Cheryl B. Dale's Blog: RANDOM MUSINGS, page 39
June 30, 2012
HEAT
It's hot down here on the coast but not as hot as a lot of other places! Maybe it's the ocean breeze. Anyway, people are still getting out. I took this picture about 9:30 this morning when people were walking, biking, sitting and just generally taking advantage of cooler temperatures. Guess I'll be in the rest of the day.
June 27, 2012
RAIN
Debby has come and gone, thank goodness. We still have some rip tides but the island's drying out. Below is a picture of the Neptune Park whale I took yesterday. The puddled rain made it look like she was emerging from a pool!
June 23, 2012
RACOONS DINING
After being away nearly two years, we drove a half hour to a favorite restaurant on Jekyll Island. Sea Jay's. To our horror, its dirt road had been paved. And marked. But the shrimp salad sandwich was good as ever.
Sea Jay is at the marina by the water where people eat outside and watch the animals. Usually squirrels and birds are the beggars. Yesterday we had raccoons. One came right up under the porch where we were eating. After licking out what looked like a tartar sauce/cocktail sauce/salad dressing container someone (likely the wind) had thrown on the ground, the first went up a tree just as a second one arrived. The tree was right beside the porch. Maybe you can see their friendly little faces from the phone pix.
Raccoon is kind of in the center to the right.
Raccoon is beside the tree on the right.
Sea Jay is at the marina by the water where people eat outside and watch the animals. Usually squirrels and birds are the beggars. Yesterday we had raccoons. One came right up under the porch where we were eating. After licking out what looked like a tartar sauce/cocktail sauce/salad dressing container someone (likely the wind) had thrown on the ground, the first went up a tree just as a second one arrived. The tree was right beside the porch. Maybe you can see their friendly little faces from the phone pix.
Raccoon is kind of in the center to the right.
Raccoon is beside the tree on the right.
June 22, 2012
SOUTHERN SOUL
We just finished up Brunswick stew and barbecue from Southern Soul. For those who have no clue, Southern Soul is THE barbecue place on our island. It was even featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (The Food Network).
As you might guess, it is a dive.
The original was in a former gas station. When it burned, the owner rebuilt on the same spot, a tiny lot on the roundabout with barely enough parking for 5-6 cars. Now it looks like -- a former gas station. Picnic tables line where the gas pumps used to be with barely room inside for a counter and a couple more tables.
Everyday when we go by, we smell the outside cooker cooking away. Ummm. We try not to succumb too often but this week, it got to be too much. Coming home Wednesday, I took a daring detour off the roundabout to get to it (it's very inconvenient to get in and out of), bought my pork barbecue and stew, and went out the back way.
Hard not to tear into it right in the car but I restrained myself. So now it's gone for another few months.
And the pound I lost last week is back.
As you might guess, it is a dive.
The original was in a former gas station. When it burned, the owner rebuilt on the same spot, a tiny lot on the roundabout with barely enough parking for 5-6 cars. Now it looks like -- a former gas station. Picnic tables line where the gas pumps used to be with barely room inside for a counter and a couple more tables.
Everyday when we go by, we smell the outside cooker cooking away. Ummm. We try not to succumb too often but this week, it got to be too much. Coming home Wednesday, I took a daring detour off the roundabout to get to it (it's very inconvenient to get in and out of), bought my pork barbecue and stew, and went out the back way.
Hard not to tear into it right in the car but I restrained myself. So now it's gone for another few months.
And the pound I lost last week is back.
June 19, 2012
A COMEDY OF TERRORS
Okay, a quick disclaimer here. I know the author, Graeme Smith, through an online writing group and I did read one of the earlier versions of COMEDY OF TERRORS.
It made me laugh out loud then. When I reread it this weekend, it made me laugh out loud again.
The hero is the Royal Idiot who works for Queen Sonea. Anytime wine's spilled on a visiting dignitary at a state banquet or anytime the army loses a battle... It's always some idiot's fault. And Segorian is that Idiot. He shows up in the right uniform (servant or general or whatever) and gets banished from the kingdom. Then he sneaks back through the back door, ready to be blamed again the next time an idiot is needed.
The queen kind of likes Segorian, though Segorian's a little too dense (he admits women are an open book to him but he never learned to read) to understand the situation, and sends him off on a dragon-slaying mission with some trepidation. No worries. The dragon's too smart and Segorian's too...
Let's just say the dragon turns out to be a main character who helps Segorian and Sonea tackle the bad guy who's coming to eat up all the people of the kingdom.
Oh, yeah. There's always a villain in these things. So in COMEDY, we have mayhem, murder, misunderstandings and misanthropy. All rolled up in one book.
Readers who enjoy the Myth series of Robert Asprin or the Xanth series of Piers Anthony will delight in discovering a new comic fantasy author. I know I did.
It made me laugh out loud then. When I reread it this weekend, it made me laugh out loud again.
The hero is the Royal Idiot who works for Queen Sonea. Anytime wine's spilled on a visiting dignitary at a state banquet or anytime the army loses a battle... It's always some idiot's fault. And Segorian is that Idiot. He shows up in the right uniform (servant or general or whatever) and gets banished from the kingdom. Then he sneaks back through the back door, ready to be blamed again the next time an idiot is needed.
The queen kind of likes Segorian, though Segorian's a little too dense (he admits women are an open book to him but he never learned to read) to understand the situation, and sends him off on a dragon-slaying mission with some trepidation. No worries. The dragon's too smart and Segorian's too...
Let's just say the dragon turns out to be a main character who helps Segorian and Sonea tackle the bad guy who's coming to eat up all the people of the kingdom.
Oh, yeah. There's always a villain in these things. So in COMEDY, we have mayhem, murder, misunderstandings and misanthropy. All rolled up in one book.
Readers who enjoy the Myth series of Robert Asprin or the Xanth series of Piers Anthony will delight in discovering a new comic fantasy author. I know I did.
June 18, 2012
CATS
I think my boy cat is getting senile. He is old, somewhere between fifteen and twenty, so that might be his problem.
He's had a sensitive stomach from the time we got him so I'm used to him gorging and upchucking undigested food every few days. But now he's threatening to poop in strange places which is completely unlike him. The girl cat, yes. Litter box not up to her standards? Poop beside it. Dingleberry dangling after her toilette? Shake it off in the living room.
But my boy cat! He's never tried to go anywhere but the litter box. Until now.
Taking him to the vet next week. Not looking forward to that a bit. Especially since when one cat comes home from the vet, the other one left at home believes a strange cat has invaded and jumps on him/her.
Refereeing cats is hard.
He's had a sensitive stomach from the time we got him so I'm used to him gorging and upchucking undigested food every few days. But now he's threatening to poop in strange places which is completely unlike him. The girl cat, yes. Litter box not up to her standards? Poop beside it. Dingleberry dangling after her toilette? Shake it off in the living room.
But my boy cat! He's never tried to go anywhere but the litter box. Until now.
Taking him to the vet next week. Not looking forward to that a bit. Especially since when one cat comes home from the vet, the other one left at home believes a strange cat has invaded and jumps on him/her.
Refereeing cats is hard.
June 15, 2012
BLOGS
Noticed that some of the blogs I link to haven't been posted on in quite a while. So guess it's time to cull and add. The ones with new posts, at least every couple of weeks, will remain as links; the others won't.
Any member here who blogs and wants to have his/her blog link shown, let me know. I'm so awful at this tech stuff that I have no idea how to tell if any of you blog or not unless you tell me. Most of the time I can't even tell who the members are!
So tell me!
Any member here who blogs and wants to have his/her blog link shown, let me know. I'm so awful at this tech stuff that I have no idea how to tell if any of you blog or not unless you tell me. Most of the time I can't even tell who the members are!
So tell me!
June 13, 2012
INTERNET WOES
Up at the lake house, AT&T personnel were rude to us when we tried to talk to them about cell coverage (none) and what we could do (they said nothing; I complained and we got a microcell...after a lot of hassle...and it worked just fine) Miffed with them, we went to Comcast's internet and TV up at the lake house for a year. No problems.
So now we're down at the coast. We go with Comcast for TV and cable (feeling guilty since the AT&T people down here have always been great to work with). Monday the internet was down. Called several numbers for Comcast. Found one that worked. After some punching of buttons, got to a disinterested rep. Rep sets up an appointment for a tech to come out. On Thursday afternoon. Arghhh!
We don't have a contract with Comcast; it's a month to month thing. So Tuesday we go over to the mainland and talk to the people at AT&T (and find they're still the nicest, most helpful sales people we've dealt with in a long while; totally unlike the AT&T up in N GA). They're due this morning to connect us up to internet and TV. We'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, our internet came back up yesterday afternoon. Too late.
Technology is grand when it works.
So now we're down at the coast. We go with Comcast for TV and cable (feeling guilty since the AT&T people down here have always been great to work with). Monday the internet was down. Called several numbers for Comcast. Found one that worked. After some punching of buttons, got to a disinterested rep. Rep sets up an appointment for a tech to come out. On Thursday afternoon. Arghhh!
We don't have a contract with Comcast; it's a month to month thing. So Tuesday we go over to the mainland and talk to the people at AT&T (and find they're still the nicest, most helpful sales people we've dealt with in a long while; totally unlike the AT&T up in N GA). They're due this morning to connect us up to internet and TV. We'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, our internet came back up yesterday afternoon. Too late.
Technology is grand when it works.
June 10, 2012
FRIEND VISIT
Had an old friend from childhood visit us this weekend. It was dreary outside, but we took the time to catch up on families, people we used to know, and our lives now. Not much nostalgia because I think we both feel, that while it's nice to look back, the present moment is what matters. So we must make the most of it.
One thing is true: Old friendships are the best kind!
One thing is true: Old friendships are the best kind!
June 6, 2012
SWIM TRAGEDY
Our sandbars here are enticing, but they're dangerous. The quickly rising sea means currents run so hard between them and the shore that people can be swept away. That's what happened this past weekend.
A thirty-year-old army sergeant and his children were on the sandbar as the tide began to come in. They floundered in the suddenly-deep water between the beach and sandbar, but bystanders pulled the children to safety. Unfortunately, a wave knocked the father down before rescuers could get to him. They did recover his body last night when fisherman at the pier saw the current carrying it past. Not much consolation, but it does mean some closure for the family.
Drownings like this happen a lot down here. It seems the currents claim someone every few years. The lifeguards leave at four; this drowning happened shortly after. There are also signs cautioning people about the currents, but I'm not sure they're prominent or explicit enough. People don't understand that going onto the sandbars during the rising tide means they can be stranded with a rushing stream of water between them and the shore.
Thinking of the widow and her children breaks your heart.
A thirty-year-old army sergeant and his children were on the sandbar as the tide began to come in. They floundered in the suddenly-deep water between the beach and sandbar, but bystanders pulled the children to safety. Unfortunately, a wave knocked the father down before rescuers could get to him. They did recover his body last night when fisherman at the pier saw the current carrying it past. Not much consolation, but it does mean some closure for the family.
Drownings like this happen a lot down here. It seems the currents claim someone every few years. The lifeguards leave at four; this drowning happened shortly after. There are also signs cautioning people about the currents, but I'm not sure they're prominent or explicit enough. People don't understand that going onto the sandbars during the rising tide means they can be stranded with a rushing stream of water between them and the shore.
Thinking of the widow and her children breaks your heart.
