First beach vacation in ages....

[Jef.]

.... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.

We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the 4th
of July. Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone to
Carolina Beach, along the
NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg, VA
and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.

I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
I had a
physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.

The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
gathered. They yelled
for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have long!"
"Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was deeply
humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't dig
the beach, much.

Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd go
without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing cat
games .
I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
snoozing on the couch...

Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her mom
very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
were all
trying to go. It was very sad.) Plus, it always took about an hour and a
half for all
the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
made
to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the young
kids, and
find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???

I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- a cutey-cute little
girl with
blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around with a
copy of
"GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her. She'd
just
melt your stony old heart, you know...?

So, the annoying stepfather's out of
the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I took
him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
(a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
him lessons the
past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any more!

And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
just
knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
enthusiastic
about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!

The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation.
She kept vomiting. They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming in
to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication he
was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
labeled and so on.

He called us late into the week and said that Honey
wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office.
He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to have
her euthanized.

It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.

So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her.
She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a step
at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and Marsha
will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
go.

So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
ocean,
so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
Should be diverting.

Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.

And blah, blah, blah...
Everybody stay healthy.
I wish you all strength.

[DavidL]

On Jun 27, 2:24*pm, "Jef." <jefATquitbuddiesDOTorg> wrote:
> ... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.
>
> We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the 4th
> of July. *Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone to
> Carolina Beach, along the
> NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
> brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
> sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg,VA
> and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
> on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
> well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.
>
> I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
> Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
> I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
> Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
> Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
> greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
> I had a
> physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.
>
> The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
> gathered. They yelled
> for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
> myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have long!"
> "Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was deeply
> humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't dig
> the beach, much.
>
> Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd go
> without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
> Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing cat
> games .
> I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
> snoozing on the couch...
>
> Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
> I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her mom
> very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
> Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
> everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
> around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
> were all
> trying to go. It was very sad.) *Plus, it always took about an hour anda
> half for all
> the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
> made
> to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the young
> kids, and
> find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
> Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
> CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???
>
> I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
> Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- *a cutey-cute little
> girl with
> blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around witha
> copy of
> "GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her. She'd
> just
> melt your stony old heart, you know...?
>
> So, the annoying stepfather's out of
> the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
> good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I took
> him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
> (a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
> warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
> him lessons the
> past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
> playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any more!
>
> And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
> just
> knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
> enthusiastic
> about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!
>
> The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
> taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation..
> She kept vomiting. *They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
> ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
> for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming in
> to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication he
> was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
> labeled and so on.
>
> He called us late into the week and said that Honey
> wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
> given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
> Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office..
> He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
> throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
> stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
> wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to have
> her euthanized.
>
> It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
> affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
> got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.
>
> So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
> been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
> veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her..
> She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
> allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
> bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a step
> at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
> who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and Marsha
> will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
> go.
>
> So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
> care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
> ocean,
> so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
> balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
> Should be diverting.
>
> Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
> chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
> We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.
>
> And blah, blah, blah...
> Everybody stay healthy.
> I wish you all strength.

I always HATE leaving my pets alone.
Feel like I've abandoned my kids.

I was never a big fan of the beach.
Would rather be in the shade smoking.
I'm sure it's different now.
But, what I always loved, is the laid back atmosphere around the
beach.
We saw this little shop that sold ice cream in the front and rented
and repaired bicycles in the back.
I told myself I'd buy the place and spend the rest of my life there.
"Free scoop of ice cream to all bikini clad bicycle renters."

[Jef.]

I meant to include this audio-visual aid in the previous post. It's a
(gasp!) 25 year old video we did for a local band called The Slickee Boys,
called "When I Go To The Beach". This page has multiple links to it, for
dial-up as well as high-speed connections. Very cheesy and very silly (hell,
it was 1983; what *wasn't* cheesy and silly?), but a great deal of fun to
do. (Bonus points for anyone who can spot my appearance in the video...)

http://www.twintone.com/video/slickee/

The Slickee Boys were a damn good local group. Very tight and polished. They
were also hysterically funny guys with warped senses of humor.They used to
do this outrageous bit at their shows where they'd take the stage and play a
set, and then they'd announce to the crowd that they were taking a short
break. They'd go offstage, change their clothes, completely, and put on
sunglasses and hats (or take them off) and change guitars, and then they'd
dash back onstage, and have someone announce that "The Wanktones" were going
to play during The Slickee Boys' intermission.

They'd play 4 or 5 songs as "The Wanktones"-- essentially becoming their own
break band! The Slickee Boys played aggressive rock and roll, while "The
Wanktones" did more loose, casual, rockabilly kind of stuff-- so even the
music was different. It always took a while for people to realize what the
hell was happening. Sometimes "The Wanktones" would open the show for The
Slickee Boys. They usually managed to get paid extra for this. It was a
fabulous scam, and great fun to watch.

[Edna Pearl]

Jef." <jefATquitbuddiesDOTorg> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ..
> We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.

IMHO, that will probably be more fun than drinking out of the toilet with
the cats.

You are out of your mind, you know? (But I mean that in the nicest possible
way.)

ep oooooooof

[Marvin The Paranoid Android]

Jef -- I feel your pain.

I'm not a traveler and I usually feel out of place.

I have everything I need to keep me happy right here at home.

As for the beach, take a huge umbrella, sunscreen, a notepad and pen or
pencil and if you must go to the beach, just sit back and observe.
You're an amazing writer. I think you might find some funny,
interesting and insightful stories unfold before you.

I think Marsha will appreciate you being there because she Loves you and
that is a Good Thing.

Don't worry about the beach volleyball ... I like tennis, but organized
sports or team sports were never my thing.

It'll pass too My Friend. And soon you'll be home again writing about
The Beach Holiday.

Cheers & Enjoy,
Marvin


--
I don't smoke. I smell like bread. Life is Good.

[Lynn]

Have a great time Jef


ok peeps the party is at Jef's house!!!
--
Lynn VOF+ Leaper
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them."



"Jef." <jefATquitbuddiesDOTorg> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ..
> ... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.
>
> We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the
> 4th
> of July. Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone
> to Carolina Beach, along the
> NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
> brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
> sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg,
> VA
> and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
> on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
> well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.
>
> I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
> Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
> I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
> Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth--
> cool.
> Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
> greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years
> since I had a
> physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.
>
> The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
> gathered. They yelled
> for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
> myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have
> long!"
> "Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was
> deeply
> humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't
> dig the beach, much.
>
> Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd
> go
> without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
> Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing
> cat games .
> I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
> snoozing on the couch...
>
> Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
> I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her
> mom
> very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
> Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
> everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
> around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
> were all
> trying to go. It was very sad.) Plus, it always took about an hour and a
> half for all
> the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
> made
> to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the
> young kids, and
> find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
> Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
> CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???
>
> I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
> Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- a cutey-cute little
> girl with
> blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around with
> a copy of
> "GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her.
> She'd just
> melt your stony old heart, you know...?
>
> So, the annoying stepfather's out of
> the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
> good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I
> took
> him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
> (a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
> warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
> him lessons the
> past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
> playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any
> more!
>
> And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
> just
> knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
> enthusiastic
> about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!
>
> The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
> taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation.
> She kept vomiting. They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
> ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
> for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming
> in
> to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication
> he
> was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
> labeled and so on.
>
> He called us late into the week and said that Honey
> wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
> given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
> Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office.
> He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
> throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
> stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
> wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to
> have
> her euthanized.
>
> It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
> affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
> got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.
>
> So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
> been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
> veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her.
> She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
> allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
> bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a
> step
> at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
> who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and
> Marsha
> will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
> go.
>
> So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
> care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
> ocean,
> so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
> balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
> Should be diverting.
>
> Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
> chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
> We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.
>
> And blah, blah, blah...
> Everybody stay healthy.
> I wish you all strength.
>
>
>

[Debbie]

Have a great time, Jef! Here is a little trick I learned many years ago.
Make sure you use suntan oil and not cooking oil.




Jef. wrote:
> ... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.
>
> We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the 4th
> of July. Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone to
> Carolina Beach, along the
> NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
> brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
> sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg, VA
> and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
> on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
> well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.
>
> I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
> Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
> I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
> Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
> Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
> greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
> I had a
> physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.
>
> The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
> gathered. They yelled
> for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
> myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have long!"
> "Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was deeply
> humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't dig
> the beach, much.
>
> Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd go
> without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
> Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing cat
> games .
> I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
> snoozing on the couch...
>
> Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
> I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her mom
> very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
> Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
> everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
> around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
> were all
> trying to go. It was very sad.) Plus, it always took about an hour and a
> half for all
> the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
> made
> to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the young
> kids, and
> find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
> Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
> CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???
>
> I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
> Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- a cutey-cute little
> girl with
> blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around with a
> copy of
> "GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her. She'd
> just
> melt your stony old heart, you know...?
>
> So, the annoying stepfather's out of
> the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
> good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I took
> him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
> (a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
> warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
> him lessons the
> past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
> playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any more!
>
> And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
> just
> knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
> enthusiastic
> about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!
>
> The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
> taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation.
> She kept vomiting. They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
> ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
> for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming in
> to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication he
> was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
> labeled and so on.
>
> He called us late into the week and said that Honey
> wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
> given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
> Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office.
> He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
> throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
> stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
> wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to have
> her euthanized.
>
> It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
> affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
> got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.
>
> So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
> been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
> veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her.
> She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
> allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
> bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a step
> at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
> who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and Marsha
> will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
> go.
>
> So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
> care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
> ocean,
> so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
> balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
> Should be diverting.
>
> Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
> chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
> We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.
>
> And blah, blah, blah...
> Everybody stay healthy.
> I wish you all strength.
>
>
>

[kestrel]

On Jun 27, 2:24�pm, "Jef." <jefATquitbuddiesDOTorg> wrote:
> ... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.
>
> We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the 4th
> of July. �Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone to
> Carolina Beach, along the
> NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
> brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
> sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg,VA
> and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
> on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
> well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.
>
> I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
> Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
> I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
> Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
> Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
> greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
> I had a
> physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.
>
> The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
> gathered. They yelled
> for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
> myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have long!"
> "Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was deeply
> humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't dig
> the beach, much.
>
> Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd go
> without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
> Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing cat
> games .
> I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
> snoozing on the couch...
>
> Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
> I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her mom
> very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
> Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
> everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
> around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
> were all
> trying to go. It was very sad.) �Plus, it always took about an hour and a
> half for all
> the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
> made
> to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the young
> kids, and
> find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
> Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
> CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???
>
> I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
> Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- �a cutey-cute little
> girl with
> blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around witha
> copy of
> "GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her. She'd
> just
> melt your stony old heart, you know...?
>
> So, the annoying stepfather's out of
> the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
> good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I took
> him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
> (a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
> warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
> him lessons the
> past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
> playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any more!
>
> And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
> just
> knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
> enthusiastic
> about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!
>
> The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
> taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation..
> She kept vomiting. �They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
> ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
> for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming in
> to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication he
> was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
> labeled and so on.
>
> He called us late into the week and said that Honey
> wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
> given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
> Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office..
> He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
> throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
> stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
> wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to have
> her euthanized.
>
> It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
> affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
> got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.
>
> So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
> been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
> veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her..
> She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
> allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
> bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a step
> at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
> who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and Marsha
> will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
> go.
>
> So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
> care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
> ocean,
> so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
> balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
> Should be diverting.
>
> Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
> chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
> We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.
>
> And blah, blah, blah...
> Everybody stay healthy.
> I wish you all strength.

Ah, Jef! A beach vacation sounds just the thing. Some elements of my
last beach vacation: Two pre-teen age boys, three cats, one big black
mutt dog, two cars, husband and all his photographic equipment, tons
of luggage and my portable typewriter. This was a while back. We
rented a cottage at Lake Leelanau in Michigan, near the town of
Leland. Also within groping distance of Traverse City. We were there
for the month of July. Chris, who was about 12, wanted to go out on
one of the fishing boats; no way was his father going with him. So he
went by himself in the charge of Captain Munoz. They went out early
in the morning and came back in time for dinner. I have a photo
hanging on my wall with Chris admiring his catch of 5
good sized lake trout. We grilled a couple of them, had the rest
frozen and took some home with us. Home at that point was in
Parkersburg, WV. All in all, it was a pretty good vacation. Thanks
for reminding me of it.

Joyce
10 years, 7 months+

[BessieBee]

>I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
>Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
>I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
>Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
>Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
>greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
>I had a
>physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.

I thoroughly understand!! I spent almost 20 years living within
spitting distance of Florida beaches and just could never get into
spending the day in sand. It has an uncanny way of finding its way
into the most personal & private places...

Maybe you could spend some time prowling local stores and cook up some
exotic seafood fare. Or not.

Enjoy. Stay safe.

--
BessieBee
"Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?"

[Jef.]

"BessieBee" wrote
> ...Maybe you could spend some time prowling local stores and cook up some
> exotic seafood fare. Or not....


That's the nice thing about beach towns; you can usually find good, fresh
seafood.
Marsha's uncle operates a really good seafood restaurant there, too-- so
they always make a point of going to his place for a feast one of the
evenings they're down there. Everyone's excited that I'm coming, because...
well, I'm a damn good cook. I'm looking forward to the restaurant outing,
though, as it'll give me a night off.

[BessieBee]

>That's the nice thing about beach towns; you can usually find good, fresh
>seafood.

While living in Florida Red Lobster was a joke to the natives.

After being in Iowa for 15 years Red Lobster sounds pretty damn
good. :-(

--
BessieBee
"Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?"

[BessieBee]

>That's the nice thing about beach towns; you can usually find good, fresh
>seafood.

Oh, I forgot...

If you can manage it please have one or more meals of broiled scallops
for me. With wild rice and green beans with almonds would be ideal,
but your description of a meal of scallops would be wonderful!

--
BessieBee
"Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?"

[Sparky]

Hapyy vacation, Jef.
I hope you relax.
Get some of those mirrored aviator sun glasses.
No one can tell what you're looking at.
Fred




On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:24:30 -0400, "Jef." <jefATquitbuddiesDOTorg>
wrote:

>... and I have mixed feelings about it; hence, this ramble.
>
>We're leaving tomorrow morning for the beach, and will be gone thru the 4th
>of July. Every year since she was a kid, Marsha and her family have gone to
>Carolina Beach, along the
>NC coast near Wilmington. The past several years, her sister and
>brother-in-law and their kids fly in from Seattle, and her brother and
>sister-in-law and *their* kids schlep along from out near Fredericksburg, VA
>and they all caravan down there. Marsha's mom rents a row of condos, right
>on the beach, and everyone just kicks back and spends the week doing...
>well, beach type things. Sunning and swimming and all that crap.
>
>I went a couple of times, but I opted out of it the last 11 years or so.
>Last time I was there, I was smoking on the balcony all the time..!
>I'm really not a beach person. I like the concept more than the reality.
>Salt air, the sound of the waves, watching them roll in and so forth-- cool.
>Actually tromping along the sand in minimal clothing amidst a bunch of
>greased-up people and their kids-- ehhhh... I'll pass. It's been years since
>I had a
>physique I was remotely comfortable displaying publicly.
>
>The last time I was there, and went down to the water, a group of people
>gathered. They yelled
>for help and tried to push me out to deeper water, thinking I'd beached
>myself and I was going to die. They shouted: "Hurry! He may not have long!"
>"Keep him moist!" "Don't get sand in his blowhole!" and so on. It was deeply
>humiliating. O.K. some of that's an exaggeration, but I still just don't dig
>the beach, much.
>
>Marsha would always get pissed off at me for not coming along, and she'd go
>without me, and I'd spend the week alone at home with the cats. We'd eat
>Cheetos and drink out of the toilet, and stay up 'til all hours playing cat
>games .
>I got comfortable with the newfound freedom of just licking myself and
>snoozing on the couch...
>
>Other reasons I didn't go to the beach:
>I didn't like Marsha's stepfather much and I didn't think he treated her mom
>very well. I just didn't like being around the guy. (He developed
>Parkinson's and the last couple of years were even more of an ordeal on
>everyone around him-- until he died. Prior to his becoming too weak to get
>around at all, it always took ages for him to shuffle along to wherever we
>were all
>trying to go. It was very sad.) Plus, it always took about an hour and a
>half for all
>the *rest* of us to actually go and do anything, once a decision had been
>made
>to venture outside the condos-- what with having to gather up all the young
>kids, and
>find their shoes, and herd everyone toward a car or cars.
>Why does it take so long to get everyone moving?
>CAN WE JUST GO HAVE LUNCH FOR GOD'S SAKE???
>
>I wasn't nuts about being around so many small, noisy children, either.
>Except for Marsha's little niece, Caitlin, that is-- a cutey-cute little
>girl with
>blonde hair and sparkly eyes and rosy cheeks, who'd follow me around with a
>copy of
>"GOODNIGHT, MOON" and climb into my lap and ask me to read it to her. She'd
>just
>melt your stony old heart, you know...?
>
>So, the annoying stepfather's out of
>the equation now, and the kids are 12 years older. One of the nephews is a
>good guitarist, and another-- who lives locally-- is just beginning. I took
>him to the Guitar Center and helped him pick out his first acoustic guitar
>(a nice Yamaha; far better than the $20, no-name Korean thing with the
>warped neck that *I* learned on, 40-odd years ago...) and have been giving
>him lessons the
>past several weeks. I'm going to bring a guitar along and spend some time
>playing music with the nephews. Neither of them is small and whiny any more!
>
>And Caitlin, at 18, has turned into an absolutely stunning beauty who will
>just
>knock your eyes out if you see her in her bikini. I doubt she'll still be
>enthusiastic
>about sitting sit in my lap... Sigh!
>
>The last time I went to the beach, our cat, Honey, had been sick and we'd
>taken her to the vet a number of times in the month prior to the vacation.
>She kept vomiting. They diagnosed her with some inflammatory type gastric
>ailment and gave her steroids; we put her on a bland diet. This would help
>for a while, and then she'd begin to vomit again. We had a friend coming in
>to feed her while we were away, and I'd prepared the doses of medication he
>was supposed to mix into her food each day, had them all packaged and
>labeled and so on.
>
>He called us late into the week and said that Honey
>wasn't eating, kept vomiting-- and now seemed to just be dry heaving. I'd
>given him the vet's number and address, and asked him to take her there.
>Marsha and I came home a day early, and went directly to the vet's office.
>He'd done an endoscopy-- where they put a tube with a tiny camera down her
>throat and have a look around. She had a huge tumor at the juncture of the
>stomach and esophagus. It was too big to be surgically removed; there
>wouldn't be any way to re-connect the stomach and esophagus. We had to have
>her euthanized.
>
>It broke our hearts; we'd had her 10 years and she was the sweetest, most
>affectionate little creature we'd ever known. 2 days later we went out and
>got a couple of kittens. They're over 11 years old, now.
>
>So, what's happening this summer? Both of our cats are sick. Carmen hasn't
>been eating and is losing weight. She's been diagnosed (by a different
>veterinary practice...) with hyperthyroidism, and we have to medicate her.
>She may or may not get better. Cleo has been vomiting... and may have food
>allergies, or it may be irritable bowel disease-- or worse. She's on a
>bland, hypo-allergenic diet. We'll see if that helps. We're taking it a step
>at a time. I'm loathe to go away and leave our neighbor (a very nice lady
>who has cats of her own) to look after them, but she's willing-- and Marsha
>will just flat out kill me if I opt out again this year, after saying I'd
>go.
>
>So, apparently I'll be at the beach. Marsha's sister-in-law *also* doesn't
>care for actually going out and walking around in the sand or going in the
>ocean,
>so our plan is to spend most of the day sitting together, reading on the
>balcony. We'll drink Margaritas and plan fabulous evening meals together.
>Should be diverting.
>
>Gotta pack and roll up some rugs, and drape some sheets over the couch and
>chairs, lest they get puked on in our absence.
>We're home-- if everything goes right-- on the 5th of July.
>
>And blah, blah, blah...
>Everybody stay healthy.
>I wish you all strength.
>
>


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