All quiet on this western front, shush.

Topic: addresses causing confusion.

Our address has a tagline/initials actually, I call it, of NE, standing for, we were told years ago for North East.
Hmm, now the whole block supposedly has these additional letters, and it makes one wonder if they knew all those years ago when our home was originally built back in 1958( rebuilt in 2004 after Hurricane Charley) that forty years later we would homestead here?

Being originally from the North East, and this being our third of our Florida homes, we had two others in NJ, five in total, and this one being our final stop, could they have been psychic?
Because other than the NE at the end of our street address, it makes no sense, see we are on the south west coast of Florida, we live just ten minutes from Charlotte Harbor that goes to the Gulf of Mexico, so I have been annoyed about this silly injustice, well not injustice, senseless act of confusion?

What makes it more so is the fact that the street sign to our block does not include this ghostly apparition of NE, supposedly needed by out-of-staters who insist that it is needed to mail us anything, especially my mail-order medications from the American pharmacies! Other mail does not include"NE" and still arrives just fine, thank you very much!

I had taken a stance of removal of this superfluous unnecessary addition to our already quite lengthy postal address, and each time I request it to be gone anyone and everyone has been splendid in their offerings to remove it from their computers!

But.........each and every time that I am assured the wicked (in my mind; read the rest) two letters are reportedly gone, when the next order is placed they magically mystically reappear!

At times I have given up the campaign to stop the LUNACY!
We are no longer North Easterners!
We are south down east by then west coasters of Florida, or as one restaurant states, on the left coast!
Yes, again I have proven that I have too much time on my hands, but lets face it this is one topic that I had not covered before.

Refreshing?

Or just Annoying? (to me, yup.)

At one time I had even called the post office about this questionable address adaptation, and they said that if you get your mail either way, it's no problem. And no, it has no bearing on whether or not we receive any mail, since we do with or without. And no history was available for the why anybody would have this address? So as baffling and interesting as this might seem, NOT, no one could come up with any logical answer.

Conclusion: When asked for my address on occasion I leave out the NE and then on the phone people feel the need to correct me! They inevitably do and I respond, you don't need that! Some argue that it must have to do with routing, and I tell them I get my mail with or without it, but they usually insist since its on their computer... and as we all know computers are NEVER wrong!

We have been in this home nineteen years nearly, this December it will be and I suppose for the next nineteen I could fight this indignity of postal injustice or go with the flow and let these know-it-all address connoisseurs have their way with my domiciles locale!

Sanity is thy name allowance?

NAH!

I shall fight for my right to be right! Or till my end, which ever comes first!

Question: Is your address incorrect?
Now what would you or have you done to rectify that?

On that malicious provocative inquiry, (Just poking the bear! HA!) allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night, and ask you all to kindly share your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Help all people harmed by natural disasters!
     

Efficiency is our middle names

Today, we returned those items that did not fit right to Wally World and our monies will be credited to our account in a timely fashion.
On our way there we stopped at our local Beall's Outlet in the Promenades Mall that sells named brands at discount prices and why we hadn't gone there first is beyond me.
I was able to find an outfit that was tried on when we arrived home and it fit!
Same with Hubby's shoes, but they fit in the store!
Better quality and priced right.
No seconds or damaged as in some outlets; all first quality!

After we went to return our items that we were able to replace, we decided to see what was going on at the Town Center Mall.
Parking was no problem, but the snowbirds have not returned yet.
Inside was quiet too.
Sadly several shops were no longer there.
Probably victims of the internet shopping that we all do.

We decided to comparison shop the items we already bought to validate our shopping acuity.
As we wandered from store to store we were not able to compare apples to apples since the exact same brands were not sold in the stores we canvassed, but our items purchased were also of very good quality.
The truth is to get a true comparison the items should be made by the same manufacturer, so it was determined that although we had not been able to compare identical products what we did acquire were a great deal!

We even went into the regular Beall's, not discount outlet one and they did not have the same brands, oddly enough!

What we had bought the tan suede deck shoes Hubby bought were half the price on the ticket, and so were my blouse, navy embellished with silver sparkly studs, stretch dark navy denim slacks and my navy colored sneakers were about a third of the ticketed price, but on top of that it was a Monday and at Beall's Outlet on Mondays you get an additional 15% off that is if you are fifty and over!
So we did good.

The food court loomed large and with several nationality styled foods to choose from, and so Hubby and I chose to eat lunch there; it had been quite a while since our last visit.
I had decided on the Greek food kiosk, and got a spinach pie and Greek salad with iced water, and Hubby went over to Sborros and got a Stromboli with iced water too!
Again half of my lunch came home with us.
Boy, I sure do get a lot of mileage out of my eat outs, ha!

From there we came home.

On that note allow me to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly share all your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

PS And please, please, please people do not forget about Harvey, Irma, and Maria and of course the Mexican earthquake victims help is needed all over the world!

Below I have left a couple hot keys to some non-profits that are helping, and through them you can help too, but it is always good to double check anyone else's suggestions.

www.redcross.org/


www.unitedway.org/

Just a couple places to go to help!

Nothing

A day with truly nothing going on...for me!
Hubby was again busy working on squaring things away in the yard, even got out the pressure washer out for clean-up for the pool decking, patio and bird bath.

I on the other hand made sure meals were taken care of and that was easy with so many leftovers!
Even the frittata that I made yesterday we continued to consume again this morning for breakfast, and from what was left we will have another day's worth for tomorrow!

Easy to make, in your well oiled cast iron pan, I use Pam, and a smidge of olive oil, while preheating the oven to four hundred degrees saute your veggies, ours were spinach, onions, mushrooms and garlic, add in meat if so desired, usually ham or salami for us, then scramble four, five or six eggs according to how many people you are feeding, add water to the egg mixture and pour over the saute veggies and meat, lastly add in a selection of cheese(s) etc. cheddar, Swiss, Munster, sliced, diced or grated over the still stove top creation, let start to bubble slightly then with two heavy duty pot holders or towels take the cast iron pan and place in the 400 degree oven for another ten minutes. Once done allow it to rest for a few moments then slide your masterpiece carefully onto a serving plate, cut up servings like you would a pie and serve with toast or not, butter and selection of marmalades, juices and coffees.

Lunch was leftovers again, my French onion soup, salads Greek, Tuscany noodle and Kale fruit and nuts, ground beef in homemade gravy and mashed potatoes.

Supper was surf and turf, shrimp and Krab cakes finished from yesterday's take home and ground beef in gravy and mashed potatoes, FINIS finally, and more salads stated above.

The three slacks I bought yesterday were all too big!
So they will be going back, and Hubby's shoes he determined were uncomfortable by wearing them just around the house so they will be going back too.
He is keeping the Dr. Scholl's inserts though for his old good leather deck shoes.
 And he already cut them to size.

While not eating I watched my newest Netflix show Longmire, actually a few years old, a sheriff in Wyoming in a small town with gosh so many murders!
This Robert Taylor is an Aussie that does an American accent very nice.
The rest of the supporting cast are all perfect in their roles, another once network TV show, I think that I missed.
I am on the end of season two, but there are five altogether.
Good for anyone who enjoys modern westerns.

Tonight, I am a wee bit excited for a new series starting at 8:30 P.M. EST on CBS Star Trek: Discovery! A brand new cast and story for their next mission beginning tonight!

Hubby was more the Trekkie than I, but I do enjoy the undercurrent of occasional humor in the shows and movies that I have watched.

This is the week for new TV shows start check your local listings, I know I will.

Who doesn't need some temporary escapism?
For our sanity alone, truly.

On this note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

PS PRAY FOR THE ISLANDS AND MEXICO!
And send them whatever you can through local legit charities.

Lucky again

We left the mini manse once again today.
Errands were our main concern.
Hubby has been repairing all the minor damages that Irma toyed with around our home; don't worry we took PICS for the insurance, but none of what occurred would meet our deductible of two thousand dollars anyway.
We only filed due to FEMA telling us we had to to be reimbursed for the hotel expenses, a denial from our insurance stills makes us eligible for the hotel reimbursement. And I even told our home insurance company exactly what I just said here.  

Hubby has been working only on this project since the removal of all shutters just yesterday, all due to waiting to see where Maria was going to do; you know that other gal cane out in the Atlantic decimating islands, property and lives.

The soffits that blew off were all there, so reinstalling them was not too difficult for Hubby.
For the fence gates Hubby needed a few supplies to redo them, a new latch for the the eastern front side one and a new four by four pressure treated for the western front side one; the winds snapped the previous one right off, yep Irma was mighty.

Hubby also had realized that the PVC pipes and five color coded wires to the boat lift needed to be redone for the eventual turning of it; oh I forgot to tell you before Irma it was not ready after all!
The Miss "T" 2, our Bennington pontoon boat, ended up being moored in the canal with lines from our dock and two anchors bow and aft! And she made it through it just fine.
She is back up on the lift now still not turned.
The lift had been dismantled just prior to Irma thinking it could be done, but the prep for the storm took priority, and that is why it had not been completed.
And now Hubby has to figure out some things to do it right, so in the meantime the lift was put back as it was.

While at Home Depot Hubby got the five different colors of wires 30'  long each cut, and I was enlisted to choose the new latch for the eastern side fence front gate. Black, but more sturdy, thicker, to match the hinges and looks great on the white painted cedar cottage style fence.

Prior to Home Depot we ate a healthy lunch at Panera's. Hubby had a steak and white cheddar panini with French onion soup and I had a Greek salad with French onion soup too! We both had iced water, mine with lemons. And those were the half choices on their menu, and half of mine came home!

After Home Depot we went over to Walmart and picked up oil, more slacks for me and Hubby a pair of canvas deck shoes, and coffee, eggs, Greek yogurt, and even some prepared foods for dinner with two fruit pies from their bakery, blueberry and cherry.

Then we came home and within the hour it was teaming down rain!

But this time we were already inside, so LUCKY AGAIN!    

On that note please all have a very happy good night and share all those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

You know that news blurb system...

that pops up during anything else you might be doing online?
I am beginning to think good idea, not a good idea?
At times, like just before when it notified me that another Jenner clan gal was pregnant, not interested really!
Hubby and I have wondered what is with the news people in determining what is news fit to print, yep New York TIMES motto, why no one else's?
I know what I do here is definitely NOT news and I have never sold it as that to anybody, that would be ridiculous and more than that dishonest!

But what our so-called president does with those TWEETS has to be news due to him being the "leader" of our land.
Geez!
Is this what we have come to?
At this rate I guess Ms. Jenner's being with child is newsworthy!
But even that is more information than the bullying battling of words between Rocket Man and the dotard!

I don't know what is worse starting to switch off listening to the white noise caused by the Frothy Orange Haired Guy's  tweets that do not truly inform Americans, but sounds like a child baying at the moon in distress, since his family or schoolmates don't agree with him and of course it is everyone else but never ever him!

Even that atrocious speech that he gave at the UN was so lacking of research for proper countries named, and threats to all countries already dangerously close to attacking us and I mean not just verbally!
Those verbose non-articulation of trying to get what point across to the world?
He lost his moment to try to change the world's theaters opinion of him; couldn't someone run his lines with him?
If he would only "act" like a president and did what knowledgeable people told him to do.

Rain storm with thunder and lightning is coming through right now GTG!

Happy good night and share those blessings!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Last night...

Now you know why yesterday's blog was so early, we had been invited to a function weeks prior to the hurricane. It was the 25th anniversary of the in-house physical therapy department at Fawcett Memorial  Hospital in Port Charlotte, and patients were invited to the celebration under the concept of a reunion.

We only recognized a handful of people there. And it was held in Punta Gorda at the Laishley Park CrabHouse; where we have been before many times.

A couple of a driver and patient offered us seats at their table. The young woman of forty-one Anne, that same age as our youngest son was the driver for older gentleman his name was Fran, he too was in motorized wheelchair, but was nearly blind and hard of hearing!

So as you can well imagine conversation was difficult. 

The food was good though, and at times I felt guilty for being so fortunate with so many not, due to devastation caused by nature's wrath, and many being no further than tens of miles from where we were. 

Any-who, there was chicken Marsala, Mahi-Mahi, and flank steak, fresh steamed mixed vegetables, salad with choices of dressings, mashed red potatoes, and individual desserts of tart sized, Key-lime pies and strawberry short cakes, coffee and water, lemonade, and soft drinks, all rather lovely and just right.

Hubby had the chicken Marsala, and I had the flank steak both with veggies, salad and potatoes, I gave Hubby most of the potatoes that he brought me, too much!

I had a small tart sized Key-lime pie for dessert, and Hubby had that and two of the strawberry short cakes as well!   

Our pins that we received as we entered the room.

The room was full!

Dr. Jen, head of the department and quite a nice guy, and many other PT, OT and speech therapists,etc. standing up in the front of the room. The mike was given to allow past patients to tell about their experiences they had there.

This gent was the CEO of the hospital Bill!

When we left it was pouring so hard! Our trip home consisted of flooded roads and not just in Punta Gorda where that has been for years but even in our neighborhood, right up to our home!

For the second time I asked Hubby to get us into the garage and I managed to slide over the seats and hold onto doors walls whatever until I reached the hard wooden once toy box that we use as a laundry basket/ seat in our laundry room where you are when coming in from our garage. Hubby got my walker and I managed to get around the corner to our recliners and then into the bedroom!

Leaving BIG BLUE inside the van. Hubby brought her back in today.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Our garage is too narrow for both her and I to get out, so when not torrential rainstorms her computer arm is covered by a low tech plastic bag, or me with my poncho works well too! But this was way beyond that being effective!

Thus the need for an overhang that the county wanted to charge more for the permit than the cost of the overhang and so... need I say more!

Fortunately, it has only been that severe twice so far.

Another night about other things... Oh I almost forgot, Maria IS STILL NOT COMING TO AMERICA mainland that is!

Good night and pray for all our friends in the islands and Mexico!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Early tonight

Resting while staying in today.
Rarely do I have much excitement, in reality my perceived excitement may very well be tame for others.
Escaping a hurricane I suppose was a bit more realistic in the sense that was too very real in the danger department, and was mandatory to leave.

Yesterday, we received the paperwork from FEMA and today it was filled out and mailed.
A bit confusing at first, so Hubby tried calling to ask for clarification and the computerized voice said the wait would be 137 minutes, and so he hung up.

Thankfully amid the magnitude of papers sent in two separate envelopes there was a modicum of decipherable information and so we made copies of the necessary paperwork and got it into the snail mail as it came to us to go out today.

I had given the FEMA agent when I initially called our bank routing information for the reimbursement from the hotel expenses.
And according to what I was told its time frame is within ten days of receipt of all documentation.

Most adventures in life are made due to circumstances desired or beyond our control.
Many of us, myself included hate to give up any control.
But as I have aged I have mellowed in understanding how we at times must do whatever is necessary to be safe.

That said I still worry for so many people who want to be safe, but have little or no options to attain that ability.
Like in the news blurb I just received that "100 percent of Puerto Rico without power as Maria passes over country and causes severe damage infrastructure damage; hurricane downgraded to a Category 3"
www.yahoo.com

I signed up for these newsworthy items to be sent during whatever I am doing online, even while I watch Netflix programming.
Helpful in staying informed.

I figured since I have been relaxing most of today why not take care of my blog early!

PS all three pieces of clothing I bought yesterday, two pairs of slacks and one blouse two sizes smaller than what I had been wearing did fit and had their tags removed, and since have been washed and dried and put away!

On that upbeat note allow me to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly share all your blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

PSS Pray for all the people in Mexico where the death toll has risen to over two hundred and to our unofficial 51st state Puerto Rico where their fate has yet to be told! As well as all the other islands in Maria's path all need our prayers !

L'Shana Tovah to all my friends and relatives celebrating Rosh Hashanah!