Four bucks a gallon gas

Ouch, there is a rumor that gas will cost four dollars a gallon this coming spring. That will cut into my vacation plans. Driving a 20 mile per gallon van would cost too much to go very far.. No thousand mile trips for me.

I remember when gas first hit the one dollar mark. Back in the early 70's there was a shortage of gas which caused much consternation. It was a real shortage. Stations ran out of gas. People lined up at stations that had gas to sell. It got so bad the government ordered Stations to fly flags that told if they were open or closed. Red flag for closed and green flag for open. On top of that people could only buy gas on certain days. If your license plate ended in a even number you could buy on even number dates.

All this resulted in the birth of the little Japanese cars. Small four cylinder Toyotas and Datsons.
Detroit couldn't follow suit and that was the beginning of the end for big American cars..

Now even the Toyotas and Hondas have to find ways to stretch milage to keep us rolling in the manner to which we have become accustomed..

Error Message

My four year old laptop has developed a cough. There is a error message every time I boot it up. I'm no expert when it comes to computers and I fear there may be a fatal illness creeping into my hard drive.

But, the laptop still can connect and I can still check E mail and post to the BLOG.

So, if any one wants to offer any suggestions about what to do with my situation it would be appreciated.

Mow, mow, mow your lawn

The flowers are blooming. The trees are getting leafs. The grass is growing. And growing. And Growing.

Spring has sprung...

The cycle of plant life has been renewed. I helped Mother Nature out by feeding my lawn. This winter I used a "dormant" lawn food... Dang if it didn't make the grass grow real fast. Now I have to mow every week..

Next year I'll remember to NOT fertilize in the winter..

And the Winner Is...

Oscar time. The awards are on TV tonight. I started watching at 5 PM and now it is 9 PM. The are just getting around to presenting the best actor. Jon Stewart is hosting and he said at the beginning of the show that it would be five or six hours long..

I don't care. I'm doing other stuff.. My laptop needs to be defraged. That will occupy me for the next hour or two.

I may look up when they announce the best picture.

Scrapbooking

The pictures have piled up for over several years. The material has been on the dining room table for longer than that. Now, at last, action is taking place.

We'll catch up now. Right. Sure we will.

I see a miniature print shop getting into production as we set rubber stamp tiles and cut out various shapes and forms. It is fun to make a stamp which spells a name backwards before you use it to make a word in the correct format.

It will be nice to see the dining room as a dining room when we finish with all the scrapbooks.

TGIF

Another Friday. Seems like we have one every week. Since I'm retired it doesn't mean as much as when I was working. I always looked forward to Friday when I worked. It meant the weekend was here and doing fun things.

Now my weekends are seven days long. I have to spend time planning what and where to go with so much time on my hands. What to do?

Vacation planning revolves around when school is out for the summer. Now I try to plan trips before school is out or after school starts again in the fall.

My playground is getting more crowded every year. Baby boomers are retiring and those folks are joining me during the prime retiree vacation times.

So, come out and play on the weekend. I'll get out of your way. I have all the rest of the week to play.....

Soaps

My dearest is enticed to the soaps. I resist becoming interested because every time I chance to view a tiny bit of the program it seems there is never any progress in the story line.

The same lead actor has been on the show for at least twenty years that I know of. The same problems occur over and over. Somebody is always in a coma in the hospital or dying.

I even saw a episode where a dead person comes back as a ghost. You just can't kill them off..

So, for an hour every day I find something else to do. I avoid the TV for that time period.

Pray I don't succumb to the disease of soaps..

Moon Shadow

Today is the Lunar eclipse of the moon. Clouds are blocking my view but it is happening just the same.
Today was also the bike race which came into town. My sweetie and I rode our bicycles over to the road where the race went up into the foothills near home. There were crowds of fans there cheering. It was a great race. We had fifty club members in attendance on the hill to see the race pass.
I guess I missed a day of BLOG this week. I don't even remember why I was so busy to even post a short item.
Oh well.

Walk the Dog

I have a very smart friend, the dog, he knows that when I get certain pieces of clothing out and put on my hiking boots that he and I are going for "the walk".

He helps me gather the necessary equipment for our walk. Get the leash, poop bag and off we go.

Dogs don't like to just "walk". They like to review every bush and tree we pass on the circuit around the block. I think it is like reading the newspaper for him. He sees who passed by since we last walked. He gets to leave his "calling card" on the message board.

I really appreciate his company on the walk and him helping get some extra exercise.

Thanks buddy Beau.

Hurry on Sundown

Golly, I almost missed doing my blog today. I went to the bike race and then came home and watched the same race on TV. Versus TV is showing the race every day for the next week. I already have the TIVO set to record the programs. Then fix some dinner and do dishes.

Then watch the last show from "Survivors" which I missed last Thursday. Now the day is almost done and I have BLOGed. So, off to bed..

Sorry 'bout that

Sorry that I did the lousy blog yesterday. Nobody needs all that "Blah".

Sweet day today. Did a nice bicycle ride with three good friends. Interesting group in that I am the "old" guy. I can keep up just fine on the flat part. If the road tilts up I have to slow because I am carrying my holiday stomach with me. Twenty pounds makes a world of difference on a hill.

Today we were all just spinning on the mostly flat 30 miles. Only one overpass.

The "youngster" of the group gets his hard workout on the day before our ride. So, our ride is a cool down for him. He still likes to try to "hurt" us every now and again. We mostly just let him go and just keep our pace mellow.

The two guys in the middle age group have their own problems. The big guy is way overweight. He needs to lose fifty pounds to get back into shape. Then the fourth fellow is closer to my age and he is a excellent cyclist. Actually, he is my mentor. I've ridden with him for close to fifteen years. Every thing I know about cycling I learned from him. He just needs to get more saddle time and he will be back in shape.

It was a great ride and good fellowship. That makes my day..

Blog Blah

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Boring Blog Blues

Happy Valentine's Day. I did remember and gave her the card at breakfast. We actually both had our cards on the breakfast table this morning. Hugs and kisses.

I know several people who have February 14 birthdays. We helped celebrate one of those birthdays with a luncheon. Actually she prepared the soup and dessert. We just went and sang off key.
My special person has been reading my blog and she told me it is boring. Darn. I guess I lead to tame a life. One guy I know suggested I write about some imagined affair. Have several girlfriends and live a dangerous blog life.

No, I'll just keep writing boring stuff and be very happy with the life I have presently.

Thanks for reading.

Big Race Coming

Lots of stuff to do this weekend. The big bicycle race is coming to town. Almost two hundred elite, professional racers will participate in a race which will cover almost one thousand miles and eight days.
I have been to Europe several times to see the big races. The Tour d' France, the Giro d'Italia are the two big races. Bicycle racing is a very big deal in Europe. People flock to the mountains to cheer the riders. They spend days camped out on the mountains to see the race pass. It all happens in a flash. In less then five or ten minutes the peleton sweeps past.
It is going to be exciting.

Work out day

Today was a day for a "work out". Work out in the garage, where we spent the afternoon. Since I can't see the top of the work bench I decided to try to sort out some of the mess.

After a couple of hours I had cleared enough space to get my elbows on the work area. What I found is that there is enough stuff on the bench to open a "Ace Hardware" store.

At least thirty screwdrivers and almost as many pliers. Four hammers, three hand saws. At least twenty pounds of assorted sockets. Then the battery operated tools. Boy, I sure will have fun with them.

The other half of the garage belongs to her. She has control with what is stored on her half. She spent the afternoon sorting cans of paint stored for several years. Some cans were bought and never used. We'll get around to painting that room later. Much later.

Now that we have done the deed we can hold off any more cleaning until next year.

Baby Steps

This is a trip down memory lane. The baby steps I refer to are my learning about our world of media and electronics. Back in the days of my youth I experienced the "birth" of television. The TV sets had small pictures. The pictures were in black and white. The stations didn't broadcast all day. When there were no shows on the air the stations displayed a "test pattern". The test pattern allowed us to adjust our picture. The picture would roll over and over if the horizontal hold was not just right. Or the picture would slide sideways. Then we would adjust the vertical hold. The TV sets had tubes like light bulbs. The tubes were vacuum and sometimes burned out just like light bulbs. We would have to go to the store and buy new tubes. The tubes had lots of pins sticking out of the bottom of them. You had to get the exact same tube or it would not fit.


To get a picture you had to have a big ariel on the roof of your house. Some people used a ariel on the top of the TV which were called "Rabbit Ears". You would turn the ariel until you got the sharpest picture possible.


The first color pictures were made using a screen over the front of the TV. The screen made the picture look like it was colored.


Now today the tubes are long gone. The TV is very big screen and skinny. The picture comes in on a cable. The shows are on 24/7.


I have lived in a historic era, that's for sure.

Circque du Soleil

We went to a circus today. Cirque du Soleil here in town. Wow, what a great show. The costumes, the music, the lighting, the skits, the performers. Everything was wonderful.
This is the fourth time I have been to one of their shows..
We did the total experience. They have a red carpet, VIP cocktail for one hour before the show and you are treated to hors d'overies and drinks. There are special gifts and during the 30 minute intermission dessert and coffee.
If you get a chance to go, don't miss it.

Giro d'Bici Bike

On the second Saturday of each month I "lead" a bicycle ride for my cycling club. Today was the day. The ride is the same route every month and the riders who do it frequently know the way around the circuit. Forty miles is the basic route. We ride from the Bici bike shop in a group and exit town into the foothills. The ride is well attended. It is very popular with the club members. It is not unusual to have as many as fifty riders on the ride.

As ride leader my responsibility is to record the names of each rider on the sign in sheet. Then I ride at the rear of the group and help any rider who has a mechanical problem. The ride regroups at a coffee shop about half way through the ride. Conversation and coffee is what everybody enjoys. Then back on the bikes and finish the ride.

Today I rode very close to the forty miles. I did 38.6 miles.. Guess I did a short cut. Ha Ha.
Now, as I sit and write this blog I can feel all my leg muscles getting tight. I hope I can get our of bed in the morning. Since it is early in the cycling season those muscles need to get back into shape..

Crosswords

Working easy Crosswords puzzles is great for keeping your brain in shape. Exercise for the "Gray Matter". The book of puzzles has over one hundred easy crossword puzzles. I work a couple of pages in the morning with breakfast.

The easy puzzles have only four or five letters. And I don't need to know the names of actors in movies. Mostly the words are simple and common things. It still provides enough challenge for the hour of the day, early morning. Who can get it going early in the AM? It is a good way to start the day.

Oprah and Dr Oz

Everybody should watch her show. She has this Doctor Oz on who is really into good health. His approach is simple. Eat good things and exercise. Duh! We all know that. Right?

There was one thing he said about a food which I could not believe. Chia seeds are great for your health. Now, I have seen the planters with the Chia grass growing into green animal forms. Every Christmas ads promote them as a great gift.. But how will they help me? You use them in baking things like muffins. They absorb all the fat, that's how.... No way, you say. Way, says Dr Oz.

So, does he think he is? The Wizard of OZ??

I Wanna Ride?

Had a nice ride today on the Suzuki. Joined two buddies for a breakfast ride. We rode to a diner in the next valley over the hill from our homes. We all chose the senior 1-2-3 special. 1 egg, 2 sausages, 3 pancakes. Just right for the price.

Getting out on the bike this time of year is sort of "iffy". The weather is not really nice enough to be comfortable. I need it to warm up to about 70 degrees and then I can enjoy the ride...

Did My Duty

The election primary day is here. I did my duty and mailed in a ballot. Now we wait to hear and read the results of the vote.

My candidate usually loses. Or things pass that I vote against and items fail to win that I vote in favor of... But I did my duty.

I do think change in coming in the political world. We need fresh faces and ideas to get our Country back on track.

Now the next round of fun will be the political conventions. It is always fun to watch the party.

Aftermath

Giants are the Kings of the Super Bowl. It was a really great game. No one could believe that Eli could pull off the win. He deserved to be the Most Valuable player.

Life goes on and now focus shifts to the political arena with the big vote tomorrow. Who will get the edge. It will be interesting to find out which person comes out on top. I have made my choice and sent in my ballot by mail.

Lent starts this week. Fat Tuesday is tomorrow and Ash Wednesday on Wednesday. I wonder when Easter is? Forty days later, that's when.

Super Bowl Day

Okay, the day has finally arrived. I've been waiting all year for this day. At last there will be commericals that I will watch on TV today.
I don't care about the football game. I just will concentrate on the ads. Normally I abhor TV commericals.
The advertisers know everybody leaves the room to head to the refrigator for a snack so they ramp up the volumn on the commerical.
There has already been news items about the one ad from "Your Daddy.Com". The ad is so racy that viewers will have to go to a web page to see the whole ad. Let's all be sure to power up the laptops and join the fun.
Go team...

Ground Hog Day

The Ground Hog saw it's shadow today. Six more weeks of winter. Sure glad I don't have to shovel snow.
That's why I live where I live. It is very unlikely it will snow here any time soon. I am so glad.

02012008 (02/01/2008)

New month started today. February is only 28 days til leap year gives it 29.

Chinese New Year is now. Year of the Rat, I think. Yin and Yang. Happy New Year.

Super Bowl tomorrow. Brady and Patriots against Eli and the Giants. Should be a interesting game. The defense will have to be strong to stop such potent offense.

The other part of Super Bowl are the TV commercials. Big money is spent to sell their stuff..

I hope the half time show is a good one. I'll be watching.