Somebody shoot me . . .

Suggestion: focus on the cactus.

Well, just kidding, kinda, rather. Did manage to get delicious coffee and a short order of Cinnamon Crisp at Old Tymes for our 10:15am breakfast. That was good. It was more than good. I gulped it down in two shakes of a lamb's tail since I'd been up at 6:45 and not eaten a morsel. I had an eye doctor's appointment in Norwich for 8:30 and since we had some freezing rain Puppy's Pop drove me to the appointment and we were going to go for breakfast at 9:15. Hah, how stupid of me. I was there at 8:15; the assistant took me in at 8:25 and after the doctor skipped over me (I could hear him in the rooms adjacent to mine) I went out to track him down. Got to see him at 9:30. My prescription hasn't really changed much but the cataract is cataracting or whatever it is a cataract does and so my eyes are very sensitive to light. Having a pair of prescription sunglasses made and put into my old sunglasses' frame. Only got two more kinds of drops to add to the one I use regularly so I guess I'm back in business. I shouldn't get bent out of shape because I had to wait an hour for my time with the doctor but it doesn't even seem civil to keep someone on hold for that long unless there was an emergency and there was no emergency. I could hear everything that was going on in my special cubicle! Just an inhospitable lack of courtesy and good manners. I could have been an animal waiting for the vet to drop by when he had completed his morning rounds of the barnyard. So be it. I'm already tired and it's only noon. Getting pissed off tires me out. Lesson learned: just relax, don't make waves, eventually someone may muddle through and actually do their job. I may have to take up drinking something stronger than water and coffee to make it through mornings like this.

Bright note on this pouring rain, 42 degree day: the Pontiac is great.

Quote: The way to procure insults is to submit to them. ---A man meets with no more respect than he exacts. __Hazlitt

Celebrations . . .

Can't believe Arizona nephew got me to climb to the top. It was so good to be out in the desert with him. Very nice thoughful young'un.

Pontiac is a fantastic ride. UCONN women struggled at Georgetown but pulled it off. UCONN men managed to hold on and beat Cincinnati at home. Three new inches of snow this morning melted away by the afternoon's hazy sun. Delicious breakfast at old faithful in Oneco and great music at Mass this am. How sweet it is. Younger sister called yesterday and we spoke for quite sometime. Haven't seen her since before Christmas and now that I have my wheels I expect to get up to East Granby in March so we can have a nice lunch. I always feel that I have to see her and talk face to face. The phone is nice but being together is the best. Also spoke with older brother and laughed about some similar car problems he's had. He had bought a used Honda that acted up and his mechanic told him he'd put in a new head gasket but then advised he get rid of the car really quickly. Older brother complied! His wife and I had spoken earlier and they will be seeing their new grand daughter in Seattle at Easter. It's got to be tough not to watch your little ones grow up. They are able to keep up with Skype. That's a plus. I'm going to sip some Sogno di Sorrento Lemoncello and get caught up on the magazines. Yep, I've fallen behind and I don't even have a puzzle out to slow down my reading. (Puppy's Pop is really frowning at the idea of a puzzle.) For my evening read I bought Ken Follet's World Without End for the iPad. I've enjoyed some of his other books but his English seems to be aimed at 5th graders this time around. Not sure I'll be able to get through it without lowering my standards. I have been reading some of Mémère's classics so I'm probably doomed to dislike most modern novels.

Quote: There is no worse robber than a bad book. ___ Italian Proverb

And we have a drivable vehicle . . .

Went to The Whale after dropping Kiddo off and picked up the Pontiac Torrent. Leo Labbe had the service manager, not Jeff, add the 90 days or 3000 miles used car warranty to the Pontiac starting from the present odometer reading in writing on the paper work detailing what was done to fix the vehicle. Jeff wasn't there, we knew he wouldn't be because his daughter was having her baby today, and I could not get the Service Manager or Leo Labbe to write up the 12000 mile or one year warranty on the work they completed. The Manager said it was an implied warranty on Fords. Well, a Pontiac is not a Ford. Labbe said he didn't know how the GM warranty works and to call Jeff Monday because he's sure Jeff would have told us the right thing over the phone when Dad had called Friday. I've been keeping notes about all of this just in case it turns ugly. Puppy's Pop said I have to stop worrying but I need to get some peace of mind about this purchase. We have plenty of heat and the Pontiac is truly a good looking ride. I just need it to run well for another 160,000 miles with just minor hassles. Hope Monday isn't going to be a pain when I call and talk to Jeff. But . . . in the short run the Pontiac is home and I really like it.

Quote: Very few men are wise by their own counsel, or learned by their own teaching; for he that was only taught by himself had a fool to his master. __Ben Jonson

And what will today bring ???

Grampa is already off to Groton for an earlly morning rendezvous with the dentist. I've put $10 worth of gas in my tiny, shiny blue chariot; hit the ATM for more money - Kiddo's week off can get expensive; I've marveled at the menhir's displayed around the village. Where ever the plow drivers have deposited tons of snow the ice menhirs are sticking out and glittering in the beautiful morning sun. Downright balmy today at 20 degrees. Younger brother and sister-in-law are back from Arizona. I hope they've brought some heat back with them. Enjoying the peace of a warm, somewhat snug kitchen hoping I don't meet anymore ice laden trucks on my way to Groton.

Quote: Love, and you shall be loved. __All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation. __Emerson

Addendum: $284 ticket . . .

Keep in mind that I'm driving the 2009 rickshaw with Maryland plates which has no capacity for quickly getting up to any speed whatsoever. Keep in mind that I was driving from my mammogram appointment ( where the mammographer greeted me with a "Bonjour, Miss Caron." She had been my student at NFA in 1967 and said I hadn't changed! Had to give her a big hug when I left!) Keep in mind that I've been driving the speed limits with the skateboard I have for wheels. Now, the story goes like this. At the exit for the casinos on 395 South a monster trailer truck was blowing ice chunks off of the roof. I stayed behind for a while but got nervous as to how far I had to be behind. Decided to floor the rickshaw and get by the SOB. I sailed by, after putting my foot through the floor and calmly let up on the gas as I pulled in front of him when I saw the red and blue flashing lights, heard the siren and thought, "Yes, he's got the damn truck." Wrong. He got me. I pulled over near the exit of the gas station, rolled down my driver's window, got out the Enterprise/Whaling City Ford registration and my license when the policeman knocked at the passenger side window. Rolled down the window and this young, handsome, shaved head young officer asked me if I knew how fast I had been going. "No Sir. I don't. I'm sorry. I was trying to get by a big truck that was blowing ice all over the place." "I clocked you at 85mph." Me, wide eyed, "Really, Sir, I didn't know this car could go that fast." " Give me your license and registration." As I handed them to him I explained that I was driving a rental because my car was in the garage. He took my papers as I waited, heart beating rather fast, but not contrite when a second police car pulled up, lights flashing, an unmarked black Dodge Charger. He didn't stay long and the officer returned to the passenger window and handed me back my license and registration and said he wasn't going to write me up for anything. But told me it would have been a $284 ticket and explained that the next time a truck's blowing ice all over the road I must slow down and if necessary pull off of the road. I said, "Thank you, Sir. I have learned a good lesson." Phew. I can't believe how much trouble that damn rickshaw has been.

Jeff called from Whaling City today and told Puppy's Pop that the Pontiac should be put back together today and they want to drive it around tomorrow to make sure they've got all the bugs out of it. We may be able to pick it up Friday morning. He'll give us a call. I want to make sure that I speak with him about the warranty on the work they are doing and I also want to talk with the general manager to make sure our original warranty starts from the day we pick it up since they've had the crossover for over a week. I have more miles on the rickshaw than on my newbie.

Kiddo and I did have another great day bowling three strings with bumpers and eating Mighty Meals at McD's. I won two he got the third!

It was a great day . . .

Kiddo was right, yesterday was a great day. We started out at Target because I owed him for all the reading he's been helping me to complete. After we got the Pokemon cards and special box we had to go home and play the game, bien sûr! He beat me soundly and we left for lunch at Pizza Palace where he also beat me at a Transformers card game as we whiled away the time. Then he reminded me we had to go to Avery Point. Oh, what a glorious day. It was bright, clear, cold but not too windy. He chose to walk on the very high wall, by himself. I couldn't get near the wall to save my soul as the snow was piled up against it and the cars were butted up to the snow. So I pretended everything would be fine. It worked. He was fine. Sections of that wall are at least 7 feet or 8 feet tall. I wouldn't walk on the darned thing. The tide was out so Kiddo, in the lead led me to our secret sea glass beach. We had to tell the geese to get away and they calmly swam off after Kiddo honked at them a few times. He diligently collected a whole Harley jacket pocket full of beautiful sea glass, tiny shells and smooth, colorful rocks. It is so much fun to hear his exclamations when he finds the glass on his own. His "This is a great day, Mémé." made me feel so good. It's as if I had given him the world to play with and he appreciated the wonder and beauty. Not sure what he and I will do today. He's got the week off and Mom was able to take Monday off from Richoni's so they spent a good day with her friend E. and her two kids who love to play with Kiddo, who's quite a bit younger than they.

Well, time to eat breakfast. Puppy's Pop had to leave early for a blood test at the VA in Providence and I have to leave soon for some regular check up stuff in Norwich. Somehow or other I used to have all this junk done in the Fall and now it has shifted to early Spring. (I'm an optimist, après tout!)

Quote: He that will learn to pray, let him go to the sea. ___Herbert

Hatched at breakfast . . .

Puppy's Pop and I went to Lizzy B's as usual this cold, sunny, bright morning and hatched the plan. We decided to take out the closet Ma Tante had had built into our room. It really was useful when we were six at home but with just the two of us it really is a homely son of a gun. With it gone the room opens up very nicely. I had to skip Mass because Puppy's Pop started the demolition the moment we came in from breakfast and believe you me, old chaps, there was no way I was going to leave him! Good thing I prayed as I worked because after he got the closet apart and carted out he was ready to move the bed into the spot without so much as new paint on the radiator or ceiling, where the closet had been or wall paper. Phew. That was a close call. We got it all ship shape in about four hours and I'm loving it. We might both be getting lost for a while because the stuff in the computer room closet was put upstairs in the study and my things were put in that closet. Grampa's things are in the small room closet so we're all set. It's going to take some getting used to but it'll be warmer now that the bed is away from the northern exposure and in the summer we'll find it easier to open all of the windows which are now easily accessible. Good job if I do say so myself. What's really weird is that we had the paint and wall paper to do the job. It's a bit of mix and match but it looks good and is much roomier and brighter for a northern room. We love it. Now I'm trying to talk Grampa into wall papering the living room. He's resisting, so far, but if I decide to hire someone to do it I think his Yankee ingenuity will kick in. He certainly did a good job renewing the old porch. Also trying to fix up his plane room upstairs and turn it into a little library. We've saved scads of money since the workshop has moved to the basement. The new washer has also helped the electric bill because it spins the clothes so dry the dryer finishes up in half the time. Very efficient front loader.Feel like this old house is entering the twenty first century, not in style, it's still functionally obsolete, but for us it's still pretty cool.

Quote: The first sure symptom of a mind in health, is rest of heart, and pleasure felt at home. ___Young