Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Well, It's May 28th and that means it's Mom's Birthday! I forgot all about it until Peggy called me to chastise me for not remembering. I called Mom right away and begged her forgiveness...and she gave it. She's so sweet. :-) So, let's all wish Mom a Happy Birthday!!! We love you Mom!

Memorial Day Cookout

The Washington branch of the family had a memorial day cookout at the new house. Here are some pics.

Here's Chunnan munching on organic chips and salsa and Alie carrying a plate to Peggy

Here's Alie munching on Organic Chips and Salsa while Eric cooks the veggie burgers, vegie sausages, and meat-filled Chinese sausages.

Peggy got hungry and begged Alie for some organic chips and salsa. Eric watches and munches from his own plate and Chunnan's plate is in the foreground.

Dad wanted to eat in the shade so he's off by himself. He was gung-ho for the veggie burgers and he even had a Chinese sausage.

Our last picture is Chunnan chewing a Chinese sausage on a stick. They're very dense and chewy and oh so yummy!

We munched and munched until we were stuffed then went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. A long movie but pretty good.

Red Belly Day

The event I was at today is called Red Belly Day - 1) because of the red bellied fish which are found in these Suwannee River waters and, 2) because they hold a belly flopping contest at the springs in conjunction with the event. As I sat, not doing much but observing today, I tried to find the "haiku moments" and have combined them in this haikai of mostly free form poems (English language haiku do not have to follow strick 5-7-5 syllable count and can have "up to seventeen syllables" total.)


Red Belly Day



vendors, musicians,

tantalizing aromas ,

people on parade



from sun-suited babies

to paunchy old men

the world passes by



sky blue background

rack of ten and big bright eyes –

stained glass deer



little plastic poles

children ring a wading pool

fishing for a prize



nose rings and droopy pants,

protruding, naked bellies --

freedom unleashed



cotton candy clouds

Bluegrass and harmony --

serendipity



little black engine,

eight white cars, a red caboose –

thrill ride for wee folk



vigilant patrols

carefully eye the crowd –

park security



bright orange balloon

rising toward the sky –

screaming child below



hip twistin’ ladies

lookin’ for a needy man –

working girls



nose rings and droopy pants,

protruding, naked bellies --

freedom unleashed



bikini clad girls

with tattoos in strange places --

no shame



from bellies to buns

to voluptuous boobs,

they nearly bare all



curlicued animals

tied in bright twisty knots –

air filled wonders



lookers and readers

and touchers and feelers,

but too few buyers



beautiful weather

lots of shade and cool breezes –

can’t complain a bit!

work

Hi all. Haven't posted in a bit, so I thought I would give a quick update on what's going on.

I have been officially working at the resort since May 1. Normally, the first two weeks are very quiet and you don't get many hours. Boy I was in for a surprise. Come to find out, that the Exec Chef, had been slacking on hiring enough kitchen staff. We were down, one banquet chef and 4 line cooks. Not to mention that we only have one dishwasher, so the cooks, have been pulling double duty.

Last week I worked 55 hours because we were so short staffed. Some how I managed to get three days off this week, but I am going to enjoy every minute of it, because it won't happen again. Except for the days off I have requested.

Well, I was kind of hoping that the exec chef had improved from last year, but it appears as if he has gotten worse. Sucks for those of us that are returning to the chaos. How can you lie to the newbies and say, oh it will be great working here. Especially when some weeks the bad out weigh the good. Yet, I am crazy enough to still work there.

Let's see. I registered for classes today. You would like 2 associates degrees and a minor in music, would satisfy me, but it doesn't. I have to be crazy and do culinary arts. I may throw in a few lodging management courses too. It will be helpful for resort work and for my future bed and breakfast.

Well,I don't want to write a book here, so I will close.
More later
Tarja

PS. Hope everyone is doing well.

My Quilted Dog

Pepper may not be a quilter, but he has been quilted. A little over a month ago he had to have some surgery to remove several small tumors from inside his right eyelid. A little over a week ago Merle noticed he had a lump on his right ear. Turns out that was a hematoma brought on by excessive shaking of his head. Seems it's easy to break the little blood vessels in a dog's ear and this is a very common problem. The solution is to operate (again) and drain the blood from the lump, then, "quilt" the ear to join all the layers so that (they say) it won't happen in that ear again. You can't see it well from the pictures, but all those little pink lines are his stitches showing on the outside of his ear. These will come out next Tuesday.



Poor baby went and got an eye infection too right after the surgery. They said the anesthetic sometimes causes that. So, he's been on pain pills, antibiotic capsuls, and eye ointment with antibiotics and pain medication. His eye is looking better and, although they said there would probably be some drainage from his ear, I haven't seen any. Below is the inside of his ear where you can see the straight stitches (or at least I can - it's hard to get clear photos of black skin and fur).

Grand Canyon Visit

This weekend, Amy, Melissa, Tory (melissa's fiance), Renee and I went to the Grand Canyon. It was Great! We did take a few pictures...

Florida Burning

As I'm sure you've all seen on the news, wildfires are destroying thousands of acres all across Florida. Over 235 wildfires currently exist. Thankfully, most are medium to small. The photo here is taken looking out from our porch door about 4 p.m. this afternoon when the smoke from the latest large fire in Baker County near the Florida/Georgia border blew into town. The photo doesn't do justice to the actual scene, as the sky was much yellower and, within an hour, we were in near darkness conditions with a decidedly orange sky. Normally at this time of day it's not yet sundown and fully light outside.

Those of you who have seen the area where we live might also note from this view how the dense trees between us and the Greenway have been cleared leaving only a sparse line of trees just this side of the Greenway. I don't know what the owner of that land plans to do there.

On the street behind us, where there used to be a vehicle junk yard behind a metal fence, the property has been turned into a recycling station and they have become our morning alarm clock with the "beep - beep - beep" of their backhoes or front-loaders (or whatever they're using to move stuff around) backing up. I think they start shifting things just before 7 am so they make a pretty reliable alarm clock.

On a positive note, Chiefland has finally been granted permission to build a hospital so in two or three years people who need emergency service won't be afraid they may die on the long trip to Gainesville or Crystal River. With the new hospital here, estimates are that our population will quadruple in ten years. Won't that be something? More traffic! And I thought I left all that behind in Virginia!

The Fortress of Solitude: Phase 1

We've begun painting David's Fortress of Solitude. Yup, it's pink. What do you expect for a gay guy's pad? Actually, it's just the primer coat. Tomorrow the pink becomes a dark red. All the shelves and cabinets will be a chocolaty brown and the upper walls and mouldings will be a creamy color. It couldn't have been done without help from Alice and Chunnan and expert kibitzing from Peggy and Eric.

Does This Make You Nervous?

For Uncle Doug

The room is reserved and get this, if available, you and mom will be staying in one of the new Harbor Village Suites. Very nice rooms. In the meantime, you have a balcony room, with two double beds, your own bathroom, and it has the best view in the building.

Check in will be after 3pm and check out the next day will be 10:30. Dave and I both have the days requested off, so we should be available, for all kinds of fun.

Well, time for bed. More later.
Tarja

More Kitchen Pics

Here is the latest progress in my kitchen demolition.

Kitchen Remodeling So Far

Here are some before and after pics of the kitchen work.

Do you see how the previous owners glued an ugly laminate backsplash from counter to cabinet? Well removing it also removed a layer or more of the sheetrock paper underneath. That's going to be a pain to fix.

Tomorrow, I will finish removing the backsplash and remove the microwave and sink.

Photos

Before I forget again, here are links to pictures of our new house and pictures of David and Chunnan's outside rennovations to the old house.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=uzd1ahr.71sbk3iz&Uy=8wwzj3&Ux=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=uzd1ahr.8oce4a6z&Uy=n35hig&Ux=0

The move was a success, I think :)

Well, apparently I have way much more stuff than I thought. Or at least it didn't look like as much until we tried packing it into our vehicles. Needless to say, Dad and I had to rent another tow trailer to tag along behind his van that I was borrowing. And because I was borrowing his van, that meant,that after we unloading everything in Bath, we had to drive back to Skowhegan the same night and return it. To make a longer story short, Dave and I didn't get back to the place permanently until 11:30pm that night. And surprisingly in three days time, I was able to unpack most of our belongings, except for maybe 6 boxes of miscellaneous crap.

The place is huge and nicely set up. As soon as I purchase a digital camera I will be more than happy to send pics of the place.

In the meantime, we all started work at the resort on Tuesday. It appears that our exec chef is crazy as usual. Or absent minded, I just don't know. He is so unorganized. We don't have a head chef for the main kitchen and we don't have a head chef for our fine dining establishment. Now, one would think that since our first service date is in a week, he would take care of that situation. I would suggest that him being the executive chef, he should actually work in the kitchen and cook, but that would be too much to ask for from him. He told me many times last season that he can't do more than one thing at a time because it gives him a brain overload.

So, with this said. He pretty much put me and Aubrey in charge of all the new people. He even had me do the schedule for the rest of the week. And he was having me determine when I thought we should be done with the work, etc... While I don't mind taking responsibility, I don't get paid to do his job, so perhaps he should consider paying me more if he wants me to do the scheduling and decide when work is done. It should be a fun season.

Oh this note is for Uncle Doug- They have changed the rates for family visits. I will let mom know officially what the price is before I reserve the room for the two of you.

Well, it's almost time for my tv shows, so I will close. I will write again when I can.
In the meantime take care, have fun, and stay healthy
Tarja

A New Poetry Group

Janice Rosenberger, a new internet friend, and I have started a new yahoo poetry group which she titled "Poem A Day". Please feel free to drop in and visit, join, and help us write a poem a day. All contributions are appreciated. The actual url is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/poemoftheday/ in case the link doesn't work for you.