Everybody's Got a Dawg in this Race.

Even with everything else going on in this world lately, I've tried to keep one eye on politics and the debates. I see they've put a lot more humor in them, which is refreshing, ...well, kinda. Still, they go back and forth, back and forth...as if they couldn't get it all said in the formal debates, we are then assaulted by their commercials, whereby they attack each other's ads. It's like watching a dawg fight, slow-motion. They bad-mouth the 'air of the dog what bit them'. The whole thing stinks, I tell ya. (but you already knew that.)

Trapped Again.

I just like this cartoon, on so many levels. Ever feel as though you've been their dinner guest? LOL.
I got up early yesterday, which is not a typical thing for me, got in the shower, dressed, "coffee'd", and was out the door to get to church for a special Mass. The ignition wouldn't turn over...not a click...nothing. No lights, even, in the whole vehicle. Sighhhh, here we go again. An AAA guy came out and jumped the battery, but said it wouldn't hold a charge, so I called Trapp Chevrolet again, and drove it right down. The A/C hasn't been working all that well either, lately, which is not a good thing in this record breaking high heat. It would have been nice if I could have stuck my head out the window like a dog as I drove there...an hour away, it woulda been nice. I had all the windows open blowing blast-furnace heat from the road through the SUV, which was better than the blast-furnace heat from the engine vent...I dunno, it was a toss up, but I got it there.
They'll try to get a look at the problem tomorrow. Meanwhile I've got a little dark gold rental car; a KIA Rio. The lady at the rental desk was typing away and talking to a fellow worker when she said, "Can you do a Kee-ya-ree-oh, Ms. Row-ban?" Huh? Did she want me to do some kind of cartwheel, too, besides having my credit card? Oh...ok, I got it.
Sooo...
Lots of stuff pending around here; whassup with the SUV, the bill, thereof, the carpenters are coming back and their last bill was double our expectation...what they had told us, I got a CRAPPY hateful letter from a loved-one, there's an hurricane perhaps headed this way. If "anticipation is half the fun", I should be enjoying all this a whole lot more than I am, and let me be truly grateful for what I am about to receive.

Drill Bits

One of Cappy's 'catch phrases' is, "Well,...you know da drill...". For instance, even tho we know for the last month that folks have been patiently waiting to see the pictures from Rochester, NY, the reason they haven't been forthcoming a whole lot sooner, is the same ol' excuses...I won't bother you with the same old premise...suffice it to say, "You know da drill".


Sooo, on with the story. We got to Rochester on July 17, the day before Dan's birthday and got our hands on our gorgeous, newest grandbaby, Chase Steven.

What a precious little 'chunk' he is. He's an identical speciman of his Dad. I've seen this baby before, 40 years ago. I named him Dan. Chase doesn't lack for attention, either. He's got two older sisters to dote on him, and two older brothers to pester, just as soon as he can get his footing.

After we arrived at the airport, picked up our snazzy rental car...a cream colored PT Cruiser...too cool, we got our luggage stowed at what Cappy referred to as the Red Roach Inn. When I lived in Rochester, I never had occasion to stay there, so didn't know how primitive the 'digs' were. It was a place to stay, and we slept well, and that's all I'll say.

But anyhow, we hauled on up to Dan and Jennifer's house and sat outside watching the kids play, squabble, tattle, and just have all around kid fun while we waited with Dan until Jennifer got home from work. Presently, her two sisters and brother, with girlfriend, showed up. What a nice bunch of folks. (If my photo editor wasn't giving me major fits, I'd be able to post a lot more, much better pictures for Ya'll.)

When Jennifer got home, we all went out to dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ in the heart of downtown Rochester. Well, this was right up Cappy's alley. They had a big pit outside smoking away, also,picnic tables outside, inside was rustic and full of character and characters. (Especially when we all filled da joint.) They had a Tuesday night blues band tuning up that were pretty darned good. Cappy had a discussion with one of the waiters about their Yankee definition of Cajun spices. I dunno, we might end up sending them a sample of ours, to make his point. We all loved the food; authentic Cajun-flavored, as adverstised, or not; it was good. Lots of fun was had by all, and it was especially nice, since Dan had taken great pains to get us seated next to the window overlooking the Genessee River near the falls. We ate, we laughed, we had a wonderful time!

The next day after we had dosed ourselves awake with coffee, we went to visit Mr. Ed and Jean, who only lived about ten minutes away. They are busy people, and just because they retired, doesn't mean they slowed down any, at all. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were busier than ever. And from previous posts, you may well know how much fun they are and how dearly we love them. (They 'fussed' at us cuz we hadn't stayed with them rather than at an hotel...it was just that we hadn't really decided to go until practically the last minute. We just didn't want to make anybody have to rush around getting beds, etc. ready for us.)

We went back to Dan's house and watched the kids again, as they 'entertained' us on that water slide, then got ready and went out for Dan's birthday dinner.

Pictures follow and are pretty self explanatory. Hmmm, thinking about it all again...Jen's siblings didn't show up until THAT day and not the day before. It was just Dan's family and us,...still, there were 8 of us at that Dinosaur BBQ. NOW...the day I'm referring to, where his sisters and brother with girlfriend showed up, was on Wed...Dan's actual birthday. Whew. I hope I got it straight.

There were three carloads of us who showed up at the Arigato restaurant.

The 'chef' amused himself by throwing wads of rice into each of our mouths, or attempting anyhow, while he waited for his wok to heat, before he put on his 'show'. He also dished out humor with a Japanese flair, but later we learned that he was really from Kentucky and his native accent was really "hillbilly". (At the time so much rice was landing anywhere but in our mouths...on the floor...on the walls, on the seat behind us, I was thinking, gosh, the place looked so clean if that was their usual practice. And it did look clean at the time. Now looking at the walls in the pictures...hmmm.) It was fun, tho'.

We had to get up and back on the plane for five a.m., so we left for the hotel around ten that night. We took our grandson, Robbie John aka "RJ" home on our way. He's involved with the young volunteer firefighters in his school, so he was so proud to put on his uniform and show it off for us.

Oh...and speaking of Robbie John, he was half-embarrassed, half tickled at the 'sign' on the men's bathroom door at the Japanese restaurant, so I told him I'd take a picture of it for him and post it here.

I guess this is as good a place as any to close out our story of our jaunt to NY, by showing the picture of that sign, and say, "The End".

The Fantastic Four

This is the crew who came to do carpentry work on our house yesterday. From left to right, is Mr. Dale Reulet, Mike, Clint and Chris. Below is the ad I cut out of the newspaper. I'm so glad I did and that Cappy called Mr. Reulet.From the second they got here, they worked like dogs all day, and their work was really sharp. I can really appreciate their craftsmanship, too, and being an artist, I noticed that even tho they deal with hammers and tools, etc. they are no less artists at heart themselves. When they first started installing my beloved tin ceiling tiles, right away they spotted a problem with the house not being square and brought me in to appraise the situation with them. We thought there was going to be a real problem with crookedness by the time they got to the edge of the room. I don't know how they did it, but it's gorgeous, perfectly fit and square.

One of the projects will have to wait to be posted because I want to paint it and finish the room first. There was a lot of give and take of ideas, my not having thought the whole thing completely through. Cappy was in my ear on the phone and reminded me that compromise was very important, too, and for me not to be unwilling to accept another way to accomplish the same effect. He was right, because just when things got pretty confusing, Clint, came up with the perfect solution. See? Another 'artist's' opinion saved the day, and Cappy's advice tuned me into the idea to 'listen' just when I needed to, or I might have insisted on doing it my way and taken a lot more time and messing around instead of settling for an easier, better way. And Mr. Dale came up with some great problem-solvers that made our home look pretty darned classy for a small 'gingerbread house'.

Chris, although working right along, up and down on ladders all day, had a cheery attitude and took the time to let me know how things were progressing or actually asking my input about matters. Not only are these burly hardworking men, but I very much appreciated being treated with respect as to my opinion, and not 'walked over'. HOW...very refreshing and how very professional. Chris is Clint's Dad. Mike is Chris' father-in-law. You should see this team work! Some families might not get along, working with one another so well, but migosh, this family works like a well-oiled machine. A talented hard working machine! And of course, so is Mr. Dale. The man is everywhere, all at the same time, it seems. He was in the attic, at Lowe's store, on the roof, measuring, investigating the problem with our septic system, up on ladders...I mean everywhere. While he was in the attic and on the roof, he remedied a situation that has irritated Cappy and me for years. We had water leaking through the ceiling in the bathroom causing a permanent ugly gash that was not pleasant to look at, for sure, and who knows what kinds of mold lurks in the attic because of it, not to mention any number of other problems it was causing. In a flash he fixed a flashing on the roof, and a rubber gasket which was all dried out and allowed rain water to pass on down into our house, then into the attic he went....it was roaring hot outside, so the attic had to be hot as 'hayo'...he replaced a PVC joint which wasn't sealed well, so now...NOW...yeehaw, we can have a decent ceiling in our bathroom, after all these years. (We could never get it done before, having so little time for Cappy to be able to take care of it.) The roof dilemma tho, that being solved, clinched the deal.

Mr. Mike, poor soul, had to be outside most of the time in that terrible heat, running the saw and equipment they had set up in the driveway. Whenever I passed by the window or stood there washing dishes, I saw him busily measuring, sawing, just busy, busy, busy back and forth working hard out there. You should see the precise, sharp crisp corners he made on the crown moulding for the bedroom. Everything the guys inside needed to install, Mike had it ready at hand for them to grab and put up just when they needed it, and done so well. I'm telling you, this was amazing to watch. And tiring. I was exhausted at the end of the day...whooped, from just watching these guys work. Craftsmen, everyone of them. When they were finished, they just as quickly packed things neatly into their trucks, tidied up....can you believe that?? Tidied up after themselves, picked up after themselves, and as neatly as they worked, they all left our driveway at the same time, the same as they had arrived. What a fantastic bunch of good guys!!!

Still Clanging in There

Hi again, (finally) I think the last I had written was about trying to get off those miserable lexapro pills. I was doing pretty well, having literally cut them way down to miniscule bits, and waiting til the withdrawl symtoms stabilized enough to go visit our son Dan in NY. I promise I will post pictures. After the big wedding we then attended in Grenada MS, and all the dust had kinda settled, I cut the suckly rotten pills back some more...I'm determined to get off them. The feeling of being shocked with an electric current aka 'brain zapping' came back, along with being mentally out of focus and having a loud clanging in my ears constantly. It's disconcerting to be walking across the room, suddenly feel almost dizzy and having the sensation of electrodes zapping the neurons in the core of the brain. Good thing I had Googled about these being withdrawl symptoms, or I'd prolly want to get right back on them, the way others have and still do, just to alleviate the symptoms, planning on dealing with it all at some later point. That way I'd be falling right back into the same trap the pharmecutical companies want want all their customers to be in, but I'll be danged if I'll be slave to some large pharmecutical giant corporation.
Meanwhile, life goes on and in some cases not. Our best buddy Melissa's son, David, was killed in an head-on car crash. Now she and I are in a 'club' that no mother ever wants to join. It has bonded us even closer, but what a terrible thing to have happened. As it happens, tho, both of our youngest son's are named Joseph.
...So, at any rate, I'm off to the drugstore for another refill of this insidious prescription because all I know to do for now, is to keep a stiff upper lip, breaking them into smaller and smaller pieces, and keep clanging on.
(Meanwhile, as soon as I get back from said drugstore, I will be posting another blog today about the carpenters who worked on the house yesterday...I didn't forget.)

Summer Hitches

Well, as most of you know by now, I drive a boat for a livin'. Das why they call me Cappy. Summer in South Louisiana is brutal hot with lots of afternoon thunderstorms. The bayous are full of beautiful flowers and everything is lush and down-right tropical. I found these morning glorys vining on the bayou bank, almost dripping flowers down into the water. The humidity in the evenings make for soft, pastel-colored sunsets. I include this picture of a sunset that I watched slowly sink into the marsh. Truly a wonder to behold. The third picture I included, to show ya why I don't take pictures of the city, or lights in the evening or early morning. The exposure has to be long to get the sky, and well, ya can't hold still on a rocking boat. Das why my best sunsets don't have any lights in the fore-ground and ya never see pictures of the great moon scenes I see.

Our new wheelman/pilot, Robert, turns out to be a pretty good fisherman and it wasn't long til a friendly rivalry started up 'tween Robert and our apprentice mate, Asa. Robert pretty much 'skunked' Asa this afternoon when we were in salty water. These pictures are of Robert with a nice Redfish and a big ole Black Drumfish he caught. Asa, good-natured that he is, manages to sit there smiling while Robert picks at him bout the fish. Asa had his turn to 'pick' a few days later, when we were in fresh water, and he caught a couple Bass. Well, Asa may not have caught those fish that day, but he sure did them proud the next day in the galley. Nuthin' like fresh fried fish. Das one of the perks of what we do.

The Calm Before Sweet, Lovable Cappy Storms off'n Da Boat.

It's always been a tradition that on the Monday before Cappy gets off the boat, which is Thurdsay, I tell the dawgs, "Day after day after tomorrow, 'Daddy' will come home". They look at me, but never get excited. It's also the day I go around 'tying up loose ends' so that when he's home I don't have to spend a lot of time messing with 'peripheral' stuff.
Today I plan on finishing painting the hall. No big whoop.
The big whoop will be when he's home. We thought we might go on over to New Orleans one day; visit the Aquarium, check out the Riverwalk area, have lunch at our favorite Gumbo Shop, then to a Zephyr's baseball game.
(Hey...I accidentally hit the wrong button and this thang posted the blog before I finished! Grrr.)
This is just a bland kind of post anyhow. It's like when along the shoreline, the water is going out, out, out...

Mo' West for the Weary

Only 6 more days til Cappy gets off'n da boat!
The "adventure" he is on, which I mentioned on the last post, takes them way out to south-west Louisiana. He hasn't been to the Lake Charles area in about ten years or so, and has been busy consulting the old raggety maps, which the dawgs and I took him, and his GPS. Right now they are traveling West on the Intracoastal Waterway. He was up all night til around 6 a.m. this morning, then finally had to take a 'nap'. But he's up again, still navigating 'that a way'.
When he's out there on the boat, he has lots of time to think and plan, then when he actually gets home, we have so much fun. This time off we plan on going to some baseball games, fishin', and then heading to north Mississippi to one of his neices' weddings...that will make "Four Weddings and a Funeral" in the last year. (Wow, they oughta use that name as a title for a movie or something.) We're looking forward to this one (the other ones were great, too) because the wedding and reception will have an Hawaiian theme. I found the "loudest, tackiest, parrot-festooned" Hawaiian shirt I could find for Cappy, as per his instructions, and some cargo shorts to go along with it. Since the wedding itself will be held in a church, the family isn't sure if the attire will be suitable for wearing IN the church itself. Kin have been asking Cappy about it, so he called his sister to find out, and presently we are all waiting to hear the decision. If we all have to change our clothes between church and reception hall, so be it. It's the Bride's day, we love her, and it's gonna be FUN, no matter what! Cappy heard that everyone is going to "get lei'd at the door" going into the reception, and being the 'salty seadog' he is, I can only imagine his response, but I'm not gonna ask.
Seeing that the only thing standing between this next upcoming exciting two weeks yet to be had, is this long trek out to the Lake Charles area, and back again, I can only say, "Go West, 'young' man, Go West".

4th of July, I'm Read, Wide and Blue

It's another holiday and the neighborhood has packed up and left for their family get-togethers. It seems they all left in one fell swoop, hitting the road about nine a.m. Earlier, there were a lot of sounds of hustling and clanging and banging, but now it's awsomely quiet around here.
I remember lots of 4th of July's from, even way back, when I was a tiny little girl. My grandparents lived on the levee in Olean NY across the river from the stadium where they set up the fireworks. The family always gathered there at my grandparents' house, picnicked all day, then at dusk, gathered outside in sweaters, kids rolled up in blankets on the grass, in anticipation for the fireworks display. Even tho the house is no longer there, and my family has all either died or moved out of the area, the stadium is still there and so are the fireworks every Fouth of July.
Holidays are a little difficult for me nowdays, unless my Cappy is home with me. I just spoke with him and he said that today they are "off on an adventure", meaning, the usual hither and yon places they run, back in the swamps and bayous, has been replaced with orders for them to go off into uncharted (for them) territory, with all kinds of other twists and turns in those orders. It's those kinds of things that make his job interesting. The other day, while waiting to load his oil barge, he and the guys got to do some fishing. They got a couple of huge fish...I'm sure you'll be seeing pictures of them when Cappy hits dry land next week.
At home here,as usual, I tried pushing myself into other people's plans for today, but was told that they don't have any plans. Well, too bad for them, cuz this morning I made plans. I'm tired of sitting around waiting for invitations, or getting turned down, so I'm going to do what I did for Easter, and take myself out for a day on the town! (I think I'd better invest in a stronger deoderant and a better brand of toothpaste, not to mention a nicer attitude, if that's what's wrong with me.)
One thing that's got me down, too...if you read yesterday's blog...one of the symptoms of getting off this 'medication' is weight gain. Well, that's never fun, and as it is, I was already "chubby", as Cappy calls us. That's a better term, I think, than what we really are.
Ya know, I'm sorry I haven't been so very upbeat of late, like I usually am. And I usually AM upbeat and cheery, as you may or may not know. Right now I just feel as though I am kind of 'leaning' on you, even tho I don't know who you are, reading this 'detoxification mental flow'. I'm hoping I can get this 'stuff' out of my system and get back to the happy person I was, panic attacks notwithstanding, before I started taking them.
Sheesh, I'm going to be Sooo embarrassed to look back on this blogging time in my life. But, friend...thanks for being an important part of Cappy and Pegody's World through it all. Thanks for reading.

P.S. Plans have changed. Cappy called and had me look for some important maps he needs to be able to navigate where they are going. They were here and there in the house, but I found them and need to take them to him in the middle of the night sometime, because it's the only time he'll be where I can meet the boat. They're in a big hurry, so I'll take "da boys" with me so we can drop them off to him. I'll need to take a good nap today.
Ahh well...my idea of a day on the town is a chintzy movie, with a tank of popcorn and a salad at a fast food place, anyhow. We'll live it up when da Capster gets home. We have another big wedding/road trip to attend. Whoo hoo!

It's a Mad World

My beloved grandmother, God rest her fun and wacky soul, used to say, "I believe the world has gone mad, except for thou and me; and sometimes I wonder about thou". She passed way back in 1977 from complications of a Swine Flu shot, which was supposed to help keep her healthy. That was around the same time Elvis Presly died of drug abuse, etc.
If she thought the world was a crazy place back then, I wonder what she'd think of the goings on today. Just when I hear something on the news or wherever that shocks my sensibilities, something more ridiculous comes along that leaves me reeling. You live in today's world; I'm sure you know what I mean. There's nowhere to run and nowdays there's nowhere to hide. (I feel terrible for the folks in Kansas and Texas, who are having so much flooding and devastation. We have friends who read our blog who live in those areas, and we care very much about their safety.)
I dunno, it just seems as though the world has gone wacko around us. Just when I thought I'd found a little serenity, six years ago, I discovered I was wrong. I came to South Louisiana, and found what I feel is a little slice of Heaven. I found myself alone in an entirely new environment. I spend a lot of time with Cappy on the phone, as you all may know, but have spent a lot of my time isolated from other people due to who I am and/or the culture or whatever. I started having panic attacks about a year or so after moving here, but didn't know what was happening to me. I ran to the doctor several times, I drove myself to the ER once, in panic, I drove to 'visit' our friendly paramedics while having a rough time, I called neighbor friends late at night during their favorite show, apparently, all to no avail. Finally, my regular doctor had me go see a heart specialist. After a battery of tests the heart dr. said I was totally fine, but my stress (what stress??) was causing all the terrible symptoms. I thought I was happy, maybe I was stressed and didn't know it. He prescribed Lexapro, saying it would help my body make seratonin. I balked because I don't like meds. He assured me they were perfectly safe. I, being what Cappy refers to as a "health nut", didn't check them out before I went right along with the flow and took them. The panic attacks stopped, anyhow.
Well, it's been a few years and I'm used to being alone and have a lot of things to keep me occupied, so I went off the Lexapro 'cold turkey'. I'm eating healthier now, too, so what da hey. Two weeks later I was a mental basket case. When talking with our friend, Pam over the phone, she asked me what in the world was wrong. When I told her I'd quit taking the Lexapro, she said, " Get right back on them!" So I did, but I knew I had a problem with them at that point. Another year passed...I didn't want to mess with all that again..not just yet. During that year, I learned that a lot of folks near and dear to my heart were taking them, or similar substances. Oh yow! Why??
A little more than a month ago, our local phamacist mentioned a plan for my getting off them, so I've been trying. Slowly...very very slowly. When I began taking half a pill every other day, this awful buzzing started in my head. I mean AWFUL. Then it began to feel as though I were having some electrical shocks inside my brain. My concentration was shot, also. One gorgeous day I was sitting out in the grape arbor trying to drink in the beauty of the day, but was so out of focus mentally, and it felt as though I had some kind of electrode hooked onto the back of my upper neck, zapping me. Well, I was angry, so I came in and checked out Lexapro withdrawl to see if I was going crazy or what. Oh migosh. You should just Google this sometime. There are tons and tons of posts by poor saps like myself. People cry, thinking it's impossible to get off this terrible drug, others give up, hating the withdrawl symptoms, so they just go back to taking them. Posts ask "Will I EVER get off these? Is it possible??" Only one, that I saw, said in huge HUGE letters, "I DID IT!" It took them five months to get off Lexapro, but they had to watch their nutrition carefully and take vitamin supplements, etc. Sighhh. I'm taking a quater of a pill every day, still suffer from occasional "brain zaps" and lack of concentration or motivation. I don't need these; I don't think I ever really needed them. I could've used something more natural, if I'd had my wits about me.
I know this posting has been a 'rant'. I'm just kind of upset with the pharmacuetical companies and the doctors, who fit-hand in-glove with them for nothing more than profit. I think if they had their way, they could declare that everyone's gone mad and in need of their 'junk'. If it weren't for their ineptitude, the world still might have ol' Elvis. I might have my Grandma around, yet, and she'd still be wondering about Thou.