greg3d

It was a slow day at the lab till the thieves showed up

Firstly, I'm heading down to Tampa for Thanksgiving. First time I will have done Thanksgiving down there since 1985. It's about time. I'm taking Mortimer with me. He hasn't had a vacation in a while either. I have lots I want to do, just hope I have time for it all.

I haven't blogged about the mozzarella yet. Last Saturday I made up my mind to hang around the house and putter. I used to do cooking projects all the time a long time ago. I used to make sausage, I used to brew beer. I even made mead once. I kind of stopped doing it when we moved out here because for a long time I didn't have a decent kitchen and I got out of the habit. Besides, there was too much to do here outdoors. So Saturday I pulled out a book on cheesemaking I acquired a while ago, having had it in mind mind to do this quite some time and embarked on making my own mozzarella. It was not a rousing success, but it was fun. The recipe I chose took me all day and made a firm ball of cheese. The problem was that the recipe called for the ball to be soaked in brine and that made it too salty. Maybe some people like it that way. Maybe that's traditional. Aside from that it tasted like mozzarella. I might be able to use it on pizza if I cut down on the salt everywhere else. It is certainly worth trying again. Now you can buy fresh made mozzarella at the fancier groceries around here, so it only all about the fun of doing it.

So. It was a very slow, very dull day for me, and if Hebert reads this I'll catch hell, because he and Michelle were screaming busy. Anyway about 4 o'clock I'm crossing over to the trailer when Debbie, one of the operators jumps in an electric cart and starts to tear off. She sees me, slams on the brakes and yells to me to get in the cart, that she needs my help. Not having much else to do at the time I said yes and got in. After we were moving was when she told me there were thieves stealing scrap metal on the other side of the plant and that we were going to stop them. She said she felt better if the had a man along. I resisted the temptation to suggest we go look for one. So we go tearing across the plant, brazenly ignoring the 10 mile an hour speed limit, since it was an emergency. I expect the cart was doing about 15 mph, but that's neither here nor there. Sure enough there was a white van and three people tossing metal pipes and other scrap into it. Debbie pulls up in back of them and starts giving them hell. The police had been called and she was trying to keep them busy till they got there. They plead ignorance that they were doing anything wrong and started throwing the scrap back, then they jumped in the van and took off. The operators at the control center tried shutting the gates, but they managed to get away. Apparently these people have been seen stealing a number of times. We got their license plate number, so maybe the police can track them down.i think we would have been better off waiting. The police would probably have been there before they got the van loaded up. It didn't look like too dangerous a situation, but I suppose you never know. Well, that was my excitement for the week.

last night in Tampa

Heading for home tomorrow. Friends are calling to make sure I get on that plane. I'm not packed yet, but it won't take long. Today was a leisurely day. I mailed my excess stuff home to simplify security. Went out to lunch, took a nap. Went to the IMAX theater to see Dark Knight. Pretty good, but a bit long and noisy. I liked the IMAX sequences.

I'm homesick for both places, there and here. Talk about confusing. Very torn over where I belong. That may clear up after I get to my own house. Been dealing with the sadness all day. Hope that's better when I get home.

Guess I'l be sociable and watch the Florida game with the parents.

the karma was good I guess

King High School won the first game of the season. From what I was told it was entirely unexpected. It was an away game so the halftime show was performed to the stands of the home team on the opposite side. So I didn't see much of it. Couldn't see Angela at all. Oh well. Had a good time anyway and got to spend time with my sister, which for me was the whole point. We went out to dinner with another couple before the game. It was a nice place by the water. We just ordered a bunch of appetizers and shared. Lorrie's friend took a couple of pictures for us.  

I skipped a day, didn't I?

Yesterday was a visiting day. Lunch with my cousin and her daughters and newest grandson. (My generation as grandparents, my god) In the evening out to Odessa to my cousin's house. My aunt and uncle just got back from Alaska. They had a quick pass through Seattle and left out of Vancouver, but I was at WAAC so I wasn't around to meet them. Caught them here so that was good.

Off to a football game tonight which is a rarity for me. It's to see Angela dance and visit with my sister and brother in law.

Cuban sandwiches are here. I'm going to eat again.

thanks to all my friends

We've been going through a really rough time of late, which is why I haven't been blogging much. It's just wonderful how supportive my friends have been. People have been there when I needed them.  We will all be okay. There are just some things that happen that you are completely powerless over and all you can do is get through them. And we are getting through them.

white christmas

It really is! The snow is coming down. Accumulations of 2 inches expected this evening. Though somehow, Morrie's Christmas at the beach sounds appealing. Even in Florida we couldn't usually do that.

Christmas Eve was very low key. I cooked Spanish bean soup and read a book. That was pretty much it. Arthur had worked about 2 hours overtime and was pretty well burnt out. Mortimer had spent the afternoon in the ER with severe pain so he was out of commission too.

I got up this morning about 8:30 to find Mortimer cleaning the kitchen. There was nothing for it but to pitch in. Looks pretty good. We let Arthur sleep till about noon. Now the tradition is for me to make a brunch, usually a nice omelet, but the omelet is was planning to make was rejected for one I did not have the ingredients for. So, the three of us got in the car for a mission to find an open grocery store. We found a small market open but ended up changing our minds. Arthur had casually mentioned that if worse came to worse, the Tacoma general cafeteria was having a special prime rib dinner. The bizarreness of having Christmas lunch in a hospital cafeteria appealed to us, so that's what we did. 6 bucks for prime rib wasn't a bad deal.

Mortimer went off to visit his former guardian. Arthur has disappeared to some corner of the house, and I've started cooking Christmas dinner. The black beans are on the stove and the roast is coming to room temperature and will go in the oven about 4:00.

......

The two of them have gone off and left me to my own devices. Think I'll go down and watch a Christmas movie.

Tia Gertrud

There is a very lovely tribute to my aunt Gertrud online. Click on slideshow or movie. Niether my sister nor I are in the images, but my parents are.

another loss

My aunt Gertrud passed way on Sunday. It was mercifully fast and she didn't suffer. Now my father is the only one left of his generation on that side of the family. Fortunately, he is a tough old fart and likely will outlive me. Just out of spite. (Love you, Dad. Can't leave Ma unsupervised. ;-p)

I just heard last night because my mother had a bit of a hard time tracking me down. I was away all weekend and she knew it and yesterday I forgot my cell phone at home. She sent emails, but they haven't come through. I got the one she sent last night with my cousin's phone number, but not the ones she sent yesterday. Strange. Anyway, that's one of the problems of living far away from the family. Sometimes news doesn't travel all that fast. It would be nice to go to the funeral, but unfortunately I can't really get time off work right now. I could make it to the graveside services tomorrow morning if a tried really hard and paid a small fortune. At least I was down there in November and had a chance to see her. This is why I've made a commitment to fly down at least once a year. You can't take anything for granted.

musings from the South

My mother, Mortimer and I have been playing Monopoly the last couple of days. Mortimer has won each game. Not only is he lucky with his rolls, but he's ruthless. He took both of us for every cent we had. We have also just finished watching Arsenic and Old Lace, which is the play that gave Mortimer his pseudonym. I wish I had seen him in it.

We have been hanging around being lazy the last couple of days. It seems one theme park has been enough for us, though we may fit in Busch Gardens yet.

I decided to go out for a midnight stroll, get some air and catch up on some belated phone calls to the west coast. I had actually wandered a fair distance and was on my third phone call (which was to Arthur) when a car pulls up next to me, horn honking. It was of course, Mortimer, who I decided I had been out long enough. I don't know how he found me, because the direction I went off in was fairly random. It pretty much leads me to believe what I have always suspected, that the Alateens have planted a transponder on me and can track my every movement. It's probably equipped with a microphone so they can hear what I say too.

I have one more day here and then it's back home on Sunday. I am really not ready for freezing temperatures. It's been a lovely range of mid 60's to mid 70's and I like it. Besides that it's been really nice being around the family. All in all, I'm not ready to end this vacation.

family fix

I'm looking at a portrait of myself in my band uniform at about age 16. To my left is one of my sister in her cheerleader outfit at about age 15. On the bookcase are pictures of my sister's daughter and on the chair behind me is my niece's cat, who is visiting till my sister's house is finished.

I'm at my parent's house in Tampa and it feels good to be here. It's been about 10 months since I was last here. I'm not terribly fond of Tampa the city, but the family is here so this is where I come for my family fix.

Mortimer came down with me. He has friends here he met on a missions trip to Africa the summer before last so later on in the week he will be hooking up with them, after we've done some theme parks.

We drove over to the beach this evening, it being a warm and clear night and predictably both ended up soaked. Never stroll a beach with Mortimer if you are not prepared to get tossed in. I'm pleased to say he ended up in there with me. The water was still quite warm, particularly by Northwest standards.

We've been up since 4am PST and even though it's only midnight EST and 9PST I'm still beat. I think I will read a bit and go to bed. Stay tuned for more adventures.