Somebody on St John is Living My Dream

A friend saw this last week on St John. It's not Wreggie but close enough. Good luck Reggie.


Help Me Understand

Something I learned today.

It is wrong for car company executives to fly to Washington in corporate jets for a congressional hearing about car companies and the economy.

But it is alright to fly Air Force One with a two jet fighter escorts over New York City for a photo opportunity.

Help me understand this please.

Don't you think New York City folks might be a tiny bit jumpy about this concept?

Disgusting

We have a new crapper on our floor at work. This guy is in the john almost every time I go in the bathroom.

Disgusting it is.

The way I see it is you get one courtesy crap a day and that’s it. Go home if you are sick.

It ought to be in the terms of the lease that “no single individual shall shit more than once a day”.

I’m tired of holding my breath.

Origami Improvements

It’s been called a “Fugly Boat” by a callused few but she’s mine and she’s paid for. Look what is new for 2009.




Wheels...Huh? Yep they work. I can set her up and roll her to the water. Then pop them off and off we go.

A real seat that swivels! And look...a deck for the dog and cooler.


A New Theme

Today is the first day of the year when I could walk out in shorts and flip flops and not be cold. And it promises to be glorious day weather wise.

Gigi and I are headed to Advance, NC mostly on beautiful back country roads in the Jeep to meet a bunch of people to look at some thoroughbred horses and to have a surprise party for my sister who just passed a major decade that will go unmentioned.

This is my third summer with my Jeep and it is truly my land boat. I have the most fun driving it in the warm weather.


This summer I have a new theme….gone is Shore Patrol and in with Wreggie Legend.

I have new stickers too. (Island readers: Have you ever wondered what we do with those stickers we buy at Scuba and Riddems?)

So the cooler is packed, the jeep waxed, plenty of sunscreen on board, a dog sitter will come by later to let the kids do their business and hopefully a wonderful ride in the country.

(Island Readers: This will be the equivalent to a Buck Island day in Origami.)

Very Cool

Yesterday was a fun day. The weather was perfect and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.


I had the good fortune to be eating lunch outside at my club with a client as we prepared for an afternoon round of golf.


I sat there making small talk when a beautiful young woman walked up and asked me, “Are you Wreggie with a “W”?”


I was shocked and momentarily speechless. “Yes I am.”


She went on to explain who she was and she was a friends cousin and that she read my blog and enjoyed it. She recognized me from my pictures.


Wow! I have fans out there. That is so cool. Thank you for coming by and I hope I didn’t act too goofy.

Words and Plan B

Native whites around NC say “bidness” for the word business. Native blacks say “bitness”. I can’t stand to hear either mispronunciation.

It’s like when someone says something about their teef. It ain’t your damn teef, its teeth dumb shit. Teeth! Yes I understand and accept this and even find it endearing when I travel to the Caribbean. Native Africans don’t pronounce a “th” like Hispanics don’t pronounce a “v”.

Caribbean blacks have preserved their African culture far better than their US counterparts.

But if you are 50 generations away from Africa and or white and live in the mainland US, say teeth please or Wreggie is going to be pissed.

I get miffed when someone uses the “l” in salmon. Why the hell the “l” is there is a mystery and I can understand someone falling for this trap but please learn to silence the “l”. No need to say it again.

And finally about my post yesterday. I had many emails behind the scenes asking what it was that was my plan B. My sister got very close after 8 tries so I told her.

My plan B was to be at a point in my life when I had nothing to prove to myself or society and I could do what I wanted when I wanted. At a point where income is still needed but where income doesn’t define me or make me a slave to my lifestyle.

I always loved the years I spent in the service industry. I like the direct contact of serving someone and making their life better for just the few moments they are in front of me. I also love the food and restaurant bidness.

So if you boiled all that desire down to its essence then you would have me standing at a place with a lot of people behind a hotdog cart making people smile with good food and friendly service.

You never would have guessed it huh?

My Secret Desire

All of my life I have ad an inner desire that has been unmet. Gigi is aware of it as is a few of my close friends.

Time is wasting as I see my life now well past the 4th of July and heading toward autumn.

I have daydreamed about this desire and realized that most of my close male friends have the exact same dream. That surprised me because I though my thought was unique.

I have watched others do what I want to do and they seem satisfied in their efforts.

What I want to do does not involve riches but more of an attitude. I call it plan B. It is a life sustaining activity that would lead in my opinion to the ultimate in freedom.

However the dream is not without risk and a small investment of capital.

It may be something I’ll never do but to have the option to do it I must invest the capital or forfeit the chance of ever living my dream.

I am trying to decide whether to leave the door open or just close the door and forget the dream. Gigi is behind me on whatever I decide.

RV Guy

I had the RV Guy come out this afternoon to give my 5th wheel a once over before we hit the road this spring.

I recall last season late that the water heater was not working on propane. In addition the 12 volt lights were constantly dimming.

It is really a pain in the butt to be into a nice relaxing RV camping trip and some system goes completely down.

This “RV GUY” is a new service whereby I sit on my ass and the guy comes to me. It is a lot less trouble that hooking up the monster and dragging it across town. Then unhooking the beast only to come back a few days later to hook up, tow and park the behemoth.

He fixed some unique to RV stuff that was mainly cosmetic and “unwinterized” the plumbing, checked the tires, propane systems, blew out leaves and cobwebs and found two problems.

The water heater has two valves and one is bad and will require a new valve to work on propane.

The 12 volt light flickering thing appears to be a relay in the converter box and this will require a pricy item to make it work. He said this was unusual but I suspect it is damaged from some constant electrical issues we had down in Southport last summer.

I am a person that can’t stand for stuff to be broken. I am also a maintenance freak.
In a few days it will all be fixed and good as new.

First Snake...Make a Summer Wish

Yep…it’s that time of year again. I was blowing the tree sex residue out of the gutters with an extension blower and look what plopped out at my feet.

The first snake of the year.


Do you ever have those dreams when as best you try you cannot keep your eyes open?


I dreamed last night I was in the cavernous wooden hull of a ship. It was dark, dank, and foggy. I was walking with an acquaintance trying to make out a path in the darkness and fog.


I remember having my yellow swim trunks on and a bandanna around my neck. I was barefooted.


To make matters more difficult I had my eyes closed and strained to open them every few seconds to see where I was going.


I didn’t want my companion to know I was walking with my eyes closed because he might think I was strange.

Bermuda Day

I picked late May to go to Bermuda quite by accident. It just happened to be the time Michael and Terry would arrive in Bermuda on The Roseway.


What I have come to find out is we will be there at a very festive holiday called Bermuda Day which is also the 400 year celebration of Bermuda.


So what started as an innocent long ass weekend trip turns out to be a great celebration of summer on the island. Go figure…me find a party on an island.


So I’ve been doing a lot of research about the island, do’s and don’ts, local customs, weather expectations, apparel (these are Brits with tea times) and such.


I looked at a list of prohibited items and it included yams, porn and carrots.


Anyone who knows me knows I’m all about yams and porn especially in late May. I wrote Michael and he commented that “What is Bermuda Day without yams?”


I have to agree. I’ll leave the yams and porn at home out of respect for the locals.


I can take 200 cigarettes if I so desire.

A New Adventure

I’m going to Bermuda….yep that settles it.

Yesterday afternoon I was caressing my checks that I was about to send to the government when my phone rang.

It was Michael from St Croix. We discussed manly stuff for a while then he got to the meat of the conversation. But I digress further…..

Back in January he and his lovely bride Terry were at a charity silent auction. One of the prizes was a one way ticket for two from St Croix to Bermuda as working crew members on the 100 year old sailing vessel The Roseway.

Now you have to be a certain type of individual that would find this appealing. No baths, no booze, hard work at the high seas for a week or more in cramped quarters with strangers.

That adventure appeals to me and it did to them so they bid and won.

It was suggested that Gigi and I meet them when they arrive sometime in May. After all Bermuda is closest to North Carolina and Gigi and I have always wanted to visit.

Michael detailed the trip as he knows it. The sailing times are as uncertain as the weather. But it looks like Gigi and I will go there on a Thursday in May and stay through until Tuesday the day after Bermuda Day or Memorial Day back home.

Now comes the Internet Stalking part where I study as much as I can about the island and culture. It will be my first visit to British territory and our closest neighbor to the sea.

What I have learned so far is they have a beach with bright pink sand, The Queen still has her rule over the culture and this place is a bit more formal than what I am accustomed to seeing on an island.

They must be a hearty bunch out there surviving on a small patch of land in the middle of nowhere. This will be fun.

April 15


Normally I have my annual tirade about taxes but this year I’ll just suck up and write a check.


I actually made less in revenues last year but ended up with more taxable income and paid a lot more in taxes.


You see I cut my business expenses drastically trying to conserve money for bad times. Money conserved not wining and dinning means more income passed along to me and more taxes.

This year I vow to play a little more golf with clients, entertain a little more, maybe buy a new company car.

Either that or give it away for someone else to do it.


Monday Briefing

The Obama administration has told GM to prepare for bankruptcy. It looks like Ronald Reagan’s record of union busting will be broken by a long shot.

I bet the unions didn’t see this coming last November when they supported our current President.

One tip….run, don’t walk to the bank if you need to borrow money. Now is the lowest rate you will see for decades once this budget spending comes back to haunt us. Prepare for days of Jimmy Carter and 17% prime rates. You’ll be glad you locked in at 4 7/8% fixed.

Hooray for the US Navy in rescuing a civilian hostage from the Somali pirates. I couldn’t understand why the sharpshooters didn’t have laser pointers on their thieving foreheads from minute one.

I see a business opportunity with armed and paid gunboats to escort ships. I could round up enough crazy rednecks itching to shoot something to staff half dozen boats myself.

Tragic News

Remember my favorite pajama bottoms from last year?

I regret to inform my reading audience that just a few moments ago the ass end gave way as I was bending over setting down the electric saw.

I have worn these pants each winter for at least 5 years as my number 1 go to PJs.

I’m going to miss these pants. And please…don’t tell yellow boys for now.

Easter

We are having a cool spring but its spring none the less and I am grateful.

Yesterday I bought all of my spring flowers and set 90% of them out around my deck. I am gay about flowers. I love them like I do doilies. Neither is necessary but they make life better.

When I was a small child Easter marked the end of the Great Holidays in my mind. They started with Halloween then on to Thanksgiving, Christmas and it all culminated with Easter. This marked the beginning of summer in the calendar of my young mind.

Today I have a few more things to do around the deck and then guests come over in the afternoon. I will grill a leg of lamb. We will eat outside if it’s not too chilly.

Wreggie Gets Political

I just noticed that when I rearranged my blog links a few weeks ago to a lower spot on the right column that I deleted the links by accident. I’ll get your links back up this weekend. Sorry, I hope I didn’t come off snobby not having my fellow bloggers there with me.

I am up early for two reasons. The weather is perfect and I am playing golf at 1:10 PM.

Second, it is Masters Weekend and I going to watch Arnold Palmer tee off at 7:45 AM to get the tournament underway.

I see my president is getting around to talking to the enemy now like he promised and they don’t much want to talk to him. North Korea and Iran pretty much hate everyone and they have at least unofficially snubbed my president. I hope he has a plan B.

Mr. Obama sent the congressional black caucus to Cuba for talks and Fidel and Raul seemed more than happy to jump in the sack with the US. Next year this time we’ll be drinking Cuban Rum and smoking Cuban cigars for sure. I wonder if they’ll have a non stop from Charlotte.

I did see Mr. Obama is winding down the war in Iraq as he promised but starting up another major conflict with the Afghans. This doesn’t seem wise to me but who am I to say. The Soviets tried with 110,000 troops and couldn’t flush the scourge out of the rocks.

Personally I would continue this conflict with drones and small tactical forces to keep the bad guys at bay but again who am I to say. Afghanistan just looks like a bunch of rocks to me.

Rwednesday with a silent "R"

I woke up this morning to learn that the Russians and Chinese have been spying on me. Yes right here in my home.

They both have penetrated our electrical grid which runs right up to my bathroom hairdryer.

That kind of gives me the creeps. Where’s my tin foil hat?

The human mind and psychology amaze me always.

Why would anyone judge their complete future on their current condition only, without considering their complete past?

The best advice I ever got was “Never judge your life by its lowest point”.

What I am seeing now are fatally stupid decisions being made in this economic climate. The decisions are being based on irrational fear of the future and the present without regard to the facts of the past.

Lighten up people. Happiness doesn’t always spawn from excesses. We are building character here.

Or maybe people are just plain dumber than I suspected?

My Weekend

Saturday was one of those 10.0 days as far as I am concerned. It was clear and 73 degrees with slight breezes.

I spent the entire day outside replacing the vertical deck rails.

Earlier in the month the deck was power washed to bring back some new life to this now ageing deck. With the addition of the new rails I gotta say the old deck is looking good.

I bought some plants and a 27 foot rope light for the “dining area” of the deck. I finished the job, blew off debris and saw dust and fired up the rope lights. It looked good.

This morning when I got up to let the dogs out I noticed I forgot to turn off the rope lights. Three of the dogs ran out immediately to the picnic table and starred at the lights like perhaps an alien had landed over night.

We have two cold nights coming and then I think we may be out of the woods as far as winter is concerned.

I also “Jailbroke” my iPhone yesterday. Jailbreaking is a method of hacking an iPhone to allow 3rd party applications that Apple doesn’t offer. I now have video and can tether my phone to my PC to gain access to the Internet from the 3G network.

Today I picked up 8 bales of hay and unloaded two bags of feed for the horses and then burnt the burn pile. It still had Christmas wreaths in the pile and they set ablaze like gasoline.

Now it was time to fire up the lawn tractor for the season. The tires were flat and the battery was dead. It finally fired up with the proper charge and I cut the grass after picking up an entire winter worth of broken limbs and sticks.

I love the results of yard work but I gotta tell you I hate every minute of doing it. I wanted to get on the lake this weekend.

Cheese Toast

It stopped raining this morning! It has been raining for many weeks with few breaks. Yea blue skies! Boo rain.

I love cheese toast. I made it yesterday and today. Nothing fancy…good Colby jack cheese, butter and I like Pepperage Farm Sourdough bread. Did you know you can find Pepperage Farm Sourdough bread in St Croix only it’s frozen?

Anyway I broil it slow and make sure it bubbles and browns nicely. Damn it’s good comfort food.

I was checking airfares this morning to several destinations and do you know I can fly to Moscow Russia for slightly less than it costs me to go to St Croix?

Now talk about some massive layovers heading to the Russian Federation but none or maybe one in Miami if I travel south.

I kind of like island hopping to get there but Gigi doesn’t. I consider Miami an island because it is culturally isolated with a heavy Cuban influence.

Then San Juan is fun for a layover. There you see white guys like me just yapping away in Spanish. The next minute they are talking in English better than I can speak.

Next St Croix where the whites speak plain old run of the mill English with no discernable accent but the black have this wonderful thick accent and speak Cruzan along with English.

Damn that was good cheese toast. Ya’ll have a good weekend.

In the Future....

This morning I woke up early, went into the living room and turned on the Wii Fit.

“Good morning Wreggie, you’re up early this morning.”

I smiled and thought about the April fools joke it told me yesterday morning. I never thought I would have a machine interacting with me like this.

I did my exercises and headed over to the guest house to clean out the robotic vacuum cleaner. This Roomba is doing a fantastic job on the wooden floors and rugs. I don’t mind at all walking barefoot over there. No more cat hair on the floor.

On my way to work an alarm went off on my GPS warning me of a Railroad track that didn’t have warning lights and cross arms when it suddenly occurred to me.

I’m living in an age where computers, satellite driven devices and robots are a part of my life now and I appreciate them beyond them being a novelty. They really help me live a better life.

I texted my nephew at the next traffic light and checked my email.

A Comment on Life and Death

Do you ever wonder how you will die? I do.

A fellow once told me he had worked out a deal with God and he was going to die in his sleep. He did die in his sleep at age 62.

At a meal my stepfather told me he did one of those online surveys where they could predict life expectancy and it said he had six months to live. He died in six months. He was in his 80’s but still healthy at the time of the survey.

A friend of mine dropped dead in his garage while I was on the island back in February. He was in his early forties and had beaten leukemia twice only to die by an aneurism.

Just the other day and not far from here a man busted into a nursing home and shot 8 people. One of them was a woman aged 98. Imagine making it to 98 and end up dying of a gun shot.

Medical authorities have for years told us that stopping bad habits like smoking will ad years to your life and reduce the burden to the health care system. But didn’t explain that it will add years to your life at the end when you are old and hanging on. And the reality is that these old farts hanging on to life cost the health system much more that the smokers who died prematurely.

I waste a lot of my life but I enjoy my life so waste by definition must bring me some joy I suppose.

I find I am less tolerant of negative thoughts and negative people, arguments, crime, and hate.

I don’t know the answers for sure but I do know one thing for sure…there is a very thin veil between life and death.

Enjoy your day, your family, your friends and your life today.