Just Wandering

It was rather heartening to hear as it seems to have been so long since the last time. The nice lady seemed a genuinely positive soul , all beemy and bubbly and if those are actually words I’ll use them as her descriptive . She’d recently visited Europe and told us all about how much she enjoyed herself there and that was evident by how she described the sights and flattered Europe no end. And then she said it …

“ But I still feel blessed to be able to live in such a wonderful country like this one “

I stood there and took that statement in , completely refreshed by someone who obviously felt there was no need to make America great again as she’d never doubted it in the first place . It was more than obvious that in her eyes America was never anything but exactly that . I do realize that for many there are conflicting ideas about what makes America great and that’s what I was thinking right then . And then she said it …..

“ I mean , where else on the planet could I carry a gun in my purse for protection . “

I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh …… “ Where indeed “

Wife and I own an interesting one hundred year old home in South America. It’s a money pit that’s tucked deep inside a very interesting barrio that’s deep in the middle of a very interesting city of 100,000 people . While we’re there on our visits we are always made to feel that wthout doubt, we do definitely belong to that barrio . That’s a good feeling and  I like it a lot as I rarely experience that feeling here . But belonging to a barrio brings a few responsiblites . Like the large tree that grows out of the sidewalk in front of our house.

We’ve been contacted recently to inform us of something we already knew …. the tree in front of the house has become a problem and will need to go . It has grown to the point that it’s roots have have buckled the sidewalk into a pedestrians hazard as has the road in front of it become a bumpy nightmare for those riding motor scooters . It’s been evident for quite some time actually that the tree will need to be removed and we are not the only ones that will be dissapointed to see it gone .

In Cartago, Colombia there are still numerous men who make a living delivering everything from construction materials to furniture by horse drawn cart . Many of them would use the shade of our well known tree to rest their horses between jobs . Fruit sellers would take a break beneath it and sell me a mango or papaya and that’s beautifull. But they aren’t the only ones that enjoy that tree as the local electric company along with the internet services currently use it as a telephone pole .

We’ve contracted someone to come and remove the tree and they arrived the other day to assess the scope of work . A neighbor used their phone to record them doing so and sent that recording to us . As the man placed a ladder against the tree four large and colorfull macaw’s squawked loudly as they flew away …. I’m sure they will miss that tree as well and do hope they find our tree’s in the back yard comfortable …

I went to the Post Office this moring to drop off some packages just as I do most Monday mornings and yet again the American Flag was at half staff . I’m embarrased to admit I hadn’t even thought of what day it was . I just instinctively thought ” What Now ? ” as half masts happen so frequently in the United States as of late .

I feel a particular shame for not remembering the date this morning as the wife and I personally know a couple whose son died with his fiance on one of those aircraft that hit the Twin Towers on this day twenty two years ago. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of that tragedy . It bothers me more that twenty two years later the terrorists we should fear most were born right here . They stormed our Capitol and smashed doors and windows and gassed police officers in an effort to change the most American thing of all …. a free election.

Now they parade our Florida streets with Swastika flags , politcal groups the likes of Moms for Liberty quote Adolph Hitler and are cheered for it .

Twenty two years ago today Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, all stood on the steps of the US Capitol and solemnly promised America that in the name of God, they would put aside their differences and work together for the better of all Americans .
Looked pretty good on TV at the time …

but on Sept. 12 they’d all forgotten that promise to the American people

The wife accuses me of being repetitive and in an effort at honesty I have to say that is a lot more than an accusation …. it’s a bald faced fact. I’ll admit that as I’m about to bore you with something I likely wrote about last year and probably even the year before that .
It came today , right on time and just as I’ve done year after year I sat and thumbed and thought my way through every single page of it. It’s my annual St. Judes Calender for 2024 and I hope you received one too . Each page decorated with the childish artwork of patients and survivors of childhood cancer , it came at the perfect time as we’ve all a need to remember a few things . So let me ask you something ….

” Yeah You … you in the fucken hat… I’m asking you . ”

If you could possibly make America great again how would you do it ? Simple question , got an answer ? Sure you do… you’d build a wall, of course you’d have to do it with imported labor as you can’t stand the thought of how much Union Labor costs …. what else ? Eliminate the Dept. of Justice ? and of course the FBI . Shit , we’re on a roll ain’t we …. hell we already drained the swamp and filled it back up with a pantload of alligators that either plead guilty or required a pardon … what else ? Bring it on … what else ?

Know what I’d do ? I’d go back to believing in all the things that were good about America before we let some clowns convince us how bad we had it . I’m sure you know where I’m going with this and you’re right, I’m pissed that the struggle to fight against any effort to beat the covid still gains traction for political gain . Recently the Governor of Florida used this statement about eliminating covid restrictions in his state while on his campaign for the Presidency … to cheers and applause .

” We were right and they were wrong ” We and They …there you go , there it is the exact thing that isn’t making America great . I offer a mild reminder to all those cheering the politicians who convinced you that scientists and medical professionals can’t be trusted because they have a political agenda ……

First year of covid the all round death rate spiked 17% in the United States dropping the life expectancy of U.S. residents by one and a half years , and the deaths continued for another year . The year following the vaccine found that the deaths were predominantly unvacinated members of right leaning politics giving pause to ponder , perhaps they were’t so wrong and we were were’t so right after all . The cheering could have been louder ….

St. Judes Childrens Hospital opened in 1962 and began with a very respectable survival rate of 40% . Today that rate has gone well past the 90% mark all thanks to the American  Scientists and Medical Professionals who are affliated with it. They are exactly America as it once was working under this pledge …..

Even as survival rates rise, we won’t stop until no child — anywhere — dies in the dawn of life

Those incredible people could care less about the color of your hat , or your childs skin or even what bathroom it might choose. That’s America right there , just like it’s supposed to be . That’s what they do while you sit under your hat believing and bitching about shit like the Dems are trying to restrict you to two beers …. I think St. Judes should loan America it’s Patron Saint for just a little while

I enjoy the banter whenever I go into my local ABC liquor store and just as well since it happens to be every single day. Just like the old sitcom Cheers tune it’s a place where everybody knows my name and the crew call it out as soon as I enter the door. They always indulge me a brief moment regardless of how busy for a quick joke or story and it reminds of the happy corner store where I hang out in South America .

The wife and I attend local estate sales regularly and often find ourselves in line waiting for the doors to open . Usually it’s the same ten familiar faces of other professional pickers who are the first in line and we all often use it for a small social chat and sometimes I enjoy telling one of my true life stories . Recently I’d just finished telling a story that was likely about pissing on my own legs in a Panera Bread when a nicely dressed woman with a new face said  ….

” I truly love your stories , have you ever thought of writing them down ? ”

” Yes ” ….. I said while thinking it’s fun to be flattered, and she added

” You should write them, you really are quite the raconteur …. you do know what that is ? ”

”  Raconteur ? ”  … no I said  . ” A high school drop out like me would have likely said story teller , or perhaps anectdotist if we were trying to sound intelligent . This is the first time in my life I’ve ever actually heard the word used in a sentence …. or even met someone who would . I’ll have to put a story about it in my blog . ”

” Blog ? ” she expressed interest and again I felt flattered until the man behind her that is familiar interupted with …..

” He writes critisisms of Trump and I don’t think he cares much for Desantis either ” and the lady with the new face turned to ask if that were true and I had to admit ……

” I don’t write nearly enough critisisms along those lines” I said , ” I simply don’t have that amount of time .”

And so ended the flattery and any interest in access to this blog and I went home with some tools and she with an artsy fartsy ornament with not another word between us . I guess I’ll keep my blog secret from the gang at ABC who happily calls my name whenever I enter the door ….. and listens to my stories

The wife and I don’t know how many hurricanes we’ve witnessed in our twenty two years in Florida . Not all of them were frightening enough to be etched in our memories but we do know they all made us nervous . That’s because when we first came here our attitude was  ….

” What are the chances ? ”

Turns out the chances are better than we thought and our first memory of a hurricane destroyed our town and severely damaged our home and we’ve seen that happen more than once . We just watched a woman being interviewed on television having just witnessed the same thing just a couple of hours north of here . She was crying in front of her flooded home and we cried too as we know so many people still trying to straighten their lives out 11 months after the last major hurricane disrupted them .

State and local government here in Florida are to be commended for early proactive measures as activating the National Guard and putting the power companies on alert. Police departments , fire and rescue personel are ever alert but are geared up even further. But it’s the follow up I’m concerned about now as I think of that woman crying in front of the camera.

Eleven months after Ian I know many still living with family or paying rape rates for rent while waiting for their homes to be repaired because the people able to do the work are too busy earning more while building new housing develpments with a higher property tax rate. I know still more living in substandard conditions with leaky roofs and mold because eleven months after the last hurricane their insurance companies have still not paid up and they’ve no place to go.

Perhaps we should invite that poor crying woman to come down to Charlotte county as we’ve just recently opened two small Fema parks filled with habitable trailers that sat empty in a field for nine months after the storm . Heaven forbid she has to wait for similar amenities closer to her uninhabitable home .

I’d just cracked open the first of the day while out in the garage when the Amazon delivery arrived with another damaged product . I walked outside to retrieve the package and the driver responded with    ” Ya drinking a beer ? ”

” Yeah , now that I’m retired I can start at 2:00 p.m. any time I like. It’s an IPA , they probably smell a bit stronger than other beers .”

” Ya got that right ” he said and quickly sped off leaving me wondering what the hell I smell like after five as I headed back to the beer in the garage.

Plain and simple I like my beer and Lagunitas IPA is hands down the present favorite and with that in mind let’s explore that a moment. That favorite is an IPA which stands for India Pale Ale and ales do traditionally have a bit more punch than Lagers or Pilsners and heavier flavor . India Pale Ales, or IPA’s step it up a bit and earned that monicker when the British learned a century and a half ago that it needed to beef up the alcohol content if the beer were to last on the long voyage from England to it’s troops serving in India .

My favorite is brewed in California and it’s origin holds no importance to me because I simply like it . I’ve never seen an advertisement for Lagunitas on TV, or anywhere and as far as I’m concerned they can save their money as I’m a habitual buyer anyway . Previous “Bud” drinkers seem to be on a different level so please forgive me if I offer an opinion of them ….. or don’t forgive .

For a start I’ve yet to see the famous TV commercial which caused Bud Lite drinkers to abandon their favorite brew and harm Budweiser stocks simply because they are lemmings and told to do so. I’ll tell you right now that if Lagunitas posted ads aimed towards gays, Republicans , Dem’s , anti this or pro whatever I’d still be quaffing my Lagunitas for one simple reason …. I like it. The brewers views and opinions on anything apart from how to impart that wonderful hoppy flavor are of zero interest to me . It’s my favorite beer and the “News” has zero chance of changing my mind on that .

Just thought that I’d tell all of you beer drinkers who’ve allowed non political issues become political issues to the point of giving up something you like that there is a Craft Beer lover enjoying his favorite … while looking down his nose at you.

Well I’ll be dipped and rolled in shit because it happened, and not just once but twice.

Ordered a new laptop at a good price compared to buying at the local big box and it arrived on time , undamaged and in perfect working order. Likewise a pair of shoes we ordered for a brother in law , right on time both a left and right with no missing laces . Wife said ….

” Lets push our luck ”

She’s been wanting a small frying pan with a lid. They are available but a 6 – 7 inch pan with a lid is tough to find but finaly two of the buggers made an appearance on Amazon . The $23 choice over the $39 was easy to make and it was both promptly ordered and delivered . It came delivered in a paper bag with a free dent on it’s rim that was large enough to prevent the lid from sitting on top.

We’ve recently tried to access the wifes MY SOCIAL SECURITY account to get the ball rolling on her up coming monthly stipend . Even though we have it written down it seems we have forgotten the password and security questions and being denied entry three times it locked us out and informed us a temporary password will be mailed to the address of the owner of the user name . It took only two weeks to arrive yesterday and we promptly sat down to get things going .

No dice…. we’re informed it doesn’t recognize the User/Password combination . Three strikes and you’re out yet again ….. Guess we’ll just have to present ourselves at a local Social Security Office to see if this can’t be remedied by a face to face with a human that in all likelihood doesn’t know what they are doing either.

The second frying pan just arrived in a paper bag . It has the same free dent in the exact same location as it’s predecessor …..

Citizens, past present and future , native born or naturalized . All of us need to learn a few facts …. or better yet… embrace the ones we know to be true .

I know a couple who are studying hard to pass the required civics test in order to become U.S. citizens . They must be serious about it as they recently asked if I could help them by clarifying a few things that they find confusing and frankly it wasn’t as simple a task as I thought it might be . They showed me a list of about 100 questions that may, or may not appear on their test on the upcoming day . Straight up I’ll tell you right now that I have serious doubts that more than half the Americans I know would be able to ace this 100 question “quiz” .

The test seems to be designed to teach as well as test the knowledge of the taker in that many of the questons list multiple answers that would all be correct with no attempt to trip anyone up with multiple choice . All the provided answers are true and each choice is yours to make . There are questions on politics and history and even a little geography thrown in . I must admit the answer of slavery being listed after the question on the cause of the Civil War just sounds a bit more honest than the involuntary relocation of certain people . But who’s interested in honest nowadays I’m beginning to wonder .

Somewhere way down the list was an important one . It must have seemed important to the author of this test to become a U.S. Citizen as it provided four correct answers beneath it for the test taker to choose from .

What is the rule of Law ?

1.   Everyone must follow the law
2.    Leaders must obey the law
3.     Government must obey the law
4.      No one is above the law.

I’d say the whole point of my little story is moot as I’m sure the citizenship test will soon be rewritten to reflect what it truly means to be an American and questions on the rule of law or involuntary relocations will be redacted so that we all might embrace our new history ….

just saying

I love my charcoal grill . This one is a Char-Griller Professional and has held up better than any other charcoal grill I’ve ever had. Six years out there in the brutal Florida conditions and still hasn’t turned rusty. However I am about to change the tray that the charcoal sits in for the second time . The mechanism that raises or lowers works like new but 1500 lbs of intensely hot charcoal will eventually take it’s toll and deteriorate the metal it sits on .

And so back in May I ordered the new part.

Right on que I was first charged, then warned that there may be a delay in shipping and as I was being proactive any way that was fine by me . Come July however I get to thinking this is one hell of a delay and contact the manufacturer only to be rewarded with a barage of emails advertizing all the newest, latest and greatest grills of all time . Any attempt at meaningfull contact was as usual a dismal failure until finally …

An email received August 2nd explained that the wait time for my part could be an additional three weeks and If I find this too long I may send my order number to the link provided below in order to cancel . So I did just that and on August 4 received notice that my order has indeed been cancelled and so started planning on manufacturing one myself using McGyver skills.

Very early on the morning of August 7 while perusing the web site of a Big Box Store for materials for this project I received an email from UPS explaining that my tray has been placed on a truck and is in fact out for delivery . It arrived three hours later and is actually heavier duty than the previous two so perhaps a ten week wait wasn’t all that bad after all …..

Confessions may be in order here however …. I still haven’t had the courage to check and see that it will actually fit . I think I’ll save that for a temper tantrum later in the week

Do you remember your first time ? … I do too even though 61 plus years have passed since that day .

The person responsible for that memorable moment was an older brother of my friend and I clearly recall him tightly gripping my seat and panting as we went faster and faster . It was my first time with out training wheels and had travelled some distance before I realized he had released the seat to watch me pedal away into the beginnings of greater freedom and further travels . His name was Teddy Smith and the bicycle was a green single speed .

The wife once gave that very same memory to a little girl next door . We heard her laughter as she raced her bicycle past our house most every day for years before that family moved away . We don’t see her any more but I do so hope she always remembers that moment and that the bicycle has taken her where mine took me , and that she has continued to laugh .

What started all this rush of memories was brought on by our recent search for replacement bicycles for health and laughs and perhaps more adventures . My very first bike of any kind was a chain driven three wheeler with a lidded storage bin on the back that my Grandfather bought. He had taken me over the road to the bike shop and followed along as I peddaled towards home over the large pavements of that London sidewalk . At the bottom of an incline I failed to make the turn and both the bike and I received the very first scratches of our young lives . My Grandfather righted the bike and used his wonderful Cockney accent to say something he would use to urge me along forever after,

” Right . On yer bike , move along ”

Home was on the second floor of an apartment complex and on day two I had managed to back the bike up to the stairwell and unsuccesfully make it to the bottom providing myself and the bike the second scratches of our young lives …. and of course …. ” Right. On yer bike ”

Maybe I should think about walking shoes …

Guess I’m not much of a team player . Can’t say that in all my life I’ve ever watched a football game from beginning to end as it just bores me into insanity and I’ll tell you the same about baseball . Of course other parts of the planet play Cricket with games lasting so long they have to stop in the middle of it for lunch and lunch would probably be pretty interesting .

Neighbor walked by and asked if we saw the game and what did we think and I thought …..
” What game ? ”

” Womens World Cup Soccer ”

The wife told him she watched it and America won and that was the first I heard of what the neighbor explained was a disgusting display of disrespect . Apparently the US team of Women refused to sing the National Anthem at the begining of the game and it sure must have bothered him because he wanted to tell me all about it . Fourteen words between us in fourteen years and he wants to talk about a game he didn’t watch either …. of course , of course thought I as he fumed …. Megyn Kelly .

” Guess I have some catching up to do ” I told him … ” I haven’t seen the Bud Lite commercial and other important stuff yet either ”

Now he did spark a bit of curiosity on my part as it never occurred to me that in a country where no one can make me get vacinated, and many didn’t just on principle, that I might be required to sing the National Anthem as a show of respect to my fellow Americans …. whether they deserve it or not . Should you ever hear my voice you’d heartily agree that any attempt at the National Anthem on my part could be deemed just as disrespectfull to America as smashing windows and doors at the Capitol building while trying to overthrow an election .

So with interest peeked I Googled numerous beginnings of sporting events that traditionally start off with The Star Spangled Banner and what did I see ? Well what I saw each and every time was only one person with a mic singing be it a gathering of MLB NFL or any other group of initials . Not a single player singing though I realize now that other countries teams do sing their National Anthems before the game but I suppose if I feared my family back home would be arrested and tortured if I didn’t I’d take this voice and sing like a canary too.

Really has been quite a week here in the good ol USA . The usual mass shootings are still occuring, covid bouncing around again and many are still hoping for a Fema park to open here in Florida ten months after the latest hurricane . Water temperatures off the Florida coast are into three digits killing entire coral reefs , but there are some important things happening too…..

Rudy, under oath finally admitted to lying about election fraud and faces disbarrment and revocation of his licence to practice law. Meanwhile poor Glitch McConnel vapor locked on National Television for a minute and a half and needed to be led away. In short order poor Glitch was brought back and we were told to believe this is normal , nothing to see here so lets move along . So we did …

Mr. Abbot over in Texas made the news again by tossing women and children back into the Rio Grande but I’m certain it was all done in a very Southern Christian manner like Jesus would have done . Here in Florida our Governor is still busy suing a cartoon mouse and beer company for foolishly admitting Trans people actually exist while his presidential campaign gets butt hurt by an unhinged maniac with an arrest record who’s angry at yet another well deserved indictment.

Ted Cruz has expressed anger over Barbie

Well that certainly is a lot for our politicians and Americans in general to digest .

I’d say we are going to need a lot more photographs of Hunter screwing hookers if we are to be succesfully distracted from a week like that …

Started the day at the Barber shop this morning and as often is the case I was first in line at 7 a.m. While in the chair the second in line sat waiting opposite to start his day with a preamble to the all day TV news programs that were obviously his all day daily routine .

” Did you see those shoe’s Biden was wearing ? Saw it on FOX … for Chrissake it’s an embarrasment to America to have a President seen in public wearing shit like that .”

He might well be right about that but I couldn’t help but respond with ….

” At least they didn’t have toilet paper stuck to the bottom of them ”

He didn’t know what I was talking about and probably just as well as I wouldn’t want to insult his hero worship of people with arrest records . And right on que he went on to express that it looks pretty clear that they have finally got Hunter and his Old Man right where we want them . I questioned if he meant Hunters Dick Pics that Marjorie was astute enough to bring to the recent House commitee meeting .

“Fuckin A Right ! ” said customer number 2

Looks like Fox and the Republicans certainly have their fingers on the pulse of all the most important issues is what I offered with my forked tongue planted firmly in the cheek . Like Bud Light and Disney… Barbie and shit . As I paid up he was deep into ignoring the irony of what I had just said and on to how it’s absolutely true that there were some benefits to be gleaned from being a slave . Like learning skills .

That one is interesting I thought as I made my escape , another case of the endless ultimate spin that so many of us just readily gobble up up without hesitation . Just outside of Berlin during WWII there was a concentration camp where Jews literally starving to death were forced to work in the bakery making bread for SS troops as a form of torture . Won’t be long now before our school systems inform our kids that the few who survived that atrocity brought very valuable baking lessons with them to very productive lives in Israel . Makes sense right?

Outside the barber shop were two vehicles in the parking lot . The car parked next to mine had one of those life sized Donald Trump profiles attached to the rear door window with the appearance of a man who could’t wait to be rushed home to turn on the “news”….

This time I remembered . There have been times when I haven’t but this time I did . Today marks the 32nd year of marriage to an immigrant whom I’m delighted to say has quite fluently taken butchery of the English language to an artist level .

Years ago I wrote a little story about how I was entertained by some of the words she used or better yet, about how she used them. I always go as long as I can without correcting because she’s Latina and gets pissed off when corrected or laughed at and besides …I do so enjoy them.

Most of those old ones are gone now but pleasantly new ones still spring up regularly . Like going to the bank to “catch” a check . Some times she makes a “loafmeat” and lately I’ve been grilling a lot of boneless chicken “ties”. Just yesterday out of the blue she had interest in making home made “corned cream” ….. I could go on but I mustn’t let her catch me writing this .

I just wanted you all to know that this morning she was delighted that it was me who was the first to say ……

” Happy University Hon !”

My wife performs a monthly cleaning service for a nice and tidy woman who resides on the first floor of a local condominium building . Lately we’ve felt rather sorry for this woman as over the past few years she’s four times suffered water damage from water heater leaks or A.C. overflows from the condo above that have destroyed ceilings , wall paint and carpets alike . At this very moment there is still a large piece of missing ceiling in her condo from the latest leak from above that occurred three months ago . Getting someone who knows what they are doing to repair it here in Florida has become a seemingly forlorn hope .

Today I brought the wife over to perform her duties at this condo to discover that there were two large area’s of very wet carpet that turns out to have been wet since the last time the wife was there a month ago . Two members of the buildings board of directors , along with a local plumbing contractor have inspected and are stumped for they know not where this water is coming from . A local air conditioning professional likewise had no idea .

Sick of walking over wet carpets for a month the poor woman was at the brink of contacting an engineering company to investigate the possibility of an under slab plumbing leak . But before that happened the cleaning lady took a flash light and a quick look behind the water heater and discovered that the drain pipe the AC overflows into had a crack in it .

Florida needs better professionals … or even professionals … or more cleaning ladies

I learned a lot during a 30 + year career in masonry construction both here and abroad with eight of those years in a union environment as a member of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts . At the time here in the USA those Union wages were often desparaged by the general public as being the root cause of the high prices of everything and so a concerted effort by all in Government and Industry was implemented to see that those wages were curtailed .

That effort proved to be a success as fewer Union jobs existed and inexpensive imported labor was embraced and as of this writing the wage for a local bricklayer comes in at half of my earnings 30 years ago. Oddly, and against all logic the cost of getting anything done in the construction trades now comes in at about triple what it did back in my Union days .

I recently watched a crew of seven migrants peeling paint from a recently painted wall with their finger tips reminding me of an old Three Stooges skit . Little one inch strips of paint at a time as the recent paint job was failing and needed to be removed before being reapplied . Afraid to damage the drywall underneath the paint was removed using finger tips …..inch by laborious inch . Now lets do the math and weigh this out as I have a contention to offer…..

I’m thinking one Union worker with a spatula motivated by $40 U.S. dollars an hour could easily accomplish the task in the same time as that of the seven $11 dollar an hour imported crew for a total savings of $ 37 per hour …. just saying .

On the other hand ….. a Union painter probably would not have used the incorrect paint in the first place …. again, just saying , but there is no turning back to the way things were now . Besides , we are all going to be busy employed at all the new car wash and storage centers since all the good jobs at Chick Fil-A are already taken

Couple of blocks away is a house very similar to my own in that it’s kept neat and tidy, has lots of flowers and two shiny cars in the drive . I pass by it most days on the way home and on occasion will note a woman trimming the well kept plants. It used to have a small discreet rainbow colored flag fluttering from the wall near the garage door and I noticed it has been recently taken down . I must confess that once or twice I wondered why the two women needed to advertize but as I had no inclination to answer the ad it effected my life not one whit .

Another block away is a house owned by a man with a sour puss . He has the perpetual scowel of a man who’s only energetic effort put forth this past decade was to paint his house and driveway Red White and Blue and hang a giant Lets Go Brandon flag that covers half the front wall. This too effects my life not one whit but if ever given a choice of neighbors it’s highly likely I would choose the flower growers over the man loudly encouraging Brandon . At least the flower growers are doing something in the bedroom and smile a lot.

While we’re talking about neighbors there was a man that rented a house diagonally across the road from us for a year with his extremely young looking wife . The owner moved back in and he was forced to rent another not far away. We’ve just learned he’s been arrested and taken back to Michigan to face charges of 13 counts of sexual assault on minors, one as young as four . Shannon Guay is alledged to have committed these crimes 13 years ago as a gymnast instructor and has freely roamed the country all this time .

Once upon a time a man like that would enter the prison system and be branded a “skinner” and the rest of his short life would be miserable and rightfully so . But things change quite rapidly and it seems we are more open to ignoring real crime lately while we chase woke windmills and such and he may well end up as some kind of MAGA hero in jail while the two flower growers down the road live in fear.

But that’s what we’ve become , isn’t it ? After all, the man who managed to so quickly instill the fear of flower growers all over the United States is running for President and his poll numbers are lagging behind a man with an arrest record . Lyndsey Graham was right six years ago ….

” We’ll Deserve It “

Have we really gotten to that point ? ….. I truly do need ask that question as we all do so I am asking …. have we really gotten to that point ?

Wife and I saw the ad for a yard sale that mentioned tools and we were on it like the proverbial white on rice . It was fun as it was run by three ladies helping one of them to dispose of her husbands stuff now that he’s been gone for three years leaving behind a messy garage ..

The conversation came around to the wife and I visiting Colombia and as always I’m asked

” Is it safe ? ”

” Safer than Ft. Myers Florida ”  is my standard answer also mentioning the truth that we have friends and family in Colombia that express concern for us up here and want to know how close we live to schools . Well this changed the mood immediately as one of the ladies mentioned she went to Colombia on a cruise last year and actually saw armed guards when she got off the boat .

” Armed Guards ! How safe can a place be if you need armed guards at the ports docks ? ”

She made it quite clear she would never return to a place like that and I didn’t bother to mention she lives dangerously close to a school in a country where near half the population believes we need to arm the teachers . We went home and later that day saw the news of another eight deaths at a mall in Texas bringing our national average of mass shootings to five a week so far this year .

This morning I note that Representative Barbara Hawkins of The Free State of Texas has proposed a new bill to train school children as young as eight to man bleeding control stations in schools . I’m sure I don’t really know the answers to the problem we face but I’m more than certain that training eight year olds to be paramedics in an active shooting situation isn’t one of them .

So Lady … in this game of cards I will see your single armed guard on a Colombian dock and raise you two school teachers with holstered pistols and an eight year old manning a bleeding control station .

” Why do you let it bother you so much ? ” asked the Wife ….” Relax ”

Now when the wife starts with the ” Relax , Relax ” horseshit you may be rest assured it is because I have every right to be unlaxed if ever such a word exists . The answer to why I let it bother me is because of the frequency , the consistency, the fact that it has to be every ” effing ” time . Thats why …

Wife wanted one of those vinyl storage benches to put out on the lanai to hide a few things away and even for added seating in a pinch. She chose one fair in appearance and cost and we ordered it with an expected ten day shipping time and it just arrived in four . Naturally it’s one of those items that needs to be put together so I immediately dragged the large shipping box out to the lanai and started work.

It’s about a twenty five minute project and I was starting to marvel at how smoothly this entire transaction had gone. Until , and you knew I wouldn’t be here writing with out the until . I removed the back rest from the box and was just about to finish the project and there it was , that broken piece that caused me to unlax . As the missing chunk wasn’t anywhere to be found in the box it was evident it was packed that way which only elevated my feelings of unlax to a higher degree causing the neighbors dog to stop looking at me through the fence and go back in the house .

The toll free Customer Service number was a bust but a plan B was offered in an online type it out chat with my customer service rep Sara which actually went surprisingly smooth if not slow. A new bench is now being shipped with no request for the old one . At the end of it all I was asked to rate Sara’s performance . Sara in El Salvador was her official title.

Perhaps her job is providing her enough money to stay in El Salvador , I hope so . Then she’ll have no need to come here and work in a factory packing broken parts into a box.

Got my income taxes done on time this year and every silver lining has its cloud in that I owed a few bucks this time . The silver lining to that particular cloud was that it wasn’t all that much and it was in fact a debt much easier to meet having a lot more extra cash now that I can no longer afford the premiums for home owners insurance here in hurricane prone Florida .

With some of the money no longer going to the insurance company I’ve been busy lately setting up each window of the little un insured house with aluminum storm shutters . Some of those storm shutters were purchased lightly used and only once on a home in Pine Island Florida that was devastated by Hurricane Ian . After Ian took the roof and the water started to recede from window sill height the looters came to take the stove and water heater leaving the owners with only one thing that still had monetary value …. my new storm shutters .

The week after the storm shutter purchase the wife and I attended an advertised yard sale in a community of mixed mobile and manufactured homes . As we arrived the owner of the manufactured home was mowing the lawn in front of what was no more than three and a half walls with a blue tarp over it . Most of his neighbors were all gone as were many of their homes. The only things there for sale were valueless storm damaged junk that the man hoped beyond hope that there would be something that someone could want to buy .

” Born and raised right here in Florida … still too stupid to run away ”

That’s what he said about he and his wife riding out Hurricane Ian in that home and seven months after that storm they were still living under that blue tarp behind plywood windows . He mentioned they were coming in ten days to demolish what they were still living in and I asked

” Where you going ? ”

With ten days left they still didn’t know where they were going to go …..

But Hurricane Ian is old news now , and we have far more important issues on our news chanels now . Like Disney World and Critical Race ….. know what I’m saying ?

Suddenly there was some guy walking my street planting those ubiquitous little colored flags on my lawn as seen all over the county as of late warning that some one is going to start digging holes all over the place …. again . That was two weeks ago .

” What now ? ” I asked him as he went by …

Internet cables are now going to be buried underground was the explanation I was given and it brought instant memories of eight months ago when the Latin gangs came to bury our electrical cables underground . Had my yard dug up four times before that could finally be succesfully accomplished and so when a new Latin gang armed with trucks , track hoes and cell phones arrived this morning to bury the internet cables ……. we knew . The wife and I gave each other that knowing look that indicated we were both certain that this was another story in the making .

Not to dissapoint it was a mere hour into the day when yet again Old Faithfull did his immitation of a broken water main directly across the road which quicly forced the street to do its immitation of the Mighty Mississip . I guess the colorfull little flags were either ignored by the track hoe operator or quite possibly those flag colors have different meanings in other countries …. like the one the operator of the machine is recently from.

Well we left for the day as the county water department was arriving with water at the end of my drive up to the lug nuts of my F 150 and we missed all the shenanigans . Just as as well I suppose as on arrival back home all those water company vehicles had been replaced by vehicles owned by the local Electric Company . Seems that the repair of the damaged water line was impossible to accomplish without cutting through the newly planted underground electrical cables .

Everything was squared away at the time we got home and all we had to suffer was to reset all our clocks and reboot the computer . I guess that’s the wonderfull benefit of living in such a profficient and efficient country …..

Looking back on this blog as of late I suppose there are indeed more than a few postings that do follow a similar theme …. like how difficult it seems to be to make a simple purchase, visit a Doctor or even recieve the correct breakfast sandwhich in your order . The wife quite rightly accuses me of repeating myself and boring people with the same story line more than once and I’m afraid I’m about to do it again .

Lets revisit the the prescriptions the Doctor sent over to the pharmacy shall we . For a start it took 24 hours to get one of the three with the explanation from the pharmacist that it was the only one to come up on the system . To rectify this glitch it took not one but “three” trips back to the Doctors office where the busy young girl informed us each and every time they were sent and that she would resend them .
On the eigth day , and to our glee the busy pharmacist said there was something in the system . But it was only one and he promptly filled it at which point we figured two out of three ain’t bad , paid up and headed out too disgusted to even grumble .

I remember years ago when I’d go to the auto parts store when cars were repairable by a back yard mechanic. The man behind the tall counter would flip open an immense book , thumb a few pages and go get the correct part in a minute flat . I’m thinking I also recollect hand written scripts from the Doctor went just as smooth not so long ago.

Anyway , the wife just opened the package from the pharmacy to discover a copy of the same prescription that she received over a week ago leaving the other two still lost in cyber space .

A guy I know lives up in the Panhandle of Florida and has one of those neighbors , you know… the angry neighbor with signs and flags flapping all the time . He’s in a nice house , nice car , well fed from a good pension needs nothing and at 80 years old is still angry . The latest lawn flag reads XY = Male ! As the guy I know points out it is unlikely this old fart has ever met a Trans or Gay that he’s aware of but he sure is angry by their presence somewhere out there in the world .

In 1980 I had opportunity to quaff a few brews at McSorleys Old Ale House in New Yorks lower east side . It was an interesting place , kind of dark and gloomy with very unique items decorating its walls . The place was historical as well as hysterical and up until 1970 McSorleys held true to its centuries old slogan …..

“Good Ale, Raw Onions, and No Ladies”

Then in 1970 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of anti discrimination and forced McSorleys to honor the rights of women to drink in male only establishments even though it cost the rights of men to do the same . Well the women came and discovered that not only did McSorley refuse to offer warm welcome he refused to install a womens restroom for the next 16 years. He also removed all the doors from the cubicles . And still the women came .

The fact that all the men walking past to use the urinal were treated to a birds eye view of women with their pants around their ankles didn’t dissuade those women at all . Not for sixteen years . Now it seems the thought of what is called gender neutral bathrooms or who can use what is a very very important issue to all America …. its just not important to me nor the women who drank ale at McSorleys .

Just goes to show that theres a lot more important things than waving angry flags

… like quaffing Ale

Over the years the wife has seen a few Doctors here in the United States seeking a little relief from allergies always to be given some temporary relief and the brush off. Finally it was decided we need to kick it up a notch and seek audience with an Allergist/Immunologist . Easier said than done as we needed a referral . The Doctor the office at the allergist sent us too sent us back with a referral and we scored an appointment.

On appointment day we learn the referral can’t be accepted as the issuing Dr. is not her primary care provider forcing the start of a completetly new search . The office of the Dr. we found accepting new patients accepted our paperwork and insurance card and told us they would call the next day with an appointment date . Three days later it was quite apparent that they had forgotten and under my frost like glare they quickly set a date …. four weeks away.

We found a different Dr. close by and though he’s not in our insurance net his staff seemed far more efficient and set up an appointment for two days away . He seemed quite nice but showed little interest in issueing a referral to see an allergist at this point . First blood work must be done and so we’ll have to make an appointment for that on our own …. likewise a chest Xray and an ultra sound . Starting to look like a simple visit to  an allergist could take four months , in the mean time he did offer the poor wife some temporary respite .

He took our choice of pharmacy and sent over a couple of prescriptions , one for her allergies and another for her itchy watery eyes.

” Better give them an hour before you pick them up ” he advised .

Instead we waited until the next day when the pharmacy informed us that they will need another half hour so we went shopping and came back to discover there was only one prescription sent over from the Doctors …. for a tube of cream for skin rash . This caused a quick drive over to the Doctors office to sort this out at 12:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon to be confronted by the locked door with the large sign Mon. – Fri. 8 A.M – 6 P.M … and no one was there .

Please explain to me again how bad the system is that our neighbors to the North seem to enjoy because I’m betting not a single Canadian north of Ohio has this story to tell …