I Don't Think I Get It

When I first retired I vowed that  I would work in the morning and then relax in the afternoon. It seems like too much relaxing, but the way this summer has been so far with the heat and humidity, it's hard to get the motivation to do much in the way of physical labor. I still try to do some work in the morning although it is becoming apparent that I am doing more relaxing than working. Some days I don't get much done. This morning, for instance, I went to the bank, Home Depot and Lowes. I was looking for a grout removal tool. I know I have one because I saw it not long ago, but, of course, I don't remember where I saw it. I don't really need two of them, so I resolved to undertake a more thorough search. It was raining very lightly when I went into Home Depot, so I carried in my umbrella, but didn't use it. When I arrived at Lowes, it was hardly raining at all, so I left my umbrella in the car. Big mistake. When I started to leave Lowes, the sky opened up trapping me there for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. I next went to Best Buy and while the skies were sunny, I brought in my umbrella. They were still sunny when I left. I went to Best Buy to see if I could get some first hand information about laptop screen resolution vs. graphic card vs. processor. I got some information, but after I left, I thought of many more questions. They always want to know what I do with the computer. I know what I do with it today, but I don't know what I may want to do tomorrow or what programs may become available requiring who knows what processor or memory or graphics card and on and on. In the past I always bought a computer with the biggest hard drive, the most memory and the fastest processor that I could reasonably afford. Now I'm told I don't need the fastest processor. Anne thinks I'll be wanting a new one in five years anyway, so why spend extra money for things I may never need. She may be right.

But, I digress. I was talking about retirement and my approach to it. Time is going by with alarming speed and I feel that I don't have complete control of my life. Maybe no one does. And, there is too much relaxing by the pool. Whenever I sit by the pool, I think it's a Sunday and that I should have a drink. I don't have one each time (maybe only twice a week), but I think I should. Well, it looks like I still have to figure out retirement. Also, I think part of the problem is that we're still waiting to hear from a certain seller in Rochester. This is a big deal, but my mind is and has been in idle about it for a couple of months. I think when we finally hear something positive, I will shift directly to over drive and I'm sure that will be the subject of another post or two or three.

Starvation Island

We finally got out kayaking. I had been admonished by my friend, Laura S. (also known as Mrs. T) because I had yet to be kayaking this year. Well, wouldn't you know, but the very next day I got a call from our friend Jim who asked if we wanted to go kayaking on the Navesink River Saturday evening. So the Corp of Adventure consisting of Jim, his wife, Alice, their son, Mike, Anne and I met at Lafayette Park in Rumson and launched our vessels. We paddled down the river and under the Oceanic bridge towards parts unknown. The river used to go right out into the ocean without having to make a left turn and go around Sandy Hook. The opening has long ago silted over and now Sea Bright pretty much sits where the opening was. That's good because I didn't want to get carried away paddling and suddenly find myself in the North Atlantic as darkness approached (we launched at 6:30 p.m.). We passed by the residents of Rumson (I'm sorry, the river front residents of Rumson) enjoying the summer evening on the lawns and several boats and skidoos passed us.

We could see it in the distance and as we got closer we could discern some sort of structure on the land. Starvation Island is a small, uninhabited (so they say) island in the Navesink where the students from the Monmouth Boat Club sail during their summer lessons, take a break and then sail back. A nice day's adventure for new, young sailors. We drew closer still and I, using my acute skills of history and seamanship recognized that the structure we saw was clearly a pirate stronghold. It consisted of a rough lean-to with a pile of fire wood and something that looked like a rustic trash can. I suggested that we circumnavigate the island. The men suggested that I go first. The ladies were still far up the river leisurely chatting and occasionally dipping their paddles in the water. So, I started out, cautiously, keeping a low profile and noiselessly as possible got around the island. We didn't actually see any pirates, but I thought I could see some movement of the reeds and grasses and hear a murmuring from within. We got back to our launch site in the twilight and were glad we had escaped the clutches of the pirates of Starvation Island.

My, My, How Time Flies

I have been reprimanded by a couple of followers of this blog for not blogging. Well, I am guilty. Something must have happened since May that was worthy of blogging about. We had a picnic here for the Matawan Memorial Day Parade, I had surgery on my face that is healing nicely, we celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary and summer has already arrived. Tonight we await thunder showers that never seem to come. [There is now some light rain.] For a couple of weeks, the prediction has been for rain or showers in the late afternoon, but they never materialize. I was waiting to paint our garage doors for over a week after I primed them because of the threat of rain.

We took a trip to Rochester to visit family and to look at a house that is supposedly for sale. The owners showed it to us very enthusiastically and we liked it, but we can't seem to find out if it's for sale. Oh well. The thought of possibly selling our house has motivated us to start cleaning out, something that we have been doing gradually and talking about for some time. What do we do with all the stuff? Where did it all come from anyway? We have concluded that we certainly don't need it all or even most of it, but most of it is also not stuff we would want to consign to the garbage heap. Anne thinks we should have a garage sale. I'm not sure that's worth the trouble. You have to organize and label everything, sit there while people come around looking for little glass dishes and bowls and then make a pittance for your efforts. We have an old Coast Guard uniform of my fathers from World War II, old wool bathing suits from who knows when, a World War II gas mask (I'm keeping that), a thing that is used to convert 8mm movies to VHS tape, an 8mm projector, fishing poles, reels, tackle (what happened to my promise to myself to go fishing when I retired?), scuba fins, weights, masks, cameras, photographic equipment, oil painting supplies, watercolor painting supplies, easels, paintings, pictures, picture frames, record albums, tapes, CDs, books, books and more books, not to mention trains, trains and more trains and the list goes on.

So, you see what I mean. The task of sorting through all of these sacred possessions is a daunting one. Even if we stayed here, we knew we wanted to eliminate a lot of stuff, but the thought of moving to a smaller house makes the job mandatory. Oh shaw, I'm getting myself depressed. But, I guess it's good to know that I won't get bored any time soon.

I should put a new picture or two on here, however, that always seems to present some difficulties as the pictures don't seem to want to go where I want to put them. I think I'll do that another time, but for all of my fans, please take note that I have, in fact, updated my blog.

Florida Adventure, April - May 2010

There follows a complete and accurate account of Anne and Bill's excellent excursion from Matawan to Florida and points in between. The writer has not relied on what small amount of memory remains to him, but has written notes of the trip contemporaneous with their happening, or something like that.

April 30, 2020, Pembroke Pines, FL


  Every time I come to Florida I think it is the perfect place to live. We used the pool at the complex today, a beautiful day. Not many people at the pool in the early afternoon before school lets out. Not that many after school lets out either. Of course, I'm thinking how nice Florida is while sitting on Pete and Roxanne's screened (roof and three walls) patio looking at the accordion type metal hurricane shutters on each window and the 12' patio doors. I haven't experienced the Sunshine State during earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes or volcanic eruptions, so I can't speak to its pleasantness during these events, but there is something exotic about the palm trees all about.

At dinner tonight on the patio, we were learning (trying to learn) Spanish from Santos and Jorge, Roxanne's parents. Anthony was chiming in frequently with various words. We have been here in November and now in April and in both months the weather has been seductive. The cares and concerns I seem to feel at home in New Jersey seem to fade from my mind. Why is that? My life is still my life and nothing has really changed except the geography.

The ride down here wasn't as arduous as I had supposed. [The return trip proved more tiring.] We spent the first night with Anne's sister, Peggy and her husband, Greg in Annandale, VA. The second night in Florence, NC and the third night in St. Augustine. The longest part of the trip, in my mind, was between St. Augustine and Pembroke Pines. That was about 5 1/2 hours driving time plus a little more for rest stops. [As I learned, this was as nothing compared to the nine and ten hours days on the way home.] I think that was because on the first two days we got started in the morning. In St. Augustine we started the morning with a half hour walk on the beach. We then toured Our Lady of La Leche shrine, the Fountain of Youth and the Castille de San Marco National Historic Site with 1,000 color coded elementary school children. Each group had on a different color tee shirt, the varieties of which were amazing. We got on the road about 1:30 p.m., so I was already getting tired by the time we started out.

I drank from the Fountain of Youth a cupful of the fable water, but as yet I cannot perceive any retardation of the aging process.

Friday Night at the Cigar Store


Peter likes his cigars and Roxanne has bought him some very nice ones and found out that there was going to be a man rolling cigars at his favorite shop starting at 6:30 p.m. We didn't get there until close to 9:00 p.m. and I though they would be closed. Not so. When we arrived the son of the owners was outside and greeted Peter with a hearty handshake and embrace. He remembered me also from  our visit in November and greeted me warmly also. I didn't get a hug from him, but I did get a hug from his mother who also remembered me. I didn't even buy anything the last time.

In addition to selling cigars, they have a selection of fine wines and this night, as in November, they were offering a free wine tasting. They had a representative of the distributor pouring and explaining the fine points of the varieties offered. She poured enough in our large glasses for a fair taste of each wine and was ready with another selection as soon as we were ready. When she left, around 9:30 or 10:00, the owner lady took over and filled our glasses half full. I bought two bottles of wine and Pete bought several cigars. They gave him several extras as well. The people there know and respect what Peter has done in Haiti. I think he is also a good customer. I would be too if I smoked cigars. I don't remember a store where I was treated so nicely. We left about 10:30 p.m.

First Communion - May 1, 2010


St. Maximilian Church is large and is usually filled when we have been there. Although there was a First Communion Mass in the morning and two more on May 15th, the Mass at 1:00 p.m. was filled to capacity with people standing all along the sides and in the rear of the church. The children (and therefore us) had to be there at noon. The Mass lasted one and a half hours, so it was a lengthly time.

Alex announced in the morning that he didn't want to make his First Communion and kept saying it until his mother and father told him that he was getting dressed. We never know what Alex may do, so after he got dressed, he wanted to practice receiving communion so Anthony acted as the priest and pretended to to give give communion to Alex who dutifully bowed, said Amen and then pretended to spit out the host.

During the homily, the pastor asked for second and third grade volunteers to come up to answer a few questions. Alex wanted to go, but Roxanne discouraged him. The questions were "What is your name?" What is your favorite food? and If you could eat as much of it as you wanted to without getting sick, how much would you eat?" Those were simple enough questions and Alex could have handled them easily, but he could also start asking his own questions. When we attended his first reconciliation (penance), the pastor told the children that Jesus was going to be there with them that afternoon. Alex was sitting in the front row and, not being shy, asked every priest who came in to help with the service, "Are you Jesus?" Well, what do expect a third grader to ask?

Mass went along swimmingly until just before the Lord's Prayer, after which the communion was to start. We were about two rows behind Pete, Roxanne, Alex and Anthony and to their side. When the congregation rose, Anthony remained seated and was obviously in distress. Peter walked him out of the church as we started the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father, who art in heaven." What would happen if Anthony was sick and was unable to participate? "Hollowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Still no sign of them. "Give us this day our daily bread." Then they walked back in and Anthony resumed his place and was smiling. "Deliver us from evil." The procession started and Alex followed Anthony and did exactly as he was supposed to do. We were so, so proud of both boys. They were so handsome in their suits and white ties.

We returned to Casa Kolshorn after I got slightly lost coming back from the church and shared a wonderful bar-be-que of skirt steak, Bubba Burgers, salad, a bakery cake and a cheese cake made by Roxanne with a number of Roxanne and Pete's friends and Roxanne's parents.

Key West, May 3, 2010

I finally got to Key West. It is someplace I have heard about and read about for a long time and now I have done it. I'm glad we went and I found it interesting, but I believe that I would not want to live there. To be fair, we only went for the day and didn't stay overnight which had been recommended to us. We were tired from  walking in the 90 degree heat. If we had stayed overnight we could have proceeded at a more leisurely pace. However, Pete and Roxanne were amenable to a one day trip. That allowed Pete to spend all day Sunday with the boys since he is only home for a little over a week. I felt that our visit to Key West was something like an orientation trip.

Key West is not a place that I would describe as kid friendly. It is more of an adult party town with many bars and restaurants and restaurants and bars. They are everywhere. One of the most popular nighttime activities is bar crawling. Anne and I are not big drinkers and while there is live music at most of the locations, it is not something that we wanted to do. We did stop in a bar called Fat Tuesdays and I had a drink called "Swamp Water" the main ingredient of which was rum with an additional shot for a buck. I drank about a third of it when I had pains in my stomach like severe indigestion, so I stopped. I had the same experience on Saturday when I had two double Margaritas, after two beers. I think I should stick with my Scotch. No such problems when I drink that.

When we arrived at Key West around 1:00 p.m., we were hungry  and decided on a Cuban restaurant. I had a Negro Modelo beer and a Cuban sandwich. Anne had a fish sandwich. Either one would have been enough for us both to share.

I bought a fedora hat and a shirt that I had a dye transfer put on the pocket that said "Key West." When I went into the store selling the shirts, I asked how much they were. The lady pointed to a small tag on the rack that said $34.95. I had been in another store where the same shirt was $14.95, but they didn't have my size. I said "$34.95?" The lady said that was correct, but that I was lucky because they were on sale today for $20.00 and any logo of my choice was free. Sometime you just get lucky.

We visited Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West where he lived for seven years. After his death, his sons sold it for $80,000. The people who bought it (the Dicksons) were so continuously disturbed by people knocking on the door that they decided to move out, turn the place into a museum and charge a righteous admission fee - a good money maker for them.

It was five o'clock somewhere, actually, right there about the time we were in the Margaritaville store and bar. The habituants, however, had started their toasts about 3:00 or 4:00 and were likely to continue until 4:00 a.m.

I think that some of the other Keys would be interesting as they offer snorkeling, glass bottom boats, fishing and other water sports with a less congested environment than Key West. Key West reminded me of a cross between New Orleans and Ocean Grove, New Jersey. It takes about four hours straight driving from Penbroke Pines. On the way back we stopped at a McDonalds for a light snack and got home around 10:30 p.m.

Alligator Alley and Alligators in the Backyard - May 10, 2010


We took Peter to the Fort Lauderdale airport for his flight back to Haiti and then proceeded West along I75, Alligator Alley which runs from Ft. Lauderdale to Naples, Florida. We didn't see any alligators this time, but had seen some along here the last time we were in Florida.

When we arrived at our friends, Rosemary and Bob's house in Trinity Communities (New Port Richey) we learned that the water level in the lake behind their house had risen and now is about 50 feet behind their screened pool enclosure. From that point waterward there is thick vegetation about ten feet tall with about a dozen trees much taller with Spanish moss clinging to the branches and bending them over. In the late afternoon and evening you can hear them grunting, the alligators that is. They sound something like pigs. Then there are bobcats, water moccasins and mink all walking or slithering through the back yard. We were safe, of course, because nothing could get through the fiberglass bug screening that surrounds the pool.

Bob and I walked to the edge of the bushes with my binoculars to see what we could see. We didn't see any alligators, but only a large rabbit.

We all went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. It is very large with many interesting exhibits. My favorite aquarium, however, is Jenkinsons in Point Pleasant. Okay, the aquarium in Monaco was better, but is far, far away.

Charleston, South Carolina - May 13, 2010

After we left New Port Richey, we drove and drove and drove to Charleston. The city is about one hour east of I95, but that road seemed like a five hour journey. The Tom Tom led us into town. We had used the street address to find our motel and when it said "You have arrived at your destination," we were next to a dilapidated building with a sign that read "Jesus Saves." The GPS should have told us to turn right instead of left and then we would have truly arrived at our destination.

We used the afternoon and evening to walk around Charleston and to eat pulled pork bar-be-que at Sticky Fingers on Meeting Street. The next day we toured Magnolia Plantation which included a house tour and a boat ride. We saw plenty of alligators on the boat ride.

We left Magnolia Plantation at about 1:00 p.m. and decided to drive until we got tired and stop for the night. A few hours later we stopped at a practically deserted South of the Border and bought a sub sandwich. We drove and drove some more until I felt that we had probably traveled enough. We stopped at a rest stop at which I bought a bottle of Mountain Dew. That rejuvenated me with vim, vigor and vitality so much so that we drove to Peggy & Greg's in Annandale, VA, riding through a prodigious thunder storm and arriving at 11:00 p.m.

We visited with Peggy & Greg until 1:00 p.m on Saturday and then headed home. Of course, the Beltway turned into a parking lot almost as soon as we got onto it. It seemed like forever, but we only lost about 20 minutes. We arrived home very tired, but glad to be here. There's no place like home and that's because that's where all my stuff is. Our next trip of any significant distance will probably be by air.

Anne asked if I didn't feel like it was time to go back to work since we had returned from a trip. I said "No, I don't feel that way." She said that she felt like that. I said "I'm not going."

 

The Porch is Done, the Porch is Done

It was done last weekend, but we just put the furniture back today. Actually, it's not done. I still have to do the railings by the front steps, but the painting is done and that's good. The railings will have to wait for another month as I have other things to do in the meantime. I just wanted to report that the painting was done, lest some reader conclude that I was slacking in my responsibilities.

I Am Tired Tonight

I decided that today was the day to get busy scraping and sanding the porch, so I got busy doing it. I opted not to rent a commercial sander. I had done so the last time we painted the porch and was not all that pleased with the results. Also, the paint on a good portion of the floor was solid and in good condition. I got on my knees, with knee pads, of course, and proceeded to scrape away loose paint then to sweep up the debris. I then sanded as best I could and again swept up the debris. I divided the porch into five sections, I think (remember I'm tired) and did the same for each. By the time I was half way through the third section, the nice, cushy knee pads were feeling mighty thin and my arms and back were feeling like they had done some work. It was also getting embarrassingly difficult to get back up each time I got down. But, in the end I did it and feel quite good about the accomplishment. The next step is painting, which will be a piece of cake compared to today. I will use a roller on a pole so that I can stand the whole time. With the painting, the most work is putting masking tape on everything that's not supposed to get floor paint, something I wish prior owners had thought to do. It is particularly difficult to get paint off brick and they were not especially careful when they painted resulting in a lot of extra work for the current occupants. Again, this is one of those jobs that people may not notice has been done. With tables and chairs on the porch, the floor will be less noticeable. After all, when we invite people over and use the porch, we aren't expecting for them to stand around marveling at the floor. If they did, I would think that our entertainment or food service skills were somewhat lacking. It would be okay though if someone said, "Oh, doesn't the floor look nice. Did you have it painted recently?"

Another Busy Day

Today I actually got started painting our porch columns and soffits. I had filled in gaps with wood putty and sanded and scraped until I didn't care anymore and now the painting has started. Anne did the outside soffits while I did the inside and columns. Two more columns to go and more soffits tomorrow. Then it's on to the porch floor. The floor needs to be sanded and I'm not quite sure how to do that this time. The last time I painted it, I rented a commercial sander (the vibrating kind, not a drum sander) and I wasn't really happy with the results. I'm afraid that a drum sander would be too aggressive and could cause more damage that I care to deal with, so I will have to figure something else out. I have a powerful pressure washer, but that didn't do so great either. The most powerful nozzle started scoring the wood and the next most powerful didn't seem to do much. I may be on my hands and knees for this one. The painted columns look great. If you get close, you can see the imperfections, but from a distance they sparkling white and bright. I said to Anne that this is one job that people won't notice that we did, but would notice if we didn't.

I am a little less than a third of the way through reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. Other than the fact that an impenetrable dome plops itself down over a town, the story seems like a plot for a B movie. Mr. King has, so far, not provided his usual harem, scare'um, out of nowhere effects. But, they may be coming. Kids are starting to see weird things in their minds. He has some time left, like 700 more pages, so I'm hoping he comes up with something. He does have a way of making you want to keep reading though. There is a list of important characters in the front of the book, but so many of them had been killed off by page 100, I wasn't sure how he was going to make it to page 1074. I'll have to keep on reading.

I noticed that when I published this post (this is an edit), I got an ad for NJ Hardwood Flooring. How do they do that?