UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE!

Hey, guys! Become a luxury cruise ship captain and see the world! Apparently it doesn’t take an education or much training. If you can row a boat, you’re in!

From what I have gathered from the news, the captain of the Costa Concordia veered off course as a favor so the head waiter could salute his family on shore and ran the ship aground. Hey moron, the head waiter wanted to wave from the ship’s deck, NOT on the shore! Seems this led to one huge clusterfuck resulting in lost lives, missing passengers and a possible environmental episode.

What a poor excuse for a cruise ship to begin with. When we cruised, the port authority would not let us leave port without participating in a disaster drill first and foremost!

Secondly, there is no way in hell a captain would be stupid enough to veer off course unless getting permission to avoid a hurricane, not to grant a favor to the help! And doesn’t it make you wonder what the head waiter did to earn this favor? (elevate your mind, Goat).

So, if this is all it takes, I want to be a cruise ship captain and sit at the big table in the main dining room! After all, I can drive a car, row a boat and paddle a canoe which should qualify me nicely!

IS IT TIME?

When Richard got home from work this morning, he announced that the car radio works fine. I must have accidentally hit the mute button on the steering wheel when I turned the radio on. I didn’t know! There are just too dang many buttons in that little hearse! I also find that it is hard for me to see to drive at night because sometimes I forget to turn on the headlights (too many auto this, and auto that buttons, again). Is it time to take away my car keys?

Speaking of buttons, the keypad on Erin’s garage door opener will indeed close the door. All you have to do is enter the code again and it will close. Not having a garage door keypad myself, I didn’t know! Could have saved myself a danged-near heart attack had someone told me before the fact! Is it time for me to take a short course in basic electronics at Now You Know U?

I have also found (and this is for all of you out there who might have this pesky relative), that I tend to talk everyone’s ear off when I finally get out and about. Maybe it’s because of our schedules, Richard and I don’t get too many chances for a good chat that I make up for lost time whether I know you or not (and I hate telephones)! Is it time for a retirement home where I’m surrounded by other folks talking each other’s ears off? Hell no!

FYI: I’ll drive until forced to park it, operate equipment until I get electrocuted and talk until I have no voice. And as far as a retirement home goes, kill me first!

FRAZZLED!!

Peaches’ canned food is sold by prescription and therefore may only be obtained where sold and there is an in-house vet. There is one big-name pet supply store that also has an in-house animal hospital that sells this particular brand of food.

The reason I have gone to this much detail (as usual) is that my vet ran out of the food but was due in a supply of it today. I was to call at around noon after the expected shipment was to arrive but found out that this particular item was not included.

In order to get her food without changing brands (we need not interrupt a good thing) and since she was down to one meal left, they wrote me a prescription so I could go to a nearby town to this big-name pet supply store to have it filled. I picked up the prescription and proceeded to the store.

When I got there, I was directed to the pet hospital where I had to give them the script, register and wait for a prescription card. Meanwhile, the printer that was to print out my card ran out of ink and the receptionist had to get help to change the ink cartridge so I waited, and waited.

Finally, card in hand and 12 cans of food in my cart, I headed for the checkout. The danged stuff was 24 cents more per can than I pay at my vet’s office! After having driven all this way and having to wait so long, and paying out the butt for the food, I was a little miffed as I loaded the 12 cans of food into the back of my little hearse.

If that wasn’t bad enough, my car radio took it upon itself to quit working so I had no music to soothe the beast that was raging inside of me.

The only upside is that I checked my iPad when I got home and found that I had won the latest game of Words with Friends against my daughter!

Other than that, I’m worn out and frazzled!

LIVING VICARIOUSLY

The Avon Marching Black and Gold left last Thursday morning via chartered plane to the sunny land of southern California to become a part of the Rose Bowl Parade. Not far behind were about two hundred plus parents, siblings and other relatives on commercial flights with the same destination of LAX.

All made it safely there and we at home lived their trip vicariously through emails, Facebook, television and photos sent through the Avon official Facebook site. It has been one heck of a wonderful trip and great memories stored for years to come.

The trip came to a rude awakening halt when the planes touched down yesterday at Indianapolis International Airport to temperatures in the 20’s and snow on the ground. Quite a difference from the previous night’s languishing in the hotel’s outdoor pool under the palms by the happy travelers!

We in Avon are proud of our kids, grandkids, cousins, nieces, nephews, siblings and friends who were part of this once-in-a-lifetime event. They looked and sounded great as they marched down Colorado Boulevard and conducted themselves exemplarily throughout their entire adventure! Now, they are safely back.

A great big WELCOME HOME!