Sunday, still no sun.

I think I am gonna go mad if I don't see the sun soon!

I went to the fitness center again today and I did 26 min on the elliptical trainer. I even went up a level. I only did one set of shoulder pull down exercises cause the shoulder is hurting.

I was really embarrassed - I could not open my combo lock in the locker room. I tried 6-8 times. Eventually I asked a young guy - with much better eye sight to open my lock. What gets me is that I have done it before without my glasses on!

The sky finally cleared and that big bright ball in the sky came out around 1:30.

On the way home, I stopped at my favorite jet watching site - ask me and I let you in on it - if you can get on LAFB. It is only for runway 8. I knew there would be very little to no air traffic on Sunday, but I just wanted to enjoy the warmth and sun light. But, then I remembered that I had been cleaning our my M-in-L's house on Friday and had two boxes of .32 ACP rounds in the back seat. No firearms, but I don't need to upset the LE folks.

Gotta put another picture of Smokey here.



I know it's late and I should go to bed, but hell I am retired and I can sleep as late as I want.

Spent a lot of time outside this evening. The grass will need cut next weekend - and maybe sooner. Which means I will have to pull the mower out, change oil and crank her up. The weedeater also needs look at. Last time I used it the line got clipped of short, but that should not be too much trouble.

I woke this morning not feel so good. My right arm is really giving me hell. I guess I am going to have to see the orthopod. I went to McDonalds for breakfast. First time in a long time.

Well, Susan is home from Woodbridge. All the animals go crazy!

I went over to Mom's house today and helped Michael load the radial arm saw onto his truck. The saw will get good use at one of the city's golf courses and I will also have access to it anytime I would need it. I also sold him the small refrigerator. There were a lot of other things that he was interested in but I told him that I wanted to wait for Jennifer and Tom to have a look through the garage. Eric has already looked and put his name on couple of power tools.

I was messing with the camera the other day and Smokey was on the cat tree and I got a couple really good shots of her. Smokey appears to be very interested in what I'm doing while taking her picture. She sure is fun to have around. I love watching her chase a ball and all the other antics she does.



Susan is in Woodbridge, Virginia, she went there yesterday and stayed overnight for work. The weather today is pretty crappy, with fog and light rain.

I went to the fitness center today. I did 20 min on the elliptical trainer. Total distance was 1.31 miles and I did the first mile in 14 min. It felt good. I also worked on my shoulder - three sets of 20 reps with 40lbs.

I went by Sta-10 and chatted for a while.

I have to go over to Mom's house to clean out some more cabinets.

Eric & Elizabeth came over today. Eric changed the oil in his car. We also went through his foot locker from college and he took it home. Hurray! I have made a small dent in cleaning the garage!

I have been wanting to have the backyard bird feeder closer to this kitchen window, so I started out to move the feeder today. I first had to set a pilot hole for the feeder pole, just like you would do when drilling into wood. I used my solid cooper grounding rod to make the pilot hole. I went in about three feet. It was a bitch getting the feeder pole out of the ground - it has been in there for about three years. What I did was take a crescent wrench and rotated the pole while I pulled it up. It worked, but it took me almost an hour. Now the feeder is about 10' closer to the kitchen window and only about 7' feet from the Fla room window. This will be very close for my big telephoto lens and may in fact have to back up a little.

I took my neighbor, Mike over to Mom's house to look at the sofa. He liked it and thinks he will buy it. I took several pictures and e-mailed them to his wife. He also wants the small fridge.

It's gonna be a slow day today. I am not feel well and my lower left back hurts. I did go to Ace Hardware to get the screws that I needed to fix Susan's flash bracket. This time the screws were long enough and the flash bracket extension is tight.

We are still moving stuff up stairs for Mom. I finally have the family/computer room back! I have reinstalled my "charging station" next to the photo armoire and will be moving my "stuff" back into the armoire drawers.

Duke peed in the house again today. I am gonna drop kick that dog!

I started out by bathing one of the dogs. Duke does not like me too much. I hate his barking and he is "antsy." He took the bath ok and really seemed to like warm water.

Then I work on the new wall cabinet for the guest bathroom. Mom needs a place for "things" and Susan bought a cabinet. Did not take to long to put together and hang. It looks good.

Next was a bath for Molly. She does not care for a bath at all and is always trying to get out.

I got Mom's computer set up in the "D" bedroom and transferred the scanner feed over to that computer. That computer is much newer and is a lot quieter. I could hear the fan of the old one downstairs.

We to the WaWa @ Little Creek and Chesapeake for a TFPA coffee break/fire prevention meeting. Nothing going on.

Today I am going to start getting the family/computer room back in order. Also, I am going to set Julia's computer up in the "D" bedroom. I have to transfer the scanner feed over to that computer.

Mom was looking for something in the kitchen "junk" drawer. She removed the drawer from the cabinet and when I tried to replace it, I broke the guide. I had to go Ace and get a replacement guide.

Went to Mom's house and sprayed Home Owner's Agent Orange (Round-Up) over the fence into the easement. Hopefully this will kill or at least slow down those vines that grow over into the yard. If that does not work, I am going to get with the city codes compliance and find out if we can make the owner of the property do something.

Gesh, I just don't feel like doing anything today. Aches and pains from all that moving yesterday.

I started of today working on the taxes. The only thing left to do is add up all the business expenses - this is mostly receipts for prints and albums. I put together all the mileage and income. We only a little more than a half of the income as last year.

Of to the doctor at 1pm and then over to LAFB to get Rx filled.

The day is sunny and warm so it is time to get the Round-Up out on the vacant lot behind my M-in-L's. Went over there with Susan and Julia and forgot the hose. So the Round-Up will have to wait.

I moved the bed over to our house. Eric, Elizabeth, Robin, Robert and James arrived about 7pm and we started moving the chest of drawers and dresser. Everything went smooth and sure went fast with so many people helping. I am grateful for my pick-up truck.

Julia spent the first time since she has been her on Valentine's Day up stairs in her new bedroom.

Now I can start putting the family/computer room back the way it was.

The bulb for the TV came on Saturday, so it was time to install. I replaced the bulb in the TV and then headed to do some cleaning up behind the entertainment system.

I removed and shortened a lot of wires and it now looks much neater behind there. I put the TV back on the stand and plugged everything back. I hit the "On" button and nothing happened! Well, back to the Internet. There was a mention of "resetting the bulb ballast." No reset button. Back to the Internet and Google. I found a code to "reset the bulb," and it worked. Turns out that the old bulb might still have been good, so I am going to keep it.

The trip home from Charlottesville was uneventful. It rained most of the way, but it was not pouring. I was able to maintain the speed limit most of the way.

When I got home, I walked in the door and put my car keys in the disk by the door as usual. They, I took off my jacket and found an additional set of keys and I said "oops!" I forgot that I had used Jennifer's car over the weekend and then forgot to put her keys back on the hook by the door at her house.

Very bad day.

Around 0700 I started to drink water like it was going away. I must have been very dehydrated.

I got up and went to the quick stop store here on the Marine base. I did not feel like eating much, but felt that I had to put something in my stomach. I got some chocolate milk and a pastry. It stayed down.

I stayed in bed all day sleeping on and off. I did watch some TV and also watched a couple of Heros episodes on Netflix. The speed of the WiFi was not that good so the Netflix feed had to pause quite frequently.

Well, I made it to Marine Corps Base Quantico and checked into the TLF. Using one of the best benefits retired military have beside perpetual health care. The building is old, but hey, what do you want for $26 a night. The room has a good bed, TV with VCR/DVD and most of all - WiFi. But, that is about all. Reminds me of single enlisted quarters from back in 1968. Only thing missing was a room mate...

I went to dinner at a great Chinese buffet near Potomac Outlet Mall. It was one of the best buffets that I have ever had. They had Maryland oysters on the half shell!

The traffic out on I-95 was terrible. Gesh, I am so glad that I don't live around here.

Off to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the morning.

I went to bed about 2345 and then woke up about 0045 and had to run to the bathroom. I puked my guts out all morning, even made it to dry heaves. Then it started from the other end. I also ached all over and I think I had a fever. I did not feel like going to the museum or even getting out of bed. Fortunately, the TLF was not that busy and I was able to stay an additional night.

I spent all day in bed with body aches and minor fever. I did make it our two times to get something to eat. That consisted of milk and small pastries.

Fortunately, I slept a little Sun morning, but I was still out of it on Sun morning. I went and got some more milk and pastries.

I was feeling good enough to drive, so I headed home. No museum this time. The traffic south was a pain but I made it home in three hours. It was still miserable.

I have been at Jennifer and Tom's house since Tuesday evening. Jenn had a skiing accident at Snowshoe, WV. She fractured three transverse processes bones and cracked one rib. She is in quite a bit of pain.

I arrived Tue evening. Tom and Jenn did not get in until about