Shopping Online

I admit it, I'm lazy! I do most of my shopping online, I don't want to run from store to store looking at stuff. Today I bought a dryer, yes my 28 year old dryer finally died. Bought the new one from Home Depot and it will be here next week, delivered free, and they're hauling the old one off free. It was easy shopping. I "went" to Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears and AAFES (military store) all without leaving the house. I probably looked at 100 dryers, read many reviews and compared more than a dozen dryers. How easy is that!

Then I went shoe shopping at a store I've used many times and they

kept insisting I get a password, wouldn't let me complete my order without it and when they sent me one that they insisted was mine they wouldn't accept it. So I couldn't complete my order. So no new shoes from them. They

need to monitor their website and see if it's user friendly.

I think I'll go to Macy's now.

Moving to Savannah

I was reading a message board today where the topic was "Should I Move to Savannah?", and as you can guess the arguments pro and con were endless. Some people cited crime, low wages and high cost of living as reasons why they no longer live in Savannah. These are folks who generally moved here from a bigger metropolitan area or left here for one.
Savannah isn't perfect, no place is, but it's so pretty I forgive it many things. We moved here from Hemet, CA (a town about 75 miles east of Los Angeles) about 6 years ago. Hemet was about 66,000 people and Savannah is about 130,000, so about double Hemet's size. But there's no comparison. Yes there's crime in Savannah, don't go to the areas where it happens, and everyone knows where that is. If you want a really high paying job don't move here, this is the South, wages are lower here, that's a fact of life. But what Savannah has, for it's size is amazing. When we first moved here we though we'd have to go to New Orleans to get real night life, but we don't! Savannah is alive with good restaurants, live music, cultural events, and outdoor activities. Mac and I paint and draw and Savannah is an incredible place to do that. I'm not surprised that there's an Art College here (SCAD). Founded in 1733 Savannah is full of beautiful areas, its Historic District, Victorian District, and 21 preserved squares make up one of the biggest Historic Landmark Districts in the USA.
One of the people who had left Savannah cited lack of cultural diversity, well Savannah is typical of southern cities, it is predominantly African-American, I'm sorry if that bothers some people, but this is the South.
We love Savannah, love eating at Huey's with its New Orleans menu, eating at the Olympia Cafe which has the best calamari in the world (and we've eaten it all over the world), eating at Paula Deen's for typical Southern cooking.
We love dancing at City Market.
And most of all we love the courteous people who have taken these Yankees to their hearts and make us feel at home.

Oh My Aching Back!

I've had an aching back this week and it's been about as bad as I've ever felt it.  I had to lay on the bed to put my pants on, couldn't bend over at all.  My lower back has bothered me for years,  if I abuse it.  And through the years I have definitely abused it, taken more than a few falls doing what I shouldn't be doing or at least doing it too quickly for my old body.

Don't know what triggered this go around, can't remember doing anything I shouldn't have.  I guess I'll just blame it on the humidity which seems to seep into my bones.  Mac rubbed me down with "horse liniment" and I'd taken aspirins so it started to settle down.  But today when we got back from our walk I could barely climb the stairs, so Mac rubbed me down again and BOY! this time the liniment felt super hot, soaked right into my muscles and everything loosened up.  I guess the secret to it was that I was warmed up from my walk, all my pores were open and that stuff, instead of sitting on my skin and slowly sinking in got right into the muscles and went to work.  I was amazed!  I can tie my shoes and dress myself, what an improvement!

Keith Obermann

I don't usually listen to Keith Obermann, don't usually listen to any news commentator. When I retired, I retired. But I have been following the debate on health care, and like many people I'm not very happy with what's being proposed. I have questions, so I've been listening to a lot of the "Talking Heads" so I can get a rounded idea of what's going on. Of course Fox is totally against it, CNN is totally for it, the local news hardly covers it (Miley Cyrus is much more important), and network news is still acting as unofficial cheerleaders for Obama, so I "cruised" some of the other outlets like MSNBC and who do I find but Keith Obermann with all but steam coming out of his ears lambasting anyone who dares to question the need to change our health coverage in this country. He literally said that those being contentious at the Town Meetings were stupid. He didn't hint they were stupid he flat out said it. I'm tired of being talked down to by news people on each coast who think because I live in the South that I'm some sort of ignorant fool probably married to my cousin.
salon.com (a very liberal website) has a great article today titled "Are Liberals Seceding From Sanity?", the liberals are crazy to insult white southerners as a group. The article says that we aren't the ignorant rednecks the media loves to portray us as. It's all about how the media castigates white southerns for holding beliefs (against abortion, gay marriage etc) that a majority of African-Americans and Latinos also hold, but it's the white southerns who get called sick, racist, homophobic. I recommend the article and I don't recommend Keith Obermann, what a jerk!

Life Returns to Normal

My sister Susie left today for Oklahoma, it was a great visit, and I really appreciate her driving all the way from Oklahoma to here on her own. On her first day here we took her to Tybee Beach and had lunch at the Crab Shack. She and Mac shared a dish of mussels in wine (I don't eat things that don't have eyebrows), then they both had a Low Country Boil and I had a half-pound of shrimp, or what passes for a half-pound because I ate a half-pound and still had a half-pound to take home. Then we took her out to introduce her to the alligators they keep there.
On Saturday she and I went to yard-sales and the flea market, two of her favorite things to do . On Sunday she sat out back and fished for a couple of hours, too hot for me. She caught a bunch of fish and let them go.
So she's off home today and the house seems a bit empty, but it's time to get back to real life.

I Love My Pool

I love my pool. We ordered it to be put in the day after we got here. We had to have an above ground one because the water table is so high here. We've had a pool ever since we were sent to Georgia in 1981. I was upset when we got the orders because I remembered Georgia from the 1960's and we hadn't liked it, of course we were poor as dirt then. Mac only made $185 a month in the Army. So we probably would have hated anywhere. When I heard we were going there again I said I wanted a pool and we got one. They dug the hole, reenforced it with cinderblock, padded it and added a vinyl liner. It was huge, about 18 feet by 36 feet and 8 feet deep at the deep end. We really liked it, when we moved to another house in Georgia we had the same kind of pool put in (did I say 0ur pool guy was a dead ringer for Richard Petty the NASCAR driver? We use to joke that when we couldn't get hold of him he must be driving).
When we moved to California we put in another vinyl pool, it was kidney shaped and only 5 feet deep because they hit granite when digging it and if they went deeper they'd have had to use dynamite. Anyway, a great little pool.
We moved to another house in California and put in what is your typical inground pool, called gunite, looks like white plaster sides. It was pretty, but boy do they stain, something the vinyl pools hardly do.
When we moved here we put in the above ground with metal sides and a vinyl liner. As soon as the pool was in we had a wooden deck built up to it connecting it to the house. I swim everyday, couldn't live without it. In California even though we lived in a hot area the nights were quite cool and we generally were only able to use the pool from July through September. Here we're in the pool by May, sometimes April and swim through September. A much longer swimming season.
If we move the first thing we'll put in is a pool, use it more than air conditioning!

Sisters

I have 2 sisters and the younger one is coming tomorrow from Oklahoma. Her name is Susan, I still call her Susie, childhood habits live on. She's stopping off in Alabama to visit a friend on the way and then will be here for the weekend. It's a long drive for one person and I appreciate her coming.
That's her in the striped shirt. She's had a rough couple of years, had nonHodgekins Lymphoma, and had to go through Chemo. But she's better now. She needs to quit smoking, but that's another story.
She's 3 years younger than me and she'll always be my baby sister. My older sister Judy says she can remember her being born, but that's too long ago for me. She's always been there. Judy and I use to gang up on her when we were kids, we thought she was our Mother's pet. But as time passed by and Judy got married there were just the 2 of us there and I got to know her, I know that seems strange, but 3 years is a big difference when you're a kid.
We've always stayed in touch, but haven't lived near each other since I got married and Mac was drafted into the Army.
We're orphans now and I think that makes us closer.
I wish my older sister Judy could have come too, but she couldn't, maybe next time.
Anyway I plan on enjoying this visit, wearing her out totally. We're going to Tybee to the Beach, going crabbing, going to Savannah for dinner, and out dancing one night. She loves flea markets so we'll probably go to Keller's the local big one. If there's time I'd like to take her for a dinner cruise on the Savannah River.

Tattoos

Thought I'd talk about tattoos today. Not that I'm thinking of getting one, just I am bemused by the folks who do. Now when I was growing up the only people who got tattoos were drunken sailors on shore leave who went to Tiajuana. Now everyone has one, even several of the female teachers I worked with in California.
I don't like tattoos, as I told my class one day, "Ladies don't get tattoos." and one little girl said, "My Mommy has a tattoo." and I repeated that Ladies don't have tattoos.
I know I'm old, I know I'm not hip, but there is something so offputting about a tattoo. It's one thing to have one when your young and dumb, but when you finally grow up, go out in the world, look for a job, your future employer frequently sees your tattoo and not your impressive resume'.
And what do you tell your grandkids about your "Born to Kill" tattoo? You may be the greatest person in the world, but as a teacher when I sat down to conference with parents and Mom was covered in tattoos I had a dfficult time taking them seriously. I know lots of people would say it's my problem, and perhaps it is, but if you want me to pay attention to you, let your words be louder than your tattoos.

New Taxes?

Officials in the Obama administration are starting to talk about new taxes on the middle class (also known as Washington's favorite milk cow).
On Sunday Timothy Geitner, Secretary of the Treasury and Laurence Summers, Head of the President's National Economic Council, both refused to rule out raising taxes on the middle class, what a surprise.
They say it may be necessary inorder to reduce the deficit and to fund universal health care. So thems that got are gonna get taken, again.
I'm not really surprised that they would consider raising taxes, Democrats always raise taxes, what I'm surprised by is the timing of the mention of taxes. Congress is heading home for their Summer break and they're already going to get an earful about the health care being proposed, now they're going to hear about taxes.
When I first started voting at 21 I was a Republican, having been much influenced by my Father who was very vocal about his politics. My Mother was a Democrat, but never talked about politics much. I remained a Republican till Watergate and it was so stupid, yes I know politicians are stupid by nature, but it really offended me. So I became a Democrat and voted for Jimmy Carter , I'm embarrassed to say. I remained a Democrat all through the Reagan and first Bush years and was thrilled when Bill Clinton got elected. Voted for him twice, but by then I saw what liberal policies were doing to California (literally destroying it) and became a Republican again and voted for George Bush both times.
In the last election I held my nose and voted for McCain, but I was not happy. I felt that the selection of Sarah Palin was a slap in the face. I stood in that booth and almost wrote Hilary Clintion in, she really was the most qualified candidate.
The Republicans need to find a candidate under a 100 who knows what a Blackberry is and uses the Internet on a regular basis. I'm a moderate, I want policies that take care of the majority of the people, not worrying about the fringes. If they don't come up with a decent candidate I may just sit the next election out and that's something I've never done.

Fire!

I am devastated! Our club has burned down. We were there last night dancing, and then this morning about 8:30 a 911 call went in (from a local Wafflehouse) and the firemen were there within 5 minutes. But the nearest fire hydrant was 1500 feet away so though the fire was put out the damage was extensive and the club is gone! Where oh where will we dance?
We had been without a good place to dance for years. We'd gone to the Silver Dollar/Redleg which had a decent floor, but they were out in the sticks and could never attract a decent crowd and eventually stopped having bands.
We went to Gillys which has a good dance floor, good crowds and good bands. But it's nearly 45 miles away down small 2-lane roads.
Mostly we went to Tommy's which was a good neighborhood bar with a small dance floor. But as other places closed Tommy's became more crowded and eventually we tired of fighting for floor space.
Then after 4 years of being closed (they were originally on the north side of Savannah) the Cavalier reopenned in Hardeeville, SC on New Year's Eve. We were there and have been there nearly every Friday and Saturday since. We painted the murals on the walls, Mac painted paintings for them, we painted the big sign out front. It was home, and now it is gone.
We feel homeless.

Yard Sales

I need to talk about yard sales today. I'm not inherently opposed to yard sales, in fact we participate in the yearly one that our subdivision has each year. What I find strange about yard sales is the number of people who get up before dawn, stuff themselves with carbohydrates to give them energy and drive off into the rising sun looking for .... I don't know what the h**l they're looking for.
They dash from yard sale to yardsale buying other people's trash, yes I know that one man's trash is another man's treasure, but I don't understand is the thrill of it all. People are out there dashing from one site to another like hunters after big game. One little old lady was so excited by it all that she ran over our mailbox last year in her excitement to get to the "goods" (never apologized, never said anything).
Now I've been to a few yard sales, bought a few picture frames (when you paint you always need frames), even bought Mac a guitar at one, but never felt the urge to speed from one sale to another putting men, women, small children and pets in danger in my haste.
But that's what was going on in my neighborhood this morning. Mac and I walk every morning and today it was more a game of dodgeball than a walk. It was one speeding car after another. And to add to the excitement our neighborhood has only 4 street names, ours is the only unique name (C.S.S. Nashville ) the rest are variations of 3 names (Senec, Passaic, Montauk) with variations at the end to differintiate between them (street, lane, court, way). So finding a certain street can be tricky. To make it even more fun all the streets are dead end, but not marked that way. So this morning we had speeders, people asking for directions, people making u-turns and vehicles narrowly missing pedestrians (there are no sidewalks here). Not a leisurely stroll. And all this because there was one yard sale.
Oh the thrill of the hunt!