Poor man . . .

At 32 degrees and windy this morning I'm sure Grampa was not in the mood to go fishing. Kiddo and I played badminton in the driveway and when it warmed up to 42 degrees we went for a walk to the river . We were going to throw rocks but there were two fishermen in our favorite spots so we came back home. Kiddo cajoled Grampa into digging for worms and they are on their way to Sterling pond. I hope they catch a few fish. It would be cool for him to catch something big enough to eat! Before they left Kiddo picked the asparagus so I think we'll bring it to his Mom and Dad. Maybe he'll even try a bite? He did ask how it tastes!

After lunch at Richoni's we'll go to Coventry, RI to see the new horseshoe pits. It's a good sunny, cool day for an excursion.

Quote: Men might be better if we deemed better of them. -The worst way to improve the world is to condemn it. __Bailey

A good deed and a splurge . . .

Got a call from Groton daughter that husband was taking the day off therefore I have a day off. Decided to buy one more two pound weight so I can have a pair! Of course Benny's didn't have any except the ones I already have 3, 5, 6 and 8 pound. Only slightly dejected I went to Central Coffee to get some Kcups for middle child and French Roast Decaf for the Bunn. They only had Expresso Roast Decaf which the man swore, on the proverbial stack of Bibles, would be just what I wanted. Wrong. It's just minimally okay. I have to doctor it with instant chicory imported from France. It's not too bad and it did wash down the cranberry-orange scone rather well. So much for my splurge.

I finally went for a walk up Main Street and through the Little League Park using the heart monitor. I certainly do get my heart rate up to 135+ easily. I thought I would have to do some running. Not the case. Just a fast walk does it. On the way home on Ward Avenue I saw a truck pull out of Winco and go immediately left up the one way! I tried to wave him down but he kept going until a car coming at him got on the horn and he took the side street in front of Sunnyside. I called the Plainfield police because they had a accident a few days ago when another idiot did the same thing but got a lot further! I did mention that there is no sign as you come out of Winco forbidding a left turn. With this economy there are a lot of people selling scrap metal. Winco is probably getting a windfall of copper piping from all of the abandoned properties and those for sale in Eastern Connecticut!

Just saw bluebirds in the dogwood. Damn, I need a really good camera with a telephoto lens. Mine is good but no telephoto. Grampa should be home shortly from his mowing job at the Yankee Flyers' Field. Perhaps he'll go flying and I can go along for a more relaxed walk.

Quote: Surely there is something in the unruffled calm of nature that overawes our little anxieties and doubts: the sight of the deep-blue sky, and the clustering stars above, seem to impart a quiet to the mind. __Jonathan Edwards

Now that was nice . . .

Just returned from Top of the Bay at Oakland Beach in Rhode Island where Puppy's Pop and I had a very nice lunch. When I came home from Backus Rehab and Central Hyundai where the Elantra's ignition cylinder was installed I asked him if we could go out to lunch. And so we did. Nice ride on this partially sunny, cool day. Puppy's Pop had spent all of yesterday painting and cleaning up the furnace/laundry room in the cellar. He found enough old paint (balsa, white, light blue, medium blue ) to mix up a very decent concoction of super, very white light blue. The room looks quite nice. I am impressed.

  I spent last evening with Kiddo. We ended up at Bluff Point in Groton where he was going to practice casting. It it was so windy and cold he settled for a lot of running round, trying to fall in the water and our favorite rock throwing! Naturally after all that running around on a cold windy evening we needed to stop at Dairy Queen for a snack! Thank goodness for mini-Blizzards. I worked off the extra calories with my Backus12 mile stationary bike ride and lifting weights. (Only five pound weights) I always feel good when I leave that class. I hope I will keep up the exercises when I'm finished with the class in late June. I must admit I get somewhat lazy and have to push myself to work out.

Time to blanche some asparagus and throw it in the freezer.

PS I do not like the new Blogger interface. I do not like it, Sam I Am. As one can plainly see my picture is in the wrong place and I'm not in the mood to figure it out.  I'm lucky I got it on here!

Quote:  A fool always finds some greater fool to admire him.  __Boileau

Rainy Sunday . . .

Not much going on this gray, rainy coolish day. Puppy's Pop tried to get away with not taking me to our usual Sunday morning breakfast date at Lizzy B's. That takes nerve. He tried to take off early for fishing for the love of Pete! Because we went to breakfast at Old Tymes in Norwich yesterday he thought we'd skip today. No way. We went to breakfast but he only ate a corn muffin because he had already indulged! He did get a chance to go fishing before the rain set in but only caught one trout big enough to eat so he put it back even though he lost his favorite lure as the trout was being freed! We brought Kiddo to Sacred Heart early yesterday morning for a three hour preparation class for his First Communion. Mom and Dad picked him up at noon and I think they went out to buy his new suit. Spent the day reading, listening to the race as I worked on my embroidery and making Gumbo for supper. Almost time to eat. Smells good. We've been eating fresh asparagus lately. It is very good. Have to make some stewed rhubarb soon. My mouth waters just thinking about it!

Quote:  ___How singular, and yet how simple, the philosophy of rain! ___Who but the Omniscient one could have devised such an admirable arrangement for watering the earth!  __Ure

Donkey power . . .

Went to see younger sister yesterday. After lunch we went to Granville,MA for our ice cream treat. ( I'm not lactose intolerant. It just seemed that way when I was having the stomach problems. Yay!) We go to a farm where they have a petting barnyard. Two years ago their male donkey, Taco, was loaned to UMASS for stud purposes. He's still hard at work. The farm now has one of his baby donkeys, Tacquito and baby's mother, Anna, too. They are much better tempered than the father donkey. They had to post warning signs to keep your hands away from him. He hee-hawed a lot too. Noisy character, Taco was.

The Élantra is fine. Waiting for a new ignition cylinder to come in and then we'll go to Central Hyundai to have it installed. Thank goodness Monday's fiasco didn't cost us anything but lost time. We also bought a spare tire kit, just in case we ever need it. We have roadside assistance but it's a good thing to be prepared to fix problems on your own and not have to wait for someone to show up. Waiting is painful! I still have no patience. Getting worse with age!

Started to work out with four pound weights today after my 25 minute biking exercise. Pretty neat. Jeff is going to add more weight exercises Friday. I hope he has a sheet to remind me what I'm supposed to do and how many repeats. It felt good.

Kiddo spent yesterday evening running through the lawn sprinkler. That's how hot it has been the last couple of days. Today is more seasonable but still warmer than usual. Too windy for flying though. I will leave shortly for my cribbage fix with S.

Quote: It is on the sound education of the people that the security and destiny of every nation chiefly rest. __Kossuth

Flooded @&$#%*¥£€><~#%^ . . .

Yep. The the Élantra wouldn't start this morning as I tried to leave for Backus. Puppy's Pop also tried but it just made weird noises so we called Hyundai Roadside Assistance and at 9:55 the man came with the tow truck because we were going to have it brought to Plainfield Hyundai. But he started it! Said because of the weather the car thought it was still cold and since it was over 70 degrees it put in the wrong mixture! Hell's Bells! What's a person to do in a case like that? Puppy's Pop is bringing it to the dealership in Plainfield anyway because the dinging sound that's supposed to stop when you take the key out just keeps on dinging unless you press the inside ring at the ignition. Don't know how else to explain it. Oh well. I missed my exercise and stopping at younger brother's. But I did work out with the Wii Fit and that went really well. Hope Puppy's Pop has good news from the service department. I think we'll be bringing the car there from now on if and when it needs servicing.

Quote: Do you wish men to speak well of you? Then never speak well of yourself. __Pascal

Hoping for a phone call . . .

The entrance to the Train Museum in York, England. We'll now be studying trains!

Puppy's Pop and I went to the fundraiser at the Jogues Club yesterday. They had a fantastic crowd and I was so glad to see that our old friends had weathered the winter and are ready to start playing horseshoes again. John, the 98 year old, has been playing in his backyard with some of the regulars every Saturday. He's an amazing man. His friend Dot hasn't been well but she's starting to get better from a bout of infections she suffered when she had back surgery last summer. She ended up being hospitalized or in rehab for over seven months. Moral of the story: don't go to a hospital in Rhode Island! We bought tickets for a 50/50 raffle and also bought tickets for what I would have called a penny raffle, but is now a dollar raffle! I put most of the tickets on three baskets of booze worth $150 each and one ticket on a bike. Since we didn't stay late I'm hoping we get a phone call today to say we won something! They had a lot of fantastic stuff. Three different horseshoe leagues participated in the fund raiser. The new pits are going to be really nice.

Puppy's Pop is already at the flying field for today's flying demonstrations. Not sure if I'll join him after Mass. I'm still feeling lazy. It does look like we'll be having a beautiful summer day so I may just veg out on my swing. The Bulletin accidentally left us a Sunday paper. A good excuse for doing nothing and reading less than nothing!

Quote: What is history but a fable agreed upon? __Napoleon