Archives October 2014

Yesterday was quite the mental fatiguing day.  Throughout the day there was more tension, concern and drama associated with the blowout I had Tuesday with the running club.  I fielded several phone calls from other board members expressing concern and looking for answers to the problems that were brought front and center.  Later in the afternoon I agreed to have a meeting after work with just the officers of the running club as opposed to the full board.

I spent a lot of time preparing a worksheet that outlined what went down, why it bothered me and what my proposals were to fix it moving forward.  I made multiple copies of it and planned to use it as a handout but I never did pass them around, instead I only used it sparingly for my own reference.  We didn’t really dig into the details of what lead to up to the blowout even though I had it fully documented.  In retrospect it wasn’t all that important anyway.  I think all parties involved felt badly about how things got out of control.

Anyway, after  about a half hour of discussion we came to a resolution that included some changes going forward which should address a lot of what has been going on that has been aggravating me.  I think everyone was happy with the outcome and the stormy waters have settled down.

I used an XL coffee before the meeting to give me artificial energy as I was feeling very tired from a poor nights sleep.  After the meeting I grabbed a single beer with the club VP where we talked more about mostly club related stuff.  I was glad that we got the conflict worked out and hopefully it will lead to a less bumpy road in the future.

By the time I got home I was exhausted.  Lucky for me, I still had to do do some server work for the office remotely before I could officially call it quits for the day.

Unfortunately my sleep last night was not as long as I hoped.  Around 4AM I woke up after an odd dream.  I had just come home and walked out the rear slider.  To my right I saw a guy that was in the process of digging a huge hole with a shovel.  The chickens were also running around loose.  The guy approaches me with a smile on his face but I have no idea who he is, why he is digging a hole in my yard and why the chickens are loose.  I angrily say to him “Who are you and why would you think it’s ok to dig a hole in my yard or let my chickens out??”  just as I said that, Sadie, who ran out with me took a couple quick steps towards the chickens.  As I reached out to stop her in my dream I reached out in real life, which woke me up.  Once that happened I was unable to fall back asleep so I got up around 4:30.

This weekend we have a Halloween Party we are going to Saturday night.  Cindy has gone all out in the costume creation department.  She has put an incredible amount of thought and work into our garb, especially mine.  She loves making costumes.  It should make for some interesting pictures for sure.

On my way home last night I saw a number of vehicles slowing down.  I saw the reason for the deceleration, a live turtle was on the road.  I saw a line of cars about 100 feet behind me and made a command decision to stop dead in my tracks to create a turtle safety barrier and threw on the 4 way flashers.  This was a side road with something like a 35 mph speed limit.  I would have not attempted the same maneuver on a major roadway.  I hopped out of the truck and approached the turtle, what I would categorize as a snapper that was not that big.  He was fully retracted but his shell looked intact which I was glad to see.  I later looked this type of turtle up, it’s actually called a Florida Softshell Turtle and is not a snapper at all, it just bites like one.

So I picked him up and made it to the median before he started thrashing about violently.  He was small enough that his feet could reach my hands that were on either side of his shell.  As he scratched me he was also throwing his head around, trying to find anything he could bite.  It got bad enough that I sat him down but he immediately tried to head back into the roadway so I cut him off.

He again retracted into his shell as I reached down and picked him up again.  As I did I told him to not be stupid, I was trying to help him.  I must speak turtle because this time he remained passive as I carried him to the waterway 75 feet away.    Another successful turtle mission was in the books.

I beat Cindy home last night so I tended to the chickens.  When I was done, instead of getting them back in the coop I told Cindy we should let them run around some more since they love it so much.  I told Cindy I would put them in later.  Well the rest of my evening became consumed with some running club drama that made me totally forget that the chickens were still outside.  In fact I did not remember until Cindy told me when she went out to check on the hens this morning they were waiting at the screen door to greet her.

I felt terrible and couldn’t believe I forgot about them.  I also felt lucky they survived the night intact from predators.  Evidently the chickens did still retreat to their coop overnight based on the chicken poop in there this morning.  Still, it was a big brain fart that can’t happen again.

So anyway like I referenced above there was a lot of drama last night that was running club related.  For quite awhile there have been problems going on that have been treated with band aids instead of stitches.  As a result the wound continues to ooze.  Anyway, last nights drama resulted in me ripping the band aids off and has opened the door to me potentially divorcing myself from the dozens of responsibilities I have carried for the club for approaching 9 years.  The fact that things have been allowed to even get to this point just further illustrates the problem.   I don’t know yet what the ultimate end result will be but the idea of relieving myself of literally tons of work and responsibility sounds pretty appealing.  My sense of responsibility to others not involved in the drama does however weigh on my mind.

This morning I had my 6 month dental check up.  As is often the case I got a clean bill of health but I still need to return to the office in two weeks to get drilled. WTF, you may ask?  When I was growing up I did a very poor job of taking care of my teeth.  As a result my mouth had enough silver fillings in it to make a roll of quarters.  My dentist down here, whom is great, went on a silver filling crusade several years back and replaced all of my silver fillings with a composite material which supposedly is much better.  Well she replaced all of my fillings but one, that one is the reason I will be subjected to power tools in my mouth in two weeks.

My dentist does a good job of making sure that she numbs up any area that will be worked on however that doesn’t shield me from the sounds and smells associated with drilling teeth.  I am not a fan of any part of the experience.  Supposedly the remaining filling is small so it should be a pretty quick thing.  Regardless I’ll be glad to get the last piece of precious metal out of my mouth.

Cindy has been working very hard on our costumes for the Halloween party we are attending this weekend.  She is really good at designing this stuff.  I appreciate all the effort she is putting into this Halloween to make it fun, compared to most Halloweens past that were non-events.  Of course I can’t reveal what we are going as but I am pretty sure people will think it’s cool.

I forgot to mention last night the doorbell rang.  When it did I was sitting in my office, in my underwear as I had already taken a shower.  My front door has a window on the top half of it so I had no way to slip past it without whomever was on the other side seeing I was wearing boxers.  So I had no choice but to answer it.

I positioned my feet well behind the edge of the door and leaned awkwardly at an angle, keeping my lower body hidden from view.  Standing outside was a woman with a younger attractive girl that might have been her daughter.  Before I even opened the door I saw she had pamphlets in her hand so I knew this was more likely an offer for religious salvation.

I opened the door and said hi.  The woman introduced herself with her name and the other girls name before she started the speech.  I let her continue until she reached her first pause, which was when she asked me something about if I ever thought about what awaited me in the kingdom thereafter.  I told her no, I don’t think about it and I’m not religious.  I politely thanked them for stopping by but told them I was not interested.  The woman took the hint and marked my soul off as damned I suppose.

Cindy came up right at the tail end of the interaction.  She said she would have liked to interact with the woman some to discuss their views.  Cindy suspected they were Jehovah Witness.  Do they have the magic underpants?  I can’t keep it straight.

So yesterday after work I made a spur of the moment decision to go get an Iphone 6.  My Iphone 5 is still in good working condition but the larger screen and better camera the 6 has is appealing to me.  I figured enough time had passed from the initial hysteria that walking in and picking up a phone should not be a problem.  I was so confident in this assertion that I did not even bother calling the Apple Store ahead of time to verify they had phones in stock.

Well of course you already know where this is leading, they had no phones.  I did at least get some info while I was there.  I had made another assumption, that my 2 year contract was up which would qualify me for the promotional rate.  I did not verify this online, it just felt like two years had passed.  This assumption was incorrect as well, my contract isn’t up until February.

Ironically, my reluctance to remove mom’s phone from my family plan will serve me well in this situation as that line has been eligible for an upgrade for a couple years, I can simply utilize it to upgrade my phone instead.

I also find it interesting that the memory configurations for the Iphone 6 jumps from 16 gig to 64 gig with no middle ground.  Since I currently have a 32 gig Iphone 5 I obviously will be steered towards the 64 gig model.  Oh well you never can have too much storage space. So my new plan is to call first before wasting the time and gas to drive back to the Apple Store.  The “genius” I talked to said they get shipments several times a week but for some reason he is unable to tell me exactly when or how many phones that will be.  He basically said they don’t know what will show up which I found as odd.

I am still having issues with soreness in southern regions that seems to be aggravated when I do heavy, strenuous activity at the gym.  I went through the morning feeling fine.  I went through the afternoon, after some very difficult bench press reps, with increasing soreness, culminated with me shuffling around in pain by the time I got home.  To say it is irritating is an understatement, no pun intended.

I suppose if I eliminated heavy lifting and running from my fitness routine that it could possibly make a difference but I really don’t want to do that.  I think I have fallen into the trap where I am treating symptoms instead of the cause.  I am doing an analysis of everything that is different in the last 7 months diet and exercise-wise and reversing those changes to see if things smooth out.

So the weather on Saturday morning was agreeable for tree trimming with temps in the mid 60’s.  After Cindy returned from a coffee run with the girls we got started.  I had a number of weapons in my tree trimming arsenal. They included loppers, a machete, pole saw, electric extension chain saw and finally a cordless reciprocating saw.  To get among the tree tops I used my 20 foot aluminum extension ladder which will probably need to be swapped out next year for a taller model.  Certain trees are now of sufficient height to require the ladder to be fully extended with me dangerously perched near the top.

Early on it felt like Cindy and I were really knocking things out, we had the front trees done pretty quickly and another bunch of them done in the back before lunch.  I pretty much exclusively just cut branches while Cindy was the clean up crew.  Picking up branches and dumping them in the pit at the back of the house obviously doesn’t have the danger factor of working up on the ladder but it is ass busting all the same.  Cindy picked up hundreds of branches/fronds along with all of the assorted organic matter that comes off the tree during the process.

I had a couple scary moments where I was at the top of the ladder and suddenly felt my center of balance moving away from the tree.  Those situations are due to needing the ladder to be in a very vertical angle to get the necessary height.  This angle means my body is very close to the tree which causes the tenuous balance issues.  On the very tallest trees I dropped the loppers and cut the branches with the reciprocating saw which I could operate one handed, using the other hand to hold on.

The machete comes into play to remove the remains of palm fronds past.  Over time they start to rot and get brittle.  The machete is the tool of choice to remove them from the trunk of the tree.  This is a pretty messy process, especially if you are down wind.  As I would hack into the dead wood I would be showered in rotting wood, ants, and other random organic matter.   It was pretty gross.

In the afternoon both Cindy and I started to slow down.  Even though the temperatures were still quite reasonable by Florida standards, around 80 degrees, the bright sun felt much hotter.  I started to feel more like I was trudging around the yard instead of walking.  Even Energizer bunny Cindy admitted she was running low on energy towards the end.  It is just hard, hard labor, which makes me wonder how I did all the trimming and all the clean up solo for so many years.

We didn’t get everything cleaned up until shortly before 4PM.  During clean up Cindy had pulled out various things to be used for Halloween costumes/decorations.  One of the things she set aside were the huge seed pod casings from the coconut palm.  Later in the weekend she turned them into this cool looking spider in the front yard.  I love her random, spontaneous creativity that results in stuff like this.

Despite a long day of labor we wanted to head out to the movies on Saturday night to see Dracula Untold.  We took out the SSR which hasn’t been used for our movie trips most of the summer because of high temps and rainy weather.  The cool, dry air was perfect for top down cruising. We stopped for coffee on the way to battle the drowsiness that was sure to show up after such a hard day.

The movie wasn’t bad.  It was very short, I’m not sure if it even was 90 minutes in length.  As a result the story and character development felt rushed and in some cases not there at all.  It was entertaining enough but pretty much middle of the road in every way.  I’d give it a B to weak B+.

Sunday morning Cindy and I didn’t even consider endurance training, we both were feeling beat up from the tree trimming the day before.  Instead we started the day off in a more relaxed manner before we loaded up the girls in the van for a ride.  While I went into Home Depot Cindy was in Michaels, getting more craft supplies for her extensive Halloween plans.  I  grabbed some more stuff for the garden including two kale varieties, and cubanelle banana peppers which did so well last year.  I also snagged a couple plants to replace two house plants that bit the dust.

After lunch I did something I don’t get to do that often anymore, wash some vehicles.  Cindy always volunteers to do the car washing but on Sunday she had other projects to keep her busy. It felt good to wash the SSR and by the time I was done it looked SHARP, sharp enough that I felt the need to take a picture.  I don’t appreciate how beautiful the truck is very often.  Maybe if I wash it more often I will.

I even gave the Tacoma a bath although it is hard to see much of a difference due to the deteriorating exterior finish on the truck.  The most visible difference is the removal of the brake dust that coats the front wheels.

The Eagles were playing the Cardinals in Arizona so the game didn’t start until 4PM.  I actually missed most of the first quarter due to a bill paying session that took longer than planned.

I guess if someone told you the Eagles barely lost a game to the 5-1 Cardinals on the road that you would think overall that was a positive thing.  I guess I am just not that upbeat, I found myself coming away from that game disappointed.  The Eagles made some major mistakes that you just can’t make if you are a good team.  They should have won that game rather easily, instead they wind up with a hash mark in the loss column when a last second, potential game winning completion in the end zone was just out of bounds.

There were only a couple things that cost them the game, turnovers, and defensive mental lapses.  Nick Foles again threw two bad interceptions and was lucky he didn’t have a couple more.  He continues to make throws off his back foot or even worse while falling backwards, resulting in passes that take too long to get to their target, allowing defenders to easily step in front.  He needs to find a way to break the habit.

The defense, which overall  played well had break downs at crucial times, the most egregious was allowing the Cardinal wide receiver to get behind TWO defenders for the go ahead score.  When you are defending a lead that is the number one rule, always keep the play in front of you.  Perhaps the Eagle DB’s can’t read.  Conversely, I really admired that the Cardinals defense was aggressive as hell on the Eagles last drive, blitzing on almost every snap instead of playing prevent.

So anyway, a more rational person would not care much about the Eagles losing.  After all their 5-1 start prior to the game was their best since 1981.  I just hate seeing a game that was totally winnable given away in the way that it was.

In my virtual fantasy football world I am having the dream week with 167 points with Demarco Murray yet to play.  How my fantasy team is 2-5 thus far is beyond me, I have had some very unfortunate luck.

Cindy and I watched the series finale of Boardwalk Empire last night.  Of course I won’t spoil it for those that still having it waiting for them on the DVR.  I’ll just say that it did not end in the way that I originally hoped it would but the ending, upon reflection, made sense story wise, completing a very long arc.  However if you are like Cindy and only have seen the last two of the five seasons you are going to be completely in the dark.

I grabbed the dogs on the way home last night.  They were very excited for their trip out to the house as they normally are.  Once we got there I headed out in the back yard to tend to the chickens.  I figured I would continue my dog/chicken interaction study and left Sadie and Nicki out as well.  Once again the dogs appeared to be totally fine sharing turf with the hens.  I still kept a close eye on Sadie’s location at all times but she passed with flying colors.  I wish video was rolling as I walked across the yard to the shed with Sadie and two of the chickens following close behind.  It’s like a bizarre Brady Bunch. When Cindy got home she caught the tail end of the dog and chicken mingling.  She confirmed that Sadie seemed totally passive around the chicks.

I got my early voting out of the way yesterday.  I am sure my blog diatribes make it unnecessary to list where my circles were darkened.

This weekend is looking to be the annual tree trimming event where I circle the property and trim the branches of over 25 trees, some of which are quite tall. I time it now so the trees look clean for their Xmas light decorations that will be coming in November. It is one the most laborious, grueling and unenjoyable home maintenance tasks I tackle each year.  Thank goodness Cindy not only has every weekend off now, she also enjoys helping me with projects, even the ass busting variety.

The temps this weekend, at least the morning temps, look to be agreeable to outdoor labor so we will be looking to get an early start on the fun.

Ebola is now confirmed in NYC and again contracted by a medical professional who you would assume was taking appropriate precautions.  Worried yet? You should be.  I find it laughable that the mayor said the public should not be concerned this guy was riding the subway and hanging in the bowling alley the day before he was quarantined.

Not much rolling around in the cranium today.  I am picking up the dogs for yet another extended visit as Ali is once again going to be out of town for several days.  Of course they will have fun out at the homestead.

Today I will be able walk next door and do early voting.  The big race this year is the Florida governor race where Rick Scott, who rivals Dick Cheyney as one the most disliked politicians I have ever seen, tries to pull the wool over voters eyes once again.  Rick has once again dipped into his personal fortune to jam all imaginable media outlets with as much Charlie Crist smear campaigning as possible.  This effort is mostly to sway the minds of people that do very little “big picture” thinking.

Scott is about as slimy as a politician can be, the idea that he even has a snowballs chance in hell of getting reelected is disturbing.  To me, he represents everything that is wrong with American politics, where all you need is a fat enough wallet to cut to the front of the line.     If you sat through the last two debates, watching Scott awkwardly stammer, stutter and repeatedly avoid answering questions and still vote for the man, I may suggest you get tested for mild retardation, really.

The other big ballot item is the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida which of course I support.  If you support medical marijuana and still vote for Scott you may as well not even waste the effort coloring in YES for the amendment as Scott will never let it see the light of day.

So after my dad, step mom and their dogs pulled out I kept myself busy.  One of those busy items was listing my moms Rav4 for sale finally.  I took a few pictures and then listed it both on Craigslist and the Collier County Online Yard Sale page on FB.  I was surprised that my phone rang in less than 30 minutes, more surprising was the call was from the FB ad, not Craigslist.

The guy asked me a few questions about the vehicle and finished up with asking me what is the least I would take for it.  I told him I preferred to not negotiate over the phone and would rather for him to look at the Rav4 and make sure he was interested before we talked numbers.  He said that was fine and he and his wife would be leaving to come out shortly.

I hadn’t driven the Rav 4 in awhile so I figured I should take it for a quick spin.  When I did I saw the gas gauge was creeping towards empty so I threw $30 of gas in it as well.  I was out back tending the chickens when I saw the guy at the door.  He and his wife had pulled up in a tiny Toyota Scion.

They told me they lived locally but were actually interested in the car for their grandson, who lives with their daughter in Kansas.  The potential buyers also lived in Kansas for something like 30 years.  They lived on a farm and had around 200 chickens at one time.  Hmmm ok that’s a different scenario, but first we needed to see if they liked the car or not.  I handed them the keys and let them take a drive solo, a risky  act possibly in someone else’s eyes, but to me it demonstrated I had nothing to hide.

They took a short spin down the street and returned within 5 minutes.  I asked them how it went.  The guy said the engine sounded a little “rough” which I immediately took as him trying to build a case for price negotiation, which I of course expected.  He said he looked up the vehicle worth online and came up with a number significantly lower than what I listed it for.  He was correct, I had the Rav 4 listed slightly above the top end of private sale pricing I saw to give me some leeway.  I told him I had checked Kelly Blue Book before setting the price.

There was a couple back and forth numbers thrown around but I agreed to a price $100 less than my last counter offer when he said he will pay with cash and take the vehicle off my hands immediately.  Ok great, now came the sticky part.  I called up one of my friends in the motor vehicle department and discussed the scenario and how it should be handled.  The buyers basically plan to drive the car to Kansas to give to their grandson however they don’t plan to make that drive until early December.  In order to make that drive they will need a temporary license plate, however a temp plate is only good for 30 days and can not be extended.  So basically they had to take possession of the vehicle and just park it in their garage until they get a temp tag.

They had brought some cash with them but had to get the balance.  While they ran to the bank I worked on getting a bill of sale prepared and double checked I was handling things in an ok manner with my contact at work.  When they returned with the money I signed the title over to their daughter, who will be the official new owner of the Rav 4 who in turn will let the grandson drive it.  To make this all happen a vehicle power of attorney form will also need to be obtained so the people that live here can get the temp tag on behalf of their Midwest residing daughter.  Yes it is a bit complicated.

I offered to follow the couple back to their house with my mom’s plate on the Rav 4 to avoid potential harassment by police.   They appreciated my offer but said they would just make the relatively short drive single file with the wife following the husband in the Rav 4. Ok fine.  I counted out the money and then got out my socket set to pull mom’s plate.

As they pulled away with Mom’s car it was a bit of a sad moment.  Having mom’s car in my driveway for the last two months in a weird way almost felt like she was still there, just parked for a visit.  Now the Rav 4 will also be something that I will never see again, destined to live out it’s final days in Kansas.  It just feels weird.

On the topic of mom, I got my my first of three checks that are the result of her bank accounts being liquidated.  The check I received wasn’t enough to pay my cable bill but at least it meant that the process has started.  I need to now initiate the same process for her IRA account.

Yesterday I did a dog/chicken experiment.  I wanted to see how Sadie would act off leash with the chickens free ranging.  We have had her face to face with the chickens on leash and she didn’t react aggressively at all.  It seemed to me that Sadie understood from watching Cindy and I interact with the chickens that they are part of the extended family and are off limits.  Plus Sadie is very mindful of me if I use my “loud voice” I was confident I could stop her dead in her tracks if need be.

So I opened the door to the coop and let the chickens loose.  Sadie looked at them and took a couple non-menacing steps in their direction however I immediately called her over to me and she obeyed.  Sadie was a complete angel.  Multiple times the chickens were in her vicinity, including all three of them running between myself and Sadie on their way to the bird feeders and she was fine.  Everytime she ignored the chickens I praised her, telling her how good she was.  She loved the praise more than harassing the chickens evidently.

Nicki actually if anything was the harassing one.  She is too slow to catch any chicken but that didn’t stop her from tailing them.  For 15 minutes I watched her follow one chicken or another around the yard.  Nicki would get within a few feet and the chicken would scurry away, she would just keep following them, seemingly loving this slower paced game of chase.  It was quite entertaining to watch. Now of course I would never let Sadie out with the chickens unsupervised but I really think she understands the boundary line with them.

The rest of my day was back filled with more chores followed by attending another running club board meeting that contained more arguing than I would have preferred.   I bypassed any post meeting drinking.  After Saturday night’s roadside expulsion, drinking beer is not high on the priority list.

I got out of work early on Friday since my dad, step mom, and their two dogs were showing up later in the afternoon.  In addition I had prep to do for the cross country meet I was timing and it also just happened to be Cindy’s birthday as well.  By the time dad showed up I had most of my race equipment at least staged, ready to be packed in the truck.  It probably felt weird for Maggie and Clara to come in without being greeted by Nicki and Sadie but I wasn’t going to be picking them up until Sunday. Dad and Teresa had a good trip down, taking three days to cover the distance instead of the two days I normally take.

On Friday night we had a very nice little party for Cindy’s birthday.  Her daughter, her daughter’s boyfriend and Cindy’s mom joined us for dinner and cake.  It was the first time any of them met my dad or step mom.  We all had a good time and I could tell Cindy really enjoyed having everyone around to celebrate her birthday, something she is unaccustomed to.  Of course everyone had positive feedback on the awesome chocolate birthday cake.

On Saturday morning I drug myself out of bed at 4AM to head to the XC meet.  Cindy stayed home to hang with my dad and Teresa.  The weather in the morning was nice and crisp with temps around 65 degrees.  Unfortunately once the sun crossed the horizon things started to warm up dramatically.  This was the first time I have ever used the bib based timing chips for this cross country meet.  In order to do so I collected left over bibs from last years Turkey Trot as well as some of our normal GCR bibs to accommodate the roughly 775 kids that were participating.   It looked a little odd having Thanksgiving race bibs on the runners but it was a way for me to at least get some use out of the leftover inventory.

Timing a XC meet is more complicated than a normal 5K.  There is special scoring involved and it is a total of four separate races instead of one.  Since I only time one XC meet a year I am always a bit fuzzy on the details but luckily everything went smoothly.  I only had one kid that reported not having a time and I suspect it was due to a human error instead of a technical one.

The meet has an official timer, this year it was the same guy as last year, an ex-military man that totally looks the role.  He was no nonsense, disqualifying 3 kids in the race for breaking the rules.  One boy was disqualified for shoving as he approached the finish line which I guess I can understand.  However he also disqualified two girl teammates for holding hands as they crossed the finish line in joy, technically, a foul, but realistically was nothing.   Even with things going smoothly I did not get off site until around 11:30, it was a long morning.

So when I got home I was immediately on the clock, despite being weary from getting up early.  I needed to get the meet results finalized and posted and all of the race equipment cleaned up and put away.  However we had to be on site at the GCR Oktoberfest by roughly 3:30 so I had little time to spare.  I took a shower and we all piled into Cindy’s Prius to the event, one that my dad and Teresa said sounded like fun to them.  When we got there the final preparations were still ongoing.  Cindy and I worked on getting the tent that would be used for checking people in set up.  Our role was going to be as the front door, taking money and credit cards  as well as selling raffle tickets. Since there wasn’t much else to do at this point, Dad amd Teresa pitched in, helping us with the set up.

The event officially started at 4PM and the flow of people at the start was on the slow side. However after maybe an hour or so things were rolling.  Last year was the first year for the GCR Oktoberfest, a fund raiser for our youth development fund.  Year one was a disappointment, not drawing nearly the numbers that we hoped for.  This year the pricing structure was switched around, making the admission price cheaper, only $10 but the food and beer was pay as you go.  It seemed like the formula worked.  Attendance to the event seemed significantly higher.

I was given a festive, German-looking long sleeve, baggy white shirt to wear as a costume.  Unfortunately I was not able to keep it clean.  When I was eating my tofu brat with mustard that Cindy had brought me, I unknowingly had one baggy sleeve drag through the mustard.  Normal arm movements afterward had spread the mustard all over my shirt before anyone alerted me.  It looked pretty bad.

As we were working, a steady flow of refills of my beer stein were being delivered as well.  The german beer that was being served did not taste good to me at all but it hardly mattered.  Once the first one or two go down taste is no longer part of the equation.  The beer apparently was also much higher in alcohol content than the Miller Lite I will normally consume in social drinking situations.  I was clearly drunk.

Dad and Teresa mingled about, checking out the music and dancing on the stage which I was glad to see.  I felt badly that I was “working” the event while they were there but I knew they also don’t have issues socializing so I knew they would be fine.  By the time 9pm rolled around the money box was stuffed with cash and I had consumed at least six 20 ounce beer steins filled with high octane German beer.

Now of course I wasn’t driving.  Cindy was our designated driver as she only had one beer all night long.  I piled into the passenger seat while my dad and step mom took the rear.  As we pulled out everyone was laughing and talking in the way drunk people do, including myself.  Well about 5 minutes into the drive home I pretty much stopped talking.  I started to feel extremely nauseous.  At first I was sure it would pass.  I knew I was drunk but I never ever have gotten really sick on beer.

I then started to break out into cold sweats.  Cindy touched my arm and asked if I was ok.  I just said ummm hmmm as I tried to back myself away from the ledge.  Finally about 7 miles from home I told Cindy she needed to pull over.  She swung into the entrance of one of the many churches on Immokalee Road.  I walked over to the guardrail and baptized the holy ground with vomit, vomit that also splattered all over my feet.  In total there were three or four sessions until I felt like I was in the clear.  Cindy, in her typical loving way, came over and gave me a towel to clean up with and a bottle of water to wash off my feet.   I’m sure my dad was quite proud of me in that moment.

I returned to the car feeling better that the inner evil that was inside of me had been purged.  It was the first time I had thrown up from drinking in at least 8 years, if not more, and the first time I had ever hit that point on beer.  When we got home I immediately took a shower and collapsed in bed, exhausted.

Sunday morning I woke up with a headache but not feeling as awful as you would think after a night that involved a pukefest.  The four of us went out to breakfast at a dog friendly place called Skillets. Before doing so we stopped at Ali’s to pick up Nicki and Sadie.  Dad and Teresa never saw Ali’s new place before.  The dogs of course were excited to see each other, Sadie was near hysterical.  She was sprinting around Ali’s great room, sliding on the tile and leaping on and off the furniture, it was very funny.

We had to wait to be seated at Skillets for a bit.  When we were seated it was logistically challenging to get the four of us around the table with four large dogs without infringing on the personal space of other patrons.  I wound up eating pushed away from the table to make additional dog space.  It worked out eventually and all four of us had breakfasts we enjoyed although I left a large portion of mine untouched.  My appetite was not fully recovered from the night before.

After breakfast we went to Rural King, we figured it was the type of place dad would find interesting based on the 20 sheep and ranch he maintains at home.  We were right, dad seemed to buy in to the Rural King experience and even bought himself a RK sweatshirt to wear at home since he is literally THE Rural King.  While we were there we picked up some chicken supplies of course.

We then headed back to the house to just relax and let the dogs play.  When we were outside we had to keep a close eye on Clara, she was the only one that went crazy around the chickens, dashing around their coop and scaring the shit out of the birds. We had to drag her away from them repeatedly until she took the hint that the chickens were off limits.   Sadie and Clara played quite a bit.  Maggie primarily wanted to just play fetch with whomever was willing to throw a toy for her.  Nicki just walked around and hung out with a big dog smile on her face.  You could tell she was very happy to have the gang together, even if she couldn’t be the active participant she once was.

I did some work on Dad’s laptop that had not been updated in months.  It literally took 2-3 hours until I got everything on it cleaned up and current.  Cindy prepared a very delicious dinner that we all enjoyed while perched around my flip up table.  Sunday was a pretty laid back sort of day that seemed necessary after running around non-stop the day before.

On Monday Cindy had to work a half day.  I asked dad if he wanted to go for a joyride in the SSR since I wanted to get coffee and rear mirror adhesive for my Tacoma since the mirror fell off for the 6th or 7th time on Sunday.  When we first headed out the SSR had a nasty vibration going on but I have had that happen before after long periods of it sitting dormant.  The tires actually get a flat spot from all that sitting which works itself out as the rubber warms back up.  After about 5 minutes the ride smoothed out.

During the drive dad got to talking about various things, family, politics and the general state of the world.  During most visits I have with my dad one of these conversations normally goes down.  In general philosophical terms, dad and I are in agreement on many things.  When it comes to details that alignment may shift a bit.  My approach to many things has more compromise in it than dad is willing to dispense.

We wound up taking the dogs out for their second meal as in many days, this time meeting Cindy at Panera which has ample outdoor seating.  We ran across an old woman with a small dachshund that I found annoying.  As we walked by her and her dog with our four animals she was emphatically telling us how her dog is scared of other dogs and we need to make sure we keep ours away.  Both Cindy and I thought it was moronic to take your dog to a dog friendly venue if your dog can’t handle other dogs.  She later apologized for coming off so “bossy” about it (drop the “oss” and substitute “itch”) However I got the sense that mentally the woman was not all there so I gave her a pass.

Monday afternoon again was mostly chill time.  We made plans to go see the matinee of The Judge, at Coconut Point.  Going to a movie with dad is a risky proposition as the type of movie he views as worthwhile or good is a very narrow spectrum.  My hope was the quality reviews and strong cast of the movie would win him over.  The theater, as is normally the case was quite empty.  Dad and Teresa commented on the size of the theater, a dozen times bigger than most theaters you will find in their neck of the woods.  The theater was also quite chilly.  Cindy and I, the Florida residents were the least prepared for the aggressive AC.  I had on shorts and short sleeve shirt while Cindy had on a sundress.   Dad and Teresa both had long pants and sleeves.

The movie was quite good.  The story was very complex, well written and really showcased the acting talents of stars like Robert Downey and Robert Duvall.  There are many touching moments in the story and several things that I could connect with based on my personal journeys.  I thought it was very well done and give it an A.  I was glad to hear my dad proclaim he actually liked it as well.

After the movies we shot over to Stir Crazy to grab dinner, our only restaurant dinner of their visit thanks to Cindy’s cooking talents.  We all had meals that we enjoyed as we talked.  It seemed weird that dad and Teresa’s visit was nearly over, it seemed to blur by extremely quickly.  We got back home in time for dad to catch the Steelers game although both of us packed it in by halftime due to heavy eyelids.

This morning they set a 6AM alarm and were packed up and ready to go a little after 7, their visit had to be compressed a bit so that they can meet my brother Patrick before he shoves off for yet another extended overseas work trip.  It’s always sad to see them go as this visit especially seemed like it was even shorter, probably because of how busy Saturday was.  We said our goodbyes until next time.  Who knows, another northern winter adventure might still be in the cards?

As I wrote this I realized how few pictures we took while my dad and Teresa were down here, how dumb.