Goodbye 2008 Welcome New Year

Since this will probably be the last posting I do on the blog for this year I thought I'd bring a good chunk of our family to bid 2008 a fond farewell.

         

                                   

          

 
                                    

From Pumpkin, Princess, Kaiser, Kyla, Commander Poo Poo, and the two humans allowed to share their space, we hope you all have a happy new year!

-Michelle

P.S.  The photos are fresh.  I just took them yesterday with my iPhone.  ;-)

The Gift That Keeps Giving

My hubby rocks!  I don't care what any of you say.  He's a sweetie!  Normally getting a gift for me is a bit of a headache.  He has a a bit of a time figuring out what to do for me.  Give the guy a break he has to do birthday and Christmas within less than a week of each other.  And who hasn't at some point in time had a hard time finding a gift for the one they love?  Plus I don't really ask for a lot.  I try not to be demanding.

Well this year he out did himself.  He bought me the iPhone G3!  That's right the phone!  You're jealous aren't you?  I know you are.  This is the phone that all Mac geeks and AT& T customers want and have wanted since it came out in June of 2007.

He'll grouse saying that he had to take me along to get it.  But I was needed to get it set up.  You have to get it activated at a Apple store. 

Yes we braved a mall 2 days before Christmas.  I think we are insane!   It was re instilled in my why I get my shopping done by the first of December, at the latest.

But I did get the phone I wanted.  Merry Christmas to me!  Like I said, my hubby rocks!  

Funny Things You Find

So I was reading my buddy's site.  Too cool John!  And came upon this site.  I laughed so hard that my animals looked at me like I was nuts.  Proof that there are people out there that are stranger than me.

-Michelle

Christmas Carols

'Tis the season to be jolly.

Since before Thanksgiving there's been a radio station that's been playing Christmas music 24/7.  I guess they've been trying to get everyone in the Holiday spirit a little early.  

It got me to thinking.  Your music tastes change as you grow.  

One of my favorite Christmas carols as a young child was 'Joy To The World'.  Could be the influence of the Lutheran school I attended as a youngster.  But what child can't start smiling at the boisterous chorus?  Of course I liked the normal fun Christmas songs, but that song really sticks out for me.

As a teenager I was in our church choir.  I remember trading off midnight services and morning services with some of the other choirs that the church had.  Sadly that choir is no longer in existence.  The choir director has passed on.  But one of my favorites to sing was 'Silent Night'.  Sometimes we even sang it in German.  And for some reason even singing 'Stille Nacht' gave me chills.

As an adult I'm not as active in the church thing.  I still love the same songs that I did as a child and teenager.  They still give me shivers.  Though I've noticed as of late that 'Santa Baby' seems to catch me every time I turn on the radio.  I always thought it was sung by Cyndi Lauper, but apparently it was sung by Madonna.  Also 'I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas'.  Something about the song makes me smile.

So what's you're favorite Christmas song?  Religious or secular.

-Michelle

Oops! They Did It Again.

So once again Jim's ship has come to the rescue.  For those who're keeping score that would be two in four days.  This one was on the news.  My neighbor, John, actually told me about it.  So cool!  Sadly it was only on the five o'clock news so I didn't get to see it.  

Way to go Gonzalez!

That is all.  Carry on!

-Michelle

The Great Prediction

Okay this is probably not what you think when you read the title.

When I went to the Ingleside Fall Barrel Tasting I did the ring test on my friend Sarah.  For those of you who have no idea what the ring test is, please let me explain.  

You put a gold wedding band on a string and hold it over a pregnant woman's belly.  You do need to have a bit of a bump in order to perform said test.  If the ring swings back and forth it will be a boy.  If it goes in a circle it will be a girl.

Many say it's an old wives tale, but I've done this with a number of friends and have only been wrong once.  I've predicted something like 7 or 8 pregnancies and only been wrong once.  And apparently it's more prevalent in the Midwest.  

My prediction?  A boy!  Jameson says it'll be a girl.  Silly boy when will you realize the power of the ring?  Insert maniacal laughter here.  We'll see who's right in January.

My last prediction?  A boy also.  He was born in March.  Don't bet against me.  Insert my giant grin here!

Here's hoping for a healthy baby to Sarah and Jameson.

-Michelle

A Sailor's Life

So many ask me what Jim's doing.  And a lot of times I can't tell them.  Either I don't know or I am not at liberty to say.  Such was the case at the barrel tasting that I attended on Saturday.  We have a lot of friends that were disappointed Jim wasn't there.  So while I was being carefree and frivolous, my hubby was out doing this.  It makes a girl really proud.  

Here's one of the few times I can share what Jim's been doing.  He emailed me last night to tell me the ship was going to be in the paper.  And I just had to share with everyone.  I'll be emailing the article to a few people as well.

It's nice to see a positive article for once.

Ingleside's Fall Barrel Tasting

So Saturday was Ingleside's Fall Barrel Tasting.  Jim was not home so I was seriously contemplating not going this time around.  The drive was a serious consideration for me.  I wasn't sure I wanted to do the 2.5 hour drive by myself.  Plus I didn't want to be by myself.  

But after a quick call to the winery I discovered many of my friends would be there.  So I gassed up the car, grabbed a cool drink and headed out.  And am I ever so glad I did!

The drive was gorgeous!  The fall foliage was beautiful.  Traffic was light and the temperature was lovely.  So I did not arrive a grouchy person due to traffic.  And I was able to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time.  Always something to put a smile on your face.

A barrel tasting is a wonderful event to attend.  You get to try wines directly from the barrel and normally you'll meet the winemaker himself.  At Ingleside the wine maker, Bill Swain, and assistant wine maker, Maria Swain, were manning the barrels.  They are a husband and wife team.   Every barrel tasting is different.  I was delighted with their selection this time.  They did varietals from 2007 that were off the beaten track.  They did Chaumborcin, Touriga, Tannat and Malbec.  Something that you might not normally find.  So you got something new to try.  And they were all reds.  My favorites were the Touriga and Malbec.

Afterwards I went to the Riverboat in Colonial Beach with my friends for a late dinner.  I was smart and brought my camera.  Unfortunately I left it in the car for most of the day.  Oops!  And I missed out on some very nice photo opportunities.  But I thought I'd share this photo of our buddies Linda, Andrea and Melanie.  And these fine ladies all work at Ingleside.  And are tons of fun.  Linda didn't work the barrel tasting.  Instead she and I were tasting.  It was great fun!

It's The Great Pumpkins

Okay so I'm a bit late on this.  Things got a bit hectic and I got side tracked.  Such is life.  So for those of you who mentioned that you wanted to see the pumpkins, here they are.

Everyone who knows us knows that we always carve jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.  And this year was no different.

As you can see Jim carved the relatively same pattern that he does every year.  The Black Pearl.  That doesn't mean that I'm not going to post the picture.  His is the only pumpkin that survived to be displayed on Halloween eve.  Even if I did have to use some toothpicks to help it stay alive.  Sadly we had someone smash our pumpkin after the trick or treaters were done.  Jim says that kids will be kids, but that's for another story.

I did one called Fraidy Cat.  I wasn't really in the mood to carve jack-o-lanterns this year.  And this was the easiest pattern to do.  Sadly it didn't last to seen Halloween Eve.  And we actually carved our pumpkins the night before Halloween.  Isn't that sad?  I thought a cat pumpkin was very appropriate for the year I've had.  Luckily I got photos before my pumpkin bit the dust the next day.  

Kyla and Pumpkin were both interested in the jack-o-lanterns when I lit them up for the photos.  In fact each picture took a little longer than normal because I had some very curious kitties that kept getting in the way.  

And yest this year we only did two pumpkins.  Maybe next year we'll do more.

I R Monster

With Halloween just a few days away I couldn't not post this picture of our little buddy, Colten.  I mean Halloween is my favorite time of year.  And Colten is one of my favorite little guys.  I'm not leaving you out Noah or JD.  You're my favorites too!  Anyway, Colten always wants to have his picture taken.  Can you tell he's an only child?

So when he told his Aunt Shell to take his picture, I told him that he needed to throw his hands in the air and roar for me.  Which he did with no problem.  He can be such a little ham at times.  We had to put the hood up so you could see the horns and read the front of the shirt.  Of course I emailed his mommy the photo and hopefully she can pass it on to his daddy.

I call him 'monster', but really he's not.  I just had to share this picture of him.  Sometimes he can be a little devil.  But then again can't we all at times?  Some of us more than others.

Fine Art

So when we went to Ingleside on Saturday, not only did we see many of our good friends, drink wonderful wine, purchase said wine and have an all around good time.  We also were able to purchase a piece of artwork from our buddy, Phil McKenney.

I highly recommend that you check out his site.  You can just click on his name and it should take you directly to his website.  He's a very talented man.  And I'm not just saying that because he's a buddy of mine.  I just like to shamelessly plug certain people.  :-)  This is the 'Dead Man's Hand' and he did this one in colored pencils if I remember correctly.  I had admired it for a long time before we decided to purchase it from Phil.  It came framed and matted and I can't wait to hang it in our game room.

Now Phil just needs to come visit us so he can see where we've placed his artwork.  Hint.  Hint.

Harvest Celebration

So Saturday Jim and I were able to go back to Ingleside Vineyards.  Hooray!  They were having their Harvest Celebration.  So we did get to see our wonderful friends from Ingleside.  And I missed you guys terribly!  And BTW those who did not work or show for this event were missed as well.  

There were so many things to do there.  And I mean besides drink the wonderful wine.  Which is one of my main reasons for going there.  Besides seeing my buddies, of course.  There was a band and dancing demonstrations (something that was new, the demo I mean), food vendors and craft vendors, plus alpacas.  We didn't pet the alpacas, because Jim said they looked like filthy animals.  Insert giggling here.  They did the wine tasting and you could buy wine by the glass or bottle.  We bought a  bottle of the Rosato for immediate consumption.  I saw Justin from the boat and Saturday was the last boat of the season.  They did the grape stomp like last year.  Only this time you put your feet print on tee shirts.  I didn't do this, but now I'm kind of wishing I did.  And they also had hay rides into the vineyards with the vineyard manager, Floyd.  It had been titled 'Tour de Floyd'.  I thought it was a riot!  And I learned a few new things.

Afterwards we went to dinner with our friends and had a really good time.  It took a bit of work to close down, but it normally does and man were they hopping that day.  We ended up buying a case of wine to take home with us.  Hey what can I say?  The holidays are coming up.  And didn't get home until nearly one in the morning.  But it was oh so very worth it.

It was a lot like coming home.  We missed the place terribly.  Especially the people.  Some things were the same, but there were changes.  New faces were mixed in with the familiar.  And there were some old faces that were gone.  A sad statement, but that's life.  

Of course the question that seemed to keep popping up was when was I coming back to work.  :-)  Boy that makes a person feel missed.  When they can invent a transporter so I don't have to drive 2.5 hours to get to Ingleside then I'll be back to work.

Another thing that was nice to see was some of the wines were sold out.  In an economy that is supposedly going down hill, it's really good to see that a winery is sold out of some of it's higher end wines.  Although I will miss the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserves.  And I'd really wanted a bottle of their Sparkling Wine.  But I'm sure they'll have more Sparkling Wine by Thanksgiving.  Hint!  Hint Maria!

What The Cats Did Today

It's good to know that my paper shopping bags do have some use to them.  Other than carrying my groceries that is.  Hey I forgot my canvas bags when I went today.

-Michelle

And that jingling you hear is the bell on their collars.  

I R Helping

So while Jim's away the cats will play.  Okay so that was really corny, but I liked it.  And admit it, it made you smile.  Maybe even chuckle.

So while Jim's gone for a few days with the ship (You know playing sailor and all.) I worked on the house more.  I'm wondering if it will ever end.  Pumpkin decided he would help as best he could.

His idea of helping?  Attacking those nasty crumbled up papers in case they decided to band together and start a riot.  

It was funny to watch him jumping and rustling through the papers.  And he was in heaven when I set out a huge wardrobe box for him to play in.  I almost didn't have the heart to break them down.  Almost.

So you may be wondering what Kyla was doing during this time.

Don't let the photo fool you.  She jumped and played in the papers and boxes.  Pouncing on Pumpkin whenever possible.  She's a spaz!  But as soon as she saw the camera come out she started acting like she was a little lady.

Nobody's fooled sweetie.

I finally caught her on the couch.  And figured it was only fair to post a picture of her as well.  Don't want to play favorites or anything.  

In fact that's where she is now, looking over my shoulder.  I think she's reading this as I type.  Reminds me a bit of a vulture.  Oh that's creepy!  Do I need to worry that she's part vulture and is waiting to pick me apart in my sleep?

Empty Nest

Michelle has already posted about this on Insanity Plea, but I'll post the story again here.

Last Friday night the house was still, like a tomb. It was the same Saturday morning. Later that morning Michelle and I left the house, mainly to get away from the stunning silence, to get a pair of new work boots for me and a cat toy to place with Odie's remains. We took Kaiser along. We even took him into several Petsmart's. (He did very well, I might add. The only time he growled was when strange dogs approached us. He's still very gunshy of dogs getting too close after his experience in Dahlgren.)

In one Petsmart, I asked Michelle if she wanted to look at cats. I had to talk her into it, but it was my feeling that the house would feel empty until a cat inhabited it again. Petsmart didn't really sell cats, they provided the local SPCA with a place to showcase their animals for adoption. That was fine with me, and I think Michelle. I'd rather have a mature cat than a kitten running roughshod all over the place. 

One orange-haired kitty got our immediate attention. He's the only one that noticed us that morning. He looked at Kaiser and was thoroughly unimpressed. A cat that could put Kaiser in his proper context had to be a good thing. 

We got an employee to let us in and pet the orange-haired cat, appropriately named "Pumpkin." Michelle took an immediate shine to Pumpkin.  Unfortunately, the SPCA volunteer wasn't in the store, so we had to come back later. A second trip was a no-brainer at that point, even though we had to travel to Virginia Beach to do it.

Later that day, we returned to Petsmart. Michelle filled out the adoption paperwork. I'm not sure what is more extensive mortgage paperwork, the SF-86 form for a security clearance, or the SPCA's paperwork to adopt a cat. Filling any of these out feels like a visit to the proctologist. A proctologist with cold hands and long thick fingers. 

While we were there filling out the paperwork for Pumpkin, there was a mother and daughter there looking for a cat. I overheard one of the volunteers tell the daughter about a gray tabby named "Kyla." Kyla had been at the Petsmart since April. Pumpkin, by contrast, had been there less than a week.  The volunteer got a laser pointer out to entice some of the cats to play for the mother and daughter. I noticed that Kyla was under a shelf, hiding, but she wanted to play. I could see there was more to her personality than she felt comfortable showing there. She was just scared to. Pumpkin did play a little, but he was irritated by some of the more obnoxious kittens.

Well, to make a long story less long, I told Michelle that when she went to pick up Pumpkin on Monday to go ahead and get Kyla too, if Kyla was still available. Luckily she was.

So Pumpkin came home on Monday. The house definitely started to feel right. Pumpkin appreciates the house's low windows and wide window sills. He's an early riser, a day napper, and a night walker. He looks very striking in his green collar. He likes to play on occasion. He has ambushed Kyla, and likes boxes. He is a bit older. He's four years old, and I get the impression he hasn't quite come to terms that this is his new home. Like I said, it was about a week from his old family until he joined ours. He's definitely a cool customer. He takes everything in stride.

Kyla came home on Tuesday, after a paperwork SNAFU that no one at the SPCA is willing to take responsibility for. They say she's three years old, but I find that hard to believe. She's got the attention span and claw control of a cat of a younger age. I would place her age closer to two years old. She is a bit of a spaz. She isn't impressed with the house's windows. She is impressed with our couches. She likes to sit behind you and read over your shoulder. She likes to play, a lot. She looks very lady-like in her pink collar, until she assumes her normal and decidedly unlady-like posture. 

The house feels full again. 

NOTE:  And Kyla is definitely a 'daddy's girl'.  She immediately bonded with Jim and I'm second choice in this situation. -Michelle  

Good bye old friend

The first indication that something was wrong was silence. At 9:00P.M. every night Odie would meow, demanding to be fed. Thursday night it was 10:00P.M. before we heard a peep, and when he did remind us of his nightly meal, it wasn't as insistent as it normally was.

That night we slept in our bedroom in the new house for the first time. Odie didn't. 

We didn't think much of either. We thought our lack of a schedule disrupted his. We thought that after a night of sleeping in the new room, he'd realize that's where we were going to be from now on.

In the morning, Michelle was worried because he slept with his head against his water dish. He never did that before. I thought Michelle was being paranoid. Later that morning, I thought I saw him breathing erratically. Michelle thought I was being paranoid. We ran some errands that morning. After an hour out and about, we returned. It had become obvious by then that Odie's breathing had become laborious. 

Michelle called our vet. We managed to get him in before noon. The vet kept Odie for the day. He said several times that Odie's condition, whatever it was, was serious. Michelle called the vet at 3:00P.M. The vet told her he thought Odie had bronchitis, but he thought there may be an underlying condition. She was told that he had to be picked up at 5:00P.M., and that the vet would write a referral to a 24 hour animal hospital, should we want to take him. Odie's condition then seemed to be on the upswing. His breathing wasn't as labored, and we were told he was talking to the assistants at the vet clinic. 

At 5:00P.M. we returned to the vet's office to find out Odie's condition had worsened. Taking him to the 24 hour animal hospital no longer seemed like an option, it was a necessity. The vet was talking about cardiomyopathy causing there to be fluid in Odie's lungs. We gathered Odie's things and went immediately. Odie, I could tell by his muted meows, didn't like being moved so much. 

We waited at the animal hospital for over an hour to speak with their vet. They took digital x-rays and could see things with better clarity than or normal vet. The condition was far worse than our vet could tell with his x-ray machine.  Cardiomyopathy was indeed the diagnosis, what type exactly would have taken a echocardiogram to determine.  The walls of Odie's heart had thickened. His heart had enlarged and had become valentine-shaped. There was fluid throughout his lungs. The assistant brought us a list of things they were going to do to get Odie to make it through the night, maybe. The list was extensive, covering a full page. Even then there were no guarantees. In fact, the read we got from the vet was that it was a long shot. The treatment the first vet gave for bronchitis actually worsened his condition. (There is no way our vet could have known based on the information he had at the time.) The vet talked about DNRs and if we'd like to be called if his condition worsened throughout the night.  No one was talking about long-term treatment or care. The focus was only on finding a way for Odie to survive until morning. 

It was the thought of Odie dying alone in an oxygen cage that was too much. He died with us there, comforting him. 

When we bought this house, Michelle told Odie it was our forever home and that he would never have to move again. She "sold" him on the house's low windows and wide window ledge's, perfect for a catnap in the sun. Odie got to enjoy those windows for too short of a time, but he did enjoy them. 

Odie and I had an antagonistic relationship most of his life, but that had changed a lot since I went on shore duty. Over the last three years, I had become his second-choice for pets. This is a major step up. For a long time, I wasn't even a choice. Since we moved, there were a couple of times where I was his first-choice. 

Odie had his 15 minutes of fame in the mid-90s. He was featured in the Marmaduke comic strip's "Dog Gone Funny" section. We have the stip around here somewhere, in a box no doubt. It was his desire for affection that gained him fame. He loved giving "kisses." By that I mean, he would put his nose up to your mouth, about an inch away, and he would not go away until you made kissing noises. It was funny enough for Marmaduke's creator Brad Anderson to feature him one Sunday a decade ago.

Odie demanded affection. Kisses, head-butts, you name it. Woe be unto the book that got in between you and Odie. Odie would chew the corners of a book if he thought it was taking too much time away from him. That is if you could even read it with him head-butting the book until you stopped what you were doing and paid attention to him. 

Odie was also a hunter. One of the fastest cats I have ever seen, when it suited him. He's got mice and birds to his credit. He seemed to enjoy the hunt and would often stalk through the house just looking for a cricket or a moth or some other unfortunate creature to cross his path. 

Most of all, I'll remember his purr. He purred often and loudly. He couldn't help it. He purred when touched.

He purred at the end.

Edit:

I made a mistake. Odie was not featured in Marmaduke. Rather he was featured in Larry Wright's Carlyle's Cat Hall of Fame, part of the strip Kit 'n Carlyle, in 1998. The date on the strip is 11-23. I have a copy which I will scan and post later.

A Tropical What?

So over the past weekend Jim and I traveled back to Virginia to check on our new place.  Tropical Storm Hanna was coming to the area and we wanted to make sure the roof didn't leak and that no damage, however minor, occurred.  Hey we're homeowners now.  Plus we had a few things we wanted to take down there.

We arrived at midnight tired and bit cranky with a doped up dog in the back seat of the truck.  Yes, I medicated Kaiser for the trip.  You deal with an aging 60+ pound dog in the back of your car for 9 to 10 hours and we'll see how you hold up.  I bless the person who made cat and dog Valium every time we need to take a trip.  Odie, our cat, is very vocal.  But I digress.  Our arrival did not go unnoticed in our neighborhood.  If I didn't know what it felt like to be watched before, then this weekend changed all of that.

We had brought a small TV in the hopes of catching the local news to see if Hanna had been upgraded.  I never realized how much I missed WAVY TV10.  There's a huge difference between local and national news.  The local weatherman informed viewers that Hanna would be very much like a summer thunderstorm and to just be cautious out there.  While the weather person on the Today show freaked out.  Proclaiming that it was horrible and just look at those waves.  Argh!  Run for the hills.  Amateurs!

So what did Jim and I do when the tropical storm did hit.  We were in Lowe's buying area rugs for our new home.  You know it's not that bad when people are at a hardware store not for provisions to board up their home, but for things for their weekend projects.  Man I love this area!

We also managed to hand all of our blinds before moving in completely.  Some had to be custom cut.  Ugh!  And our A/C broke on our second day.  Luckily my best friend, Greta, was around today to let the repairman in to fix it.  You rock Greta!  We also were able to see Steve before he left on deployment.  Plus we swung by another friend's house to make sure he didn't have any damage since he was still in Rhode Island.  His house was fine.

All in all a productive weekend.  And the movers were scheduled to come on Monday, but that's a story for another time.

-Michelle

P.S. Kaiser loves the house.  And we met our next door neighbor, who has been to Ingleside.  And likes wine!  Hooray!  We look forward to living in this neighborhood.

Odd Occurence

This is something I meant to post last month.  But I forgot to download the pictures for the longest time.  We've been ordering a few things here and there for the new home.  Bits and pieces really.

One evening the UPS guy pulled up and Jim wanted to know what I'd ordered.  We were waiting for something from FedEx.  I replied nothing.

Imagine our surprise when only seconds later the FedEx guy pulls up nose to nose with the UPS guy.  They stood outside our house and chatted for a few minutes before delivering packages to us.  It was so funny that we had to run and get the camera.

On a side note we did get our package and a gift from a family member.  Hence the two different delivery services.

-Michelle

Lazy Friday

So Friday, the 29th, was really a kind of lazy day for our household.  I took my mother in law to Easton's Beach in the morning for a brief stroll on the beach.  She always likes to see the ocean where ever we are.

First we stopped at Starbucks so I could get some much needed caffeine.  And of course a few goodies.  

We didn't stay too long since I did have a little one with me and she was bound and determined that she was going to march into the ocean.  And I was bound and determined not to let her.  We had a battle of wills.  Needless to say I won since I was bigger.

Linda did find a piece of sea glass while she was walking with me.  Lucky!  So another green piece has been added to the collection.

We got home and not long after that Jim was home for the day.  Hooray!  That meant we could do something together.

We decided on The Mooring for lunch.  We went their for our anniversary and really enjoyed it.  We got a table out on the patio since it was a gorgeous day.  

Jim had a burger.  I had the Ahi tuna steak sandwich.  And Linda had the Lobster Croissant.  We started out with the seafood donuts, which are basically seafood hush puppies and very yummy.  And a corn and scallop risotto.  

Greta, you can stop gagging now.  It was good.  Not as good as the tomato one we had last time, but still it was very tasty.

After that we crossed the bridge in search of a bocce ball set.  That's something we've wanted all summer, but couldn't seem to find.  Once we found that we went home and grilled.  And had a rousing game of bocce ball.

All in all I think it was a pretty good day.

-Michelle

How The Better Half Lived

Today my mother-in-law and I went to Beechwood.  Well after the little girl I babysit went home and we had lunch with Jim and Ruth.  Beechwood is one of the many mansions here in Newport.  Newport was the place to summer for the upper crust.

I've done this tour before, but was delighted to discover that they don't have the same person constantly giving the tour.  It's done by actors who treat you like guests who have stepped back in time and they portray the family.  When I took my parents we were given the tour by the youngest Astor's daughter.  And heard some of the family kind of gossip things.

This time we were given the tour by the gentleman portraying a bachelor cousin.  It was interesting in its own right and I heard some different things on each tour.  So I thought it was cool.  I think a mansion tour is definitely something that should be done here.  Linda was surprised at how small it seemed.  We may try to do another tour just for size comparison.  I've heard the Breakers are the largest. 

Afterwards we went to Cold Fusion for some gelato.  Another thing that I thought would be interesting for Linda to get to try while here.  Hey while on vacation I think you should always try new things.  She had Passion Fruit and Caramel in a waffle cone.  I had the Raspberry Cranberry Hibiscus in a sugar cone.  I think I definitely like their fruit flavors better than the chocolates.

-Michelle

Full House

No I'm not talking poker and I'm definitely not talking about the old TV show that gave the Olsen twins their start.  Admit it you all watched that show.

Yesterday Jim's mom flew in for a visit.  She'll be here over the weekend.  But it doesn't end there.  Our friends Ruth and John were getting ready to move out and needed a place to crash.  Their movers got there late, so John's travel time was messed up and he needed a place for him and the spud to crash.  Ruth had already asked to stay for a couple nights so she was golden.  So being that they are like family to us we offered them our place. 

So how many people can you fit in a three bedroom single story home?

Five adults, one toddler, one cat, one dog and two cockatiels. 

Thank goodness that we have two bathrooms!   I only wish I had taken a picture of everyone in the front room last night.  Especially since I poured John and Ruth each a glass of Ingleside Pinot Grigio.  

Nothing soothes your frayed nerves like a nice glass of wine.  And getting ready to move and all that it entails can definitely be nerve wracking.  Especially with that ten hour drive to Virginia to look forward to.

See you in Virginia John!  We'll take good care of Ruth while she's here.

-Michelle

Home Ownership

As you may or may not know I've been without a computer for a bit.  Jim and I now share a laptop, which makes for some interesting moments.  So I really haven't been doing much on the blogs.

And I do have something to share!  As of the 18th we became home owners!!  For the first time EVER!  Hooray!  We never purchased a home before because we weren't sure of where we'd be since Jim's military.  But we've been calling Norfolk home for so long that we decided to put down roots.

It was a long drawn out and painful process for us.  Much harder than I sure it really should be.  Let me tell you about our pain filled house hunting expedition.  I won't name names because that might seem mean of me.  Even though I have been known to be quite hateful at times.  I'm trying to be a better person.  And I believe karma will come back and bite them in the butt later.  :-)

We chose a bank close by instead of our Internet bank because we wanted human interaction and lots of help since this was our first time buying a home.  People would be helpful right?  Wrong!  We would have been better off with the Internet bank.  Apparently this branch has a LOT of issues.  Our first loan officer is no longer with that bank and apparently he didn't file much of our paperwork.  We think he was fired, but aren't positive.  I was constantly bothering them asking if there was anything we needed to do and was told no.  We were pre-approved and went house hunting.  Finally we found a house.  I'm not even going in to that!

Two weeks before closing they hand me a stack of paperwork (I'm not exaggerating here it was 35 plus pages) and tell me to fill this out and send me on my merry.  No instructions or explanations.  WTF!  We went in Saturday for some help.  Jim stormed out very irate.  He was ready to call it quits with this bank.  We found out the rate hadn't even been locked in like we'd been told.  After I got things straightened out or so I thought we FedExed everything to the processor in Florida.  

So I called Monday morning saying if they needed anything to let me know before noon so Jim could get to work on getting things.  I get a call back at nearly 4 telling me things are missing.  Things that they told me on Saturday I didn't need.  And then they had the audacity to lie to me and say that they told me on Saturday they needed it.  I went there immediately with what I could.

I asked them to please be sure to get everything to my closing agent before the end of business day on Friday.  We are now one week away from closing on this house.  And this person (I'm trying really hard not to call names here) had the nerve to say that they would as long as we turned everything in on time.  I stared at her in shock for a moment and then responded that as long as they didn't spring anything new on us they would get all their stuff.  Ugh!  She was lucky I was holding a small child at the time or I might have slugged her.

Things did not run smoothly to say the least, but it finally happened and we're home owners.  Thank God!

-Michelle

Some pigs are more equal than others...

I'm guessing by now that the majority of our readers (yes both of you) have heard about the mayor in Maryland that had his home raided by the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department. If you haven't I'll summarize the story, while picking out the points I think are odd or important.

It starts in Arizona where a pot-smuggling ring had hatched a scheme to smuggle some 400lbs of pot over state lines. The idea was that in AZ the smuggler would address large quantities of pot to someone not involved in the plot and then on the other end another smuggler would intercept the shipment.

So the Prince George's County Police Department (PG County has a PD and a Sheriff's Department) gets intel that a shipment of 32 lbs of pot is on its way to an address in PG County. These geniuses don't bother to investigate and track the shipment from afar. No that might make sense. Instead they intercept the shipment and deliver it to the third party not involved with the scheme. They also got a knock and announce warrant to go into the home after the pot had been delivered. (Interestingly, Maryland didn't have no-knock warrants until 2005 and the PGPD has said that they don't believe the state has no-knock warrants. Makes you wonder why these people are still employed if they deny the existence of a law passed by the Maryland legislature.)

The big day comes. The undercover officer posing as the delivery man attempts to make the delivery. The Mayor's mother-in-law refuses the shipment, so the undercover officer leaves it on the porch. Let me repeat that, the person at home refused the shipment, so the officer left 32lbs of pot on a doorstep.  The Mayor was apparently out for a walk. He says that he walks by the police officers and even waves to them. It is important to note that the police were all in plain clothes and probably unmarked cars as well. This comes into play later. It also is unclear whether or not the Mayor recognized them as police officers, but he did no there were people sitting outside of his house. My guess is that the Mayor isn't an idiot. He probably knew they were cops. You don't have carloads of people just sitting along the road in parked cars ordinarily. 

The Mayor gets home from his walk, notices the package on the porch, picks it up and goes inside. He then goes upstairs to change for an appearance later in the day. That's when the SWAT team goes in. Remember they're in plain clothes and armed. The Mayor's mother-in-law sees them and screams. Hey, wouldn't you? Armed men, not in any discernible uniform, running towards your home? Yeah, I'd probably scream.

The police say that scream ruined their element of surprise, so they had to go in "hard." That is to say they had to go in without knocking and "take down" everyone in the house. Let's review this shall we? They had a knock and announce warrant, but they were concerned about the element of surprise being lost. What surprise is there when you knock on the door and say "police we have a search warrant"? At least, if you knock and announce the people inside may hear you say that you're the police. In this case armed men were storming the house, void of uniforms and identification. 

(Sure, they probably had a badge displayed, but when someone has a gun out where are your eyes going to go? Are you looking at the threat, i.e. the gun, or searching for a badge? You're looking at the threat. This has been shown in police shootings where the police shoot a gunman's hand, not trying to shoot the gun out of their hand, but because their eyes are focused on the gun.)

The SWAT team went into the house, one of the Mayor's two Labrador Retrievers barked at the officers and was shot and killed on the spot. The other Lab ran into a back room and was chased down and shot by the SWAT team. The reasoning was that the dogs posed a threat to the officers going in. A full team of men with guns and concealable body armor, yet they were threatened by a dog that was running away from them, sure they were. (It seems that anytime there is a raid these days the dogs get it, even though the Supreme Court has said the police need to use a lesser levels of force to allay the threat posed by dogs, and that shooting dogs with no cause is an unnecessary deprivation of property.)

The Mayor and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and questioned. Eventually, they were released when it became obvious they weren't part of this nefarious plot.

The story gets weirder from there. The PG Police and Sheriff's Deputies say that they didn't know who was in the home. They didn't notify the city's police department that they were about to conduct a narcotics raid in their city. They do claim that the knew the layout of the house and that there were two dogs in the house. 

This brings to mind some serious questions. Like, why didn't they know whose house it was? How did they get the layout of the house? If they looked through city or county records wouldn't the owner's name be available? Wouldn't a simple check of the phone book revealed a name?

At this point, I'm forced to conclude someone in the PGPD was out to make a name for him or herself. He or she has a 32 lbs shipment of pot going to a local politician. Making that bust would make someone's career. I believe they didn't tell the city PD about the raid because they didn't want to alert the Mayor.  They got buck fever and blew the investigation trying to get the politician.  After all, they had to outsource the raid to the PGSD in order to execute it on that day. The PGPD SWAT team was busy with other enforcement actions.

Oh and the PGPD Chief has refused to apologize for his department's actions. He has said that the Mayor has been "victimized" by the drug dealers. Funny. If the police had not intervened the shipment of drugs would have never made it to his door and his dogs would still be alive. 

As it stands now the Feds are looking into the case. They'll try to determine if the Mayor's rights were violated under US Code Title 42 Section 1983. That's how they got conviction of the officers who beat Rodney King.

Now to the pigs part. It seems that police can shoot our dogs with little or no consequences. However, if you so much as shout an obscenity at a police dog or make a face at a police dog you may be charged with animal cruelty. Yeah, I'm not kidding, sadly. 

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/25/28-year-old-man-charged-cruelty-animals/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278701,00.html

Resources:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1525303~Mayor_exonerated_in_plot_to_smuggle_pot__police_say.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502664.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayor0807,0,4563211.story
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/07/mayor.warrant/index.html
http://cfc.wjla.com/external.cfm?p=calvo080708
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702161.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399882,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802690.html

Crash

Michelle's hard drive has crashed. She has lost some pictures, some documents and some iTunes songs. I have ordered another one and a new operating system for her computer. It will be some time, perhaps a week, before it's back up and running.

That leaves me in charge of posting. 

We're in trouble folks.

A Day With The Ponies

So today we took my mom and dad to a Polo match.  Most people think Polo and they think snobs.  It's not though!  It's really quite fun.  It was a nice sunny day with a nice breeze.  This is a picture of my parents.  They've been kind enough to let me photo them for my class assignments.  The Polo match this time was regional teams.  It was Pearls vs. Newport team.  It was a charity game for the fight against breast cancer.  We got great seats.  Right next to the scoreboard and were able to back our car up the the site.  Hooray!

There were tons of children out, most of whom were not being corralled by their parents, and dogs.  This dog came from across the polo field in search of a ball to play with.  He found it in some kids who were playing catch.  Jim took this photo.  Good job!  The owners were no where to be seen, which worried me for quite some time.  And when they did finally show up I wanted to smack them because they were like 'oh you shouldn't do that'.

The light colored horse was one of my mom's favorites.  This was the best shot that I got of it.  Action shots can be a bit tricky.  The pink shirts are the Pearls and the red shirts are Newport.  The Pearls eked out a win at the very end.  They won by one and we think that the Newport team let them.  

And of course I can't complete this post without at least one photo of my sweet baboo.  At least I chose the clean one.

-Michelle

24

That's roughly how long we traveled this past weekend to get to Virginia.  And that's round trip.  Normally it takes about 20.  New York City really gobbled up our travel this time with construction and congestion.  Ugh!  And that doesn't include all the back and forth driving we did.

Our friend, Floyd, told us about a different way to go that might be a little less congested.  So we'll try that next time.  Hopefully it'll keep Jim's blood pressure from rising.  Thanks Floyd!

We went down for our home inspection which we scheduled to coincide with Ingleside's Wine Maker's Library.  Ingleside was our original reason for going and we almost didn't make it.  Insert me fuming here.

Our home inspection took 4 hours.  No there was nothing wrong with the house.  I know this was on your mind because it's the first question everyone asks when they hear this.  Our inspector just liked to talk.  A LOT!  And didn't seem to catch the hint that he needed to stop joking and telling so many stories.  Ugh!  And I had scheduled it earlier in the day so that we would be able to make the Ingleside event.

This is a partial view of the entryway to the tasting room.  It's changed a bit since I've worked there.  That's the way of the world though.  I think it looks nice.  We got to the event 45 minutes before the end.  To say I was peeved would be an understatement.  But we got to see our friends and drink wine, so all was good.  We were able to try the 2007 Chardonnay and Rosato before they were released.  I must say that the Rosato is my favorite.  It rocks!  We were also able to try 3 vintages of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  Yum!  And of course there were tasty goodies there too.  It was an excellent way to end a very tedious day.  Good food, good wine and good friends.  We got to see nearly all of our friends while we were there.  It felt as if we had never left.

I was also able to get some of my homework done for my photography class.  This assignment was letters.  And you couldn't get them from a sign.  They had to be shapes you found in every day things.  Hopefully you can figure out the letters below.

     
Our professor said it would be really easy and that once you started looking you would find tons of letters.  I guess I'm bad at hide and seek, because I didn't find as many as some of my classmates.  Of course I wasn't going to take pictures while I was driving either.  Safety first!

Finally this is a picture of our buddies Neil and Linda.  That's right Linda, if you email me asking why I haven't posted you get your picture posted.  I have lots more pictures of Ingleside friends, but I wanted to get this posted before I get another gentle nudge from Linda.  =)  Look Linda!  Now you're famous! -Michelle

What Does Michelle Do With Her Monday and Wednesday Afternoons?

I know this is a question that has been on most people's minds.  I mean who wouldn't want to know?  I'm interesting.  Right?  Okay stop laughing now!

So let me put you all out of your misery.  I've been taking a Digital Photography class.  Yes I'm in school again.
So instead of writing anything of substance I'll bore you with my photos.  I've already babbled about it in the other blog, but there are so many pictures to share.  So I decided to spread it out.

So a few of these are 'action' photos while the rest are still life photos.  I'm enjoying the course and hope you'll enjoy the photos.  I have to chose 10 for my final project.

Just A Small Gathering

So yesterday we had a "few" friends over for what started as a black and tan party.  Have you ever noticed how a few can all be a totally different number to you than to someone else?  =)  More on that in a bit.  

This all started about a month or so ago when we went along with Karen to take Jake to the airport.  Hope I didn't lose anyone there.  We stopped at Dave & Busters for lunch and fun.  While eating we started discussing black and tans.  Much to our shame we can not pour these things to save our lives.  Jake informed us that he could teach us and promised to once he got back.  We promised we'd wait as Karen knew how to do it too.

Okay back to the present.  So we decided Friday, spur of the moment, that we should get together and do that black and tan party.  Yes I know time has gone by a bit, but hey life is hectic!  Originally it was going to be maybe 5 people.  We said what the heck let's do this in the afternoon and barbecue.  The weather will be great.  Good excuse to eat charred meat and drink beer.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but by the end of the day we'd had a total of something like 10 people.  When we realized how many people were coming Jim and I had to laugh.  How did the small black and tan party suddenly explode?  Not that we minded, but we were just curious.  

We had lots of fun though.  Have learned how to pour black and tans.  Thanks Jake!  We also learned that the house can accommodate 10 people comfortably.  Or should I say 10 and 1/2?  Theo was there too.  What's a party without my favorite brewer?  Kaiser warmed up to everyone by the end of the gathering and was in heaven with all the pets he was getting.  He even got a burger.  Lucky dog!  And was good with Theo, who by the way is walking now.  Odie showed up as Theo was making his departure.  Sorry Theo.  And loved all the pets he got.  Even the birds enjoyed it, as Jake likes birds and gave them lots of attention.

All in all a good time was had.  What I really have to say is...

You like us!  You really, really like us!

I'll ignore the fact that we were offering beer and food to bribe you to come over.  =)

-Michelle