Happy July Fifth!

Oh, you are confused too?
Today also was a holiday, since there was no mail and the banks were closed and the shops all advertised sales, so it must be, right?
Now I am nowhere near any historical maven or even a great student of our past, but if I recall the Declaration of Independence that was signed on July fourth 1776, gave us the freedom that we won by winning the war, the Revolutionary War i.e., with Great Britain.
And that date is somewhat etched in stone, or is it the Liberty Bell?
Any-who, today as I iterated was another day off for many local, state and federal employees; if they took it off it must be so, right?

Actually, I think my problem is the fact that isn’t our unemployment rate not far off of 10% nationally, and a wee bit higher right here in Florida, around 12%?
You see, I suppose it’s the fact that there isn’t enough work to go around that bothers me, but all these employees can get a, now I could be wrong, another paid holiday?
I must be wrong since almost all the local counties are crying that the monies in their budgets is short by millions, yes, that’s what the news has reported and it has caused so many layoffs, which is so sad, since they cannot afford their workforce!
The only problem in that lament, and here I go again and I definitely could be wrong here too that none of the executive officers or hierarchy in the ranks have offered to lower their own pay scale to accommodate hiring or re-hiring the employees threatened to lose their jobs or are already laid off?

As I said when I started tonight I am soooo confused; and I bet you are too?
Although, we as tax payers don’t appear to have too much ability to get our concerns across.
Many are smart enough to get involved on a local level with their government council meetings which are usually advertised on a monthly basis in the local paper with times and locations.
Speak up, get involved, and change things!
Or write an opinion piece to the editor, that’s what I do and frequently, although they only allow once a month submissions, but it works out great… sometimes!
Yes, that’s the ticket!
Complaining is the American way!
Freedom of speech and all that!
That’s why we celebrate this holiday of the Fourth of July and or fifth?

At least admit that we are confusing our young people, how will they know any better than what the media purports, because we all know what we see and hear on TV is the truth!
Rappers miss-spell words, but on purpose they say, ha, they are all Rhodes Scholars, didn’t you know? And so do advertisers thus the spelling abilities of most students is deplorable.

If nothing else the old fashion work ethic should be what our children and our children’s children should be aware of being how everyone gets ahead in this life, not by gold bricking, by working hard and earning a buck.
And when you are ready willing and able to work and jobs are abundant, well that’s too much and unrealistic in this day and age to expect, but then let’s say available that is what our children should have intimate knowledge of.
In the day when I worked I worked hard and did more than what was expected by taking the initiative and that was what I felt I owed my employer, I was thankful that I earned what I received.
You see, I have been on both sides having owned businesses too, and hiring people, and in management as well. We paid our sons when they worked for us, and it worked out well, since to this day they both have wonderful work ethics!
Perhaps that wouldn’t be a bad idea to turn the tables though and you work for you kid to teach him or her how that works…nah it could backfire? LOL

On that silly note, enjoy the rest of your holiday… of the Fifth of July! WITH A BIG HUH?
Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Happy Fourth of July!

Here in our lovely sunshine state it had been raining most of the day.
But to all of our more than likely knowledge in the name of celebrations the show must go on and I do believe that everything is still a go for our annual fireworks scheduled for nine P.M. tonight!

Hubby awoke with a nasty cold.
And now I am feeling a wee bit icky too, and that’s on top of my normal daily ickiness. (Tobism)
Could it just be this nasty wet stuff outside or a virus?

In fact as I am writing this Blog tonight the rain has intensified.
It appears to be raining cats and dogs?
Now does anyone know where that expression came from?
Out of all the possibilities I think this one below makes the most sense:
“Animalplanet.com offers yet two more possibilities for this colorful expression. It could liken the racket made by a storm to the thunderous noise made by fighting cats and dogs.
Or, it may arise from the era of thatched roofs when downpours would bring cats and dogs dozing atop houses down onto the occupants.”


Any-who, again my day was pretty much uneventful except for trying to figure out how to make our own celebration barbecue if the rain didn’t stop; at least it hadn’t taken many breaks, but it finally did take a short one in time for our two hot dogs and hamburgers to be grilled.

My backup plan was trying to find our old indoor electric barbecue grill, and I did.
Gosh the thing has to be at least fifteen years old and held up well.
Its oval ceramic on the outside with aluminum insert and a thing that looks somewhat like an enlarged cup of water heater, you know the type we all had them before microwaves you plug it in and it heats up a cups worth of soup or tea?
The top is a checkered board grid on Teflon coated metal.
Once washed up, it looked as good as new, only thing is we didn’t need it, as I said the rain took a short break for our hot dogs and burgers to be made outside as G-d and our nation had intended them to be done!
Although, were those foods actually around for the first fourth celebration? I doubt it.
Look that up kids and get back to me, OK?

Update on that oil slick skimmer: it is still on its way here to the Gulf, copy and paste this site for accurate information: http://www.aolnews.com/gulf-oil-spill/article/skimmer-tested-as-oil-slick-br-likely-to-reach-florida-keys/19541196

I do hope by the time you all read this that you have had a very happy, drier than ours and safe holiday!

On that positive note I will wish you all a good night and to all I bet we end up watching the fireworks on the telly, wait that’s what this holiday is all about I used a British term and this is our INDEPENDENCE DAY from them… ooops, what a BIG MISTAKE that was! Hubby and I appear to be resigned to the fact that we will be enjoying the fireworks on our TV like all of the other rained out Americans will be! LOL
Yes and count those blessings and we will too!

A side note: when we went to the grocery yesterday an older New Yorker employee insisted that the “south’ didn’t celebrate the fourth like we do up north… it took me almost twenty-four hours, even though when she said it I knew that wasn’t true since I have been living here nearly twenty-four years and I let her know that sure they do.
What I was going to say I guess she got the Revolutionary War and the Civil Wars mixed up? Since if we received our independence from the south instead from the British that would make sense, but not really! Anyway, that’s got to be the only explanation for that gaffe of hers. LOL

Today was a get outside and admire the cooler temperatures type day...

And so bright and early I showered got dressed and started taking photos outside to send by email to our Canadian friends. I had wanted to show them how green their lawn had gotten from all the rain we had been having lately. They live just across the canal from us.
It warmed my heart too to see that our thought to be dead Allamandas were finally showing new growth and they were coming back after that horrible historically frosty long winter we had had.
I took ten PICS in all and sent them on; and received a sweet email back.
Two I must add were of our Muscadine grapevine that we have growing on our arbor to our side courtyard, I like to call it our vineyard, it has many bunches of grapes this time of year but our Montreal neighbors never see it since they are here only in the winter for their allotted six months.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Wouldn’t it be nice if I could figure out how to send you all pictures on this Blog, nah, then you wouldn’t know what I was thinking, huh?
Not as much fun for me anyway! And a really scary thought for you all, eh?

Hubby awoke fairly early too and we had made plans to go to the grocery before the crowds we thought due to this holiday weekend being in full gear.
Much to our surprise it was either too early for the masses or we came at the right time.
For we got our good handicapped parking spot, right up front and they were not that busy at all, and Hubby only had one person in front of him when he went through check out; you see I stay over by the non used isles in my mobility scooter not to be in the way.

Any-who tomorrow is our nations birthday, and I wonder like with so many holidays if children are told what it is all about, not just fireworks, hot dogs ice cream and watermelon, apple pie and etc…
Each of these days we celebrate I do so hope that the parents of children are explaining how we got to be here and why, here I will help all you parents by making it slightly easier on you: copy and paste this site and you will have the information that you need, ok? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)

For us locals in Charlotte County tomorrow is going to have a plethora of choices for you and your family and so copy and paste this one for the fun of the day: www.PuntaGordaFireworks.com

Before all the hubbub of the day began I did my usual reading the paper, checking my emails, and looked to see if anything exciting had been posted on my Facebook page.
I took care of two things I was happy to see on the Tampa news that the suspect accused of the police officer murders turned himself in last night and so I posted the link to that story for all to know.
And then I notice a new magazine was launching their first edition of local family oriented information for what’s happening right here in River City type newsy rag.
So with all my shamelessness within me I had the nerve to ask if they ever add local Blogs into their pages or some such thing, and believe it or not I did get a response saying that I could submit an article to them! At first I foolishly thought I was special but then I realized, but can’t anyone? So I wrote back and asked too many questions about criteria and things of that nature which will probably make them have second thoughts on why they should have said anything to this very weird person.
And guess what?
So far I have not heard back this time.
Smart people I suspect, anyway the new magazine will be out locally for free at their advertisers locations and at all the county libraries next week!
For more information: copy and paste this site: http://www.ccfmag.com/

On that interesting note of excitement in my little piece of the world I will bid you all a very good night and to all count those blessings, and have some fun, and we will too!

Had a rough night and didn't sleep too well...

And so today was pretty much a no-brainer of nothingness.
Which means in Tobi –speak: In the fact that I didn’t expect too much from myself today and so I really co-operated on that idea front and did basically not a thing; but isn’t that what nothing means?

My TV news and weather friends must think that I slept in because I didn’t go onto Face book until around seven thirty, quite late for me, fivish is more my time.
But the truth is by seven thirty I only had about four hours sleep.
When these sleep problems happen they are wild and wooly!
Not fun at all.
Stress, bad and good seems to have a major effect on this situation, which also causes my relapses that seem to happen way too often lately but fortunately not for too long these last few weeks anyway.
I guess they could be called mini ones.
It usually starts with muscle spasms in not my ordinary places but then in some very ordinary ones like in my feet, you can actually see them contort and contract; they, the muscle spasms, seem to be rampant and then the numbness occurs sporadically too.

Sorry for this bummer tour of duty here of my personal ordeals.
But as I said before this is my life and welcome to it; want to trade?

Some might say, sure, without hesitation, and I am pretty sure that sadly too many have much worse problems.
Why just yesterday one of my friend/cousin’s told me she has a very dear friend who was told that soon she will be going into a hospice situation, the friend that is.
And no one has offered to trade with her!
If only, we could take that away from our loved ones that horrendous prognosis way too soon and much too young with so much yet to accomplish I believe, right?
Morose is not what I wanted for tonight’s topic or thread of my train of consciousness writing I was told that I display here.

Life to us all is way too precious to not give it justice of interpretation of all the whys these things happen to people we care about. We all know our reasoning when we talk to the man/woman upstairs and beg them to change their minds or wheel and deal to not take that valuable irreplaceable dear one. You know that you’ve done it, who hasn’t felt that amount of desperation when confronted with those circumstances?
No one.

Just by our nature of caring beings we cannot let our hearts break if there is a way we can avoid it, but no one knows how to stop that emotion.
I suppose we could all become cold son of guns, huh?
But most of us will though loose that control at some point in our lives whether in the name of our parents or other family members including spouses or in the case of a dear loving friend.
Grief counseling has been beneficial for most anyone who seeks it.
I know I have.
Many feel the need to discuss unfinished business with the one that has passed away, and never ever told them this or that, good or bad.

I had a younger friend years ago who’s Mother was going through the last days of her terminal illness, and she, my friend felt so helpless of what she could do.
And so she asked me, and I said that my Mom had such a massive stroke and was just kept alive by machines for her last eleven and half hours of her life and when she was checked by the doctors they said that she was brain dead when she arrived. My Father had the job of making the decision of when to take her off of life support.
I don’t think even at thirty-one I could have done that, but now I could.
So I told my younger friend that if my Mom was able to talk I would have told her again and again how much I loved her, and ask her our family history more thoroughly and tape her telling me it all for her grandsons my sons.
And that is what my friend did and you know she thanked me after her Mom had passed away, she said whenever she would miss her Mom she would listen to that tape and feel a wee bit better, and she made me feel like I was a help to her. What an unselfish gift she gave me, the great feeling of helping another.
But with technology today I would recommend using that.
This was about fifteen years ago and today it would be so much easier, but don’t tire the person and let them speak with you listening intensely. Only interject with your questions that mean the most to you and them.

I do know what many of you are thinking; this woman wouldn’t let anyone get a word in edgewise, but oh contraire on something as important as this I would be one heck of a GREAT LISTENER.

Something else to ponder but personally I hope you never have to use this information, but we all know that can’t be true, because life and death are the way it is, and there is no cure yet!

So tonight with all my love and open heart I wish you all a very safe, fun, and good weather holiday weekend and tonight a very good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

What is a milestone?

Webster’s literal definition is: “a stone serving as a mile post, a significant point in development.”
Well, my milestone is the latter.
Today, I turned that sixth decade stone still rolling down that imaginary hill of life.
I am steadying myself on that journey, that metaphorically and historically will still consist of bumps and dare I say humps in my own paths? (I hear you giggling folks, that wasn’t supposed to be a double entendre, but I’ll take the giggles and raise you one too! HA!)
But I am constantly on the move, bobbing and weaving in and out.
Which I am told it is not a bad thing.
Life in itself has a unique persona.
There is not much one can do about anyone’s actual trek towards their end, nor can we?
Who believes in fate?
Are we all predestined to live say seventy-five point two three years or ninety five point one?
And in reality what we physically and mentally do to stay healthy has no real bearing on what has already been pre-determined?
Some say that is true and that it’s in your genes and that we actually have no control what’s-so-ever, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that even if your genes were really bad that you had the ability to change your future outcome?
I know I know that’s what the doctors keep telling us all.
But is it true or hype and just a way for them to make a buck?
That we all know they need…LOL…
I know those words are blasphemous; to the medical field!
But a provocative thought to ponder, huh?

My day started out with many emails wishing me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Boy if that’s not a good way to start your day I don’t know what is.
You see I am very proud of the fact that I reached my sixtieth year, although now Hubby and I are once again the same age for the next few months when he will turn sixty-one, but when you think of the alternative of not getting older, older will always win in my book!
And so be proud of each and every birthday, and happy that you are fortunate to have them!
Some never get as many as I have already had.
My sweet niece for one died before her fifty-first birthday, and two of my male cousins died before their sixtieth, and so this milestone of ‘SIXTY’ is wonderful and I will shout it to the world!
Yippee! Yippee! Yippee...etc. I made it WORLD!

Now down to the nitty gritty, Hubby teased me he had not given me a card, or so I thought, you see I awake so much earlier than him he usually sets it on the dinette table the night before so I will see it first thing in the morning.
Well, this morning the table was empty of envelopes of any size shape or form and so after all these forty plus years that we have known one and another I thought he might have forgotten?
Remember I said he teased me and he even slept in until after nine A.M. so I had to wait until he arose for that habitual card, and he had had it all the time!

The itinerary was left up to me and so with all this heat I chose the mall, I know how odd you are all saying…
Any-who, since at this bold age of SIXTY there is really nothing that I need or really want, and so it is safe air-conditioned territory to go and just look; what-have–you, window shop.
I know most men are saying, hmmm I bet.
No, really; it must be from all those years I worked in retail management I was detoxed (another one of my Tobism’s) years ago since many of my positions were at malls!
The most expense I bestowed on Hubby was a lunch from the food court, me a Greek spinach pie with Greek salad and he a Calzones like delight, both happy with our choices.

Once home we rested and discussed missing family; they being either so far away or sick or dead.
And with me that makes me quite emotional, since I miss them terribly all year but it just intensifies during special occasions or holidays.
For this I do know that we are not alone either.
But even so it is still sad and difficult.

For dinner we decided to go out to the local buffet restaurant where again we can both have any choice we so wish and that is what we did do.
But stopped at our harbor park on the way home to just see how it was with another storm on the horizon.
My concern for Skipper’s being alone during a storm brought us home and to me publishing my Blog tonight, which I have learned to save, save, save with any storm threatening!

I want so much to leave you tonight with some profound words of knowledge from this milestone that I have conquered but alas I am at a loss, and maybe that is what is profound that fact that I temporarily cannot think of what to say, and wouldn't that be a good thing for me to have more moments of silence? But heck NOT ON HERE! Oh I know … I AM SIXTY TODAY AND I AM SO PROUD!

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

Library day!

Today, actually this morning, as you can see by my title today was our library day.
Hubby is reading James Patterson’s, ‘Sail’ and I am reading James W. Hall’s, ‘Silencer.’
Mr. Hall now that you have access to my Blog here could you please write a little faster I am all caught up with all of yours after I finish this one!
But after one chapter unfortunately I fell asleep. OK so I am going slightly slower than my old voracious a book a day habit, what can I say, folks? My brain and my eyes are in need of a slower read for me these days I suppose due to the MS, some say I should switch to books on tape, but I think that would distract me too easily? Feedback please, for anyone who’s not trying to multi task it seems too strange to me.

It has to be the weather here, the sleep thing that is, I got a wee bit off track like I do so often and added more to the above paragraphs.
And so what I started to say which our air here has been either heavily laden in humidity with high temperatures or rain all due to Hurricane Alex way across the Gulf of Mexico heading into Mexico and just brushing Brownsville, Texas!
By the time it arrives it is supposed to be a category two which is frightfully nasty and destructive. Our experience here was with Charley 2004 a category four, but they all are really bad anyway you look at it, trust me…We also helped after Andrew 1992, a cat five.
But even with that real south western location it still has done a number on the oil spill cleanup way north of there!
Apparently, with the winds causing the waves to crash at two to four feet higher making the past cleanups null and void, delays for continuing as much as a week and that clotty brownish red glop continuing on its merry way towards all those innocent Gulf coast states shorelines, including our own panhandle of Florida! Our Governor Crist is now requesting fifty million from BP for advertising that most of our state is still just fine!

Well I suppose most of us got that dreaded answer to that dreaded question, oh you don’t remember… let me refresh… “How will a hurricane impact on the oil spill?” Sadly, even at the distance that it is it is doing no good, as most of us thought, but were afraid to say that it would!

The last four days I have not gone into our swimming pool, since I think that in spite of my religious applications of sun screen my shoulders are pealing or doing some other horrific thing that stings when I even but lotion on them, and Hubby was kind enough to clip some of our own garden variety aloe and I have been applying that. It does seem to soothe me, far as healing goes it appears to be rather slow mo. And so as much as I need the ROM program that too is on hold now.
You see, I have a history of pre-cancerous lesions that had been zapped with a laser seven times, and even one facial biopsy, which fortunately was benign, but did leave a nasty gouge in my left cheek it was a lumpy hard something or other.
Any-who, you know now why I am playing it cool and with this heat etc., wouldn’t you?
Us blue-eyed peeps have a tendency to be more susceptible, but really you all should be careful, everything in moderation, but I know you know that!
Look who’s talking about moderation, LOL!

Anyway, I did want to wish you all a very happy safe holiday weekend and I guess I just did!

On that positive note everyone have a very good night and count those blessings and we will too!

Hubby worked hard all day to get the laundry back together and he was successful!

Again it was a most of the day project that he took his time to do but accomplished with perfection.
I am happy to say that the laundry room looks as if nothing nefarious happened at all!
If flooding and water heaters failing can be considered that evil or despicable? Yep, this one fit the bill.
The amount of damage was quite severe but admittedly repairable thanks to Hubby’s calm logic.
You know how you acquire that?
Experience, as they say nothing new under the sun and for us that can be said in spades!
I think if this happened twenty or thirty years ago our reaction would have been much more panicky.
But the fact that it had happened before and we knew what to do had its rewards in our ability to deal with, as the kids say.

This morning, early, I made a couple of new friends on Face book, one of my favorite authors, James W. Hall, had accepted me as one of his friends in the wee hours since my new wake up time seems to be a uniformed 4:50 A.M., but actually this was way after that after six A.M. in fact.

Who knows why I have started this too early bird wake up call, it’s not like we just changed our clocks or anything, since that’s when it usually occurs! And besides you do know better than to ask, right? Why, BECAUSE I CAN’T HEAR YOU? LOL

My other newbie in my cautiously and carefully chosen friends list was one of the other news anchors, but for some reason it was a bit of a challenge since it appears that all the usual ways did not work to invite her to be my friend. You see, every search for her came up a no-go or with some other ridiculous name, close but no cigar. And when I was just about to call it quits and see if she could try from her end, since I do have her email address, but then my miniscule brain lit up with my savant ability and a brilliant idea and that’s when I decided to Google her!
And it worked! We are now buds, well not really just acquaintances with my ability to send her annoying comments and or questions! And she can do the same thing back since we are both…JERSEY GIRLS! Ha! But I doubt she would want to know anything from me? She’s the newsy one.

I just got that new additional friends into the fold when my dear sweet oldie but goodie dear almost daughter in law but she and my son chose against it, when she a Tampa cop posted from her local station about the horrendous shooting of two police officers, her fellow officers!
And so I wanted the details and felt that this …what did Betty White call this venue of Facebook? A waste of time venue or some such thing could be used for good not for lameness!
It was my decision to make sure that I posted all the news services accesses that had info on the suspects as well as their descriptions and their vehicle too!
Sadly both very young officers died within hours of being shot, one was a father of four the other had a baby on the way! Just horrendous!

The woman suspect turned herself in around noon and as of the last I heard the search was still on for the man who now will be charged with two counts of murder!
http://www.abcactionnews.com/subindex/news/local_news , copy and paste this site for any new information.
Major agencies are offering rewards as high as sixty-five thousand dollars last I heard.

We are currently having a power failure that FPL has no idea when it will end so Hubby put me on the generator due to needing air-conditioning and to publish this Blog! And it started at 6:11 P.M. and right now it is 10:32 P.M.
He’s great!

I will bid you all a very good night and suggest for you all to count those blessings and we will too!
PS Hope the power is restored soon, apparently it was hit by lightening, a main part of the system and 233 homes only without power including us!

Update: Just a few minutes ago our power was fully restored; thanks FPL and Alex became the first hurricane of the season!