Orlando, FL

Happy Halloween!

It started out raining in the morning. It tricked us away from the house by only drizzling lightly and then when we were three blocks away the bottom fell out of it! Buddy and I were soaked.

Later, after lunch, it cleared up nicely. The sun came out and it turned into a really pleasant afternoon.

Bob made White Bean Chicken Chili for dinner and it was tasty! Maybe a little too spicy this time. I don't know. I just know that my stomach was upset for the rest of the evening.

I get paid tonight! Yay for me!!

Weekend

This weekend sure went by fast!

On Saturday morning Bob put on a raincoat and took Buddy for the morning walk while I made scrambled eggs with onions, Canadian bacon, and coffee for breakfast.

I had a towel ready for Buddy when they got back so his feet and fur could be dried out.

Temps are nice and cool - because of? despite the? rainy/cloudy weather.

After we got the dishes cleared away we went to Lowe's to get a new light bulb for the kitchen lamp. We browsed the whole store while we were there. I got a 5-gallon bucket because I am going to drain the cooling system in the truck and replace the radiator hoses next weekend. Then we got lunch at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.

I dropped Bob off at Wal*Mart and he went inside to get heavy cream, eggs, and cheese. Just enough to get us to next weekend. I will be paid Monday night and we will go grocery shopping next weekend. After Wal*Mart we went to Staples where Bobby got a magenta printer cartridge using the one-day-only 15% off coupon.

Then we headed home.

Skies cleared up, but it remained cool outside.

We didn't eat a dinner. We just got snacks.

This morning Bob said he wanted waffles, so I checked my wallet, and counted out the change in the valet dish, and went over to Publix to get a box of Aunt Jemima blueberry waffles for $2.25. When I got back, Bob and Buddy went out.

We had mild ground sausage with waffles and coffee for breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the storage unit to put stuff inside, and take stuff out that needs to go to the trash.

Bob got an offer for the two TV's from someone on Craig's List! He's going to pay with a bank cashier's check and send a mover to pick up the TV sets.

This afternoon Bob spent some time on the balcony with his lathe and grinder. He's finishing up another pepper/salt? grinder.

Clocks go BACK tonight, so we get an extra hour of sleep tonight! Tomorrow is Halloween, but we are seeing plenty of costumed freaks on the street this weekend.

Orlando, FL

Today was a long and wet day.

I didn't sleep so well because it was warm in the house last night - the building cooling tower went down for some reason during the night.

When I got down to the street with Buddy we found it sprinkling and the sidewalks and street were wet. As it turns out, it rained all day long.

After taking Buddy back in from his walk and feeding him, I went down to the garage to get the truck started. I was not successful. It's so dim in the garage I couldn't even SEE the starter, so I went back to the house and got my lantern out of the closet.

With the help of the lantern I was able to see the starter is on the DRIVER side of the truck - not the passenger side like all of my other cars. I was surprised to see how small the starter is. I had considered changing the starter myself, but there is interference above and below the starter and figured it might be better to let the mechanic handle it.

I rapped on it a couple of times with an oil filter wrench and got inside to try starting again. Click. Click. Click. Then it almost started as the starter turned! On my next try it fired up!

I left it running while I went upstairs to shower and dress for work. Then I got Bob and we headed out. We stopped at Publix where I withdrew cash from savings to pay for the starter replacement, and I got some bottled water. Then we headed to Navy Federal Credit Union in Oviedo to deposit a check in the ATM.

On the way to the credit union we stopped at Exxon and filled the tank. Even though you are supposed to shut your car off for fueling, we did not out of fear we would not get it started again!

After making the deposit we headed to FER. We stopped at McDonalds to get breakfast and Bob dropped me at the office. I was about 30 minutes late. Fay figured I was having car trouble.

Bob took the truck straight to Sears Auto Center (it opens at 8:00 AM) to get the starter changed. He was there until 11:00 AM, then he came home and did the laundry.

It rained all day. It was dark, gloomy, and gray. Temps were a little cooler.

Work was continuously busy today. A little hectic, actually.

The excitement at work today was the owner of Dogmatic came in for a ConvoTherm demo in the Test Kitchen. William feels that the demo went very well.

Orlando brought in $382k and Hollywood brought in $395k - a very good week!

Bob showed up at 5:00 PM to take me home and we finished another challenging week.

This weekend we intend to install a new light fixture in the dining room, go to Lowe's for more stuff, and if it clears up, maybe walk some more of the West Orange Trail.

Orlando, FL

Sales continue to go well at FER. We've made up for our poor results last week.

This morning I had a hard time getting the truck started. You can hear the solenoid clicking loudly, but the starter doesn't turn. During lunch I took the truck to Sears (where I bought the battery) and had them check it out.

The battery is fine. The alternator is fine. The starter is worn out. They quoted me $229 to replace the starter. That is going to have to be done soon because it is getting harder and harder to get the truck started.

Oh well, that starter lasted 15 years.

Bob rode to Tampa today with John Camp to visit a doctor at USF as part of his disability claim. He got home a few minutes before me, and dinner was already done because he prepared it this morning and programmed the oven to start cooking it 30 minutes before we got home.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday. I hope the truck starts tomorrow.

Orlando, FL

The week at work has gotten off to a good start. Sales are moderately strong.

I got a new bag of Natural Balance™ venison and sweet potato dog food for Buddy on Monday. His ears have cleared up completely and I have cut him back to 1 anti-histimine tablet per day. If he continues to improve, I will cut the pill out next week.

The weather has continued to be moderate and dry. It feels nice!

We had lamb chops with mixed vegetables for dinner and then we took Buddy for his walk. It was almost dark when we got back. It's getting dark earlier! I think the clocks get moved back this next weekend.

Sunday

These weekends are too short. This one has flown by.

This morning we slept in til 8:00. The noise of the dog crying woke us up. Bob harnessed Buddy and took him for his walk while I prepared breakfast.

Once the sun was up over the house, we carried Bob's grinder and lathe out to the balcony where he continued to work on his project.

In the afternoon we counted up change from our valet dish and the ashtray in the truck and got $4.40. We walked to the Farmer's Market and bought some squash to make for dinner later this week.

When we got back Bob continued working on his project and I browned some stew beef and opened a jar of vegetable soup stock we canned in August. I added canned potatoes, diced tomatoes and red beans to this to make a very hearty soup for dinner.

We packed up a bunch of Buddy's old food into a ziploc bag and took it with us during our evening walk. We fed the turtles and birds in the lake during our walk.

Now we are finishing our weekly house keeping chores. Another week starts tomorrow.

Weekend

Okay! We made it to another weekend!

A cold front came through here on Thursday and temps dropped to 53°F on Thursday night. On Friday evening it went down to 54°F. I brought my fan home from the office and set it in the hallway to blow cool air to the bedroom.

Sales at FER could have been better. Orlando did something like $114k and Hollywood did $289k. I guess the good weeks and the not-so-good weeks balance out.

I sent Sis a Happy Birthday on her Facebook page yesterday. I was going to call her, but Mom said that George was taking her out tonight.

Today we went to Northern Tool & Supply to browse, then we went to Lowe's to make a purchase on Bob's credit card to keep his account active. After that we walked through the cheap Chinese tool store (Harbor Freight) and got a lunch at Wendy's.

We drove to our storage unit to put stuff away and Bob got his old Atari out to clean up. He's going to put that on eBay.

I used Gunk Engine Brite to clean off the truck engine when we got home. I parked in the car wash and hosed all of the stuff out of the engine compartment. I filled up the radiator overflow tank too.

During the afternoon he worked on his wood project on the lathe. He was doing great until the 1-1/16" Forstner bit got stuck in the block of wood because the chips were not cleared out behind it. We scraped and scraped everything out behind it, but we could not get it all out.

Eventually we turned the block around and drilled with a 1/2" bit from the other end. This ended up pushing the bit back out. Since it was getting dark, we stopped for the day and cleaned up.

Dinner was a shared can of Dinty Moore stew with some fruit cocktail.

I am tired now. I will probably sleep soundly tonight!

Orlando, FL

The past couple of days have been fairly quiet at work. We got a little rain, but nothing like the TV forecaster predicted.

Now, a cold front has come in and temps are lower and humidity is low again. In fact, it's supposed to go down to 53° tonight, so I think we are going to turn the AC off and open the balcony door.

Buddy's ears have really cleared up now that we have him on his new food. When I get paid I will get a large bag of that stuff.

Craig was in the office yesterday, but today he had to go to Tallahassee to visit a LongHorn Steakhouse with a Delfield problem, then he had to run all the way to south Florida to attend a culinary school opening. Lots of travel.

William was at 3-Wire all day doing a parts inventory. They both need to come back to Orlando and visit our dealers - we are sucking for orders this week!

We had to leave for the office early so that we could fill the gas tank in the truck. Bob kept the truck today so he could pick up his MRI pictures at Florida Hospital and then volunteer at SPCA in the afternoon.

Dinner was pork chops and mixed veggies.

Tomorrow is Friday and it's Dawndee's birthday. Yay!

Orlando, FL

I heard it raining during the night. Rain pattering against the windows in the middle of the night. It was wet on the street when I took Buddy outside.

Today was mostly overcast and it is forecast to really storm tonight. There is a bunch of tropical moisture coming in from the southwest and a cold front is coming in from the northwest.

During lunch I went to Midas to get the cracked exhaust pipe welded back up. "Everything altogether should be about $106.00"

"What?!!! That seems a little high! Take the truck down off of the lift - I don't have that kind of money for this."

"Hold on fella, lemme see if I can take anything off of that estimate. I think we can take $12 off for the shop supplies charge."

"What are 'Shop Supplies'?"

"Well, that's for the paper floor mat we put in your car, and the welding rod, stuff like that..."

"Let's see if we can shave that price down a little more."

By the time we were done it came to $62. He still screwed me, but it wasn't as painful as it could have been. The truck sounds like a normal car again.

Orlando, FL

I had a hard time getting the truck to start this morning. The battery has plenty of juice to start, but the starter isn't cooperating. I think the solenoid is going bad.

Work today was rather quiet. I answered 7 phone calls all day.

Craig was in St Augustine with Florida School Nutrition Association for some presentation he has to give.

It was sunny today and cooler. I guess Fall is finally here. It clouded up in the afternoon like it was going to rain, but it never did.

Dinner tonight was white bean chicken chili - yummy!

Weekend

Saturday morning we got up around 7:30 AM. Bob took Buddy for his morning walk and I made omelets with Canadian bacon and coffee for breakfast.

Around 10:30 we went to Dansk Farms to attend an apiary demonstration. We sat through a lengthy question and answer period, and then watched as the beekeeper smoked a hive and opened it up. Then he removed one of the frames to show us just how crowded with bees it was inside. He removed one of the drone bees so that the visitors could get a closer look.

Later we made our way back to the farm store where he demonstrated how the frames are put into the extractor and spun to remove the honey.

After this it was almost 2:00 PM, so we stopped in Winter Park to get lunch at Subway. They are running an "Any Regular Footlong $5" special.

We swung by the house to get some stuff to put into storage and we harnessed Buddy up and let him come with us. After visiting the storage unit to put stuff in and take stuff out (Bob is making sure his old RCA SelectaVision works before selling it) we went to Woofgang Bakery in Doctor Phillips to get some more canine ear wash and some dog food that will hopefully be less allergenic to the dog. We settled on venison and sweet potato flavored food.

Buddy seems to like his new food okay. We also put him in the tub and did the ear wash with him. He hates the ear wash, but this morning his ears looks much better - less inflamed and the rash clearing up. He is also taking Benedryl™ three times a day.

I hope we can clear his ear problem up with something as simple as changing his food - even if the new food is more expensive.

This morning we had cheese omelets with Canadian bacon and coffee for breakfast. After the dishes were cleared away we moved the lathe and grinder out to the balcony and Bob worked on his turning project for a while.

We grilled steaks outside in our little charcoal grill and had those with steamed veggies for dinner. Then we took Buddy for his evening walk. The temps are moderate today and the humidity is way down.

Back to the grind stone tomorrow.

Orlando, FL

Today was a quiet day at the office. Craig was in Plantation, FL today and William was in Ocala, FL today.

I took 8 - 10 phone calls all day. One call from from City Of Orlando Wastewater Department reminding us it was time to have the grease trap pumped again.

I told Fay about this and she call Lapin Services up. They sent a truck over two hours later and pumped it out.

Our grease interceptor is about 20 gallons and is a very small gray steel box next to the sink. We are required to have one since we have commercial food service equipment in our kitchen. Nevermind that we never have any kind of grease accumulation inside it.

Sales for the week were very good. We did $374k, and Hollywood brought in over $500k. A very good week indeed.

For dinner we had beanie weanie then we took Buddy for his walk. Buddy seems to be having another bad ear outbreak. We are going to take him to the pet herbal remedy shop in Dr. Phillips tomorrow to see if they have anything that might help him.

Orlando, FL

The dog is shaking his head a lot again. We've put him on Benedryl™ three times a day to get his ears dried out.

Work today was easy. Another week is almost gone!

This evening we had sloppy joes for dinner. Then Buddy got his walk and we gave him more antihistimine and used more ear wash on him.

It will be just me and Fay tomorrow - Craig is going to South Florida, and William is going to Ocala. Then it will be the weekend again! Yay!

Orlando, FL

The rains have finally stopped. The humidity has returned.

The week has gotten off to a good start at FER, but Craig seems to be very irritated with the bullshit that Manitowoc requires of us. Sometimes the requirements are so ridiculous I just sit back and chuckle.

We had White Bean Chicken Chili for dinner this evening and then we took Buddy for a walk around the lake.

There really isn't a whole lot going on here to write about. We keep watching the Occupy Wall Street protest and are thinking about attending the Occupy Orlando rally here, but the local event won't have the dedication that the New York people are showing. Hell, maybe we will go and take pictures of all of the signs!

Weekend

It was a good weekend to stay inside. It rained all weekend. Monsoon like at times. We were disappointed that the 2011 Gay Pride Parade had to be canceled, but honestly, we really didn't want to go stand in the rain to watch it.

Besides, with all that rain coming down, you know the drag queens weren't going to be a pretty sight!

So we hung around in the house and listened to the radio, surfed the Internet, de-frosted the freezer, and read books. Around 2:00 PM we went to Metro Espresso Pizza to get lunch.

During the freezer de-icing/de-frosting I managed to cut my knuckles up really good. Those aluminum fins on the evaporator is sharp! I noticed the cuts when I saw streaks of blood on the white ABS walls of the freezer.

It rained most of today too. It began to clear a little around 3:00 PM, but I am sure the Farmers' Market got rained out too. At least Buddy got one dry walk today.

We are finishing up our weekly house cleaning right now. Bob is putting some Mop-N-Glo on the kitchen floor. In a few minutes I am going to put Buddy into the tub and give him some ear wash. He hates that.

Orlando, FL

TGIF!!

Another hectic day... not quite all day, but certainly all morning.

It rained a couple of times today. I think this was the first rain we've had in over a week.

I stayed in during lunch and ate left over pork chops and lima beans.

All of the hard work paid off this week for the Orlando office. We almost brought in $300k this week. Hollywood didn't do quite as well.

Tomorrow we are going to defrost our freezer. Then Bob is going to work on his turning project. In the afternoon we are going to attend the 2011 Gay Pride Parade. After that we might find our way over to City Hall to watch the free B52's concert.

Orlando, FL

Bob had to report to the courthouse for jury duty yesterday. I dropped him off at the courthouse on my way to work.

As it turns out, he did not get chosen for duty, and he walked back home from the court.

Today was very hectic at work. I felt like my throttle was wide open all morning. I had to go out at lunch to get away from the phones. I went and bought a tank of gasoline for the truck.

This evening we had pork chops and green beans for dinner. Later we took Buddy for his walk.

I am glad tomorrow is Friday. This has been quite a week.

Orlando, FL

Another good day. It was dry and sunny again.

During lunch Fay, William and I went to Ruby Tuesday to celebrate my birthday (Oct. 2) and William's birthday (Oct. 4). I had salad bar with Ruby mini burgers.

I can already feel a big difference in the traction when I drive the truck. The new tires are making a difference. Now, I need to get the noisy exhaust welded up again. Next month I will get belts, hoses, and shocks changed.

This evening we had a tossed salad with a little sauteed chicken breast meat for dinner. Then, after reading for a little while, we took Buddy for his evening walk.

On the way back up to the house we stopped to check the mail. There were good things in the mail this evening! There was a copy of Fine Woodworking magazine in there. My 2011-2012 registration and stickers were in there. Bob's tax refund check was in there!

Orlando, FL

Today was a good day. Fay stayed down the hall in her doghouse, and I stayed up front, and we got along just fine!

Bob kept the truck today and took it to Firestone at 11:00 to get four new tires.

Weather was sunny and not-too-warm. Cloudless skies and lots of sunshine.

Fay took off right at 5:00 PM because she had an HOA board meeting. About two minutes later Bob drove up in my truck and he brought Buddy with him!

This evening we ordered Chinese take-out for dinner from Szechuan Empire and it was good!

Happy Birthday !!

Happy (43rd) Birthday to me!!

We started the day with a morning dog walk. Then while Buddy was happily eating his breakfast, we snuck out the door and went to McDonald's to get a quick breakfast. Then we went over to BJ's Warehouse to start grocery shopping.

The total at BJ's came to about $265. Then we went over to Super Target to finish our shopping. We spent another $200 there. Then it was done. We brought the loot home and carried it upstairs in four trips.

Bob surprised me throughout the day with small wrapped birthday presents. I got a couple of books - "Let It Rot", a guide to composting, the Howard Resh definitive book on hydroponic agriculture, a 173-piece drill bit set, and a heated seed germinating kit (pictured here)!

After I balanced the checkbook we went back out to get new tires for the truck. We went to Firestone. The back tires definitely need to be replaced, but I told the salesman that if the prices was right, I would replace all four.

As it turns out, the tire that the truck has on it now is being discontinued. The salesman only had one in stock, but said he could have all four tomorrow. He said the price would be $55 per tire (including installation, balance, and new valve stems) because the tire is being discontinued. Bob will take the truck over tomorrow to have this done.

I need to have the exhaust welded on again too. The pipe has cracked just behind the catalytic converter. It's nice having a stainless steel exhaust that does not rust, but you need a welder know whats what he's doing to weld it correctly.

We had Quizno's for lunch. That was easy and tasty. May as well enjoy it because after buying the tires, I will be broke again. It doesn't take long.

Now we are finishing up our housecleaning. I slept long enough this weekend, but I don't feel like I got enough rest. Ugghh.

Weekend

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday NASA (53 years)!
Happy Birthday Walt Disney World (40 years)!
Happy Birthday Bob Mihaley (49 years)!

The week ended on a high note for FER - over $1.3M in sales! Yes, hopefully it will be a Green Christmas!

I went to lunch at Bahama Breeze in Lake Buena Vista yesterday and met Ana Velazquez there. She had a big salad and I had fish tacos. Ana had a $10 coupon, so our bill only came to $20.09. It was fun to catch up with Ana.

Last night Bob had a home made ice cream cake ready for my birthday. It was couple of days early but we ate some anyway.

This morning we walked Buddy and then we went to Fairbanks Diner to get breakfast. After breakfast we went to Woodcraft where I got Bobby a diamond honing tool for his grinding wheels and a block of rosewood for turning.

One more stop at Petsmart to get some liver treats for Buddy and then we came home.

I balanced my checkbook, paid my bills, and had a little money left over - there was $500 bonus this month. I want to get the two rear tires on my truck replaced and I need to buy groceries.

This evening we went to The Greek Corner for dinner. It was very good and I ended up stuffed! Tomorrow is my birthday, but the only thing we have planned is a trip to the grocery store.