usually gone within a day or two. In Pennsylvania, the remnants of a heavy snow in December or January would stay on the ground until early spring, in April. There are many other good reasons why I moved to Delaware, one of the most important being that Delaware is tax friendly to seniors. In Pennsylvania I was literally being taxed out of existence by the ever increasing school taxes, county and township taxes. Delaware has a much more equitable tax base. Perhaps the best thing I like about living in Delaware are the wonderful neighbors that I now have. They are the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.

Purple Martins Come In For a Landing

Something was distressing the Purple Martins this morning. Lately they have been quite boistrous with the new baby Purple Martins who have left their nest. However, this morning was different. They were all circling the house. Bill was out and noticed that a door was off of one of the apartments. Time for an intervention. I brought the Purple Martin house down. I looked in the now doorless apartment. What I saw were two dead Purple Martins that looked like they were ready to leave the nest. This apartment was on the same side as the Determined Sparrows' apartment. I thought now would be a good time to look at their nest because I suspected it might have dead baby sparrows. As is the case with sparrow nests, the compartment was almost full of nesting material; pieces of plastic trash as well as dried weeds. However, there were no baby sparrows, alive or dead. I'm now wondering if the Determined Sparrow even had eggs in that nest. Maybe they did and they hatched and I missed the whole thing. I carefully took out the dead Purple Martins and cleaned out their nest. I also cleaned out the Determined Sparrows' nest. It is just possibile they killed the Purple Martins because they couldn't get into their nest. After I cleaned out the nests and placed the metal door back on the one compartment, I raised the Purple Martin house back to its previous height. In a short while, all the Purple Martins swooped back in. They quickly check out the now empty compartment. The loud squawking was noticeabely diminished. Of course the Determined Sparrows came back immediately, along with the two dozen or so Purple Martins. The Determined Sparrows are undaunted to say the least. They landed on the bar below the house and looked my way as if to say "WTF?" I'll keep you all updated.

Crop Duster

This morning I was greeted by a yellow twin engine plane dive bombing my house. My neighbor, who was mowing his lawn, thought the pilot was hot dogging him so he give him the finger. My neighbor's wife quickly corrected him and told him that the pilot of the plane was crop dusting the corn field that adjoins our property. The video on this blog shows a bit of that. I'll post another video later which shows the pilot crop dusting me taking the video of him. No doubt that was his way of expressing appreciation of the One Finger Salute he received from my neighbor. Well, I don't have to worry about any corn worms now. I've been "dusted."

The Fourth

Another year and the "Fourth" is here already. The "Fourth" refers to the Fourth of July celebration. Living near the resort community of Rehoboth Beach, the "Fourth" only means one thing.....stay out of Rehoboth! On Wednesday, on our way to lunch at Zorba's Restaurant on Route 1 in Rehoboth Beach, Bill and I noticed the deluge had begun. The "deluge" refers to the almost solid mass of vehicles descending on Rehoboth Beach and points south (Dewey Beach, Bethaney Beach and Ocean City, Maryland) on Route 1. We live six miles north on the east side of Route 1 in a Ryan Homes development called Covington Chase. I deliberately chose this location to avoid the summertime traffic headaches on Route 1. Wise choice. Each year I am reminded of my wisdom when I witness the wave after wave of cars, trucks and motorcycles heading south for fun in the sun. Located as I am on the east side of Route 1, I can witness but not participate in this annual ritual of the lemmings headlong rush to the resort towns on the Delmarva penisula. From now until well after Labor Day, downtown Rehoboth Beach is off limits to many of us year round residents. Parking, when you can find it, is expensive. Service at the restuarants, when you can find it, is sporadic at best. Since I'm not a beachgoer, there is no earthly reason for me to venture into the circus that is now downtown Rehoboth Beach. While I'm thankful for the revenue these summertime visitors leave in the area, thus supplying jobs for the locals, I'm still glad when summer is over and life can go back to normal. I am reminded of a Labor Day weekend many years ago when I vacationed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I overheard one of the waitstaff say in the restaurant, where friends and I were dining, say "Thank God this is the last weekend THEY are here and we can have our town back." At the time I thought "How rude." Now I understand. Oh I do understand.

A Rose Is A Rose

How does the saying go? "A rose is a rose is a rose?" What does that mean? I don't know. Maybe it means "It is what it is." Perhaps I started this blog with a rose as a subject because I wanted an excuse to showoff my rose picture. Yes folks, that is a picture of took of one of my roses yesterday. Thus, there is no reason to change my opening song on this blog, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You." For years and years I have attempted to grow roses with little success. Either they didn't grow or they were attacked by black spot and finished off by the Japanese beetles. Well, the Japanese beetles are in full force here this year. For the past week I've been picking them off and squashing them (not a pleasant task but necessary) on the brick base underneath my water faucet. It doesn't take too long until the ants take them away. I don't feel so bad now because the eco system is working. The rose pictured on this blog is a small rose bush tucked in between my larger Knockout Rose bush (under heavy attack by the Japanese beetles) and a pineapple sage bush on the other side of it. For some reason the Japanese beetles haven't attacked this rose. Maybe it's the color that doesn't attract them. The bright red Knockout roses draw the beetles like a matador's red cape attracts the raging bull. Some say Japanese beetles are attracted by the sweet aroma of the rose. I don't know about that because this rose has the delicate, heady, sweet smell reminiscent of a beautiful woman; gentle breezes caressing her smooth skin. The beauty of the rose is like the beauty of the woman (Hedy Lamarr) whose picture I have used in this blog. Timeless.

Happy Anniversary

Today marks forty-four years to the date that I met my life partner, Bill. We count this day as our anniversary since our union is not recognized a legitimate by current law in these United States of America. Would we like to be officially married as is in the news these days with so many same sex couples? To be honest, we never thought much about it nor do we have a burning desire to perform a ceremony to show the world that we are a couple. We know that we are life partners and that is all that matters to us. Of course we would like the financial benefits and legal protections that heterosexual couples have benefited from since time immemorial. Over the years we have managed to make other arrangements that protect our assets should one of us die before the other. However, we have not been able to cover all situations but that is changing. Perhaps the most visible example of that happened recently when I had a medical emergency earlier this year. As I was being wheeled in the local emergency room, one of the attendants motioned to Bill, who was standing against a wall and asked "Who is that?" I said "My partner." She looked at him and, without hesitation said "Come on!" and motioned with her hand for him to follow us. As much pain as I was in (later I found out I was passing a kidney stone), I felt a lump in the throat with the realization that finally, Bill and I were being treated just like anyone else. We still have a long way to go in this country towards recognition and acceptance of same sex couples but this one instance proved that some small progress is being made. Bill's presence was never questioned again during the 4 1/2 hours I was in the emergency room. Perhaps this local emergency room's attitude towards same sex couples came about because of the large gay and lesbian older population of the Rehoboth Beach area. Inevitably, many of the older men and women who pass through their emergency room will be gay and lesbian. Perhaps the Powers That Be realized that life and living isn't reserved exclusively for heterosexual couples. Whatever the reason, it refreshing to see such small signs of progress towards recognition of same sex couples. A few months ago, when I reinvented this blog I vowed not to get on my soapbox (I'll get on my soapbox in separate blogs), but I am making an exception this time. Little did I imagine on that summer evening , forty-four years ago, when I met Bill at that center city bar on the corner of 15th and Spruce Streets, that one day we would be living as an openly gay couple in a family neighborhood. The sky hasn't fallen and straight couples haven't seen their marriages break up because we moved into the neighborhood. I cannot imagine what life will be like forty-four years from now. We won't know, but at least in our lifetime we have reason for celebration. Happy anniversary Bill.

As The World Turns

How do you like that for a catchy title? Oh, you say it's already taken? Ah yes, a soap opera. Well, today was a good day. I had it all to myself and I did what pleased me. Early in the morning I decided to get my oil changed before the weekend Fourth of July rush. I use a garage on Route 1 towards Rehoboth Beach with the very original name of The Garage (no kidding, that's the name of the place). I like it because you go in first thing in the morning and it's first in, first served. The most it's ever taken me to get my car done is 45 minutes. Way better than the Subaru dealer I used to go to in Downingtown, PA, where I used to live. When I dropped my car off there, it was an all day deal. Also, The Garage is very honest. They will actually tell you that you DON'T need work. That you would be throwing your money away. I heard them say it again to another customer this morning. Now how is that for a novel approach? Actually, it is genius because I will keep going back to them because I trust them. They have never let me or my 105,000 mile, 1998 red Subaru Forester down yet. After I got the oil changed in my car, I decided to take a ride down to the card store to pick up a supply of sympathy cards. At my age, I have found it is good to have a supply on hand. Last year I had a half a dozen sympathy cards, they're all gone now. People are dropping like flies. I wanted to get a haircut but the barber was closed today. Tomorrow I'll check that out. Since my partner isn't speaking to me again (par for the course, I broke a rule by asking him to close the window so I could turn on the air conditioner to get the humidity out of the air). This too will pass (until I break another rule). So, I decided to visit my long time friend Bob Mc who lives in the woods near Georgetown. We are both celebrating the fact that today, July 1st, we now have Medicare coverage Part B and AARP supplemental insurance. We had to get this coverage after the near disaster I had last January 3rd when I had to visit the emergency room at Beebe Medical Center. I had a kidney stone attack (I didn't know that at the time, all I know is that I was in excruciating pain and I wanted it stopped immediately, even if they had to kill me). Coincidentally it happened when I was getting my oil changed at the same The Garage. My medical coverage is with the Veterans Administration in Wilmington. They wanted me to to to their emergency room but there was no way that was going to happen. The Wilmington VA is 81 miles away and I just could not imagine enduring the ever escalating pain that I was experiencing for the hour plus ride to the Wilmington VA Medical Center. To make a long story short, I visited the local emergency room at Beebe Hospital. They gave me pain killers (two pain killers actually, it was wonderful) and an MRI. They determined I was passing a kidney stone. They kept me for about four hours, monitoring my progress, then released me. I was weak, but that out of this world pain was gone. To describe what the pain was like imagine if someone kicked you in the family jewels, you had to urinate real bad but couldn't go, and, while this is going on, someone is stabbing you in the lower back with an ice pick. It wasn't pretty. I wasn't pretty either writhing in pain. A few weeks after this emergency I got the emergency room bill. Do you remember Wily Coyote and how his eyes would pop out of his head when he saw the Roadrunner zip by? My eyes must have popped out of my head when I saw that bill. I called the VA. They said they wouldn't pay it because "you decided to go there" (like I had a choice). Well, to make a long story short, after much back and forth with the VA and filling out forms, they did agree to pay part of the bill because I thought I was in a life threatening situation. Well, I did! In fact, I just wanted someone to put me out of my misery, that's how bad I was hurting. I would have confessed to being a terrorist, that's how bad I wanted the pain to stop. Water boarding is like bobbing for apples compared to passing a kidney stone. I dodged a bullet this time, but what would happen the next time I had an emergency? I could have a bill five times as big as this one. That's when I decided to get my own insurance coverage. That was back in February. It took all that time for it to become effective but I made it. I told my good friend Bob about my near miss of financial disaster. He is also a veteran. He is five years old than me. Chances are pretty good he will have an emergency in the future. So, he also decided to sign up for Medicare Part B and AARP supplemental insurance. We're covered now. Of course nothing will happen . We will both be in perfect health the next 30 or so years. Just like all those years I worked for a bank with fabulous health coverage; never once was I sick. In fact, I never got sick until I didn't have that fabulous coverage. I got sick when I didn't have a job but, thank goodness, I had the VA coverage. They've taken good care of me and Bob. But, they only have that one facility in Wilmington and if either one of us has an emergency, we would have to go there. God gave me a warning with that kidney stone passing on January 3rd. I listened.

Note: pictured is a lone catbird at the end of today, silhouetted against the setting sun from my backyard. I guess he had a busy day too.