Weekend

FER-Orlando finished the week with $288k in orders. I did not see the total from Hollywood. It was a hectic Friday in the office by myself.

Bob went to Daytona during the day for a Volusia County Fire Fighters Reunion. In the evening he had a math class tutoring session. I found a place set at the table when I came in and a skillet of chili made on the range.

On Saturday morning I walked the dog and when I came home I checked the computer to find that my payroll deposit had already been put into my account. There was even a $300 bonus payment!

After balancing the checkbook we headed out to BJ's Warehouse and SuperTarget to get our monthly groceries. I spent $370 at BJ's, then we headed over to Target. We brought a CD full of our pictures from our South Florida trip. We had these pictures printed out and the total came to $42, but the clerk only charged us $23! The rest of the groceries came to about $150 here.

We took all of this home and put it all away. Then we went to Lowe's to shop for plants for the balcony (we did not find any we liked), a replacement bathroom faucet, and bathroom toilet tank rebuild parts. We went to the Wal-Mart next door to get a calculator for Bob's math class and we picked up a few other things while we were there that we had not planned on like oil and oil filter.

Today we drove to Daytona Beach in the morning and we mowed the lawn at Tom & Louise's house, then Bob ran the grass whip, and I changed the oil in his car. I would have rotated the tires, but we did not have jacks to hold the car up.

We drove the scenic Halifax River Loop Road and had a seafood lunch at the beach. Then we went on to Oaktree to visit Tom & Louise.

We went outside and Louise smoked cigarettes while Tom complained. He still does not have his new chair and his bed is still broken. Also, they both need to have their haircut.

Louise's birthday is this month and she is agitating us to take her out to The Olive Garden for dinner.

After we got back home we laid down on the sofa and took a nap for an hour and half.

I put broccoli and cauliflower into the steamer and then we took Buddy for his evening walk. We took a small bag of dog food with us and we dropped pieces into the lake and watched the turtles and fish fighting over the pieces of food. That was a simple, inexpensive pleasure.

Once we ate our dinner of steamer broccoli and cauliflower we started our weekly cleaning routine. I vacuumed and cleaned glass tables and Bob ran the Swiffer in the kitchen and bathroom.

Orlando, FL

As I headed north up Rosalind Avenue going toward I-4 this morning I noticed one of the large landmark oak trees next to the Fifth Third Bank Building had fallen over! I guess the heavy rains softened the soil too much for it to continue standing.

I was by myself all day today. Fay was taking a vacation day. I think everything went well, but I was very busy.

Craig had a meeting with Darden Purchasing and Joan Salah of Manitowoc this morning. Nobody said anything more about Cleveland Range getting kicked out of Darden, but it was hinted that Darden would like to see us hire one of the Finn Marketing reps to work with Kolpak for them. Craig isn't enthused about the idea, but he said the man is a nice guy and could work from his Tampa-area home.

Debbie popped in twice today very briefly. She reminded me that she would be out all next week with plumbing work on her house. After sending me an inane email this morning about the evils of bottled water - how much pollution the bottles make, the chemicals they leach into the water, the oil used to make the bottles, the landfill space, yadda, yadda... I hit the "Reply To All" button (she copied everyone in FER), and I said, "Debbie, I could not help but notice that you took a nice chilly bottle of Zephyhills with you when you left the office this morning..."

She wasn't amused. All she could say was that she didn't have a choice at work. My ass! She can start drinking from the tap!

I had an Italian BMT on herbs and cheese bread for lunch.

Evelyn met Craig in the office for a computer tutoring session. That lasted about an hour and then they were both gone.

Right after 5:00 PM I was out of there. It was only a sunny 15 minute drive home.

Bob was gone to his evening math tutoring, but I found a place set at the table for me and a skillet of chili on the range for me!!

We get paid tonight. After paying bills and balancing the checkbook tomorrow morning we are going to go grocery shopping. We need to swing by Lowe's too - we need a new flapper valve for the toilet and we need to get some plants to pot on the balcony.

Orlando, FL

When Bob got home from class around 9:30 it only took him 10 minutes to diagnose the non-working AC. He found the drip pan beneath the AHU filled to the top with water. This water lifted up a small float that opened an electric switch that shutdown the AC.

I got a hose and a bucket and began to siphon the water out of the pan. Sure enough, when the water went down far enough, the AC began working again!

Today I blew out the drain line with compressed air, poured bleach down the drain, and finished cleaning the water out of the drain pan with my SpotBot vacuum.

Today was a good day at work. Moderately busy, but not more than I could handle. The skies looked threatening a couple of times, but it never rained.

This evening I made Gorton's Cajun Blackened Fish Fillets with Green Giant Microwaved Frozen Vegetables for dinner. After we ate dinner we took Buddy for his evening walk. I picked up a copy of the Orlando Weekly alternative newspaper on our way back home.

One sad story being reported by the Slantinel and the Weekly is that Graze and Sanctuary Diner both closed their doors today. So much for an economic recovery, but those places were too expensive, even in good economic times.

Orlando, FL

We got up when the alarm went off at 5:00 AM. I took Buddy to the street while Bob got started with his shower - Bob was facing his "long day".

I packed Bob's lunch and put out some yogurt for breakfast. After he left I got into the shower and got my shave. Then I dressed because I knew I had to be in early to get the email and order entry caught up.

It was 7:30 AM when I arrived at the office. Craig was already out on the road. The first hour and a half was hectic, but I got everything to the point that I felt it was caught up.

We got more afternoon showers today - our typical summer seabreeze weather pattern.

When I got home I noticed that the house was a little warm. I can't get the AC to start up, or even get the fan to start, and the house is very warm. Of course, cooking dinner and running the laundry don't cool the house down! Right now it's 80°F and 14% Relative Humidity.

Take a look at this funny and interesting blog I found today!

Orlando, FL

We got up when the alarm went off at 6:00 AM and I started to load the car while Bob dressed and deflated the mattress.

We were on the highway at 6:15 and headed west up I-64 toward Richmond. We wanted to see whether the alternate route suggested by Mapquest was indeed faster. It turns out that this detour does indeed save about 30 minutes of travel time!

Around 9:00 AM we stopped at Selma, NC to get gasoline at US 70. We ate at the Waffle House there and then returned to the road at 10:00 AM. I let Bob drive for awhile. He drove almost all the way across South Carolina.

When I took the wheel it began to rain and as we crossed into Georgia the rains became very heavy at times. It steadily got warmer as we headed south. We stopped for more fuel near Savannah, GA and kept going south at an average speed of almost 70 MPH.

It was 4:00 PM when we crossed the border into Florida, and we knew we had about another three hours of travel ahead of us, but the traffic was moving along well.

As we neared Daytona we could see thunderstorms off to the west. I joked that it would be funny if the last 12 miles of the trip were harder than the previous 700 miles. Oh, that was a prophetic statement!

On I-4 going west we ran into very strong storms before we were even out of Volusia County. The rains came down so hard everyone was crawling along at 25 MPH with their hazard lights flashing. The last 30 miles of the trip were tense, but we made it! We arrived home at 6:40 PM.

The rest of the evening was spent getting laundry started, showering, eating a quick dinner, finishing the paper for class, and getting the blog caught up. We both have to return to work in the morning. I know it will be a mess because I took Friday off too. I checked the Gmail account and found 26 messages that will require some kind of action in the morning. Yuck.

Newport News, VA

I got up around 6:00 AM and took Buddy for his morning walk. We saw another rabbit during this walk too. When we got back, Bob was getting up. He dressed and we went downstairs. George was just getting up, but nobody else was up. We went out, got into the car, and went sightseeing.

We drove down I-64 to the HRBT (affectionately known as "Satan's Colon"), went through it and over to Norfolk. Bob saw Norfolk Naval Base, and Norfolk down Hampton Boulevard. We stopped to buy a tank of gas across from ODU and then continued to West Ghent where I used to live.

Breakfast was at Hardee's on 21st street in Ghent and then we went down Colley Avenue, through downtown, got on 264 and went all the way to the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Bob could see the resemblance to Daytona Beach.

We drove north up the beach to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Here we got onto US 13, paid the $12 toll, and drove out to the first island where we stopped, parked, took pictures, and browsed for souvenirs. We got a couple of t-shirts and then headed back to the shore. We drove back to 264 and passed downtown Norfolk, went through the Downtown Tunnel, and west to I-664.

Heading north up 664 we drove across Hampton Roads on the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel to Newport News.

Knowing that Dawn and George were going to have a barbecue today and not knowing whether Patty was coming over with her kids, we stopped at Farm Fresh and got some corn on the cob, a couple of cases of sodas, a tub of potato salad, a tub of macaroni salad, and some cold medicine. We also got a couple of scratch off lotto tickets.

We were back shortly after noon, but they were a little miffed at us for taking off like we did because George evidently had made breakfast for us. Why he didn't feed it to his boys when it became clear we would not be there, I do not know.

I took a nap during the afternoon. Later, we went to the pool and I picked up Buddy and carried him down into the pool. He was a little panicked and started furiously dog paddling! He is a good strong swimmer! This was his first time in water deeper than his shoulder. He kept his head way above water and swam very well! He also learned to climb up the ladder to get out. I made him go swimming a couple more times and I think he was very tired at the end of the day just from this!

We had ribs and corn on the cob for dinner with twice-baked potatoes. We were too full for any dessert!

After getting all of our gear gathered up, we went up to the bed because Bob needed some time to work on his paper for his class on Tuesday evening. I made sure that he got his paper started because there would not be enough time to do it when we got back to Orlando.

We were asleep by 9:30 and were planning on getting up for the return trip to Florida at 6:00 AM.

Newport News, VA

We set up Buddy's pillow and towels - his bed, up right outside our door in the hallway. That is where we found him when we woke up the next morning too!

I got up around 6:00 AM and took Buddy down to the street for his morning walk. He saw two rabbits during his walk through the neighborhood!

When we came back Dawndee was up and she was busily getting some breakfast cooked. She made beef with scrambled eggs and poured it into a bowl on the counter with a stack of flour tortillas and told us to make ourselves some breakfast burritos!

The boys were both very late getting up and they both missed out on the hot breakfast!

Next we gathered our towels, sunscreen, sandals, and bathing trunks and drove to Water Country USA for a day of swimming and water slides! We had to go in two cars and Patty was meeting us there with her daughters.

Dawn picked out recliners at the wave pool and that was the first thing we did. We waded into the pool and watched the large digital clock tick down to zero. Soon we heard the riff to "Wipeout" and the water began to move up and down in bigger and bigger waves!!

Bob is not a strong swimmer and the waves were knocking him off balance, but we kept an eye on him. When the pool settled down again we took off to explore the park and ride the slides!

Some of the slides are individual rides and you slide down by yourself on your own inflatable tube. Others have very large inner tubes for two or more people. A couple of slides had inner tubes so large four adults could ride down at once!!

Soon the park was busy and getting full. A side effect of this was the formation of long lines for the slides. We moved on to the Hubba Hubba Highway - a lazy river that floats you along in an endless sunny loop. Bob found this activity challenging because the current was surprisingly strong. After the second lap we got a float for him to hold onto and it went easier.

We left the park around 3:00 PM. I was the only one that did not get sunburned! Even Bob got some sun around the top of his face where he didn't get enough sunblock on!

During the evening George and Dawndee took us to Quaker Steak & Lube - a restaurant that features wings and American cuisine in an automotive garage setting. I had a small steak and Bob had chicken wings and onion rings. The server was very absent minded and whatever Bob ordered, she brought to me. She could not seem to get our drink orders right either.

I think something like this restaurant would be good to franchise on International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach or on I-Drive in Orlando.

Newport News, VA

We jumped up when the alarm went off, dressed, and started to carry all of our stuff down to the car. We were on the road by 4:30 AM. My plan worked out pretty good -- we were past Jacksonville by 7:30 AM and making good time going north.

Around 9:00 AM we stopped near Savannah, GA to buy another tank of gasoline and get breakfast. We ate at a Waffle House right next to the Shell gas station.

With a full tank we continued north moving across South Carolina and into North Carolina. We stopped at Fayetteville, NC to buy the third tank of gas. As we were getting back onto I-95 we saw a semi sitting in the median with his fenders all torn up -- he'd lost control and almost ended up in the oncoming lane!

As we passed Weldon, NC and approached the Virginia line, the traffic slowed and then stopped. The VDOT, in their wisdom, had decided to close off one lane of I-95 for road work. Genius really. They only have two northbound lanes. The traffic backed up into North Carolina and we slowly creeped ahead... up to Exit 3, Skippers, VA. We got off here and got onto US 301 North. We followed it up to US 58 in Emporia and then headed east.

We were going to give the route suggested by Mapquest.com a chance, but this change was pretty much against our will and out of our control. It took every bit of two hours to make our way through Suffolk, Bens Church, and Isle of Wight County. The only good thing about it was that Bob got to see the shipyard and Hampton Roads from the JRB coming into Newport News.

It was about 6:15 PM when we backed the car up Dawn and George's driveway. We had a good time catching up with them and they made chicken and steak shish kabobs for dinner. We moved into the computer room upstairs. Bob brought his air mattress and we inflated it on the floor for a bed.

Buddy and Wishbone got along great. I think they both liked having another dog to play with. They ran around and around the backyard. I guess Buddy would like to have a backyard.

It was after 10:00 PM when we went to bed. We were pretty beat from the long trip up there.

Orlando, FL

I left Bob with a list of things that had to be done today to get us ready for our trip to Virginia this weekend. Bob had the day off and he would have time to get most of these tasks accomplished.

He went to the barber and got a haircut, checked oil in the car, checked tire air pressure, put Buddy's crate in the car, went to ATM to get cash, did laundry, packed cold drinks in a cooler, paid bills, and cycled dishes (including Buddy's bowls) through the dish machine.

The weather was a little less rainy today, but we are still expected to have showers over the next few days. There is ALOT of moisture in Florida now!

Today was a moderately busy day. My phone log ran on to Page Two! I scanned the purchase orders, but did not send them. I did not send the PO report either. I will add Friday's orders to the log and send it all together on Tuesday. At the end of the day Orlando was sitting at $185k in orders - a fairly good week.

Craig is very concerned about how much longer we will keep Cleveland Range in Darden Restaurants. We have a "political" situation going on where a big wig at Darden does not like the president of Cleveland Range -- they've had a long-running conflict. Unfortunately, FER will get caught in the middle of it.

When I came home we took Buddy for his walk. Then we checked the mail, made a dinner of leftovers, and brushed Buddy's teeth. Next we packed our luggage.

We are just about ready to go now. We will set the alarm clock for 4:00 AM. This way we will beat the rush hour traffic at Jacksonville, FL and evening rush hour traffic near Richmond, VA. This should be some trip!

Orlando, FL

It has rained the past three days. At times it has rained heavily. We were bone dry with the threat of forest fires before this week. Now everything is soaked and flooding!

I caught a cold. It started as tiredness and soreness with an itchy, scratchy throat yesterday. I have started taking Zicam for it.

Craig said he had no problem with me taking Friday off. It turns out Fay is asking for NEXT Friday off to attend a high school graduation. This gives me a four day Memorial Day Weekend.

Bob, Buddy, and I are driving to Virginia on Friday morning. Mapquest.com said it will be 791 miles and that it will take 12 hours 12 minutes to drive (I love how precise it seems to be!). George said that we could all go to Water Country USA on Saturday.

Because I am run down from my cold, I am going to bed early. I am only going to read more of my book, but it will be rest all the same. I am glad tomorrow is my last day of work this week!

Orlando, FL

It began raining last night. It was lightning and thundering when we went to bed. This morning it was dry, but the weatherman was promising more showers. Indeed, it started to rain again and it rained almost all day. A front came down and moved slowly south over the Florida peninsula bringing showers today. It is supposed to stall tomorrow and try to move backward a little before it moves on on Wednesday.

Today was another moderately busy day. Fay came in late and she promised me that she would be even later tomorrow!

Debbie came in and worked for about two and a half hours this morning. She ended up leaving because she forgot to bring the power cord for her laptop and the battery ran down. So, the rest of the day became a certain waste for her.

Craig returned from Chicago in the afternoon and we even saw him briefly before the end of the day!

When I got home this evening I walked Buddy and then fried some pork chops for dinner. We had the chops with salad that was left over from the weekend.

Weekend

My visit to Darden on Friday was not that bad. Nobody yelled at us. Craig promised we would get the invoices re-billed at the PO prices. He took me around to see everyone, but it seemed like many people were either in meetings or taking the day off.

We ended the week strong. FER-Orlando brought in $274k and Hollywood brought in $250k.

On Friday evening we had an unusual meal for dinner. Bob made a "Meatsa" casserole!

Later, while Bob held his jaws open, I brushed his teeth really good. We are going to brush his teeth one a week to keep them from building up plaque so badly.

The picture today is the view down the sixth floor hallway of The Waverly.

On Saturday I shampooed the living room, dining room, and hallway carpets. Then I got Buddy into the bathtub and gave him a good scrub. We used a new shampoo with oatmeal that "calms irritated skin". Later, after he was dry, I put the Frontline flea and tick repellant on his back. I really like it when he is clean from a recent bath!

I finished Ben & Jerry's Double Dip yesterday and started Twinkie, Deconstructed. Bob wrote his paper for his class.

In the evening we marinated chicken breast strips in lime juice, diced green onions, minced garlic, olive oil, and chopped dill. We took the chicken breast along with cantaloupe and a foil package of brussels sprouts in garlic and butter down to the pool and we cooked them on the grill.

We had a hard time getting the grill lit -- the igniter was not sparking. I had to go back upstairs and get the kitchen matches to light the burner.

It was nice to go down in the late evening because the sun was not so intense. Later it dipped down behind the tall bank building next door and everything was shaded.

This morning we went to Daytona Beach and mowed Tom and Louise's yard. After this we went to Walgreens and got cigarettes and drinks. We had lunch at Alfie's of Ormond Beach. I had a bison burger with cheese and Bob had the giant fish sandwich. It was giant too - the fish was twice as big as the rather large bun!

After this we drove the length of the beach and ended up at Oaktree. I stayed in the car and read to Page 48 of my book, and then I layed the seat back and took a nap.

This evening we made "sandwiches" with sliced ham, cheese, mayo, cucumber, on leaves of romaine lettuce. While we were eating my phone rang. It was Mom calling. She said that Bill is losing his job at Westvaco-Mead and they are closing the plant.

After unemployment insurance runs out they are not sure what they are going to do for money. Mom said she might have to get a job at Burger King. She won't care for that -- long hours on her feet will be tough. None of the factories in the Wilmington area are hiring right now. I don't know if Bill can get another manufacturing job.

In the meantime they are looking for ways to cut back on their bills and stock up on some food.

We cleaned the kitchen floor and cleaned the glass-topped tables. Then Bob made a CD with all of the pictures we took in Everglades, Edison-Ford Estates, and Bok Tower. We are going to go to Target and make prints of the pictures for the photo album and picture frames.

Next weekend we are going to drive to Virginia and spend some time with Dawndee, George, Jordan, Tyler and Wishbone. Perhaps I won't even go in on Friday -- that will give us an extra day.

Orlando, FL

My day at work today was not as bad as I had imagined it would be. It was moderately busy, but nothing that we could not handle.

We thought that it might rain and storm again today, but while it clouded up some, it did not rain at FER or downtown. Anyway temperatures were lower today.

A bright spot in the day was that my replacement passport came in the mail this evening! I took it upstairs and made a scanned copy of it for "just in case".

For dinner we had fried porkchops with buttered asparagus and yellow wax beans.

Orlando, FL

I put a combination temperature and humidity meter together using my Basic Stamp module. I think I could wire this up to a memory module to make a data logger. I need to get the real-time clock chip working and that would allow time/date stamping of my measurements!

It finally happened. Central Florida finally got some much needed rain. Strong thunderstorms came through this afternoon dropping lots of rain on the parched land. This should help us get the wild fires undercontrol!

My drive home this evening was a long and slow trip. I knew that I would have to avoid I-4, but the surface streets were very slow going too.

I was taking a shortcut through a neighborhood and a tree limb fell out of an old oak right in front of my truck!

At least the drive home this evening wasn't like driving home in an oven.


When I got home I got Buddy harnessed up and took him down to the street for his evening walk. He really hates getting wet. He stayed very close to the wall where it is (a little bit) drier. We walked to the dry cleaners to get Bob's slacks, and then we came back to The Waverly, checked our mail, and came home.

For dinner I had a tuna fish salad sandwich. Then I folded up a load of whites that I took out of the dryer this morning.

Bob won't be home until later - this is his long day. He has his class on Tuesday evenings.

Weekend

Friday ended the work week for FER with $179k for Orlando and $74k for Hollywood. Not exactly the best week for us. I have one idea for saving lots of payroll money though!

For dinner we fried hot dogs and mixed sauerkraut in with them. That was okay, but it would have been great if we could have stirred in some mashed potatoes too!

On Saturday we took Buddy to Hiawassee Veterinary Clinic for his annual check-up. We went in at 9:00 AM and after weighing him (53.9 pounds), we were shown to a room. The veterinary assistant came in and drew blood from Buddy's right front leg to test for heartworm and the took a sample from his "other end" to test for other parasites.

Next Dr. Jason came in to look Buddy over, give his bordatella vaccine and his leptospirosis vaccine. He pointed out that Buddy is starting to accumulate some nasty plaque on his teeth and suggested a follow up appointment for a cleaning. We discussed the hot spots that he gets in hot humid weather and a bottle of spray was produced that should help him when these spots flare up.

The total for this visit came to $181.00. The topical spray was $40! Before we left they showed us a yellow lab-mix puppy that was adoreable. The puppy was brought in for treatment and the owners abandoned it! He was only 4 months old, but they assured me he would not get any bigger than Buddy.

Buddy is almost too much for me as it is. If we had another dog there would be double the dog food bill, double the vet bills, and this puppy, while housebroken, has not been through his chewing stage yet. No, thank you!

We spent the rest of the day at home. We made shish kabobs and took them down to the pool to cook on the gas grill. There was a large crowd down there because two homosexual men from the 17th floor were throwing a graduation party for one of their neices or nephews.

Today was another very hot day. We reached 97°F (tied the record from 1962). We went to the pool for two hours this afternoon and had fun, but did not stay out long enough to get burned.

Bob made mozzarella-stuffed chicken breasts for dinner. That's another keeper recipe that we keep returning to. After dinner we took Buddy for his evening walk. When we returned we ran the vacuum cleaner, swiffered the kitchen and bathroom, and cleaned the glass tables.

Now we have to face another week of work.

Orlando, FL

Work today was kinda steady, but in the morning while Craig was in with us the phones really flared up a couple of times. We had moments when all four lines were lit up!

I made my lunch in the test kitchen again today. I made chicken breast on the grill and had a nice salad.

In the afternoon I checked UPS.com to verify that my packages were delivered. Mom got her's yesterday and the package for Kobe was delivered yesterday too.

I told Jason that the package was delivered to his old Souoth Mantua Street address. He said he was going over there tonight to "jack someone" because they must have thought that they were getting a gift for free.

Bob had the day off (hospital owes him over 70 hours comp time). He went to the bank, went to supermarket, went to dry cleaners, went to gym, and then he made cajun pork chops for dinner! That recipe was good - a "keeper"! We are going to add this one to our 3-ring binder of tried and approved recipes.

Sunspot

Looks like Solar Minimum is over. It might be a good idea to start turning electronic devices off when you are not using them.

Solar activity follows and 11-year cycle, and the most recent period of quiet is evidently coming to an end. People have been counting sun spots since Galileo first saw them early in the 17th century.

Orlando, FL

Yesterday Fay and I went to BJ's Warehouse to get supplies and snacks for the office. Because I have been eating so many salads lately, Fay decided that we should buy lettuce, spinach leaves, tomatoes, cukes, everything we need to make our own salads in the test kitchen.

Debbie was in the office almost all day yesterday. That was surprising.

The USPS delivered my small box from Parallax too. In it was a package of jumper wires, an 8-bit analog-to-digital converter IC, two humidity sensors, some crystal oscillators, and a breadboard kit.

I put a package into the UPS system with goodies in it going to Mom for Mother's Day. UPS reports that it will be delivered tomorrow.

Today I told Fay that I needed to go out at lunch, but she was intent on us eating salads in the office. She said, "Okay, fine, do you want to make your salad before you go out or when you come back?"

I told her to make the salad stuff up and make an extra chicken breast for me and I would have salad when I returned.

During lunch I went to Ikea to buy 12 birch Lack side tables for our Moddi Murphy Bed project. That came to $152, then I went to Radio Shack to buy some 10 MΩ resistors - 4 pack was 99 cents. Then I returned to the office.

Fay left early to go to her house for yet another inspection as part of her home refinancing project. I was there by myself for about the last hour. Craig returned to the office around 5:30.

This evening we had tequilla lime turkey breast loin and carrots from the crockery kettle for dinner. Then I finished assembling the Basic Stamp circuit with my new HS1101 Humidity Sensor. This is why I needed 10 M ohm resistors - to complete the circuit.

Weekend

On Friday, in an email message, I let Jason know that Kobe's (very early) birthday present was sent via UPS. Jason replied that it would be returning to me as he hasn't lived on Mantua Street in over two years! Strange. I wonder how he got his copy of my Peru book last year?

FER-Orlando finished up with $219k and Hollywood brought in about the same amount - $218. A good week overall.

Friday evening we had a homemade zucchini meatloaf and little "shrimp bites" that Bob prepared and baked in phyllo dough shells. They were very tasty!

I started reading the Ben and Jerry's Double Dip - How to Run a Values-Based Business and Make Money Too. I will read this book before I start on Twinkie, Deconstructed.

We learned in the news that the Central Florida commuter rail project called Sunrail was defeated in the state legislature. That pretty much kills any hope of high-speed rail coming into Orlando too. The swine flu continues to spread. A 14-year-old girl from Mexico was diagnosed in Central Florida, but she has already returned to Mexico.



On Saturday morning we got up, walked Buddy, and then took Bobby to his morning doctor appointment. Then we drove to Millenia and ate breakfast at the Florida Waffle Shop. We both had a carbohydrate-filled breakfast. Next we went to BJ's Warehouse and SuperTarget to get our groceries.

We drove our groceries home and put them away, then we decided to head back out. We harnessed Buddy up and took him with us. We went to Petsmart to get Buddy a backpack for hiking. We got the Outward Hound Pet Excursion Backpack with bags to hold his bottled water and treats. He did not fight the backpack at all and just wore it as if it were another harness!

After we left Petsmart we bought gasoline and got some bottled water. Then we drove to Cady Way Trail for a little hiking and exploring.


The trail begins behind Fashion Square Mall, cuts across Baldwin Park, behind homes in Winter Park, crosses 436 on a bridge, and continues to the east for 6.5 miles. It will join the Cross Seminole Trail and the Econlockhatchee Greenway someday to form a network of 30 miles of hiking trails and bike paths.


We walked with Buddy about 4.5 miles. His head was down and his tongue was hanging out after the first mile. Just after crossing the bridge over 436 (Semoran Blvd), we stopped at a park bench and gave Buddy water and treats. He just laid down under the bench panting. I was a little worried about him (it was about 89°F).




When we decided to head back, I picked Buddy up and carried him on my shoulders back down the trail, but he was so heavy that I knew I would not be able to carry him all the way back to the car. About one mile back down the trail we stopped at Cady Way Park. This was a big shady park with ball fields and a pool. I left Bob and Buddy here and took the car keys with me back down the trail.


It was about 3.5 miles back to the car from the park and I walked quickly. It still took about an hour to reach the car. I had to worry about the temperature myself, but I got to the car, started it up, put the AC on full blast and drove to the park to pick them up.


Buddy was very tired. I think Bob and I were both very tired too! We decided to stay in for the evening. Bobby went across the street to Publix and got a case of beer and a Freschetta frozen pizza. We had a satisfying dinner of beer and pizza.


This morning, knowing that we had to go to Daytona and mow Tom and Louise's yard, I woke up at 7:00 and decided to get busy. I harnessed Buddy up and took him down to the street. That poor dog! It was obvious that he was sore and was having trouble moving down the sidewalk. We made it across the street to a vacant lot where he peed, and then we went back upstairs.


We had cereal and coffee for breakfast, then we got on the road. We drove to my storage unit first. Here we took the clamps off of the dresser drawer that we glued up last weekend, then we put it in the car, and headed to Daytona. It was around 9:00 AM when we got there and we immediately started to mow the front and back yard and run the grass whip.


After cleaning up we went to Walgreens to get cigarettes and other things for Tom and Louise, we drove around for awhile, and then went to visit the nursing home for a couple hours.


On our way home we stopped in at Fairvilla Adult Megastore, because we hadn't been in there in months. Then we went to Ace Hardware to get a couple of doo dads, and we went to the SuperTarget in SoDo. We got some shorts, shirts, and a baked chicken for dinner.


When we finally got home we harnessed Buddy up for his evening walk, but again, he was moving very slowly. We had to pull him down the side walk and pull him across the street. He was moving so slowly and painfully in the crosswalk! One old man remarked that he felt sorry for "that old dog"! We didn't go any farther than the vacant lot across the street, and all Buddy did was pee.


We came back home, ate our dinner of chicken and green beans, cleaned our floors, folded our laundry, cleaned the glass table tops, and got ready for another week of work. I loaded a box with special Mother's Day gifts for Mom and I will have to get a UPS label ready for it tomorrow.


It is hard to believe the weekend is over already! This was a very full and busy weekend! I am still sore from it!