Orlando, FL

FER had a great week for sales. Between the two offices we brought in about $1 Million this week! Those commissions won't come in until 90 days after the orders ship, but at least we got the orders in.

When I got home I found Bob's Xterra parked in my space and pulled clear up against the wall. I forgot that we were going to have company this evening. He invited a lesbian co-worker, her partner and someone else from work out to dinner at Hamburger Mary's. Ugggh.

After walking the dog, I really wanted to stay in, but I pulled on a nice shirt and went with them out to eat, drink, and be merry (or is that "Mary"). It was okay, but we didn't get to bed until 11:00 PM. Man, we are getting so old!

Tomorrow we are going to BJ's Warehouse and Super Target to get our monthly groceries. That should suck my checking account right down!

Orlando, FL

It is still hot. That is expected this time of year. Still very humid too - I drive to work soaking from the humidity.

We had cheese omelets for breakfast this morning. I am glad FER pays me on Friday night because we need to buy some groceries badly. Mother Hubbard has a bare cupboard!

Due to a large number of convection oven orders from Hillsborough Co Public Schools, FER-Orlando is having a great week for sales!

Next Wednesday, William will be picking up Kevin Colyer from F.W.E. at the airport and then Craig, Fay, William, Kevin, and I will be meeting Betsy Hummel for lunch at Cantina Laredo in Dr Phillips. That will be nice. I don't think I've seen Betsy in over six months.

It rained this evening. There was lightning and thunder and it rained for a long time. We layed on the living room floor and read while it poured outside. We still got Buddy outside for his walk around 7:30.

My October 2010 issue of Fine Woodworking came in the mail today. In a few minutes I am going to lay on the bed and read some of those articles, and then sleep. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz mmmmm!!

Orlando, FL

We had omelets with cream cheese and spinach for breakfast with Eggo waffles spread with cream cheese. I used low-carb syrup on mine and I spread the rest of the cherry jam on Bob's.

It was very hot today. I went out at lunch to KFC and got a two-piece breast and wing meal for lunch. Hot as a broiler inside my little (non-air conditioned) truck cab.

During lunch I stopped by the UPS box and dropped my package in with Grandma Pat's birthday presents inside. I phoned Mom and told her to expect this on Thursday, but to hide it from Pat until her birthday next week.

For dinner we had butter garlic fish fillets with steamed veggies. After this I made a chicken pot pie and put it into the oven. This will become lunch for Bob over the next couple of days.

We took Buddy out for a (hot) walk around Lake Eola. His butt was dragging and his tongue was hanging when we got back in.

Bob just finished talking to Aunt Carol. She is going to fly down on August 19 to visit Louise, and then go to visit a friend of hers in Lady Lake. Bob hasn't seen her in 20 years! Now we have to get the house cleaned up good.

Orlando, FL

The Grindstone wasn't that bad today. Because I was working on the quote that Fay asked me to do for her on Friday, I stayed very busy all day. When I looked up at the clock it was already time for lunch!

Despite the heat, I went to Chik-Fil-A for a salad and diet lemonade.

This evening we had baked hamburger patties and steamed veggies for dinner. I made a pitcher of lemonade and a pitcher of iced tea and unloaded the dish machine.

While the food was cooking I boxed up the birthday presents for Grandma Pat and then wrapped the box up in brown Kraft paper. I will see if I can send it via UPS from work tomorrow.

When we finished walking the dog we stopped in the lobby to check our mail. There were four things in the box for Bob, and a big thick envelope for me - our vacation itinerary and vouchers for our travel and lodging!

Weekend

After walking Buddy we went out for breakfast. We went to the Fairbanks Diner on, where else, Fairbanks Avenue in Winter Park.

We came home after breakfast, started laundry, and we went down to the garage, jacked up the Xterra, and rotated the back tires to the front and vice versa. After this we rotated tires on the Tacoma. While the wheels were off we carefully inspected the tires and brakes. I think both trucks are going to need new brake pads the next time we pull the wheels off.

I was very dirty from this work. We came back upstairs, and I cleaned up. I cleaned and dried my goatee and then brushed some color back into it. I showered off after this and then Bob took his turn.

I baked another loaf of whole wheat bread. This time I added a half cup of sunflower kernels and added a little more water. This loaf rose up higher than the top of the pan! After it cooled off I cut it into thin slices and stacked them in an air tight plastic box to make Bob's lunch sandwiches with.

In the afternoon we went to K-mart and bought a wire garden trellis for our tomatoes. We browsed the other lines while we were there. I picked up a new shirt and Bob got some new shorts.

We came home, cut the trellis in half and put it into the boxes where we have the tomatoes growing. Then we tied the vines up to the trellis. This will hold them up off of the soil. I hope we get some flowers soon. They really perk up each time I feed them.

Bob prepared a delicious dinner of hot dogs and lima beans. We had a dessert of fresh sliced peaches.

Today we had Eggo waffles with Canadian bacon and coffee for breakfast. After walking Buddy we went to the car and headed to Daytona Beach.

We stopped at the Daytona Flea and Farmers Market and browsed the stalls there. We were looking for a gift for Grandma Pat's birthday and Bob has run out of Acqua di Gio, so we were looking to see if we could get it cheaper at the flea market than at the drug store (you can't).

On the way to Oaktree Nursing Home we stopped at Dimitri's restaurant and had gyro sandwiches for lunch. Then we headed over to visit Louise.

Louise was in her room laying in her bed. She was dressed in a blouse and brown slacks. She has an oxygen tank and an oxygen generator in her room, and she uses it sometimes. I am sure she will be using it more in the future. We visited with Louise for about an hour and 15 minutes, and then started out for home.

On the way home I picked up my cellphone and called Mom. She talked about Marrissia being mad at her (it's all a big misunderstanding), she talked about Kim and Joe and kids visiting, and she complained a lot about Grandma Pat.

This evening I made a bowl of guacamole and we ate some of it with pita chips. We took Buddy for his walk, and then started to clean the house.

I ran the vacuum and cleaned the glass tables as usual. Bob cleaned the kitchen and bath floors. I also pulled everything out of the glass display case in the foyer and cleaned the glass shelves inside of it.

Now it is time for another week of work. Ugghh. The only good thing about it is that we get paid next Friday night, so we will go grocery shopping next weekend.

Orlando, FL

TGIF!

Today was even better. My head was still draining a little, but I my body felt much much better today! I stayed in during lunch and ate a salad that I brought with me and I was able to avoid the heat by doing that.

FER-Orlando brought in $265k and Hollywood finally had a good week - they brought in $338k!

In the afternoon it clouded up and finally started to rain. We kept getting little 10-minute showers. These are the rain bands from Tropical Depression Bonnie. It is supposed to rain and soak us all night.

For dinner we had baked pork chops with steamed veggies and a glass of red wine. Later we took Buddy out for his walk, but it started to rain on us, and we cut the walk short. He is laying in the hallway right now chewing on one of his rawhide bones.

This weekend I am planning on rotating all eight tires. Four on the Xterra and four on the Tacoma. On Sunday we are going to Daytona to visit Louise.

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Orlando, FL

Today was better.

I toasted the rest of the Eggo whole wheat waffles and then spread cream cheese and jam on each one and put them in a stack. We had Canadian bacon with them.

After walking the dog, I got my shower, brushed teeth, and dressed to head out. I was out of here at 7:10 AM, but I had to make a side trip to buy gasoline for the truck. In the end I got to work at the same time I usually do.

I felt better today. Not 100% - I still had some coughing and sneezing, but I'd say 80%. That rest yesterday did me a lot of good!

For lunch I brought a box of butternut squash soup. I poured it into a bowl and microwaved it. I only took about 15 minutes for lunch today.

It is supposed to start raining tonight with soaking rains ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie. There isn't a cloud in the sky right now, but we will see.

Small World

This cold is really wearing me down!

I rolled out of bed at 5:30 AM, and not because the alarm went off, but because Bob said it was time to start. I counted my vitamins out and then poured a scoop of food for Buddy.

Then I counted out Bob's pills and made his lunch. I cut the drumsticks off of the rotisserie chicken we bought last night and put those into the sandwich box with his little sandwich.

Even though I was achy and tired and questioned to myself whether I should start the long process of making breakfast, I did it anyway. Canadian bacon into the toaster oven to broil. Then 1/4 cup of sugar-free apricot jam mixed with 1/4 teaspoon of ground mustard to spoon onto the crisping bacon.

Next, I took out a measuring cup (for the pouring spout on it, not the measure marks), put a big pinch (about 1 teaspoon) of dried basil in, a big pinch of dried cilantro, some dried scallions, and a little parsley. I cracked and added 4 whole eggs and a tablespoon of heavy cream. I beat this with a fork.

I took the electric griddle down, plugged it in, sprayed it with non-stick spray, and then let it heat up. I put cheese and a jar of roasted red peppers next to the griddle and got ready to make omelets.

It takes less time to eat our breakfast than it takes to carefully make it!

Bob decided that he wasn't going to Toastmasters today. With his cold he is already hoarse. His day will be long enough as he has his college class tonight after work.

I wore a long-sleeved button down yellow chambray shirt to work today with khaki slacks. On the way to the office I stopped at Publix to get two bottles of water and I stepped on the scale. It showed another full pound gone! Yeah! That's about 18 pounds gone.

Outside the humidity was already way up there and by the time I got to the office I was soaked.

I felt like poop and I was tired, but I still started printing out the purchase orders and responding to email messages.

Around 10:30 AM Dave Adams of Darden Facilities phoned. He said he had just come back from vacation in Key West. While he was down there he encountered two guys named Robert (or Richard, or something, he's not sure) and David (or Daniel, again, not sure), and when they found he worked for Darden they immediately asked him if he knew who I was! Of course he told them that he knew who I am and that he works with me on equipment issues all the time.

It is said that no person is more than six handshakes away from any other person in the world.

Now, who was vacationing in Key West recently? Hmmmm....

I asked Fay to take her lunch first because I wanted to go home at lunch and just sleep. At 1:00 PM I set an out-of-office message and drove home. The drive was very hot, but at least the traffic moved right along in the middle of the day.

As I was about to unlock the front door I heard voices down the hall calling out, "MAINTENANCE!!" The maintenance team was coming down the hall door-by-door doing their work. I went in, moved the dog bed back to the bedroom, put the AC into override so it would cool despite its program, took off my shoes, peed, and waited for them to arrive.

Around 20 minutes later the knock on the door came and Buddy was spastically excited. They came in and the Simplex-Grinnell man went from room to room checking out the sprinkler heads, the maintenance man got to work lubing the balcony door mechanism and applying a decal to the glass with door operating instructions (you would think this wouldn't be necessary), and the lady with the clipboard wanted to be sure to show me where the main water cutoff valve for our house is (in the hall closet ceiling behind a little metal door) in case we ever had an unisolable leak.

Then they were gone. It took less than 10 minutes.

I changed into shorts and t-shirt, got a blanket and pillow out, and laid down on the living room sofa to sleep. It is cooler and darker in the living room during the day. Our bedroom faces south with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, so it is bright and warm in there during the day.

I woke up at 6:30 PM. I still felt kind of rough, and I still have some sinus congestion, but I am glad that I got some rest.

At 7:00 PM I took Buddy for his evening walk and picked up a copy of the Orlando Weekly on our way back to the house.

Last night I finished The Bucolic Plague. I really enjoyed it. I am going to save Into The Wild to read during my vacation, so I think I am going to read an industrial electricity textbook and solve the end-of-chapter problems in a notebook. THAT ought to put me to sleep! Ha!

Orlando, FL

I felt like poop when I got up this morning. This cold is really kicking my ass. My sinuses were congested and it hurt. I took a decongestant along with my vitamins.

The work day seemed longer than usual because I was exhausted. I just wanted to finish the orders and then go home and sleep. Somehow I made it through the entire day.

Craig was in Vermont today visiting with one of our consultants and William was in Dallas, TX for Merrychef training at the eSource test kitchen. It was just Fay and me today.

The excitement today was right after lunch. We heard helicopters hovering overhead from the TV news. We turned on the TV to find out that highway patrol officers had pulled over two women in a stolen taxi cab on I-4 right in front of our office park!

Bob and I both drove into our parking spaces at the same time this evening. Bob had pharmacy bags in his hand full of cold medicine and antibiotics.

We found that The Waverly did not send Simplex-Grinnell and Maintenance to our house to check sprinklers and grease the balcony door as they promised us they would do on July 19 or 20. No, instead there was another notice on the door saying that they would be in on July 21 or 22.

I wrote a note to the property manager and told her we would not be confining the dog all fucking week because they couldn't get their shit in one sock. I told her that if this was a problem, then they needed to contact either Bob or me and schedule a time for us to be present when the enter our condominium home. No reply from her yet.

We also made the final payments on our late summer vacation this evening. We are very excited about taking a week of vacation and know that this trip will be memorable! Of course we are planning to take a lot of pictures and print another book this year!

After walking Buddy, we stopped at Publix and got a rotisserie chicken, a bag of spinach leaves, a bag of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots; and a small box of cherry tomatoes for our dinner. We had chicken and salad for dinner.

Now, I am not coughing so much, but my nose is running almost constantly! Uggh! Summer colds are the worst!

I am going to go lay down and read more of The Bucolic Plague. I am getting very close to the end already!

Orlando, FL

My throat was raw from sinus drainage all night when I got up at 5:30 AM. Yup, I've got Bob's summer cold really good!

I counted out my vitamins, then counted out Bob's pills, and then made a little sandwich for his lunch out of the little sliced loaf of whole wheat bread I baked yesterday.

With his lunch packed I started our breakfast of cheese and spinach omelets with Canadian bacon.

Work today was not too bad. Fay came back and some of the workload came off of me. She said I did a really good job of keeping everything current and rolling along.

During lunch today I went to CVS Pharmacy to get some cold medicine and cough drops. Then I went to Chik-Fil-A and got a salad. It was very hot outside. I wish I had gotten factory AC in my truck when I had the opportunity eleven years ago.

Bob sent me an email in the afternoon. He said that he went to visit his Mom in Daytona. She was discharged from the hospital and back at Oaktree. We got some bad news about her health right before she was discharged - she has advanced lung cancer, and it has already spread to her pancreas. Bob had to help her check back into Oaktree and talk about her care with hospice.

I brought another package of rotten chicken home from work. As soon as I cut into the plastic I could tell it was rotten and quickly carried it to the trash chute. I thawed out some frozen from the freezer and baked it in the toaster oven instead.

As soon as I get this update finished I am going to lay down and read more about the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Then I am going to sleep.

Weekend

When I got up on Saturday morning I took my vitamins and then harnessed Buddy up for his morning walk. We stopped at Publix and I picked up yogurt, eggs, and milk. Then I came home and made breakfast.

We had Eggo whole wheat waffles with Canadian bacon for breakfast. I put cherry jam on Bob's waffles and I had low-carb syrup on mine. I loaded the dish washer up after breakfast and started it.

After this I started folding laundry while a new load of towels washed. When I got the towels into the dryer, I took the dog's bedding and put it into the washer, then I took his collar off and sprayed the collar and his pillow with flea spray. He knew something was up now.

I herded him into the bathroom and lifted him into the tub. I drizzled baby shampoo into his fur and started the water, splashing some onto his fur and working up a lather. I rinsed him off real good, got his towel and dried him off, and got him out of the tub. Then I took a quick shower.

I finished Florence King's book and started The Bucolic Plague. Before I knew it I had the first five chapters read!

Bob slept on the sofa all morning wrapped in a blanket. I made soup for his lunch and I ate some tuna salad. Bob insists that he has bronchitis and he will be seeing the doctor on Monday. I told him that he'd already given me his cold.

In the afternoon, I read more of my book while Bobby slept. Around 5:00 I got up and harnessed Buddy for his evening walk. We stopped on the second floor to get our mail.

For dinner I made a chili with one pound of ground beef, chopped onion, chopped celery, tomato paste, cumin powder, chili powder, diced jalapeños, diced tomatoes, black beans and red kidney beans.

Later we watched Tom Ford's production of A Single Man while laying in bed.

Today I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob got breakfast ready. When we returned the breakfast was not finished. Bob was having a hard time of it. I finished it up, but told him that one day in the future he was going to have to watch me - watch me put ingredients away after I use them, watch me clean up as I go along, etc.

After breakfast we played around on the computers for awhile, then I got my dirty work shirt on and went down to the garage and changed the oil and filter on the Xterra. I came back up with some oil-soaked rags and an oil-soaked left arm and sleeve. Shirt into laundry and Vince into shower.

We ate lunch of leftover chili, then I started a whole wheat loaf of bread. This was a no-knead recipe and it was a very heavy and chewy loaf. This finished baking around 2:00. Then we went to the storage units.

Here we put Bob's oil pan back into storage, tranferred a glass tabletop to my storage unit, and got my floor jack and tire iron out of storage. I am going to rotate the tires on the Xterra and the Tacoma this week.

We stopped to get a five gallons of gasoline on the way home.

It was hot. The thermometer in the car said 99°F. The thermometer at a bank agreed with it. The humidity seemed to be down though.

This evening I cut the loaf into thin slices to make lunch sandwiches for Bob this week. The rest of it I toasted and ground into whole wheat bread crumbs to use in low-carb recipes. I will make another loaf next week, but I will put sunflower kernels in that one!

Now we have walked Buddy, run the vacuum, cleaned the tables, and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom floors. We are ready to face another week of work. Ugghh.

Orlando, FL

Up at 5:30... same as the day before... asparagus and mozzarella omelets for breakfast with Canadian bacon for breakfast... then Bob announced that he wasn't going to work. He has a bad cold. He took more cold medicine and went back to bed.

After walking Buddy, I showered, shaved, dressed, and went out the door. Down to FER.

I was there by myself all morning. The phones got a little hectic at times... the whole damned thing was lit up with calls On Hold! But I got through it. I went out at lunch. Went down to Chik-Fil-A to get a salad. I brought it back and ate it at my desk.

Shortly after 1:00 PM, William came in, and he was in the office for the rest of the day.

We finished the week with $235k in orders. Hollywood brought in $205k. Not a bad week, but I think we can do better.

I did not stick around after 5:00 PM. I got into the truck and drove home through dry (for a change) blast furnace heat. Bob was still in bed when I got home. He was supposed to get up and do the laundry, but he says the alarm failed to wake him.

After loading the washer, I made him get up and pour soap on the clothes and start the machine. Then I cleaned the grill out and fired it up to make dinner. I grilled sausages outside and microwaved some broccoli for our dinner.

My tomato plants are getting bigger! They are going to have be tied up soon. They are throwing out those curly little vines that hold the plants up! I can't wait to see flowers on them.

After dinner I read some of the Florence King book. A thunderstorm came through, and that really cooled everything off. At 7 PM I harnessed Buddy up and took him out for his walk while Bob sat on the sofa wrapped in his blanket.

This weekend I have to change the oil in the Xterra and rotate the tires. Not really sure what else we are going to do.

Orlando, FL

"And the UV Index is 11 out there today. Folks, if you're going outside, be sure to take a roof with you!" Ugghhh. It was sunny and hot until just after lunch. Then it clouded up and stormed.

We had goat cheese, mozzarella, and spinach omelets with Canadian bacon for breakfast. Bob had a cold and he was tired and sore, but he took some DayQuil and trooped off to work.

Another hectic day of work, but in a way today was the best day of work so far this week!

During lunch I went to Orlando Ale House and had a salad with unsweetened iced tea.

After 5:00 PM I had to help William load the double-stacked baby combi ovens into his wife's Nissan Armada SUV in the rain. It fit, just barely. Tomorrow he is driving to YeeHaw Junction to transfer them to Bill Peters. Bill drives a Jeep Cherokee. He is supposed to drive them the rest of the way to Hollywood. They aren't going to fit.

A bunch of our straps are walking off with those ovens too.

When I got home, Bob was curled up on the sofa in a blanket. I made him some hot tea with brown sugar in it. I poured some whiskey into the tea too. He went to Publix while I walked Buddy and he got more cold medicine.

I watered the plants on the balcony this evening. Since I fed Miracle Grow to the tomatoes they have really taken off! I am going to feed them again next week.

Tomorrow is the last day that I will have to work the office by myself. It's been hectic, but in someways it's been more peaceful too.

Orlando, FL

It's been hectic these past few days at the office. Oh, I am keeping my head above water, but it's like I am a salmon swimming upstream all day! Oh well, only two more days of it. I think I will make it.

The scale at Publix shows one more pound gone. It seems to go so slowly!

William was in the office most of the day today. He went to the airport to pick up a man from one of our factories, and then he was back in the office all day. He caught a couple of phone calls, but otherwise he wasn't able to do much.

Craig was in town today. Tomorrow he gets on a plane and flies to Burbank to inspect Olive Garden walk-in coolers. He comes back Friday evening, we will see him Monday, and then he flies to Vermont on Tuesday.

Joan Salah said that she can't meet us for dinner on August 4, and she suggested week of August 24 instead. She suggested Tu Tu Tango on I-Drive for the meeting place and said that William was welcome to come with us.

Bob is having a long day of activities. He had Toastmasters this morning, work all day, and his "Kingdom Life" class this evening. Just a few more weeks and he will have his BS Healthcare Administration finished!

Orlando, FL

Got up at 5:30 AM even though I wanted to sleep for a couple more hours. Got my vitamins, then went to the kitchen to count out Bob's pills, make his lunch, and then make some breakfast.

We had fried mild ground Italian sausage with scrambled eggs and cheese poured over it.

Bob went to work, and I took Buddy for his morning walk.

When we got back it was time for my shower. Then I dressed in green slacks and a light green sports shirt and headed to the car.

There were only a couple of new orders this morning, but there were a few quote requests, and I stayed pretty busy. Hectic. Craig was in for a little while, then he headed to the airport for his flight to Dallas. William was in all day, but he was little help with everything that I had to do.

Got a salad from Chik-Fil-A for lunch. It was hot outside. As I was going west on Conroy Road, I noticed an eastbound car flicking its headlights. I slowed down and sure enough, about a mile up ahead there was a motorcycle cop with radar pulling speeders over!

The afternoon was even more hectic than the morning. I got a headache.

I didn't leave the office until around 6:00 PM. Craig asked me if Fay was coming back on Wednesday, and I had to tell him that she would be out all week. I don't think it all registered with him.

This evening we had baked hamburger patties with steamed veggies for dinner. Then we walked Buddy.

I finished the chicken book last night. Tonight I will start the Florence King book Confessions Of A Failed Southern Lady. It's supposed to be satire filled with regional color.

Post 1690

Saturday morning started around 7:30 when I got up, counted out my vitamins, and started a breakfast of goat cheese and roasted pepper omelets with Canadian bacon and a pot of ground Costa Rican shade grown coffee.

Bob took Buddy for his morning walk while I made the breakfast. They walked around the lake and came back. I had half a scoop of dry food topped with a can of Mighty Dog waiting for Buddy when they got back!

Bob had to go out for Toastmasters officer training during the morning. While he was gone I got the dishes cleaned up, made a bowl of tuna salad, a bowl of cucumber salad, and made jar labels and tags for the jam on the computer. He returned around 12:00.

We ate some of the tuna salad on a bed of spinach leaves for lunch, then we went to Woodcraft to see the bench plane sharpening demo being given. We also saw a segmented bowl turning class being given in the classroom. Bob asked about the pre-reqs for this and found that one of the students in this class had never had a turning class before! We are signing him up for the next one offered.

I got a marking gauge and a wet stone holder while we were there, then we headed out to get some kiwi fruit, sugar, pineapple juice, pint and half-pint wide mouth jars, motor oil and oil filter. We had the great luck of finding the only Wal*Mart in Central Florida that does not carry canning supplies - the Casselberry store on 436 does not have any! We had to drive clear out on 50, almost to Alafaya Trail, to a store out there. They had an entire aisle devoted to food preservation!

We stopped at KFC and got a bucket of grilled chicken, and came right home. We ate our chicken dinner, and then I started peeling and slicing kiwi fruit. 10 kiwi fruit diced up, 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup of pineapple juice, a package of powdered pectin, and one hour later we had five half-pints of kiwi jam cooling on the counter top!

I did not use the water bath method this time. I tried the inversion method, and it seems to have worked! All of the jars formed good seals as they cooled off.

With most of the mess cleaned up, we harnessed Buddy up and took him for his walk.

We got to bed around 9:00, but we read for a while. I am about 30 pages from the end of my chicken book.

This morning we took Buddy for his walk, fed him, and then headed out to Daytona Beach.

The first place we went was the house and when we got there we found a note from the Volusia County Courthouse taped to the door and the door lock changed!

We found the sliding door in back changed too. As we came around the side of the house I tried the side door to the garage. There is a deadbolt holding that door securely, but I vainly tried it anyway. Then I asked Bob, "Hey, don't we have a key to this one?" We sure did! Then we were in.

Whoever the bank sent to change the locks went through the rest of the stuff in the house and I guess they had designs on helping themselves to some of it. I am sure glad we rented that truck and got all of the big stuff out of there last weekend! We just beat those bums!

We taped up some more boxes and continued wrapping and boxing knick knacks, CD's, bookshelf stereo, and memorabilia. With some pliers, we were able to take the metal bedframe in the spare bedroom apart. I folded the back seats down in the Xterra and we loaded all of this stuff up.

When we were done we locked the house back up and headed to Halifax Hospital to visit Louise.

Poor Louise. When they took her to the hospital on Thursday night she was only wearing her nightgown. She didn't even have her teeth in! We spent half an hour with her, and then we went to Oaktree to get a couple changes of clothes for her, her teeth, and a copy of the healthcare power-of-attorney.

After eating lunch we went back to visit with her for a couple of hours. Poor girl is not right. She is off her meds and her head is just racing from one thought to the next and she isn't making sense. I just played along with her because she has no idea what she is saying and probably won't remember this. It might take a couple of weeks to get her stabilized again.

On the way out of Daytona I drove. It was raining. We drove to Orlando, and right to the storage facility to pack ever more stuff into the unit. Then we came home. We walked Buddy. I printed my jam jar labels out, and we had salad for dinner.

Now we have finished our Sunday cleaning, it is time for me to shower, and then head to bed. It will be another busy and hectic week for me in the office!

Orlando, FL

We had goat cheese/mozzarella cheese omelets with Canadian bacon for breakfast. Yeah, sorta like Groundhog Day, I know, but it's low in carbs, and high in protein - it keeps me feeling full most of the morning.

After walking dog, I came back to clip my hair off. The hair on my scalp was probably 3/4-inch long, so I took it all down to the skin again.

I was running a little late for work.

The toilet overflowed. It took a while to get it unclogged, and get the mess cleaned up.

I hit every red light on the way to the office.

Work was very hectic. I was turning and burning like crazy for the first four hours. William was in all day, and Craig was in and out, but it was still busy for me. Too busy really.

During lunch I sauteed smoked sausage in olive oil with garlic, then I added sliced peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and squash. It made a very yummy lunch. We had the same thing for dinner.

The lettercarrier brought my package from Amazon.com today. I got The Bucolic Plague in hard back and a paperback copy of Confessions Of A Failed Southern Lady. Just some nice light reading. Right now I am reading a book about keeping and caring for chickens.

Bob has Toastmasters training tomorrow. Then I am not sure what we are going to do.

On Sunday we will go to Daytona to visit Bob's mother. They took her to the hospital this week after taking her off of her medication. She was acting up. I think we have her back on track, and she should be okay by the end of the week.

We are thinking about making kiwi-grapefruit jam for our next canning experiment.

Orlando, FL

On this day in history, 1963, the Kodak Instamatic camera was introduced. I had one of these and used it through the 80's until Kodak stopped making film for it. Mine was an X-15 model and it used the Magicube flash technology. That dates it to sometime after 1970.

Isn't it ironic that today we have telephones that take better pictures?

Also, on this day in history, 1988, Dawndee and George were married in Wilmington, NC. It's been 22 years and it's hard to believe they are still together!

I got up at 5:30 AM and packed a lunch for Bob. I also packed a salad and a box of soup for my own lunch. I did not feel like cooking this morning, so we had Cheerios for breakfast.

The day was a little hectic in the morning as I struggled to get the orders placed and get some of the quote requests caught up. Craig was in and out, but he came back at lunch time so that I could eat my lunch unmolested by the phones. He went back out after lunch, and there were some hectic times in the afternoon too. By now the phones are ringing like crazy and bitchy dealers are phoning in to complain.

I am going to stay in tomorrow during lunch too. After walking Buddy this evening, I went to Publix and got zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, and smoked sausage. I will make a stir fry during lunch. I cut up the rest of it and put it into a bowl. We will have this for dinner too.

Dinner this evening was pan fried shoulder steaks and microwaved/steamed green beans.

Work was hectic enough to make my neck and shoulders hurt. I had Bob step on my back and he was able to make it pop multiple times (usually he isn't heavy enough). It's okay. Payback time for Fay is in September!

Orlando, FL

Yesterday was a mad rush to "catch up" after the long holiday weekend. This was predictable.

Last night we got a surprise phone call from England! John Camp, our friend that owns (for now) the two penthouses on the 23rd floor called to ask a favor. Of course, he waits until close to the end of his phone call to ask for his favor.

Evidently the Florida legislature recently passed a law allowing condo owners who are more than 30 days behind on HOA dues to be locked out of common areas and denied use of community ammenities...

He has a tenant in 2302. On July 4, this big shot lawyer had 10 guests over and they all went downstairs and outside for something. When he tried to come back into the building he found that his key fob would not work! He went to the front desk and was informed of what happened. He also found out that he was not allowed to sign guests in! Well, he was embarrassed big time!

Turns out even though John declared bankruptcy earlier this year, his two penthouses are still being foreclosed. Well, another feature of the law lets the HOA take any rent payments from tenants until the overdue fees are caught up! John is like $20,000 behind right now!

So, by the end of the phone call he pops his request to Bobby - wants us to "loan" his tenant a key fob and sign him up as our "house guest". Bob said, "Well, I am not sure. I need to talk to Vince about this."

Ha!! Vince has a very simple answer, "NO!".

I think John's days of being an international playboy are coming to a close. He isn't going to have a thing to show for all of his efforts - not even a car.

Today was very hectic as well, but for different reasons. I suspect the next few days are going to be rough at work. Fay is going on vacation tomorrow, and Craig will be out on Mon, Tue, Thu, and Fri next week. God forbid I get sick or something!

I climbed out of bed at 5:30 AM, got my vitamins, and then made a sandwich for Bob's lunch. I packed carrot fingers, dates, Oreo cookies, crackers, small can of fruit cocktail, two bottles of sparkling flavored water, and a small box of cranberries into his lunchbox.

Then I made Canadian bacon and omelets for breakfast. Our omelets this morning had goat's milk cheese and asparagus in them. Buddy likes cooked asparagus spears too! Asparagus makes my pee stink!

Lunch today consisted of a KFC Double Down sandwich and green beans. They took the side salad off of their menu. This was my second Double Down and I don't think I am going to order it again - it's too messy. I will just stick with their grilled chicken.

It was 6:15 PM when I finally got home. I made Bob get some dinner ready. He baked hamburger patties and spooned out some of the salad I made yesterday. Then we walked Buddy.

After the walk we layed on the living room floor while I read this week's edition of The Orlando Weekly. Then we put medicine on Buddy's feet to keep them from itching.

Weekend - Post #1686

This was a long holiday weekend, and I don't know about you, but I'm whupped!

On Saturday morning we got up, and I made omelets while Bob took Buddy for his morning walk. Around 8:30 we left to get our monthly grocery shopping done. We went to BJ's Warehouse and picked up $380 in bulk goods (including the cherries that we made jam from), and then we went to Super Target where another $197 was spent.

On the way home we stopped at the Zaxby's drive-thru and got salads for our lunches.

Back home we had to bring everything upstairs and put it all away. That little collapsible handcart sure helps with this. We were able to get it all upstairs in three trips!

It was overcast all day and looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't.

In the afternoon we laid down. Bob napped while I finished reading my biography about Molly Ivins.

On Saturday night, Bob burned a movie to DVD and we watched it in the living room on the 57-inch flat-screen TV. The movie he chose was Panic Room starring Jodie Foster. It had some very suspenseful parts!

After this was finished, it was after 11 PM and we just went to bed.

On Sunday, we had Cheerios for breakfast. Then we took Buddy for his walk. We got the wrist bands that would be required to enter the building later in the day as The Waverly attempts to control the July 4 crowds.

During our walk we saw the small barges on Lake Eola holding the mortars that would fire the pyrotechnics for the display later this evening. TV news reporters were near the barges giving their reports.

After we returned from our walk we started the cherry jam making process (see previous post). This took about three hours.

For lunch I whipped up a guacamole from fresh avocados, unflavored Greek yogurt, lemon juice, diced tomato, garlic salt, pepper, and hot sauce. We ate this on melba toast and sliced peppers.

Around 3:00 PM I got started cleaning up the grill and getting ready to start our dinner. We fired the grill, and got a couple of nice thick steaks ready for it. Also, I wrapped mushrooms and onions in a foil package and put that on the grill with the steaks. Two small sweet potatoes went into the microwave.

The steaks took about 20 minutes to grill. They turned out very good - medium-well.

It started to rain while we were grilling.

We continued to waste time at the computers during the afternoon. Around 6:00 PM we took Buddy for his evening walk.

At 8:30 PM, I called Buddy and pushed Benedryl caplets into his meaty dog treats. He hungrilly ate these (he did discover the pill in one of them, and I had to make him swallow it). Then we moved his bed into the master bath and put a classical music CD in the player in that room. It would be better for him to endure the fireworks display this way.

The fireworks show started promptly at 9:30 PM and lasted about 20 minutes. We had front-row seats on the balcony for this!

After the show was over we let the dog out and went to lay down. I opened up the blinds in our bedroom so that we could watch all of the distant fireworks displays to the south of us.

Below on the street it was confusion. Lots and lots of people walking to their cars, lots of cars clogging the streets to get out of downtown and back home. Compounded by the fact that some of those attendees only come downtown like twice a year!

Today we slept in until 8:30 AM. We made goat's milk cheese and spinach omelets with Canadian bacon broiled with sugar-free apricot mustard jam. Yum!

We took Buddy for his muggy morning walk after breakfast.

Later we gathered up the box of read books, and went to the car to drive to our storage units. I loaded the books into my storage unit, then we took some containers of stuff belonging to Bob out of my unit, put them into the car, and carried them to the building to put into Bob's storage space. It was warm and humid, and I was sweating hard from this little bit.

After Public Storage we went back downtown and visited Ace Hardware. Here I bought three boxes of regular size canning lids, and some one-gallon bathroom trash can liners.

Then we drove to North Orange Blossom Trail to visit Fairvilla Video. It's been a long time since I was in there, and I just wanted to see if they had anything new.

We took Buddy for a walk around Lake Eola this afternoon. It was very overcast and looked like it would rain, but it didn't. Then we came home and I made a cool tomato-mozzarella-basil salad.

Now we have cleaned the floors and gotten the house ready for another (thankfully, short) week of work.

Cherry Jam

This morning we made eight (8) half pints and eight (8) pints of cherry jam and canned it. We will run through the steps required to make cherry jam below.

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Step 1. Gather all of the ingredients together.

• 6 pounds of cherries
• 4 packs of Certo pectin
• 12-1/2 cups of sugar
• 4 Tbsp of lemon juice

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Step 2. Gather all of the needed tools.

• 20 quart pot with lid
• 20 quart pot with jar rack
• 2 quart sauce pan
• jar lifting clamp
• lid magnet
• jar filling funnel
• knife/cutting board
• 2 quart bowl
• measuring spoons
• 2 cup measuring cup
• long handled wooden spoon
• a towel for hot jars to cool on
• jars, lids, and rings
  

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Step 3. Remove lids from jars and sanitize the jars for use.

I put the lids into the 2 quart sauce pan and covered them with water. Then I put the jars into the dish washer and ran a wash cycle.

If you use the Hot Air Dry feature on the dish washer, the machine will keep your jars hot until it is time to pack the jam.

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Step 4. Over the sink, split and remove the pits from the cherries. This is a very messy step and the cherry juice stains. You may wish you wear gloves to keep your fingers from staining. Wear a shirt you don't mind staining, or use an apron.

Here I am pitting the cherries with my fingers and wearing the same t-shirt I use to change the oil in the truck!

You can even buy special "cherry pitters" for this job on eBay.

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Step 5. Chop the cherries into 1/4-inch pieces.


Be on the look out for any missed cherry pits.

Bob used a knife and cutting board, but some people use their food processor or even a blender for this step.

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Step 6. Mix the chopped, pitted, cherries together with the 12-1/2 cups of sugar, and 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in the deep 20 quart aluminum pot.

Stir and bring to a boil. You want a LONG wooden spoon for this because you do not want hot jam to splash on you.

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Step 7. When the mix comes to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, add the Certo pectin to the mix and then stir continuously for 60 seconds.

At the end of 60 seconds remove the pot from the heat.

Bring the 2 quart sauce pot holding the lids to a boil and then turn the heat off.

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Step 8. Using a heat-resistant cup, fill the jars leaving 1/4-inch of head space at the top.

If you have a cup that can hang on the side of pot by its handle, that is even better.

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Step 9. Immediately ensure that the rim is clean and place the lid and holding ring on and screw down hand tight. Set aside on the towel.

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Step 10. Bring the water bath to a boil and submerge the jars in the boiling water. Keep them under the boiling water for 10 minutes.

Some people say this step isn't necessary if you pack hot jam into hot jars, put the lids on, and immediately invert the jars. But I do it just to be sure.

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Step 11. Remove the jars from the water bath and set to cool on the towel.

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Step 12. Tighten the rings down on the jars and let them cool for 24 hours.

Orlando, FL

My day started at 5:30 AM, and I did not make breakfast - we had eggs and Canadian bacon, but I did not feel like cooking, and there wasn't even enough Cheerios to fill one bowl. We will take care of the dearth of food in the house tomorrow when we go grocery shopping.

The day was drizzling in the morning and then overcast the rest of the day. It was easy to imagine that we lived in London.

Bob came by the office at 11:30 on his way back to Main from Celebration. We went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch and had soup and salad.

FER-Orlando brought in $165k this week. Hollywood finally beat us with $337k in sales. About time.

Due to the slow phones and the long holiday weekend, we closed early. Hollywood left at 1:30 PM and we closed up and went home at 2:30 PM.

Dinner tonight was zucchini meatloaf. After walking Buddy we gave him his July 2010 Comfortis tablet and his heartworm medicine-in-a-treat.

I am only 80 pages from the end of Molly Ivins - A Rebel Life. I will finish it this weekend.

We need to stop by the pharmacy and get some Benedryl caplets. These help sedate the dog and we will give them to him about an hour before the Fireworks At The Fountain display starts on Sunday. He is going to be confined to the master bathroom with soothing music playing while we enjoy the fireworks from the balcony.

Orlando, FL

We overslept this morning! I opened my eyes and saw that the clock said 6:00 AM! I jumped up, got my vitamins, and hurried to start breakfast. We had scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon for breakfast.

As soon as we finished breakfast, it was time to walk Buddy. He really enjoys his walks.

It was 7:00 AM when I got back home and time to jump into the shower and then dress for work. I wore khahi slacks and a yellow sports shirt to work today.

I took some Sudafed and Claritin when I got to my desk.

We are having weak sales this week. Craig said that we shouldn't worry because Hollywood is having a strong week.

The day went by for me fairly quickly. My head didn't hurt and I didn't OD on the Sudafed like I did yesterday. There was a strong thunderstorm in the late afternoon. It rained hard and there was some lightning. I had to drive home through the rain. Temperatures came down from this though.

When I got home I heard that Bob had a rough day at work with the spineless supervisors. We busied ourselves unloading the dishwasher and then putting the dishes in the sink inside. Next we pulled the little bit of food left out of the fridge and cleaned the refrigerator good.

We will buy a big load of groceries on Saturday. It is easier to clean the fridge out before you put tons of food inside.

Tomorrow is Friday, the first day of a long weekend, and it's about damned time!