I'm Always Mentally on Vacation

wReggie wRedesigns the Calendar

Our garbage pick up day used to be on Wednesday. This meant that on Tuesday night I would roll the garbage can down the driveway and out to the street for an early morning pickup.

This was all well and fine. Garbage pick up day marked the middle of the week.

A few months back our garbage pickup day was moved to Monday. This required me to take some of my fun time on Sunday and deal with things of Monday. I resent that I have to take some of my time off to deal with what should be work week business.

Then I got to thinking just how screwed up the calendar is anyway and it got me thinking about a redesign.

Let’s have 8 days a week and add a day between Saturday and Sunday and call it Funday. So now you work 40 hours a week, 5 days a week, and have a three day weekend. All months are now 32 days.

The miserable month of February get reduced to 6 days. During February we have our elections and file our taxes. The 6 day month is devoted to government activity only. All the crappy meaningless government holidays are during those 6 days. Toss in Presidents day, ML King day, and Valentines day for starters. I’m sure we can come up with three more.

Finally the extra week we have leftover gets added to October. October is a really nice month for outdoor stuff. More golf, football and visits to the beach because we have one extra Funday in October.

Who’s in?

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Two Things

Can you believe what the Lord hath made? My fingertips that are unique, and are damn good grabbers, with the ridges and moisture….I can pick up a dime or a 50 pound bag of grain.

Second….can you believe how good of a close up picture the iPhone 4 makes of my finger tips?

A Little Culture from Mental Vacation

Encore!!!!

Brian Update

Brian pictured on the left.

Halfway through the home season, Brian makes his first tour of duty to the big leagues.

Old Blue will not dress out this game.

The Panthers host the Vikings tomorrow. This should be our 3^rd win.

Friday

The mother in law came in for a two day visit. We asked her specifically not to give the dogs any leftovers because it upsets their stomachs. But more on this later.

After a warm family exchange of pleasantries, Gigi and I headed for a day of Doctors appointments and errands, and her mother Charlotte, headed back to the coast.

I have learned that fresh eggs can go a long way in bonding a relationship, so I bring a dozen for the doctor, and a dozen for the key staff.

Organic eggs are all the rage, and the doctors and staffer really appreciate the thought.

When ever I walk in a doctor’s office with a big bag of eggs, I am dying for someone to ask what is in the bag. My pat answer will be, “A stool sample”. No takers yet.

Gigi and I visited two doctors’ offices for appointment, had lunch, and dropped by my office for a moment. The activity managed to fill most of a day. And it was super being able to park at the prime handicap spots.

We even stopped by the book store for her to browse. I personally loathe book stores.

By late afternoon Gigi was worn out. We entered the back door to a wave of knee buckling funk that rolled out the door like an escaping cat. Sure as shit, two dogs had the shits.

This event broke the just established record of 5 weeks with no accidents. I have been taking care of the dogs exclusively, and have kept them in good bowel order. Where was the breech of protocol?

Gigi then told me that the MIL gave them her leftovers last night after specifically being asked no to give the dogs leftovers.

See why I like her so much?

Yes

Let us never forget the final lyrics from the song Round About by Yes. Let these words guide you today.

Da da da da daaa da da

Sunday

Remember that giant batch of hot dog chili I made the night after Gigi’s surgery? It has been frozen in quart containers since then. Sunday it will make its way to tailgating so that we can judge whether or not the Amos N Andy recipe is authentic.

News From The Home Front

I have been enjoying Sangiovese wine of late. Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety used in Chianti. It is lighter than my usual reds, but is good, and I like the change.

Brian the grill is fully functional and joined the Weber fleet on Monday. The legs are sturdy and I installed a thermometer.

Back in the early 1960’s I would still see a few old school Pepsi bottles in circulation. I saved these two for the past 50 years and finally came up with a use for them. They are now tailgate salt and pepper shakers. I just added plastic shaker caps that I got off eBay.

And finally, behold my new dutch oven with a clever skillet top. It is two pots in one. This will be great on the grill tailgating and camping.

Dudes Talking

The Devil Came Down to Midland

Matthew 4:9 - And said to him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.

The devil himself came knocking at my door this morning. He appeared as a head hunter for Wells Fargo Securities on my iPhone.

Long story short, I had huge money flashed in front of me if I would join corporate America again and be their bitch for 7 to 9 years.

No more free time, have to wear a suit, ditch the pick up truck, no more free time, no more multiple vacations, no time for chickens, horses, little boats, wife, Jeep, RVing, diving, golf, cooking, tailgating, road trips, all my clients would be theirs, and my time would be taken in exchange for riches.

No thanks. I wouldn’t even consider the negotiation session to discuss the details. The guy asked if I heard what he was saying and he asked me to take down his name and number if I reconsidered.

No. I am a free man and wish to stay that way.

Damn it was a lot of money.

Slain

I haven’t seen someone slain in the newspapers since November 1963 when the Durham Morning Herald had the headline, “President Is Slain”. I remember that headline to this day.

Slain is a simple word that carries a lot of violence.

In 110 Days

I love downtown Christiansted on the island of St. Croix. There is so much to do and see that I can literally spend a day there every trip down. Strangely, I avoid shopping and malls here at home, but I am drawn to this quirky little town made up of shops and bars and eateries.

Usually I reserve the last day to hang out in town before catching the flight home.

And So It Was

Good times.....and we beat the Washington Redskins.

Friends

A bushel of oyster came up from the NC coast yesterday…the same friend that lugged me around the bourbon tasting via Facetime brought them up.

It is so nice to have thoughtful friends.

Today....Panthers vs Redskins in our house. Time for a win.

How To Crash a Party on an iPad

Every Friday there is a bourbon tasting at a friends house down in Lockwood Folly, North Carolina. Like clock work, friends show up at his house around 3:50 PM on Friday, go through the unlocked doors, and begin setting up the party.

Folks bring snacks, bowls of nuts, chips, dip, and one person brings the chosen bourbon of the week to taste.

Then promptly at 4:10 PM a toast is made, and all sample the unmarked bourbon.

The following hour or so is socializing and sipping the house bourbon which is Marker’s Mark. Oh, and we all toss in some money to cover for the Maker’s Mark.

Then after a while everyone cleans up and we go our separate ways.

Yesterday I took the chance that some other friends of mine just might be there and have their iPad with them. I videoed called them on Facetime just to see if I could crash the party via video.

Sure enough, suddenly I was there in the party. He took his iPad around with me on the screen for me to mingle with the crowd. People were laughing and yelling, “Hey Hunnicutt”, in their loud bourbon outdoors voice.

I gotta tell you, I'll be attending more of these weekly functions via the iPad.

Google Maps

Nothing is much more thrilling to a nerd like me than to get behind the Google Street View camera and get my picture taken.

Here you see the car ahead with a big red ball about 6 feet over the car on a stalk with guy wires.

In a few months I’ll look me up on Google maps to see me in the red truck.

It you recall a few years ago I was seen in my Jeep on Google maps.

Special Treatment

Back in June, when I was in St Croix, I noticed my regulator was taking in water with every breath. I came to find out that the exhaust diaphragm was failing, allowing water to flow back on an inhale.

My local dive shop ordered the parts for me and 4 months later they finally came in.

I bugged them so much about the parts that they promised they would special test the regulator to make sure it would hold up for me.

They called me yesterday and said the regulator was ready and then sent this special video.

The Brain

We tend to buy things like flour, sugar, coffee, ground black pepper, and salt in bulk at Costco or Sams Club.

The other evening I was filling industrious and decided it was time to fill the salt and pepper shakers. We have various sets of shakers in the prep area in the kitchen, and a few other shakers for table use.

Finding the keg of salt was easy. For the life of me I couldn’t locate the black pepper.

I asked Gigi and she said it was in the second pantry on the bottom shelf. Then we both paused and realized just how amazing the human brain is.

Gigi had not seen the pepper in months yet her brain retained this information through trauma, surgery, flat lining, recovery, and a million other things and yet she was able to accurately recall where the pepper was stored.

Sure enough it was there where she said.

The Great Recession

You know…..life is tough sometimes, even if you are mentally on vacation.

Lots of my friends are having tough times dealing with elderly parents, bad health, lack of work, and general insecurity.

No one I know has an old fashioned 9 to 5 job anymore unless they work for some government agency. And most of them “retired” after 20 years on a pension. Can you imagine that? 20 years of work and a lifetime of income?

The risk today has shifted back to the worker….just like it was before unions and big cities. You better have a real skill that people will buy. Companies don’t want to assume risk... so you have too, to make a living.

Now some people thrive in this environment like me, and others fail. The ones that fail make me sad. I know some of them closely and I try to help. But they fail in this economic food chain, and there is not much I can do to intervene. I have to survive.

Still it causes me worry.