Be Careful of What You Wish For!

It's still February and I may have to break out the lawn mower and cut my grass!  One of the last things I wrote in my last blog entry was that I was "about ready for spring!"  Since then we've had a couple of colder days but for the most part it has been an unseasonably warm February and we've had just enough rain that nature thinks it's time to start blooming.  We have a trip coming up so I went out yesterday to get some yard work done and tidy things up a bit and the grass looked like it was on the edge of raggedy.  It was a completely weird yard work day.  I had to rake up some leaves from an uncooperative tree that didn't shed until after the fall when I was done raking.  After that tree finally did shed it's old dead leaves it snowed almost immediately.  I couldn't see the leaves so I was good (until today of course).  Then I went about picking up limbs and branches that came off the trees on our property during the snow and freezing rains.  And now it looks as if I'll have to mow the lawn before our trip.  That's chores from three seasons in one day.  Add to that I have to clean the gutter covers which is typically a summer job and I'm doing a full year's worth of chores in less than a week!  What's that all about?

I mentioned we have a trip in our near future.  Maureen, Liam and one of his buddies from school on spring break, and I are headed off to Rome for a week.  Maureen is in full planning mode.  She has reservations for us to get into the Vatican and has pre-purchased tickets for us to get into a couple other attractions, museums, etc...  Because we are "practicing" packing minimally in preparation for our next big hike, the Camino de Santiago trip where you have to carry everything you need on your back for about 500 miles if you do the whole thing, Maureen has packed and repacked, and recorded lists of things to pack several times.  Me, I just need a days notice so I can do some laundry and put a bag together.  Ever since a spent a month planning a trip to Italy and Greece and then on about two days notice ended up backpacking England, Ireland, and Germany instead, I have not put much stock into excessive planning.

After the boys head back to school at the end of the first week (the end of spring break) Maureen and I had "planned" to take a week and just kick around Italy and make our way in the general direction to Ireland, which of course means that Maureen has book lodgings for us in Florence and Venice and then a flight to Ireland at the end of that week.  A day or so after we arrive in Dublin, Saint Patrick's Day as a matter of fact, my mother and youngest sister will be arriving in Dublin.  The four of us will then spend the next week buzzing through and then down the west coast of Ireland.  After my mom and sister fly out of Shannon Maureen has teased that she just might take me up to Mayo so I can finally have a Guinness in the pub where they filmed the scenes from The Quiet Man.  Maureen is not a big fan of that cinematic classic, but if she's willing I'm not passing up the opportunity.

Buddy gets to stay home.  Buddy has never been a good candidate for kenneling.  Maureen has found a website, Trusted House Sitters, where you can get people to volunteer at no cost to you to come sit your house and pets while you are on vacation.  What's in it for them.  The couple that will be watching Buddy are coming down from Canada and will have the opportunity to vacation in the Asheville area of Western North Carolina and not spend a dime on lodging.  Like most on-line services you have an opportunity to review bios, references and reviews, prior to making your decision.  When Maureen posted our vacation plans and request we received responses from Europe, Canada, and all over the US.  Asheville is apparently a desirable vacation spot.  When you consider kennel boarding and hotel costs this is a deal for both of us.

Sitting Buddy presents very few challenges. Buddy's sycophantic (word of the day: behaving or done in an obsequious way in order to gain advantage) nature allows him to shift gears and adjust to whomever happens to be here watching him at any given time. What our sitters need to understand is that while Maureen and I are still here it will take a couple of days for Buddy to get used to them being in the house but he will still be suspicious. After we leave, within a couple of days Buddy will be curling up in their laps soaking up all the attention they are willing to give him. However, once Maureen and I return, Buddy will not realize our sitters even exist. And when Liam walks in the house I will magically cease to exist. That's just life with Buddy, Liam's dog.

Of all the dogs I've been responsible for (remember Buddy is not my dog), Buddy is the least trained of the group. It's not that he can't be trained or is unwilling, I've just not made the time or effort to make any real progress. Although Buddy is coming around. I've always run my pets through the local Parks and Rec obedience program and then followed up with at home training resulting in reasonably well behaved pets. Hunter, my Labrador, even won the "Best in Class" trophy. Here in WNC, there are no Parks obedience classes available. There are many opportunities for "pay by the hour" training if you are willing to spend the money. But even then there are few or no group training opportunities. Even though I've been the weak link Buddy is slowly figuring out what I'm looking for when I address him. Buddy has never run from me when he is loose, but recently I've even been able to walk Buddy off leash and not have to go get him when it's time to move on. I wouldn't go so far as to profess that he always comes right away when I call him but we are getting there. If you know anything about training dogs, if you can't get a dog to do something for food, you're doing it wrong. And Buddy is no exception. 

Well it's stopped raining so I better go out and take care of those gutters while I can.

Until next time, take care!

Rick

Who Says "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche"?

That's a not-so-subtle reference to Bruce Feirstein's 1982 best seller; "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche", which I actually owned and read once upon a time.  What brings it to mind at this late date?  An interesting looking Broccoli/Bacon (who doesn't love bacon) quiche recipe (click here for the recipe) popped up on my Facebook page the other day so I decided to make it.  For guys who think they can't cook, that might only be true if you absolutely, steadfastly, refuse to follow any directions, ever!  However, if you can put together Walmart kit furniture, assemble a bicycle, or even manage to complete some of the more complex Legos, you can cook.  It is as simple a getting a recipe and following directions.

Since Maureen was out to brunch with her friends, I set out to make breakfast for Liam and I.  Ever try to assemble something only to discover the box didn't include all the parts?  When I went to our freezer we didn't have any bacon and we didn't have any broccoli.  We did have ham in the refrigerator which was an acceptable substitute for the bacon.  And we had some turkey sausage in the freezer.  The turkey sausage was as close to a vegetable as I needed to be so I started cracking eggs.  My next obstacle came when I realized there was no seasoned salt in the house.  What do "Real Men" do in the absence of seasoned salt?  We go for the Tabasco sauce!  We did happen to have Parmesan and cheddar cheese so I finally was able to throw together an acceptable facsimile of the original recipe.  It actually ended up pretty tasty.  You see, "Real Men" can follow directions and put stuff together even when they don't have all the parts, even quiche!  On a side note, I couldn't help myself so I went out the next morning and bought some bacon, broccoli and seasoned salt and made the original recipe for Maureen.  Although it was not as "Manly", it was good too.  Since then I've also used the original recipe foundation and substituted tomato and mushroom.  Who knew I as a "creative cook"?

I had my first oil painting class.  We spent most of the time with orientation and prepping a canvas for a main project but then the instructor passed out an 8x10 basic single line sketch with the instruction, "it doesn't have to be good, it just has to be fast."  And "to just put paint to paper!" 

So this is my first dabble with oil paints in over 40 years.  Since then we've been working on a main project.  Each week my idea of the final product changes a little.  That's the nice thing about oils.  Once the paint drys you can just paint over the offending areas and it's a brand new painting.  I even built myself a folding table top easel to use in class.  I think it came out considerably better than my paintings.  Maybe I should stick to woodworking!

It also appears that I've found a couple of guys to play racquetball with.  I've only had the opportunity to play once and although I was obviously rusty from my decade of not playing I didn't do that bad.  I was a little surprised at how sore my shoulder was the next couple of days after my match.  I've been exercising consistently going on two years now, including strength training.  I guess wielding that racket used muscles that weren't getting worked regularly.  I wasn't sure if my old racket strings had deteriorated and would hold up through an entire hour of play so I went to Walmart and purchased the only racquetball racket they had, a cheap $19.95 Head brand racket.  I took both to the court a little early to get a little practice and try them both out.  My old racket was the "Cadillac" of racquetball rackets  back in the day, an Ektelon that I paid $150 for 20 years ago when I was playing competitively.  And it truly was a great racket that served me well.  However, the technology apparently has changed so much, compared to my $19.95 Walmart racket, my Ektelon (Cadillac of rackets) is only good for sifting gravel or mashing potatoes.  I'm going to have to come up with an appropriate retirement for my old faithful Ektelon.    

So I'm slowly divesting myself of the hobbies I picked up during the era of Liam; soccer coach and referee, air soft combat, track spectator, etc... and am getting back to doing some things I did for recreation for myself in the past.  I'm even looking into getting back into competitive shooting.  The gun range in the south of Asheville has a recreational shooting league on Monday evenings that I hope to participate in around my Lions club and poker club meetings.  I've even joined the GSSF (Glock Sport Shooting Foundation) with the goal of competing in some of their events, maybe when I'm back in practice.  Of course for me the limiting factor in my ability to compete may be my eyes.  At my age that can be a substantial disadvantage.  Good thing there is a senior division.  Something of a level playing field I hope.  Maybe I'll get into practical pistol competitions.  I'm bound to be in better physical shape than most guys my age that shoot as a hobby and I understand there is some running involved in those events.

Now if I can just find someone to play golf with.  I met a guy who was going to get a foursome, including me, out on the Grove Park Inn course (normally $150 a round) at a discount today.  I didn't hear from him this week but I don't mind at all.  Today's high was 28 degrees Fahrenheit and with the wind chill feels like 17 degrees.  So instead of freezing my [see cartoon below for the appropriate body part reference] off out on the golf course today I'm sitting by the fire watching Ancient Aliens and typing my blog entry.  In my book, not a bad trade off.

It snowed a couple of times this past week.  Just a couple of dustings, not enough to stick on the roads.  I've already mentioned how cold it is today.  And for a good part of the day we've had light snow flurries.  Maureen and I ususally go out to socialize with our friends on Friday evenings but I think we've both decided it's just too dang cold.  And I'm warm here by the fire.  I don't know about the rest of you but I'm about ready for spring!  How about it?

Until next time, try to stay warm.  At least that's my primary goal!

Take care,

Rick