A Sad Year So Far

Maybe this isn't a topic for a blog entry but so far this has been a sad year. In January Pat's Mom passed away and then last week her Uncle Al also passed. Three times we have been to different funeral parlors when you also add in the neighbor who passed last month. Never in my life has this happened and it has shaken me in a cumulative way. When we were at the cemetery for Uncle Al's internment we walked over to Pat's Mom's gravesite and then I did something I haven't done in many years. I went to my father's. The day before Pat had said she wanted to visit her Mom's and asked if I wanted to see my father's but I gave her the response I always have. I always say that my father isn't there in that grave, so it doesn't serve any purpose to go there. But something moved me to go see it yesterday and I only assume it was because of how much I was moved by the military ceremony at Uncle Al's, and the cumulative effect of all this sadness this year.

I am not going to become introspective here or reveal my personal feelings except to say that I have done some serious reflection since yesterday.

And dear reader I apologize for the tone of this posting.

A couple things

It has been a while. I think I have said that before in a posting or two. Over the past week or two I have had things to write about but never sat down to put fingers to keyboard. Some of the topics I have considered are the following:

As the end of February approached the fact that there had been no major snowfall this winter gave me pause and I almost wrote an entry. Then two days later we got hit with a major snowfall. Cause and effect?

The snowfall brought up two more topics. First after I had finished clearing our driveway and sidewalk I moved on to the neighbor's driveway. It was then I began to hear an unsettling noise in the snowblower. I kept working but then noticed that the crank that turns to direct the chute had become disconnected somewhere inside the unit. So I had to stop. I came in took off my boots, gloves and coat and was looking forward to some soup that Pat was cooking. It was then I heard the plow. It came down the street and threw snow from the street covering the sidewalk and driveway apron. I cursed a bit. Well, maybe more than a bit and then went out with the shovel to reclear the snow.

There were other topics. On top of the cost I will have to pay when I pick up the snowblower at Sears this week I have to pay Toyota to install a new oxygen sensor. Yes, the day after it snowed the "check engine" light came on. One thing on top of another. Oh, and my bike is in the shop because there is something that is grinding in what I think is the rear hub. When it rains it pours.

Anything else? Of course. I could write about the work we are doing on Pat's Mom's house and preparing for an estate sale. I could write about my thoughts about Facebook and Twitter, but Kevin enlightened me concerning those topics so i am glad I didn't put it here before chatting with him.

So, I am posting this and more or less combining all the topics into one short posting. Maybe going forward I will simply sit and type in my thoughts as they come to me. Or maybe I will once again begin a posting with "It has been a while".

Section 5

Wednesday morning the last piece of Shea Stadium was knocked down. Forty four years of storied history in this less than perfect home of the Mets. The final standing portion was the section 5 ramp and it came down at 11:25 AM. Soon it will be a parking lot, hopefully with some markings in the pavement of where home plate was, as well as other highlight markers.

Not seeing the demolition, and not seeing the empty space now, the next time I see the area all that they will show on TV is the new park, promoting it as the best thing since sliced bread. But as lacking as Shea was it still was every Mets fan's home. It will be sorely missed.

Sunny California??

It has been nearly two weeks since my last entry so I thought it time to clutter the internet again.

On January 21st we lost a wonderful woman in Pat's mother and we thank everyone who offered their condolences through emails, card, or in person.

You probably wonder why the subject? Well, on February 2nd we flew out of cold New Jersey to land in sunny California and seventy plus degrees. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the temps were nice and the skies were sunny. We would wake up to mid thirties and then by noon it would be in the mid to high seventies. BUT, Thursday it rained. Today it is raining. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain again. Since we began coming out here in 2003 this is the first time we have experienced rain and even cloudy skies. But this is the time of year when they do get rain out here. Luckily on Sunday, our last day here, it will again be sunny.

I have taken over one hundred and thirty pictures so far, with a birthday party yet to come. I don't know if I will be putting all of them on Phanfare, probably deciding to whittle down the number a bit. Stay tuned.

One more day

Sure I could say it is one more day until the end of the dreadful presidency of George W., but I prefer to look at it much more optimistically. It is one more day until the inauguration of Obama. Many won't believe it, but back in July of 2004 I became an Obama supporter when I saw him give the keynote speech at the Democratic convention. In listening to his speech and then during an interview afterward I felt this man understood what was needed in our country and a man who would make a great candidate, one that I could support. A candidate that could be good for this country. And now four and one half years later he will become the leader that will bring relief and change from the way thing have been. From the way we have looked at our leaders. It will be a magical day tomorrow, one that no doubt will bring tears to my eyes. Let us all hope that he can bring the needed changes and return us to a people and a country that is great.

Brrrrrr!

I know it is warm in comparison to what the midwest experienced lately, or what Bullwinkle and Rocky experienced every year in Frostbite Falls, but this morning while laying in bed I sat up, looked out the window at the thermometer andsaw that it was not below zero. However it was not above zero either. Zero degrees. Yikes! Needless to say I will not be riding outdoors today.

Remembering

Nearly a week since my last posting so I felt I should write something. I could begin with the frigid temperatures we are experiencing along with some snow which is now falling. But who cares what the weather is where someone else lives? So what else is there to write about today? I should have made an entry two days ago for the anniversary of the passing of my 1988 Toyota Tacoma. (See the link to the right "In Memoriam") But I forgot. However, today is the anniversary of the purchase of my new truck. Unless I have some body problems this truck should last a long time because the mileage is very low. Five years and just over 38000 miles. In the past month I have only put on 250 miles, so you can see how little I drive it. But the title of this post is not about the weather, nor is it about my regular cab, standard bed Tacomas. It is about remembering the passing of Mr. Roarke and The Prisoner. They both can be remembered for a multitude of parts, but for me these are the way they will always be remembered.

Happy Anniversary To Us

Yes. Happy Anniversary to us. Today Pat and I are celebrating our anniversary. Not our wedding anniversary, but rather the day we first started going out. I really don't remember how we decided this was the day but we have been celebrating it for many years, so it must be the right day. I can assume some of my readers are wondering how many wonderful years we have been together. Three quarters of my life would be the answer. And to do the math for you, I am sixty years old, so three quarters of that would be forty five. Yes, forty five wonderful years, thirty eight of which we have been married. And when I stop and think of it all I can say is "Holy S--t!!!

And it is gone

If you click on http://www.rayriepl.com you will see that my website is gone.  Oh well.

Understanding isn't accepting

"Potholes form with the expansion and contraction of water after it has entered into the subsurface of the pavement. When water freezes, it expands, taking up more space under the paving, which then causes cracking. As temperatures increase, the water then thaws, leaving gaps or voids in the subsurface of the pavement. The voids allow for more water to enter under the pavement, creating a vicious freeze/thaw effect, which eventually weakens the pavement. As the weight of cars and trucks pass over the weak spot in the road, pieces of the roadway material weakened by the freezing and thawing effect get displaced or broken down from the weight, creating the pothole."

All I can say is: FIX 'EM!! ( right Rick?)

In the meantime

In my last post I said I will let my website die at the end of the year but possibly move it to a new one on Apple's hosting site. But during my decision making period I have found a way to keep somethings available for those who are interested. If you look in the top of the right hand column you can see a few links to some of the content on my old web pages. Let me know what you think, and if there is anything else I should add, if I can.

The ever changing internet landscape

Around the time of Y2K I decided to put up a website on the world wide web. The internet was still something that a lot of people had not yet discovered or embraced, but always wanting to be on the cutting edge I didn't hesitate in obtaining my domain name and server to host my site. Over the years I have posted pics, movies, lists of books I have read, B&Bs at which we stayed, miles ridden on my bike and a memorial to my truck. How many people have visited my site over the years? My guess? Well, I would have to say it is a very small number, and as the years went by that small number shrank to what I would describe as zero. Phanfare has become the place where I now post pictures and I have this blog to share thoughts. I hope phanfare is getting more visits than this blog which I hope is getting more visits than my old site. So, things have changed over the years and I see no reason to keep my old site up and running. BUT, I may replace it with a new site hosted by Apple. I am in a trial period to see if it is to my liking and sometime in January I will make a decision. It will be a slimmed down version of my old site. Very bare bones. No one cares about B&Bs, but I will still keep my miles ridden and perhaps my books read. As I said it is just in the idea phase. But as of the end of this month my present site will cease to exist.

The ever changing Rte 35 landscape

For those of you unfamiliar with Rte 35 in central New Jersey you should probably stop reading now. For those of you who wish to continue reading, I will continue writing. Apparently it has been some time since I had driven down 35 as far as Sears, or it might be that when I drive I develop tunnel vision and just aren't an observant driver. Is your interest piqued? Things change so suddenly that if you aren't on the road every day it is hard to believe that they can. Some things, though, aren't so sudden, but have just changed. So, here are my observation over the past week or so. The Home Surplus store just north of Cliffwood Avenue is gone. At least the original building which was replaced by a new one built next to it. The thing I remember about that old building was the lot next to it that had hundreds of vanity tops and sinks. Moving down the highway we are now at the light by K-Mart. Sitting at the light the corner gas station that was on the north east corner is gone. I knew it was going because it was closed and there was a sign that a bank was going to be built in its place. Just what we need around here, another bank. But the last time I drove by it was still an abandoned station. This time the bank is complete. Again, I guess I am just not observant. Moving only a few feet further down the highway we come to the diner. Originally it was the Red Oak Diner, but opened under new ownership as the Adelphi Diner. On my last trip, when I noticed the bank, I also noticed that it was once again the Red Oak. Interesting. Finally, as we continue our drive south, we come to the two shopping centers opposite each other in Middletown. The one on the opposite side of the highway is where there is a Chili's and a Macaroni Grill. Not anymore. The Macaroni Grill is closed. That was a shock. I never thought they were lacking for business. It was the one chain restaurant that I enjoyed going to, especially for the wine and bread. So, there you have it. In a blink of an eye things change.

Traffic solutions

Isn't it frustrating when you are sitting at a traffic light with more than a few cars in front of you and when the light changes it takes half a minute until you can move? If the first car doesn't move immediately that of course takes some time so it would behoove the first person to be paying attention. The following cars must also pay attention and not leave to big a gap. But the ultimate solution is for everyone to pay attention and when the light changes, everyone, and I mean everyone, begins moving at once, leaving no gap, other than the one that is there while waiting for the light to change. After passing through the intersection each car could then return to a safe following distance. Such a simple solution; don't you think?

Tree lighting

Two years ago we bought a new Christmas tree for our den. The tree in the living room (yes, we have two trees) is decorated with small lights of green, white and yellow. In the den we were looking for something different and found a tree with the lights already attached, but the unique thing was that the lights were C7s. These are the regular bulbs, not the miniature lights. I thought, cool. I wouldn't have too string lights on at least one tree. First year was a breeze putting it up. Second year a few bulbs were out, which wasn't surprising. But this year I set up the bottom half and before adding the top half I checked to see how many lights were out. There were more than a few so I proceeded to see if tightening up the bulbs would get them to light. I did a few with good results, but in tightening one white one I heard a small pop seemingly on the opposite side of the tree and half the lights went out. After some investigation I saw that there were actually three strings on the bottom half of the tree and one whole string had gone out. I checked the fuse in the plug end of the string. It was okay. I went along and wiggled each and every light but the string stayed out. Then I plugged another string into the end of the faulty string and that one lit. Electricity was going through the dead string, but just not lighting up the bulbs. Totally frustrated I sat there and tried to think what I was missing. Then I took the time to undo all the twisted wires that were holding all the bulbs and wire to the branches. Not an easy task. Once I had the whole string off I examined each and every socket, twisted each bulb, checked the wire for cuts or fraying, and still no lights. At this point I gave up and went to the store and bought a string of C7 lights. We now have a tree that is prestrung with lights except for the bottom string. I fully expect that next year another string will be dead. At that time I just might take all the strings off and have it become a regular tree.

Aroma from the past

"Early childhood memories can be evoked by many triggers, of which one of the most powerful is a particular smell."

I found that quote on a psychological website but when I went back to locate it to give credit I can't find it, despite looking at my browser's history. In any case, this posting is about such olfactory memory, but in this case it is in reverse. It wasn't a particular smell that evoked a memory, but rather memories that caused me to remember the smell, and thus to reproduce it. Confused? Then, dear reader, read on.

I was raking leaves, or rather blowing them and then mulching them in my mulcher, which reduces them to small particles which I can then put in my compost or spread out under bushes. So, I was doing this and began thinking about raking leaves as a young boy in our back yard which had somewhere near an estimated thirty trees. Forty five years ago there was no need to bag leaves to put out for recycling. Instead everyone burned their leaves. A fifty five gallon drum, or a galvanized garbage can was the customary container, with holes punched in the sides to allow air flow. Once the leaves were ignited, you would just keep adding more leaves as the fire reduced them to ashes. When the leaves were damp you could create great billows of smoke as the wet leaves temporarlily smothered the fire. On brisk fall days or evenings there was always the wonderful smell of burning leaves in the air. Those were the memories that came back to me as I did my leaves, and I longed for that smell.

So, what did I do? I got a terra cotta flowerpot out of the shed, filled it with leaves, and lit it. A leaf caught and went out with glowing embers remaining. I tried again. Still no luck. I got a small piece of paper, shoved it down along the inside of the pot and lit that. That caught and then the leaves. And the smoke; the wonderful smoke, and then fire. I added more leaves. This was the smell I remembered. After two or three pots full of leaves I doused it with water, ending my foray into my past via the olfactory path.

I know I will do it again next year.

Do Over

I wasn't sleeping good last night so my mind was producing some random thoughts which I thought I would share with the multitudes. (multitudes would be defined as a number smaller than five) In the spring I made some observations about "springing ahead" with the clock, so it is only appropriate I make a similar observation when "falling back".

When you are awake in the middle of last night and at two o'clock you turn your clock back, it becomes one o'clock. Then an hour later when it is two o'clock again, do you turn your clock back again? And then when it is two o'clock...... You can see where this is going, right?

And what happens when someone is born at 1:30? Which 1:30 is it? How is it differentiated? And on their birthday, how can they celebrate the exact time of birth if DST isn't changed on that day that year? This question would hold true for any official event.

So, next year I am going to stay awake so I can have that one hour to do things over again. Or I will write in this blog, saying it is 1:10, and then an hour later say it is 1:10 again.

Maybe with all this off my chest now I will be able to sleep better tonite.

A Blessed Event

In case anyone who knows us hasn't found out or seen a picture, here she is.

Keira Ann, born 10-28-08, 8 lbs., 20-1/4 inches.

Mother and daughter are doing fine as well as Grandma and Grandpa.

Irksome

No matter what Steve Jobs and Apple's sales deptartment think, funnest is NOT a word.

New ad.

A very sad day

For the second year in a row the Mets season came down to the last day and again they are not going to the post season. In the early season I hated when people would say a loss it just one loss and it is a long season. Without that thinking one could make the argument that the Mets lost the season in April in a tough loss rather than today. But no matter how you spin it, having the same thing happen two years in a row is tough to take. One more win and you get another day for a playoff, but to only score five runs in the final three games doesn't get it done. Don't blame the bullpen. The offense went to sleep. Another loss season. And once again we say, "Wait 'til next year".

But to add to the sadness of the day is that it was the final game at Shea Stadium. Forty five years of games. It was more than a two tissue day watching the ceremony and all the highlights and all the past players. Maybe it was the two glasses of wine I had, or the 162 games I suffered through this year, or all those years of highs and lows at the stadium, but it was very moving. So many memories of games I attended. Games with my father and brother Bob including Jim Bunning's perfect game, games with Pat, games with Pat and the kids, one opening day with Kevin, games with guys from work, and games with my brother Rick which included the greatest game of all, the sixth game of the '86 series. Such good times, such good memories. Somehow the closing ceremony cushioned the end of the year collapse a bit by deflecting some of the sadness to more of a happy memory sadness, if that makes sense.

So, as numbers 41 and 31 walked to centerfield and through the gates, then turned and closed the gates, it was very moving, and very final. The end of a year, the end of an era. Shea is gone, but the memories will remain.

A Screen Legend Passes On

Usually I wouldn't make note of a celebrity's death, but this one is special. Paul Newman died today. To see that on MSNBC's page this morning was a bit shocking. It was inevitable because he suffered from lung cancer, but because of his connection to Pat and myself I was taken aback. Connection? Yes. Pat has adored him and his blue eyes for the past fifty years, always saying that he could "put his shoes under her bed anytime". Over the years we have joked about him being the one man she would be allowed to be with. And she always wanted to invite him over for spaghetti and meatballs. So his passing makes it a sad day for us.

Almonds anyone?

You go through life thinking that you are good at spelling and fairly adept at recognizing how to spell things based on hearing the word, and then you find out that for years you have been mistaken. But it is comforting when you realize that most people have made or are making the same mistake you are. What am I talking about you may ask? What do you call the vegetable dish with green beans and almonds? Now you are thinking that this is probably a trick question and are trying to think outside the box to get the answer. Green beans almondine? Or maybe the alternate spelling of green beans almandine? Did you think it was either of those? Well if you did you would be wrong just as I was wrong, and just about every recipe you can find was wrong. So now I have you wondering, right? If you go to dictionary.com you will see that almondine will refer you to almandine which is "a mineral, red iron aluminum garnet". The correct spelling for the recipe would be green beans amandine. Who knew?

Baseball quiz

When is the following true? Tie game - bottom of the ninth - leadoff man triples - team doesn't score - ends up losing in the tenth.

Answer: When the team is the Mets.

I can't take much more of this and am glad the season will be over soon, one way or another.

An Uneasy Evening Remembered

I recall this night very well. Sitting on the couch with Pat the day before her birthday waiting to see which way my life would go. But I recall the show being live, perhaps on a different channel. By live I mean from start to finish without a reporter commenting as with this video. In the very beginning of this clip, as he is talking, if you listen very carefully you can hear April 17th being called out as number 260. As they drew the numbers and April 17th didn't come up I would get a little more relaxed, especially when it got to above 150 or so. But listening to all the numbers drawn before that was a nerve wracking experience. Not an easy evening to endure. Knowing that your fate was in the hands of someone picking a blue capsule out of that bin. And when I say I never won any lottery I will have to keep this in mind, because I did win that night. I think they only got as high as 195 in the actual call ups in that year. So I had a cushion of 65.

A little further explanation of the lottery can be found here: "lottery info"

Two Months In

Two months down, and many, many, many more to go. Pat's retirement is now two months old, but it is really only beginning this month. The first two months, being July and August, were similar to previous years when she had been home for the summer. Only with the start of the new school year is retirement real. We have thus far survived being home together, but who knows what the future holds. I have considered writing a separate blog about this new chapter in our lives, but think it would have one entry after the other with the words "Please see previous day's entry". But if anything extraordinary or unusual does happen you will be able to find it here.