Top Kill...

The words for tonight are ‘Top Kill’, my friends, which means now we have one better idea up our shady sleeves of we think we know what we are doing, but really don’t and let’s throw caution to the wind and pump thousands of pounds of fluids into a five story pipe, what it is, is basically dumping mud and cement and throwing it into the well to see if that stops the flow of the environmentally catastrophic oily yuck and now how do you think that will work folks, because we now know we have a worldwide audience for this fine mess we got ourselves into?
Bud-dump bum.

And if this doesn’t do the job we have “Junk Shot”, (stay with me folks this one I explained last night, still available to catch up if you need to;) this is the one to fall back on, I thought but no its next on the list and if that doesn’t work we will throw in all fisherman who depend on the once pristine Gulf and their fishing vessels into the hole in the Gulf oozing disgusting red goop and if that doesn’t work we will just take more of the dead waterfowl, dolphins, manatees, sharks, octopus, redfish, tarpons etcetera, etcetera and on and on must I go on?
Horridly we all know now that they haven’t a clue on what will work, why you ask horrified?
BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT PREPARED FOR ANYTHING!
And they are all idiots, yes as simple as that folks.
Not everyone gets a functioning viable brain at birth apparently.

Listen, how many of you were in scouting as a child?
Well, don’t we all know that one must be prepared for any and all situations in life?
All right maybe not all, but if you are working in a specific field and getting extremely well paid for that job, then don’t you all agree that you SHOULD KNOW WHAT TO DO?

The news just verified that the, ‘Top Kill’ has begun; anticipation is all we of the Gulf coast have for hopeful desire for this latest move to do the trick.
For we the people of this part of this great land feel as if this being one of the few truly manmade disasters could have been, foolishly we believe, could have been prevented or at the very least avoided with more knowledgeable people running the sanitarian, called BP.
Too harsh you say!
This could happen to anyone you say?
Sure it could but when you deal with such a dangerous volatile substance you would think that OSHA or some one of that nature would have had a closer watch on how things were going?
Well, I am just a civilian and have never ever worked in the oil game, but isn’t it just common sense to take proper cautionary measures?
Rules of the road derrick well what have you?
There ought to be a law… now you don’t hear people shouting that, do you?
And why is that?
BIG MONEY runs the oil companies as well, no pun intended, as the wealthiest in the land here and abroad!
And so, now I am not saying anything isn’t Kosher with what happened there in the Gulf but we all know about those mines not being properly inspected in West Virginia and those guys cutting corners and creating a hazardous work environment for those people too…

Something to think about, that’s all I am saying… I wouldn’t cause any trouble but just sleeplessness in those thinking about how to solve this, but I don’t suppose they are getting much sleep these days anyway, at least I hope not!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

This just in: For women those old enough to drink should drink that glass of wine tonight, but it only works for non smokers, which I am thankfully for nearly four whole years! It is supposed to prevent Alzheimer’s, whew, one less malady to worry about, thank heavens! I try my darndest to take care of that prescription concept!

Junk shot?

Oh you thought that they said jump shot, no basketball game here, and no joke either!

Who ever heard of such a practice? The next plan is to stop the oil disaster in the Gulf, what is this plan A. 1234 or B. 5678 or C. 91011; do you see where I am going here?

But they are going to throw junk (great more pollution added to the Gulf!), yes literally junk like golf balls, tires, knotted ropes, plastic cubes and the like down into the blowout preventer, the safety device atop the well!
You say WHAT?
That’s what these million + a year salaried execs came up with to stuff the spewing oil.

You know what this reminds me of when no one has a clue of what to do in an emergency or problem and some nitwit says let’s throw everything including the kitchen sink at it!
Crazy, but what they are hoping for is for to force- feed the preventer, the part that failed when this all began back on April 20th. They are hoping that it will stop it up and stop the leak or at least make it go down to a trickle.

The news just said that the leak is over a well that if not stopped it could go on for more than all of our lifetimes! Horrendous, but we thought we were running out of oil as an energy source?

Today there was a memorial held for the eleven who perished when the explosion first occurred on that day of infamy.

Shocking as it may seem our local noon news on NBC reported from the wires that BP was also involved in the Exxon Valdez spill back in 1989, I’m not clear in what capacity but that makes this only that much worse…no one has learned a thing!

Back in our little home front we had another beautiful day here in southwest Florida.
Just the right amount of sunshine with a nice amount of rain thrown in when all outdoor chores and fun had been completed; this is a little slice of paradise that we live in and don’t any of you in any other part of this country or the world believe otherwise.
Since the fear mongers are running off their mouths with lies, saying we this or that, I won’t go into details because they are way too vile and I don’t want their stupid thoughts and concepts to pollute my knowledge of what is true and real.

All I can say if you don’t come on down that means there is more room for me and my enjoyment of what we have here to offer, swimming, fishing, boating, concerts, perusing antique shops and museums, playing golf or tennis or just relaxing on the beach and all this is besides all those theme park amusements; not to mention gardens and zoos!
Yes, Florida is a play land for every demographic and don’t you forget it!
Most of the above I have become an audience to not a participator in recent years, but still its entertainment that I do enjoy to watch!

I know to most of you by now I must sound like a broken record but we do need you tourists to come down and enjoy what we have to show you!
Make those reservations and I promise you won’t be sorry, and no I don’t get any kick back, aw shucks, but I don’t, really!

The rain continues to gently come down cooling the warmer air from earlier in the day, but still very lovely and hovering around the low seventies.
Tomorrow will bring greener grass and more beautiful flowers shooting from the soil, our veggies just love this too!
And so who could complain about this gentle soul of a rain…

On that pleasant note I will call an end to this lame attempt of a refrain, and just say good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Silly me...

Who doesn’t need some form of validation?
The tabletop project has been placed in its final destination down on the dock with its four lattice grayish white designed garden chairs comfortably surrounding it, and the peace de resistance is the umbrella that is like the cherry on top. Although, a neutral tan color so as not to take away from the importance of the artwork, ha!

Confidence or arrogance; one might ask?
Over the years I have noticed that there is a fine line between the two, have you?

Well, as confusing as that may seem to most people who do know me the fact that I am feeling rather grand this evening since I emailed the photos of my attempt at art to a select group of my more familiar, who knows me peeps.
So far from the ones that I have heard back from the critiques have been exquisite in art world jargon… “In any case it is gorgeous - such talent! That is amazing and absolutely gorgeous. Are you planning to sell it or is it for you guys?”
Need I say more? And these were from only two people who are both well traveled and enjoy art!
But I gush way too much, so sorry folks!
Earth to Tobi, earth to Tobi? YES! I am here.

My rude way of talking myself down and back to reality! LOL
But I jest, not too subtly, although, somehow at this age, size and abilities I rarely hear such positive feedback about anything and to me it is more than heartwarming… it validates me as a human being who deserves to be here!

And perhaps in my floating through this thing we all call life there will be issued to me a new purpose to exist, you know what I mean, a reason for being?
Oh sorry, did I say floating that sounds way too airy and easy, no not me, nothing that simple here!
Life is difficult and at times more difficult than other times.
I know what you are all saying now, huh? You just caught on?
No, what I am saying is that it proves the commonalties of the frailties of us all and that we all desire to know our purpose, but some haven’t determined just yet that is what they are after, got it?

This morning was also the day the hard countertop guy was coming to replace my scratched and stain hard surface Glacier white sinks. But alas his trip down here from Tampa, an hour and half or more away was for naught because he was misinformed and told that the sink was cracked which is under warranty still for five more years and could be replaced, but scratches and stains are not! Well, my initial phone call/emails to the company were to find out how to take care of the problems without causing more. It was they who insisted that I needed a new one, I lamented. I again explained that I would like to know how to solve the problem; he said he could sand it for one hundred bucks and we said no thank you!
But he was kind enough to explain how Hubby could do it himself, and Hubby has the natural ability to get the job done thankfully!

The oil spill is still creating havoc in the northern Gulf, sadly but to our benefit here since we are fortunate to know that the loop current has closed itself up and its circular rotation has prevented the oil from heading to our shores here in southwest Florida, so far.
Horridly the devastation up in the northern Gulf is so extremely horrendous on fishing, fishermen and the entire industry. Many water wildlife are dying and it is a disgusting miserable shame that the problems totally have already gone beyond our worst imaginations, and at this point it has somewhat stayed in that area of the first explosion with miles and miles of oil seeping out with reddish goop intruding on the shorelines of Louisiana, and impinging on the lives of all who thrive on these used to be pristine waters; how truly wasteful stupid and oh so sad.
Too many alphabet soup initial execs expressing delays again from doing what has to be done, with more and more excuses, what gives? What is this all about that no one has any answers?

No one’s future is exact or none of us know every detail of what’s to come in our lives, but some of us have failsafe plans, not written down but somewhere in the confines of our problem solving brains so it baffles me that people who make millions a year in salaries don’t know what to do?

Any-who, on that thoughtful question I will wish you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

As if I was commissioned to do my art work...

The gloss protectorant is drying as I write this Blog tonight; my tropical sunset mural has been completed!
But unfortunately the stench from its odor is confined to the garage, and now Hubby, my project finisher has had to open our garage to allow the fumes to go out!
The table top has had two coats of this smelly but high gloss glassy appearing top coat.
Hopefully it is not harmful to us or Skipper or the ecology but it does smell, but so does good cheese my Dad always said... LOL!

Amazingly it appears to not look too terrible, the mural that is if you squint at it and look at it from afar.
Nah, Hubby says it is just fine and looks good too.
Too late now anyway once that glassy stuff goes on I think only a bomb or a hurricane could blast it off.
This gal is hoping for neither.
And so like a time capsule, the deed is done.
Only the future of my table's lifespan will tell…oh let me explain…
You see this round wooden top is the replacement for the original fiberglass top that was nearly twenty-four years old and its history goes back to our first Florida home on the other coast.
That is the home that we installed our first Florida pool, but second pool et al.
It was quite an elaborate project that we did have a very good pool company involved in the entire project, but first they had to remove a tree and then build a retaining wall.
And after all that they installed the rather large 18’ by 36’ rectangular nine foot deep pool with diving board and six by six foot spa with waterfall. It had both solar and electric heaters; our sons were water lovers from infancy.
And the project took nearly two months, due to the fact that if they went over their completion date they said they would pay us a hundred dollars a day…those were the days back in 1986!
Oh that table yes we had bought it for our new pool and deck area, unfortunately the chairs are long gone, and also we had purchased a new barbecue way back then, but alas living so close to the ocean, down the hill and across the street on the east coast of Florida that very expensive barbecue rusted through in just a few years. The base to that table has survived the hourglass of time and the newer fiberglass lattice styled chairs survived even Hurricane Charley! And so when Hubby asked me if I wanted the utility tabletop that he made with metal legs tossed from work from when we ran the in-line skating program for PAL, Police Athletic League, I sold hotdogs, chips and sodas to support the kids, no money earned all went back to them. Hubby hauled the ramps he had made.
Some times we almost didn’t break even, but we did recycle the soda cans and that did help too!
So that is where the wooden table top originated… gosh that top is about thirteen years old if I recall when we were doing all that!

And so once again I have disproved my theory that I have any artistic ability, I will admit to being crafty but a true artist no way not me no how not in the near future either
But I did take history of art in college and have been to so many museums in Europe including the Louvre and the Smithsonian’s in D.C too, as well as New York, Philly, and Tampa etc. so I do appreciate it all, yes I really do.
Perhaps its just more mindless entertainment for this gimpy old gal, but who really knows, what I did do is recycled an old table and made it new again with Hubby’s help and for that I am as proud as punch!
Oh and Hubby did hang my newest sign for our veggie garden, which if it had more room on it would have said, ‘Welcome to Our Veggie Garden’, but alas it was too small for all that so I settled on the single message that it was ours.
Sounds so selfish, but not really since we do share; I guess you could call us sharecroppers, by gosh! That’s what we are!(This is a stupid awful mistake on my part for sharecroppers were not a funny or to make light of their situation please read this and copy and paste, and forgive my ignorance and for not a funny joke: http://www.answers.com/topic/sharecropper )

On that silliness I will bid you all a very good night, and ask you all to count those blessings and we will too!

PS I was back in the pool again too between painting, trying hard to banish some of this ungodly weight. And last night I took my new ride down to the dock to watch the sunset but sadly it was rather cloudy. And it was our movie night and we had a wholesome time watching the Spy Next Door with Jackie Chan, very cute!

PSS Now we are getting ready to watch four and half hours of the LOST finale!

777 Could that be a lucky number for me?

That particular number represents this Blog’s postings in numerical quantity, how about that folks?
I am amazed who would have thunk that I could be so loyal to this medium of sprouting and shouting my so opinionated and not too controversial rants.

And once again today was an extremely busy day.
I went into the pool and began another artful project but on a much grander scale than I have attempted in quite some time.

Years ago I had done a mural on a shed, would you believe?
Yes I did, and it was called, ‘River Life’, because at the time we resided along the Peace River in Punta Gorda. And as you might expect that river was well named.
That shed was actually a utility trailer and when we moved here after it fulfilled its usefulness it was dismantled along with that glorious mural which was loaded with whimsy since my water wildlife creatures had long eye lashes and were all rather smiley.
Sounds silly now, but it was a happy look that the neighbors would comment on often in a very positive way.

Today’s project is actually a smaller much smaller version of that concept but minus the whimsy. This time I am in the process of doing a tropical sunset on a wooden four foot round table top. Quite a challenge since I have not done it before, but I hadn’t done that mural on the shed before either until I did do it got it?
Body mechanics wise this one is more preferable since I can sit on a chair and roll around, the previous one was a standing and reaching one, but I was feeling better in those days.
I have seen artful types study photos or pictures of their desired idea, remembering that so I did that too. I found just what I thought would be appropriate and printed that out here on the computer and taped it to the bottom of my sunset on the table to begin my background, which I did begin this morning with the acrylics and latex paints that I had already.
Then I determined which additional colors I would need, and hubby took me again to Jo-Anne’s and now I do believe I am set far as those go.
We picked up at the home store a clear high gloss oil based protectorant to apply over it once it is completed, giving it a glassy look hopefully.
Hubby again was in-charge of primer and exterior white coats which had been done yesterday with my plaque.

We did eat lunch out at our new favorite barbecue place, Wally’s; believe it or not the chef is a grad of the Cordon Bleu in Paris! Yes, the one in France.
The food is great and priced very reasonably for the portions which I had to hand over to Hubby to finish, since we were on our way out not on our way home where we could take them back there in a doggy bag.

Any-who we went on to Jo-Anne’s for the paint and after that to Publix, our grocery for non perishables, including one of my prescriptions and our vitamins and such.
From there the home store with lumber in mind to repair the dock, but most of the pieces Hubby examined were either warped bowed or shedding creosote terribly.
And so we nixed it for now. He didn’t want to replace bad boards with bad boards, not logical.
But we did find Insecticidal soap for our worm problem on our Bougainvillea, and Scott’s Summer Guard for the lawn.
And a few other necessities like a new toaster, since ours has been acting a wee bit bi-polar never knowing if it will burn or not toast our toast!
It was about time.

We were happy to see that the mail had come with plain white envelope and the automatic injector for this new medicine that I must inject daily once it comes, but it isn’t here yet folks!

I suppose it is good that the financial questionnaire came today so I have all of tomorrow to fill it out. It comes from NORD, National Organization for Rare Diseases, not the pharmaceutical company. I am becoming well educated in trying to get the help one needs when in my particular non insurance predicament.
And in this learning perhaps I can pass some of this knowledge on to you.
It would feel wonderful to know that I helped even one other person who may be going through a similar situation.

And so I will wish you all a very good night on that happy possibility and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and we will too!

A little bit crafty and a little bit rollator...

Signing in again that is that I made another telling sign, but this time it locates our veggie garden and claims it for our own, and yes, I have signed into this site tonight, ha haven’t I?
In more common speak it is that I made an entrée sign to our garden that has written on it, “Our Veggie Garden”, how original you say?
Nah, I know that you didn’t say that!
It is more interesting than that since I did decoupage vegetable pictures hot off my clip art section in this word program, how clever of me and cost effective, huh?
Hubby purchased the aesthetically pleasing oval unfinished wooden plaque at Jo-Anne’s Sewing and Crafts for less than three bucks, and he painted it with white primer and white exterior paint left over from our fence so no cost there either.
For letters to spell out my message I did a combo of wooden left over ones and vinyl also left over in my craft drawer ones, all in two shades of blue. They at one time were used to spell, “Casey”, for our dearly departed feline friend’s litter door entrée.

In the rim of the plaque which is indented I painted that with my apple green paint that I created for my stool tops and trim on my TV controller holders of galvanized metal buckets styled. That which had been painted two different shades of blue for the main parts, one Wedgwood and one pale baby blue, since one is for in here, which I call the sunroom in the Wedgwood and green and the pale baby blue and apple green for the living-room one, the colors are coordinated with those rooms décor.

To complete the newest sign it will be given white chains so it can be hung from the white lattice style arbor entering the garden, very cottagey, another Tobism.

The other half of my title tonight refers to the arrival of my new, brand new walker en seat combo! Did I mention that below the seat is a container for I know not what yet…Oh yes I do! For when Hubby went to take out our sadly confined no getting out to fish for many, many moons boat on the lift for his test drive down the canal and out to the harbor to see if sitting so long hasn’t destroyed it…I took my new ride/walk down there via the boardwalk Hubby had made for such a use, and sat and looked down the canal for him with my bottle of water which road safe within that encasement along with the cell to make sure Hubby was fine and didn’t have any problems and was able to contact me from his own cell. Although, our boat vintage 2003 and bought new then, but like new since it has rarely been used in the last four years due to Hubby’s back and my inability to get off of it easily.
I did wait down on the dock with even a sun umbrella which I had attached to my new aide too, it had a screw on plastic sort of thing. It is an eye catching patriotic red white and blue one with giant red stars and smaller white ones on a navy colored background!
Although, my problems were location, location, location for the umbrella where I had placed it, it opened with blocking my view! LOL I did try to move it but was unsuccessful, and then while in that process for trying to relocate it the heat encompassed me so harshly I had to seek shade and a fan up on our covered patio which also has a wonderful ceiling fan that makes you feel nearly ten degrees cooler.
And so I waited up there and Hubby arrived back safe and sound with his boat mate Skipper! Skipper to him for boating is like Skipper for me for the pool, he loves both.
Why when he was a mere eight weeks old when we first brought him home we took him out on the boat to see if we could name him a pretentious nautical name…Skipper.
If he tried to jump overboard from fear or got seasick we knew he would never be sea worthy, all our previous pups were great sailors but had not been named for our joint love of the water and for our forty-years of enjoying that sport. He passed the test and voila he was bestowed the name Princely Skipper, there is more to it but if I told you then I would have to kill you, kidding! Any-who that is how and why he was named; and once established his love of the water too we took him to the barrier islands and let him learn how to swim, like we did with all his predecessors here on both coasts and at the Jersey shore too where we lived previously as well.

The news is showing how the oil disaster that had not come here yet but how it is destroying the Louisiana coast line and wildlife, it is truly devastating!
Those responsible should be held accountable, and some feel that we should boycott BP, but the small stations are owned independently as franchises and that would be disastrous in harming our own business economy once again.
I also played devil’s advocate on FB, Face Book saying that if we don’t utilize their stations how will they be able to pay us all back from this horrendous catastrophe they caused? Aren’t we sure, at this point that claims will more than likely be in the BILLIONS?

On that provocative question I will bid you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

The governor declared a state of emergency for southwest Florida!

Although, the oil is NO threat to our shores and this declaration is just for cleaning the shores up if it should come here, and to pay for that clean up within a seventy-five hour period of that disastrous possible happening.

BUT FOLKS RIGHT NOW THE BEACHES ARE QUITE PRISTNE HERE STILL! Including NAPLES, NO TAR BALLS THERE FOLKS EITHER! So please come on down and visit us!

Boy the waters south of here are …rather quite active with promise of who knows what, although, the true skinny is that we are going into a La Nina that will compromise our protection from that last year’s model of El Nino from the previous hurricane season!
This site is our local NBC station’s updates on our weather, if you want to see for yourself, just copy and paste: http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=12514726
and you will be in the know too.

As I have said previously that our hurricane season has been purported into becoming a very vicious one, and so far no one has changed those predictions. Frightening as that all seems the oily Gulf may have a positive reaction to that, some say it could slow the major systems down from forming into monster canes.
Now wouldn’t that be just great! And here I was concerned that they would make that oil slick shoot all over the many states surrounding it in the loop!
Actually, in reality no one knows since this situation is unique unto itself.

Today was just an all round perfect chamber of commerce sort of day!
Anyone living here would ordinarily be right to utilize their bragging rights!
But alas the northern sectors of our country too have had one heck of a beautiful day as well, and so to whom shall we shout those proud as punch for our quiet perfection in our atmospheric realm to holler about or to?

I went into our pool again today; both the air and water temperatures were simpatico, and so why not!
And I did enjoy my time in there thoroughly until one of my feet went into spasm while kicking in that warm eighty-seven degrees lovely joyous water for my training program for the ROM, range of motion movements I was making.
It was the second time in the morning that it had happened and so that Baclofen is definitely getting a workout for use purposes.
Oddly enough the whole concept of doing an Acquacize program of any type for any ills from MS to arthritis to heart disease to whatever is to aid in mobility with the ability to move, without ironically I say, without any additional pain.
Oh well, what is one to do?
I cannot stand, literally, but that is not what I was about to say what I was going to say is I can’t stand not moving at all!
Even though last year I was smart enough when hospitalized to ask for the pneumonia shot, and it does last for supposedly five years. The reason I asked for it is because they put that darn catheter in me and I had no idea how long I was going to be in there and since I was a fall risk they would not allow me out of bed, thus the fear of pneumonia.
My Dad back in 1986 died from pneumonia due to his stroke; actually that was his complication, even though they did try in those days to put him immediately into physical therapy with his severe stroke,a brain stem thrombosis.
You see, he was fatally allergic to penicillin, and in those days they didn’t have too many alternatives to his treatment.
And so that is what stuck vividly in my brain thus my shot desire.
Lack of movement is notorious for ill people getting lung disease and infections of that particular type.
Since some days I am quite slack in the movement department due to how I feel I am now somewhat reassured that is one less problem to worry about.
Whoa can I go on or what?

Well it's time for me to close for tonight and wish you all a very good one and count those blessings and we will too!