Timmay's post is accurate and complete, to his account. What he neglected to tell you is how many times I called him during the day freaking out about the things going on at home....

So the movers show up promptly at 10 AM and Stinker Butt and I were ready to greet them. When 2 older guys, one with a big pot belly and a cigarette in his mouth jumped out of the truck, I started to have some misgivings about how the day would turn out. The movers were very polite and helpful and, dare I say, quick. The house is getting a bit full and we are running out of places to the excesses with whihc the Lord has blessed us. I did my best directing. I started to worry a bit because much of the contents of the truck were outside items like lawn mowers. "I guess they can go on the back patio." The back patio and the front left room became the proverbial dumping ground for the stuff.

So, the big guy asks to use the pot, otherwise known as the lieu, the john, the can, the throne... Anyway, since the downstairs bathroom is nonfunctional at this point and being alone in the house with 2 men I really don't want them trapsing through my bedroom, I tell him to use the bathroom in the hallway but please DO NOT let the cats out of the bathroom.

" Sweetie, we have a pretty big problem...". " What the &*%$," I thought,"all they have to do is put the desk in the room!". "This desk has to go some place else because it doesn't fit through the doorway. Look," as they attempted to tear our molding off the wall. One part of the desk wouldn't fit through the door and since they weren't the putter-together-people of the desk, it had to stay in the hallway until Saturday when the guy came to put our stuff back together. "Well, I guess just leave it in the hallway and my husband will handle it when he gets home".

The next task at hand was to put together the futon, which I really didn't even want to bring to this house. So again I hear a gentle calling from the office, " Hon, can you come here a sec?" So, I climbed back up the steps for the 51st time that day to find out, to my dismay, that the futon is missing 2 vital screws to put it back together. It was and is a big mystery, where are the other 2 screws? So I called Timmay, "Do you know where the rst of the screws are for the futon?" "Well," responded the voice on the other end of the line, "Leon gave them all to me and they were in the drawer next to the dishwasher". There are at least 5 of them, not to mention the other 20 or so in the room. So, I began my hunt for the lost futon screws. "Screw this," I thought as I started to get agitated. After searching every drawer I gave up hope and abondoned the search. "Just leave it and my husband can deal with it".

So, now they are pretty much finished. I closed up the house and go to let out the pets from their respective lock up rooms. The only 2 who show themselves are Stinker Butt and Bubba ( they have become quite the pair). Where were Ella and VV? Now, I started to panic. I searched the upstairs as thoroughly as I could and went downstairs and looked throughout the house. I looked in all their favorite hiding spots, in the guest bed, under the covers, under and behind pieces of furniture, in boxes, etc. Since the front left room was full of stuff, the kitty search in that room was minimal. So, in my state of panic I called Timmay and in about 2 million words per second tried to explain that I couldn't find the cats. I was in the open doorway the enitre time and didn't see them. Timmay sounded irritated, "Did you look for them?" " I'll look some more and call you back.," and with that I pressed the End button as hard as I could. After 2 or 3 rides around the block and another thorough search, I call Timmay back,"See, this is why I can't have children, I can't even take care of my own cats!!" Timmay had become a bit more understanding at this point, which was great because I was freaking out!! "I need for you to come home soon. I need you here," I was almost in tears. I asked Timmay to call the movers and ask if he accidentally let the kitties out. He called me back quickly to tell me that there was only one kitty in the bathroom when the guy went in the first time. Ok, so they had to be in the bathroom, but where...

I got down into the cabinet under the sinks as much as I could. I had already been back there to confirm the wall/space was solid and the cats weren't in the walls. As I started to gently call for Ellie Belly and VV I started to hear purring. I stuck my hand under the space in the back of the vanity between the floor and the wood to feel Ella sniff my fingers. So, I left all the doors open, poured out some new food and left them to it. Eventually VV came out, but I had to grab Ellie and drag her out. I haven't seen much of her since.

The rest of the day would have been a cake walk if the whole cat mishap wouldn't have happened!! Our animals are like our childern and we feel a deep sense of responsibility toward them..we feed them quality food, keep them indoors, give them heartworm prevention and flea control, get them dentals as needed, etc. So this was a very traumatic thing for me. While I realize they are not human, they are still very much loved and cared for by us. So, the missing kitty issue just hyped up my sensitivities fro the events to come later on. Needless to say, by the time the plumber told us what was going on, it was all I could do to contain myself and not cry! My solution to that was to go to the store and get some bug spray and Advil.

Given the events of the day, we decided to go to Boardwalk Billy's for ribs and seafood. We hadn't been seated very long, when an adult sister and brother and their families or whoever were seated next to us. The sister was obviously a regular. Long story short, she was very ignorant and loud bad mouthing her sister and talking about dogs/behavior like she knew everything. I told poor Timmay, " We have to leave now or I am going to say something to her. It's not her fault, really, I just have no tolerance for her mouth after all that's happened today." So, we came home.

Home...I have to laugh. Home always meant a clean bed, a warm shower, safety and love. 2 out of 4 isn't bad I suppose. I have the most important thing, the love of a wonderful man.

Friday was just one of those days when I realized how lucky I am.

Can You Sting Me?

Apparently, the answer to that question is “Yes.” The events that occurred this past Friday afternoon (July 28) were difficult and unexpected. This is what happened...

I was in the office until around noon then I came home to be here when the cable guy arrived. Once here, I showed the cable guy around. He was going to install cable, Internet and digital phone service. He climbed up the pole and when he came down and started working around the house I kept hearing phrases like "This isn't good" and "It's worse than I thought." Apparently our house needs to be rewired for cable. Even though there are alleged cable outlets all over the house, we only had one viable connection downstairs in our living room. We have one of our extra bedrooms upstairs set up for the office. Our phone lines were pretty much non-existent even though like the cable, there were outlets all over the house. The cable guy was able to put an extra outlet in the living room for the modem. I picked up a wireless router and a wireless USB adaptor (later that evening) for the desktop computer until we can get things rewired. There's cable running upstairs coming in through the attic, but it's old and might not be connected. The modem couldn't pick up a signal when he connected to the wall outlet upstairs.

The plumber arrived shortly after the cable guy. Our downstairs toilet had been overflowing for seemingly no reason. At first inspection the plumber couldn't find an outside clean out, which I've learned is common for an older home to not have one. Without an accessible clean out, the plumber who was sent from our home warranty people couldn't do anything for us under the warranty. He thought that being an old house with cast-iron waste pipes there were probably roots growing into the pipes and blocking it. He also told us this was probably pre-existing and to get the sellers to pay for it. I immediately got on the phone to our realtor to get the listing agent and seller's contact info. What I didn't know is that while making this call outside on my cell I was standing on top of a yellow-jackets bee’s nest. They started attacking while I was still on the phone. I ran to another part of the yard, but not before getting stung 7-8 times -- one on my neck, one on my elbow, one on my knee, and about 5 on the back of my leg. That freakin' hurt!!!

After a bunch of Advil and a Heineken, the plumber said if we wanted he would pop open the pipe and take a look for us, but we would have to pay for it. I said OK because I wanted to at least know what the problem was. Luckily he popped open the pipe right where the blockage was. There were some roots, not a lot, that had grown in through a repair that had been done with cement. It took a little time, but got us unblocked. We also got some spray and killed the bees. Wasn't too bad, it was less than what he initially told us. We're probably going to have the waste pipe replaced with cleanouts installed next month. Not something we planned on, but will improve the home value.

I didn't mention that the rest of our belongings arrived that morning and even though the cats were locked in the bathroom, we could only find one of the three when it came time to let them out. Lago was a bit panicked and thought maybe they got outside. Turned out two of them had climbed behind the sink and were hiding under the vanity.

I had many drinks that evening to curb the throbbing pain in my leg and was still sore the next day, but I did manage to cut the grass and weeds that were growing waist high and higher in some places. I wish I had a before and after comparison photo.

I got our wireless network running yesterday too. I’m feeling better and with the 90-degree temp. today, glad I got the yard done yesterday.

Move Out, Move In

Written Friday, July 21, 2006
Photos taken Sat., July 22, 2006.

We closed on our new house on Mon., July 17 in Charlotte, drove back to Virginia, where the movers packed us and loaded the truck Wed. – Fri. Now, here it is Fri. afternoon and I’m standing in the new house. It feels like ages ago when we were here on Mon., it’s been a long week. I brought the three cats with me and Lago has the dog. Our belongings are set to arrive tomorrow, Sat., and Lago should be here tomorrow or Sun. The cats and I will be spending our first night in the house tonight. The cats were very good for the most part on the drive down. Each was in their own carrier and Lago sedated them early this morning for the drive. Not a peep was heard from Flipper and Ella, but Vita was not happy about the drive and I let her wander around the car in her delirious state in hopes she would eventually quiet down. She took naps, but never for very long. Finally, she went back in the carrier on her own and I locked her in for the rest of the trip. We hired cleaners to come in and do the house from top to bottom and also hired a guy to clean the carpets. The carpet guy is here now and I hear the whirring cleaning machine above me upstairs. The cleaners where waiting for me when I arrived, I guess being a Fri. they wanted to get an early start and be done for the day. Once the carpet guy is done, I’m off to pick up some items for the house and get some dinner. We need to get shower curtain rods - I only noticed this today.

I can’t believe I made three trips to the dump yesterday. We got rid of our sofa that well, needed getting rid of. I took trash and some other items also.

I really should have brought a couple folding chairs with me so I’d have somewhere to sit besides the floor. At least I have the air mattress and with our belongings arriving tomorrow hopefully all should be well.

I’m really loving the new house. It’s quiet and roomy and already has a feeling of home. I think that’s what we liked when we saw it, it felt like a home. It had this intangible feeling that just felt nice to us.

Greetings from NYC

I was in New York City this week for meetings at the Time Warner Center. There’s nowhere in the world that smells like New York. It has a perfume of trash, sewage, traffic, sweat and cart vendors. I wasn’t able to take in any entertainment, but had some excellent meals at the Red-Eye Grill and Smith & Wollensky’s. I had the jumbo gulf prawns at the Red-Eye, enormous shrimp with the bodies still attached. At Smith & Wollensky’s I had the butcher style filet – momma mia, good eatin’. I also had drinks at the Stone Rose Lounge which overlooks Columbus Circle and Central Park. A very cool spot for cocktails with big, cushy leather sofas and chairs, and an amazing view.
View from the 46th floor of my hotel.

4 Paws Update

We recently had some animal medical issues, but nothing too serious. Our dog Jilly (aka JP Stinker Butt) got into a scuffle with one of the dogs while staying at Lago’s parents. Their dog CP (aka Christmas Puppy) bit Jilly in the face during the night. We didn’t find out until later that Jilly bit CP back. CP had a minor cut under her chin, but she’s fine. Lago stitched up Jilly and she was zonked out when I first brought her home, but she’s feeling better and doing fine.

In other news, our oldest cat Flipper had some bad teeth removed – he’s 12 years old. Flipper doesn’t like to be closed in a cage and was not happy to spend the night at the hospital. He had eight teeth removed in all. The staff at the hospital asked me to put him in his carrier when I picked him up, but he barely let me handle him and I’ve had him since he was a kitten. Once I got him in the car, he was quiet and rubbed his head on the front of the carrier. Vita, our female grey cat who looks just like Flipper, welcomed him back home. It was strange though, because Ella our youngest cat, who has been Flipper’s shadow since we got her, acted like Flipper was a strange cat. She’s still doing some hissing when Flipper’s around, but I’m sure they’ll be back to being pals soon.

Flipper (left) and Vita looking out the back door.

Ella Bella and her flowers.

Perhaps why Flipper doesn’t like to be in a cage…

Back in 1996, I was in the U.S. Coast Guard and living in Boston. I shared an apartment with two roommates who were also in the Coast Guard. The apartment was off Brighton Avenue - stumbling distance from The Kells pub and club - in the section of town known as Allston, a third-world nation of sorts in the area between Boston University and Boston College. We lived there a year and our landlord decided to not renew our lease, maybe wanting to get some college kids living there who had parents with big pockets to pay the rent.

It was the end of August. The city was being invaded by college students and it seemed ground zero was on our block. The sidewalks were filled with people, boxes and furniture – people moving in, people moving out. But, the night before I had no idea this would be the scene I was about to face.

I rented a new-to-me one bedroom apartment just down on Brighton, but I couldn’t move in until the people in the apartment moved out, which happened to be the same day I was to be out of my current apartment and the same day new tenants were moving into my current apartment. It was almost like we were all changing places and we couldn’t move until dawn broke and someone said “Go.”

With nowhere to move my boxes and furniture, I went to bed knowing I’d get up the next morning, load up my truck and start moving. Sounded like a fine plan until I woke to a knock on the front door, heard a key enter the lock and the door start to open. It was the new tenants, college kids with their parents in tow.

I’ve had some moments of dread in life, like any time my pager went off when I was on-call for Coast Guard public affairs, which meant something serious happened and the press wanted to know about it. But, to find myself in my underwear with everything I owned still yet to be moved and the new tenants busting in with their parents just might top the list. I did manage to throw on some shorts and grab the front door before anyone entered. I explained the problem and they agreed to give me some time to get my things moved out. What else could they do, right? Well, they could get tired of waiting and stand around in the apartment and give me dirty looks as I made trip after trip up and down the stairs.

I didn’t have a lot of things, but enough to fill a small one-bedroom apartment and Flipper. Did I mention that I wasn’t allowed to have a cat in my new apartment, well there you go. Looking back, I should have taken Flipper to the new apartment first and just kept him in the bedroom. I wasn’t thinking clearly and thought if I could just get everything out of the apartment and onto the street I could at least get the new tenants and their parents off my back. So there was Flipper in his carrier on the sidewalk with all my belongings. I asked my girlfriend at the time to watch Flipper on the street as I started making trips back and forth to my new apartment. It was a short drive, but I had to unload everything myself and carry it up to my new apartment on the 4th floor. There was a small elevator, but it was slow and sometimes it was quicker to climb the stairs.

Flipper has always been trying to getting outside for as long as I can remember. Now he was finally outside, but stuck in his carrier watching strangers pass back and forth like so many dizzy ants. It didn’t take long before Flipper began howling. When he’s unhappy, he has this howl that sounds like he’s trying to talk and tell you how tortured he is.

Finally, it was time for the last load and Flipper. My girlfriend had tickets to see The Cranberries that night and she was off. FYI... we broke up a year later and she pales in comparison to my wife :~)

I threw a blanket over Flipper’s carrier and walked him up to our new home. That was a very long day and I remember how tired and sore I felt when I was done. Funny thing though, I was lying on my mattress on the floor with boxes all around me and my pager went off. I had to go into the office and deal with a Coast Guard case.

Did I also mention that a couple days before this move, Flipper fell out the apartment 2nd story window and landed in the alley, well there you go. He was fine, used up a life I guess.

Starting Off with a Bang

This 4th of July holiday weekend started off with a bang, literally. A few nights ago around 1:30 a.m., Lago and I were woken from a sound sleep by a large crash. After shaking the sleep from my head, I discovered the mirror over my bedroom dresser had fallen off the wall and was lying on the floor smashed into a million pieces. From the looks of it, the weight of the mirror had loosened the nail in the drywall and simply gave way. The mirror was part of a solid cherry bedroom furniture set purchased in the 1960s by my parents and was quite heavy. After getting some gloves and a box to place the broken glass in, I soon discovered the exact age of the mirror when I saw a date on the back of a large jagged piece - February 8, 1960, the mirror was 46 years old. The mirror’s cherry frame was fine and I saved that. The box of broken glass went out for the trash yesterday.

The next day I felt kind of unnerved by the event, not that I think the mirror falling had any meaning, but having a loud noise wake you from a sound sleep just made me feel kind of creeped out. I guess because in the few seconds before you figure out what’s happening while you’re still trying to wake up, any number of bizarre scenarios are rushing through your head. Besides the fact that at the time it happened, Lago woke somewhat slowly and calmly and told me that it’s fine and that she’s been hearing that sound every night in her dreams and that it was OK, “just go get it.” What, what, what, what? Apparently, she had dreamed the event or at least the crashing noise, but didn’t know what it was until it happened.

I think mostly I felt creeped out because I didn’t get enough sleep and the following day felt much better. Luckily for us, the mirror fell at that time of night. Who knows what would have happened if one of us or any of the animals were standing there or walked by when it fell?

Lago getting ready for our wedding. The mirror in the photo above crashed to the floor and broke the other night.

This morning finds me listening to jazz as I type and enjoying a fine cup of joe. I listen to jazz most mornings, but find it very appropriate on the 4th because jazz is truly American music. You could say the same for country music, but I hate country music so why would I say that?

Not much planned for the big day. We’ll be grilling later and drinking some great American red wine.

I find it strange to look back on last summer when we were planning a picnic here at the lounge to celebrate our wedding. Strange because this summer is so completely different with relocating to Charlotte and thinking about our new home and trying to get used to the fact that our current home is only temporary. It’s a good strange though, because we’re both excited about Charlotte, our new home and our new career assignments.

Univited guest to last summer's picnic.

Yesterday we drove down to Lago’s parent’s farm about an hour south of us. We had a cookout at the horse barn before heading back in time for Lago to make her play rehearsal. A thunderstorm passed by and only managed some big drops before moving on. The photo below is a view from the barn and hardly does the scene justice.


Happy 4th of July to all ya’ll!

Good to Be Home

This week wrapped up my third straight week traveling down and back to Charlotte. Now I'll finally be here at the lounge for awhile. With the July 4th holiday coming up, I won't be making a trip next week so I have myself a nice four-day weekend to be six-foot kickin' it! I'll work a few days from home before my next trip, which may be to New York City for a meeting instead of Charlotte. I'll find out next week.

Last night was my first home-cooked meal since I don't know when. Lago fired up some steaks on the grill along with some big gulf-coast shrimp ("skimps"), corn on the cob and a grilled veggie medley of green beans, asparagus and summer squash done in olive oil and garlic – booyah! Lago picked up some fine wines as well and we opened the Blenheim Vineyards Chardonnay, an excellent traditional "oaky" chardonnay from the vineyard partially owned by Dave Matthews in Charlottesville. Lago also picked up some mussels that are promised for this evening's meal and we have two more bottles of fine wine left on the rack – two of my favorite reds, the Saintsbury Pinot Noir (California) and the Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve (Virginia). Thanks Lago!

The humidity finally subsided yesterday and allowed us to open the windows at the lounge and enjoy our meal on the deck by candlelight along with musical selections from the Summer Shuffle Mix. Ahh, it was good to be home.

One of the things we'll miss is the view from the deck of the lounge. During the summer months, the sun sets directly behind the lounge and presents a grand view. Each evening the sun dips behind the mountains spreading a rippling wake of orange, purple, yellow and red across the sky.


Today is back to the regular weekend task of cutting the grass. Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to just putzin' around the lounge compound today and taking care of some chores.

Last night after dinner, we watched "Almost Famous" one of our favorite DVDs. We have the special edition that has both the extended version of the film and the theatrical release. I like seeing the extra scenes in the extended version, but the original theatrical release has such a nice flow to it. Also, important scenes that linger for awhile on the characters, like the scene where Kate Hudson's character "Penny Lane" meets Billy Crudup's character "Russell Hammond" for what we think is the first time, really stands out and is more poignant in the original theatrical release. This scene along with some others -- like the scene where Penny Lane slides around a concert venue's floor alone after the show and the scene where Penny Lane shows up in a New York club and is asked to leave by the band manager because Russell's wife is with him -- get lost in the mix in the extended version and don't resonant as they should. The film is still excellent no matter which version you watch and is an excellent example of a coming-of-age story even if you don't like early 1970s rock ‘n' roll. Of course the music is a big part of the film and probably one of many reasons why I like it, not to mention that Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best character actors today, has a small role. Cameron Crowe, who wrote and directed the film, based it on his own experiences when he started writing for Rolling Stone magazine and was assigned to report on bands like Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers. The film is an ode to that time and the people he met. I don't have a single favorite movie, there are far too many, but "Almost Famous" would be in my top 10.