THEY DO GROW UP DON'T THEY?

It truly amazes me how well kids can grow up. My son Aron, and Etty and Yaacov's Yaron and Dotan being cases in point. On Friday I went to Dotan's plant nursery to settle the bill for the flower shop. I got there well before he did as his parents, Yaron, his wife and kids were all staying at his place and got a late start. When they finally arrived, Etty Yaacov and I waited for Yaron et al to get there too. It's scary to see how detached Yaacov is these days. I'm pretty sure he's getting himself ready for the end and that is so sad. It won't be long now.
Yaron and I managed to have a bit of chat between invoice sorting and paying and he is amazing with his insight into his parents. He said a few things to me about cultural differences in outlook between his folks and me, and he was spot on. I thought about what he said all the way home and the more I thought, the more impressed I was. He was 100% right. And I fully intend to implement what he said.
As to Dotan, Lavana and I figured up what we probably owed him and our figures were a little high, as in "Ouch High" I just let Dotan get on with the figures and almost fell off the chair when he came up with an amount that was much lower than I'd prepared myself for. He basically charged us at his cost. I happily wrote the check. I just hope he didn't lose anything on us. I do know why he did it, but he really didn't have to. Business is business and family/friends are family/friends. Not that I don't appreciate it. I do, and Dotan has also grown up well. It's a bit odd to see those two all grown up so good next to the memories of them as kids. That Yaron would turn out great was a given back then, where as Dotan was a bit of question mark. He lead his parents a merry dance when he was a teenager and young adult, but now.............he's more than made up for all grief he gave them then. And not just because his dad is ill. He's been sorted for a long time now, and I'm really impressed by him too.
Aron, I've already written about at length so will skip him for now and just put question marks all around my daughter's name. ?????Irit????? Where did she go wrong? Yeah, yeah, I know. It's all my fault. Just ask her and if she deigns to answer that's what she'll say. I'm not going to dwell on her today because I'm in a pretty good mood and I don't want to ruin it.

SNOW GIMP AND COLD WEATHER

Hope no one gets nightmares from this picture! I just couldn't resist posting it, even if it's not full length. I'll have another taken properly, but until then, this will have to do. It's freezing up here and my toes are cold. I took a picture of the snow that fell on the hills around town last night. It's all melted now, but it was nice to look at while it was there. It's kind of hard to see the snow because my fingers were too cold to work the zoom and I'm crap at photo editing! I think it's time to get into my fleece jammies and warm up under the duvet!

HOW STRANGE

It was cold, wet, and blustery yesterday. Shmaryah was home in bed with a bad cold. I've never been good in the morning, which is a complete understatement. I hauled my sorry butt out of bed on time, but couldn't seem to get it in gear. I'm usually out of Gimp House by 0830, but didn't even start getting dressed until after 0900. It was raining, and the Abominable Gimp Snow Suit was warm and cozy. With Shmaryah home in bed with his cold, Ophir had opened a bit late. I staggered in to a spiral electric heater right next to my chair. It was unplugged faster than even I could believe. Damn things give me a head ache; something to do with the change they make in the ionization of the air. Ophir made a comment to the effect that if he were me, he'd be out in the jeep on a jaunt. Not five minutes went by before Striar called to say he was with a New Yorker who wanted to see the North up close and personal. I told him to come on up and we'd take the jeep and go for a ride. I went home and got out of the snow suit and we all piled into the jeep for a fog shrouded tour of the far North. Being the driver,and local resident, *I* got to chose the places. After a swing through Metula and a look at the border, we headed for the Golan Heights and my favorite place in the world, Nimrod's Fortress:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_Fortress
It was a slow drive up there, and we sent our tourist off to explore on his own with a pamphlet. When he came back, he said that he really liked it. It *is* an amazing place, and I wanted to get out of the car and go in too. It's not exactly wheely friendly, so I didn't. The cloud we were in dissipated enough for him to get a look around at the valley. Not being the most 'time aware' gimp, we headed upwards with me thinking we'd have lunch at that restaurant just outside of Madj D'l Shams. When we realized what time it was, we decided to stop for pita with labaneh and zatar. I don't much like it, but Ophir had asked for one, so, we got 3. Our tourist really liked it, and with him happily munching away on it in the back, we headed back to town at a top speed of 20 kilometers an hour. It was foggy to say the least. It was a fun trip. I just hope he enjoyed it half as much as he said he did. I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more than I did if Striar had let me get a word in edgewise. He never stopped talking. Ok, I might not be the most scintillating conversationalist around, but I can and sometimes do have something to say. Oh, well, at least I got to go out and show someone my favorite place. There was some talk about meeting up today in Acco, but I think I'll pass. It's my official day off, and I don't want to spend it listening to Striar go on and on. Maybe I'll go to Nazareth? Or just stay in and try to sort the usb issues on the puter? There are some pictures on the camera that I want in the computer, now that's back from the wasteland that is my room! It might also be a good idea to go grocery shopping. I'll give it a think, then decide.

WILL WONDERS NEVER CEASE?

Orna and I must have conducted 100 search parties for my camera since it went missing, but it only turned up when I sent her to look for my comprehensive car insurance policy!! That, of course is still missing, as is my agent according to rumor. I saw him a week or so ago, but haven't tried to look for him. I'll do that today. There's something fishy about the insurance and I want to find out what it's all about. I think I know what he did as opposed to what he was supposed to do. There was a problem back when with the 3rd party part of it(this goes back to the Citruin) and I paid it. He was supposed to transfer the compulsory part to the jeep, but I think he didn't. Good thing I'm a pack rat and keep papers. I'll check it out today. I'm also pretty sure I paid that 3rd party thing back when, but I'll have to dig through credit card statements to find out. By all accounts he's a slippery character. Ah, well, in the end I get these things sorted.
In the mean time, I have a nice big deposit from both stores to make today, after I get dressed for freezing weather. They are saying there might be snow tomorrow night and Wednesday. It's already almost cold enough.
The new kid at the door store is learning how easy it is to annoy me. Yesterday he hinted that maybe it was time for me to go home. Of course that just made me stay until closing time. He really doesn't want to go there with me, as I sign the checks!!
Lots to do today, including finding out how many layers I can wear under the snow suit.

I JUST LOVE DAYS LIKE TODAY!

I just love mornings when I find an e mail from a friend announcing that she's coming to visit! I got one of those this morning and even caught her on IM! I spent the whole morning grinning like an idiot and telling everyone I saw "Jeannie's coming!" Little do they know that the two of us in the same country could be a bit much for most folks (never mind the authorities) to handle. Well, that's just too bad. We are going to have fun, and I pity the fool that gets in our way! We are going to have such a great time. I'll just love taking them, (her mom's coming too) to all the places I love here. They include most of the Christian holy places as well, or at least they are on the way. I'm just giddy with excitement.
Another of my favorite things happened today was well. I went to get my M&Ms stash and the distributor/owner was outside chatting with one of his partners and another guy I didn't know. We did our usual song and dance about M&Ms and the fact that they often can't get the larger size bags. One of them ordered doors from us and the other one told him he'd best get it sorted if he wants to ever get in his house! There was much laughing as the whole thing was explained to the third guy, who must be thoroughly confused by the story of English teacher turned gimp turned door store owner! Damn right I rolled out of there grinning ear to ear. I just love days like today!

THERE'S A TREE IN MY CAR

Yup, there really is a tree in the jeep! I got my butt in gear yesterday and went to see Etty and Yaacov. The last time I talked to Etty she sounded awful, so I gave her a little pep talk and decided to use "Look For Me Day"(Wednesdays) to go see them. Not feeling quite up to climbing their stairs, we went to local restaurant that they recently discovered. It's dirt cheap and the food is great. Seems there's some odd restriction against eating green foods for people with clotting issues. Hmmm, must look into that. Etty kept telling Yaacov not to eat the green peppers that were in one of the salads and I questioned it. She really doesn't understand why so I'm a bit confused. I'll research it later. She was ready to shoot me when I launched into my "it's my life" lecture. I basically said that I rather doubt that one or two bits of greenery will kill him on the spot, and said that both of us have health issues and that not a one of us knows when our time will be up, but because of what we have it's likely to be sooner than later and we have to make our choices as to how we will live our remaining time on our terms. I smoke. It's my choice, my life, and I'll live it on my terms until it's not my choice any more. Yaacov didn't say a word, but he did have a satisfied look on his face when I finished my mini tirade. After lunch we went to their plant place. I found a plant to replace the one that was stolen a few weeks ago and it's still in the jeep. I also found a purple gnome and plants for the planters on the wall. I brought a fountain for the flower shop too.
I got back to town at 1830 and there was no parking space for me at the store. An employee of the cell phone company that shares the lot with us was rude to me in the extreme, and is going to very sorry for it later today. I left the lot and found Lavana so we took the water fountain to the flower shop. I went back to the door store until closing time-1900 and pulled up at home at 1925, and called Orna to help me bring the stuff in, but she was already asleep. I was not pleased. Asleep at 1925? Excuse me. So I got out and hopped on Harley and went back to the jeep and got the small plants out and shoved them into the planters myself. The poor tree-plant spent the night in the jeep and Orna just now got it out. It's now time to get dressed and go make a soon to be unemployed employee's day even more miserable than he dreamed it could be. Oh boy am I going to have fun!

ONE AND A HALF DOWN HALF TO GO

The computer is back in the store and almost all set up. I have threatened everyone to withing an inch of their lives as to what will happen if anyone so much as looks at it and have pass word protected everything I can think of. The virus vault of AVG was overflowing before the reformat and I'm not having any of it with this again. At least it's legal and we won't be busted by the software police. There's a brand new legal sticker on the computer now! We had a little chat with Computer Guy about mine. All he had to do back when was fix the button. He was so embarrassed that he's gone off to investigate how to get my TIVO/TV to copy to the computer for burning. He'll do it for cost, and that's good. See? There are some good people out there. I'm now busy cleaning off the old hard drive so I'll have it available for that project.Last night I spent about an hour moving stuff I want to keep over this hard drive, and only need about another hour to finish up, then I can just delete everything else! I'll have a whole free hard drive to play with!!
Orna and I are off on a bill collecting adventure this morning to a nearby kibbutz. Any excuse to take off in the jeep.
Wallet Weirdness; money keeps disappearing from my wallet. Bills that I KNOW I didn't spend because I just know. I try to keep a minimum in that wallet just in case. That wallet lives in the bag I keep with me all day, and hang on a hook at home. It's been driving me wild for a few months. Yesterday I decided that enough is enough. I do not want to get the point where I open the wallet to pay for something and find it empty. It spent last night right next to me in bed, with the cell phones-good thing I don't move around in my sleep much. If the money is still there I'll know I've found a solution; if not, back to the drawing board. I'll know in a few minutes when I get up to get dressed. Money doesn't get up and walk out of a wallet, does it? I hate the thought that someone that close to me is stealing from me. Very not nice feeling.

A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT A COMPUTER

For no good reason, my computer quit on Saturday and refused to turn back on. There was a hiccup in the power and the turn on button refused to work. I couldn't find the cable for the lap top, so that was out. I figured, fine, I'll use the one at the store on Sunday. And wouldn't you know it? I arrived just as our computer guy was lugging the store computer out to put in the legal Windows!? Great, just what I need. not. I told Shmaryah that the one at home was doing exactly what it had another hard drive and OS put in for and grrrr. The computer guy came over and sorted it in about two minutes. This after spending 1500 on a fix that wasn't. I am not pleased. He could just have fixed the button. Sheesh. A whole day with no e mail, no news, and the kid we hired. It's not his fault he annoys me. He'll learn!
I'm late and must run. More raving later, I hope.

THAT'LL TEACH ME

And I was so proud of myself. Until I figured it out, that is. I was fine until I went to the flower shop, then, all of a sudden I felt really not good, and had to come home to lie down. I threw myself onto the bed Abominable Snow Gimp suit and all and just laid there. After an hour or so I felt good enough to take the snow suit off and get under the covers. It was about half an hour later that I figured out what was wrong. Day before yesterday I wanted something to use as a belt to hold the snow suit up with the top down because it's too bulky to do much of anything. Not having a proper belt, I used a bungee cord that was too tight.I used it again yesterday. Never again! It was not a good idea. Well, it was, but not really. It took a few hours after I took it off to feel better. I haven't felt so bad since I can't remember when. Oh well, live and learn.

I just got a report on the service for my ex. It seems my son broke down during his part in it and his wife did nothing to help him get through it. Figures. According to Alice, there were a few oddities there, to her anyway. But Bless her for going. I knew she would. Isn't that what best friends are for? She went in spite of the fact that he never liked her at all. She went for me. She went for the very reasons that he never liked her; because she's my best friend, and has been for almost 50 years. It really is just that simple.

DAY OFF? YEAH RIGHT

Today, Wednesday is supposed to be my free day. The Flower Shop is closed all day and we have a kid who is getting out of the Army next week working at the Door Store so it can stay open when Shmaryah has stuff to do outside. Not really trusting anyone one other than myself, and then, not always, I'll probably go in for a few hours, then either come home, or think of something else to do. I'm really still sleepy this morning and would go to Nazareth later, but I strongly suspect that I'll be sleepy most of the day, and it's not a good idea to drive for me to drive while napping! Of course if I take a nap later, I'll be back on Gimp Standard Night Time and have to fight to get back on Day Time Function Mode. Not fun, so I'll try to stay awake all day. Spending the day at the Door Store is not the answer because I've been known to doze off there in my comfy 'boss chair'! I know! I'll take the Disco to have the DVD and rear camera sorted once and for all!! Yup, that's a plan. I might also try to figure out how the freaking new printer works
Great! Now I have a plan.

MY POOR LEGS

Not only did Orna walk into the carnage created by Peg yesterday morning and have to spend hours cleaning up, she got screamed at when I got home last night. Poor woman put red sheets on my bed and I went ballistic. Yup, she changed 'em right quick. Thing is, she gets what for her is a very generous salary for the time she actually spends working for me. All she really has to do is keep the house relatively clean, cook every now and then, and run a few errands. She gets paid minimum wage for a 40 hour week and actually works maybe 15 hours total. Not bad and I rarely fly off the handle at her like I did yesterday. Mostly because there's rarely any reason to. Of course having a good scream up released most of my pent up frustration at the events of recent weeks. It's always been better for me to let it out than try to control myself and have a heart attack like happened a year ago November thanks to the soon to be 'late' step mother from hell otherwise known as The Boynton Beach Bitch. I felt so much better after letting it all out and Orna knows that as fast as I blow up, I calm down afterwards.
After work yesterday I went to replenish my supply of bottled water and health juice. I like cranberry juice with my pills and by all accounts it's very good for us gimps. I found some blackberry juice and decided to try it too. It's ok, but I prefer cranberry and pomegranate (they were out of the latter last night, or maybe I just couldn't figure out which carton it was because they were all labeled in Russian) When I got home with all those bottles I called her and told her I needed her for 10 minutes and then walked into red sheets. She arrived as I was in the middle of dragging them off the bed and having a grand yell up in English which immediately turned into Hebrew. She learned the meaning of 'seeing red' on the spot. One good thing about my rages is that I rarely attack the person. but really go after the 'thing' that set me off. There was a lot of yelling about red sheets but not a word at her personally for putting them on the bed. Poor Orna. She spent so much time trying to make up for the previous day and tried so hard only to have me go off on the red sheets. I doubt I'll ever walk into non purple sheets again!

A BIT OF A BAD DAYOR TWO OR THREE

Thursday night:
Turned over to turn off the light and heard a loud crack, felt a big pain shoot through my left shoulder (the one with the floating collar bone)
Friday: Struggled into Snow suit,took things relatively easy with vague achy pains in shoulder.
Saturday: Rested all day, went to Nazareth in the evening. Shoulder with vague pain at night.
Sunday: Wrestled into Snow suit, went to work, discovered that power company found out about something a previous partner of Shmaryah had done to the meter to reduce the bill. Went to flower store only to be greeted by Social Security bill collector because Lavana owes them. Sorted a replacement for the stolen phone and blue tooth ear phones. Shoulder started hurting again, from the stress. If I ever post that things are sorted.....DO NOT READ IT, because it will boomerang back at me.
Actually neither the power thing, nor the S.S. are too bad. We'll have to make good on both, but the amounts aren't that bad.
Then I got home and walked into a rubbish bin. Peg had gotten to the one near my bed and taken everything out, and spread it around. Orna had forgotten to take him out and so never saw the mess he made. I wanted some hot dogs for supper and she hadn't washed the pot from last Thursday. I had a bit of a fit. Got undressed and into bed. Watched news and went to sleep sitting up with the light on. Poor Orna got a good yelling at this morning. My shoulder feels better but I'll have to be careful of it for a while.

OF STOLEN CELL PHONES

Friday was a bit of an odd day at the flower shop. There were no obvious snoops outside, but, there was a guy who came in and asked for 2 100 shekel bouquets which Lavana made for him. He went off for some coffee (or so he said) while she made them up and never returned. Just as he went off for his 'drink' a pick up truck stopped at the cross walk and a man jumped out and ran in asking for something "nice' as a gift. He said that his two pals would be right there to help him pick it out. Lavana showed him plant in a nice pot but he wasn't impressed. His friends arrived and also were not impressed. One of them went into the glass house and asked about the wind chimes. He chose one with an owl on it, argued a minute about the price, paid for it, asked what to feed the owl. A few minutes later, Lavana couldn't find her cell phone, which she had left on a table close to the wind chime. I tried calling the phone but the call went straight to voice mail. The next thing I did was call the cell company and ask them to block the number. This morning we will report it to the police and arrange for a new one. Too bad for the thief that I saw their pick up-an old white Mitsubishi pick up. It's annoying is all. The guy who wanted the 2 bouquets never came back. That was just odd and we used the 2 bouquets for phoned in deliveries. So no big deal. It was just strange.

Yesterday I just rested, watched my TIVO shows, took a nice nap and went to Etty and Yaacov's at 1730. We had a nice visit. Yaacov has a problem with a clot in his leg and a lung. As Etty doesn't really understand much about it I couldn't really get many details. He doesn't look great, but his attitude is good. I got home around 2200 and there was a message from Aron on my voice mail. When I tried to call him back, he didn't answer, so I'll try again today.

I have a lot to today. The cops about the stolen cell phone, salaries to sort and a few other odds and sods. I'd best get on with it.

ALMOST FORGOT

Those balloons on the propeller? Two said Happy Birthday and two said Congratulations on the birth of your daughter. In Hebrew both start out the same and it's hard to read an uninflated balloon. I went a bit nuts when I saw the latter. Orna knows all about the situation between my daughter and me and we had a good laugh about how inappropriate those balloons were, 33 years after the fact! NOW she congratulates me????? On the birth of HER She who will not speak to me?

DOUBLE NICKLES

I'm not quite sure I believe it really happened, but it looks like I did make it to 55 after all. Birthdays have always been such strange things to me. I always feel that I should be the one giving gifts instead of getting them. In fact there have been years when I have done that. I sort of want to thank those friends who have stuck it out with me. This year I just kept pretty quiet about it. Shmaryah of course knew and things got started as I was on my way out of the bank and my cell phone rang and he'd sent me a song. It was kind of cool. Then, Lavana arrived and showered me with hugs and kisses, and gave me a cool purple scarf. Later a cute girl came in with a bag full of purple things to buy a purple plant, and I made her show me what was in the bag. In the end it turned out that she's Ophir's (the kid we have working for us at the door store) girlfriend, and the purple things in the bag were for me! At around 1700 Shmaryah and Ophir arrived with purple balloons and gifts, all purple. There were several customers in the store and it was nice. They walked in singing Happy Birthday and the customers joined in. Red cheeks actually don't clash with purple scarves! I was a bit nervous that Orna might have arranged a surprise party for me because she kept asking when I'll get home. When I did get home, I walked in to purple balloons stuck on my propeller (ceiling fan) a card and package on the bed and a squeaky clean house. There were 2 pairs of purple socks in the package. All in all it was a great purple day. I guess I'm a bit odd in that I think it's great to get older. It means I'm still here and I really am having a good time in this life and the longer it is the happier I am.

On Tuesday we had a car parked outside the flower shop all day. Either court ordered or Social Security checking to see how much business the shop does and/or if I'm really a gimp. As things turned out not so much as single a customer came in, and anyone who sees me take those 4 steps from Harley to my chair can not doubt that I am in fact a gimp. The car was there again on Wednesday but the flower shop is closed on Wednesdays. It wasn't there yesterday and we had a great day that more than made up for Tuesday. Thank you Lord.

Unless something really catastrophic happens we are over the hump from the war and can start building up some cash reserves in both businesses. I'm optimistic because both are solid businesses. Things have been slow at the flower shop because people just don't have money to spend. The war emptied a lot of bank accounts and people just aren't spending. Doors are different because houses that are being built need doors, and lots of houses are being built in the area. People might not be buying the doors they'd hoped to buy, but they are buying, room doors too. Yup, things should be just fine in three months or so.

THE ABOMINABLE SNOWGIMP

Let 'em laugh says I. I finally got sick and tired of freezing on the way home in the evening and came home to put on my snowsuit. There was a lot of finger pointing and laughing, but I had the last laugh. I was nice and toasty warm. So I look like the abominable snow gimp. So what? Getting into it was a bit of a giggle too. I almost had to take a nap aferwards. Getting into a snow suit alone with one semi paralyzed leg and one not quite working arm is harder than putting a non cooperating kid in one. I almost forgot that the bad leg has to go in first and had to start all over again and snow suits in my size are bulky! Luckily the legs are wide enough that it can be done with shoes on. I had my purple counterfeit Crocs on and just left them on even though I really wanted my LL Bean shoes. I'll be putting those on first today. I finally got a pedicure so I can wear them. The corn or blister or whatever that keeps returning on the big toe hurts in any shoe and if I don't have a pedicure regularly, I'm in trouble until after the operation. I'm still waiting for a date, and I want to enjoy those shoes as much as possible until the operation because it will be a few weeks afterwards until I'll be able to wear anything on that foot.

I'm feeling a bit like a very bad mother. I haven't spoken to Aron since the day before the funeral. It's really hard to get the time right with a 7 hour difference. He sounded good if very sad when we spoke. Terry and I had a good cry together on the phone. It's just so sad. He was only 58. I miss him so much. It was always nice knowing he was just a phone call away. Of course the last few calls were infuriating because they were about our daughter who managed to really piss him off. Aron says they were on the way to patching things up but never quite got to it. He also said that he's going to have a long talk with her about me and tell her in no uncertain terms that if she doesn't want the same thing to happen with me she'll have to suck it up and do something about it. He also said that it's clear that she can't do it by phone. She has to get in her car and come here. I'm only an hour and a half from her house, and the phone just won't do it. Just have to wait and see.

One of the regional door guy's installers reports that he and Motty went and got all of the Friday papers and wasted 2 hours going through them page by page looking for our reply to his ad from the week before. There wasn't one because we decided that best thing was to keep him in suspense as to where it will come from. He wasted two hours looking for something that wasn't there, and now he's really sweating. I just love stuff like that and we are calling it Bat Chenning someone. That's what I'm still doing to Bat Chen. It drives people crazy when you ignore them rather than go down to their level to fight with them. I highly recommend it. Great strategy.

CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE

I finally got to talk with Terry and Aron last night. Aron is amazing. He sure did grow up good. He sent me to this link.
www.brackettfuneralhome.com.
There's an lovely tribute to Izchak's life there. I can't seem to stop crying. Aron sent this to me.

How are you doing???

I am holding up barley, I fell I have this BIG empty space in my heart and that there is nothing that can make it heal.

We will put Dad to final rest in Maine on Friday most likely.

I did what you told me to do I was there and I whispered in to is hear how much I love him and that all my life he was the one I was looking up to,

Then I did the Shma Israel to him and then he left the body

No pain, the night before we were with him he looked at me and smiled he kissed me and I held his hand very firm, and did not stop telling him that I love him with all my heart.

when he left his body he did not suffer and he was very relaxed

love Aron

His English is a bit shaky but, I corrected a couple of his mistakes for him. The video won't be up much longer and I'm having trouble figuring out how to save it. I'll figure it out tomorrow.
I have this huge scream in my gut trying to get out. This shouldn't have happened, not to him. I can't write any more now. The funeral will be today at 1800 my time and I don't expect to be coherent then, or even very much today.
Thanks to Fingers, Val, Jags, Jeanie, and Susie.
The world is a sadder place now. He was a nice guy and made the world a better place for those of us who knew him.

ONLY ISRAELI BANKS

I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday when I checked my bank accounts. They've gone and changed all the account numbers and never bothered to notify anyone! I asked about it yesterday when I went in to make a deposit and was told that they just changed all the software. Of course all the computers were down when I went in, so it was fun (not). I have to go in again today and intend to make a bit more noise about it. I also want to know where the charges are from. Imagine 1.31 shekels just to deposit a check and not even a post dated one! It's highway robbery in broad daylight. I know the local branch isn't at fault, but still. Can't even change banks. They are all the same here and no one ever does anything about their cartel like behavior. I guess we get what we deserve. I will have a go at them because I simply can't not.
I spoke to one of my old pals yesterday. I lost his phone number, but found his e mail addy and sent him a mail asking him to call so I could tell him about my kid's dad. He's still in touch with my daughter and knowing her like I do, figured she didn't bother to tell him. He's going to pay a condolence call on Wednesday and wants to take me in the hope of patching things up between us. I've decided not to go. She's going to have the make the first move. I'm just not interested in making it easy for her. I'm not about to forget that she didn't so much as call when my dad died or I had the heart attack. Nope, she's on her own.
We almost had a visit from the V.P. of the door company yesterday. Head Office is not pleased to put it mildly and want to meet with us. They got stuck on the way with something else and never made it up here. They will soon and won't I just enjoy it? Better believe I will!

MORE DOOR WAR

The "brilliant" regional distributor made a huge mistake and decided to take us on in the newspaper. The dope took out a huge ad in which he announced that we no longer represent him! Of course he made it sound like he cut us lose rather than the way it really was. We cut him lose! Other than really pissing me off it's already brought us several new customers. Pardon me while I giggle! The paper had barely hit the news stands when he realized he'd made a colossal mistake and called Shmaryah to literally beg for his life. Shmaryah has actually learned something from me and was very calm, rather than being very Israeli and yelling at him. He told Motti that not only was the ad a mistake, it was full of mistakes, among them the fact that our business is in reality run by me, not Shmaryah, that we stopped working with him, and not the other way around, and that if he doesn't correct it, we will. And we will back it up with names of the customers he personally screwed over. This is so much fun, and it came at just the right time, when I'm in such a bad mood about my ex. I find myself crying at the least little thing. It's just so sad to know that he isn't with us anymore. I'm sad that he's gone and furious about it, as well. I'm aching all over for my son who is going through so much so far away from me, while being so proud of him for the way he handled it. I tried to call him yesterday but he didn't answer his cell phone. I'll try again today.
This is not a good time for anyone to get in my way.

IZCHAK S. GOLAN 1948-2006

Aron called yesterday afternoon to tell me that his dad died. The minute the phone rang I knew. Aron was at his side and told me that he told him that everyone loves him, said the Shma Yisrael and he died. Itz was only 58 (the same age my mother was when she died). To say I'm shaken is putting it mildly. Knowing something like that is coming is all fine and well until it happens. I'm so going to miss just knowing he was there someplace in the States. We got on much better after the divorce and he did come visit me that day I got out of hospital after my heart attack. He had a nasty thing called hemophagacytic syndrome that is a very rare and nasty liver disease. I have no doubt that he got it from his days in the Israeli Navy when he dove in one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Poor Aron. It's been a bad two years for him. First my father, now, his. Hard as it was, it really is good that he was there for both of them. He won't have any regrets about not having been there. My tears well up every time I think of him saying the Shma for his father. That boy (30) is something special. Those of us who knew Itz are going to miss him. The fact that I couldn't live with him doesn't mean he was bad, it just means that we weren't right for each other. In the he found Terry and they were right for each other. I feel so sad for her.

DON'T MESS WITH MY BUSINESS

I may have mentioned that we've been having trouble with the regional distributor of the most popular doors in the country. We sold hundreds of their doors and not one was installed without trouble of some kind. Customers come in every day to complain and there's not much we can do because the regional guy is The Man up here. What I do is give the customers the phone and fax numbers of the head office and help them write a letter of complaint. Back before Shmaryah went to hospital I went to see Motti, and sat and listened to him tell me that it's all Shmaryah's fault, and bla bla bla. Shmaryah and I decided to stop selling those doors and to work with other companies until the issues were solved. Motti gave us a check for 13,000 shekels that bounced sky high and I should have returned it to him after he made it good but decided to hold onto it until the one for 19,000 cleared. Then I decided to hold it until he finishes all the doors still left to install to our satisfaction. A couple of the doors were ordered long before the war with installations dates from before the war as well. Two are still not finished.
Motti was in town yesterday and called me demanding the check. I told him straight out that he'd get it when the work was finished to our satisfaction. He got a bit testy, but I stayed cool as cucumber and after a few exchanges, simply said, "I've already told you, finish the work and I'll give you the check" and hung up when he was in mid sentence. I reported the exchange to Shmaryah and just didn't answer any more of Motti's calls. There's really not a thing he can do except finish up.
We have since discovered that we can make more money selling doors from other companies, and our sales have only gone up and with a higher profit margin to boot. We are using an installer that Motti fired because his sales have slowed down to close to zero since we stopped going through him.
I am having so much fun and am quite proud of me for how I handled him yesterday.
The big difference in profit comes from the fact that we ordered the doors through him, and got a commission. Now, we buy the doors direct from the companies we work with, install them ourselves (with Motti's fired installer) and make a lot more per door! In the end our customers get a door for less and we make more money!
I'd better get dressed and down to the store. I don't want to miss 'act two' of the Great Door Drama' Shmaryah is waiting for me to get there before he calls Motti and tells him a thing or two. I don't want to miss that!
I haven't had so much fun since I can't remember when!

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

Not long ago our local sewage contractor appeared at Gimp House bright and early in the morning. He informed me that my kitchen sink was not connected to the system and the water was flowing directly into the back yard. As I was on my way to someplace; work most likely, I told Orna to keep an eye on them. Now, I rarely use the kitchen sink-that's what I pay Orna for, so I didn't notice any thing odd. Yesterday when Orna opened the door to straighten up and do my laundry, she was greeted by a mini tsunami. After a short investigation, she discovered water spewing from the pipe under the sink and called me. I, in turn, called Shmaryah who was in the neighborhood working on a door, and flew over here. It seems there's a clog in the pipe on the other side of the wall. Orna called city hall and they told her they know nothing about it and told her to call the sewer guys who said they'd be along later. Of course they never arrived. I had a go by phone at the sewer guy who denied knowing anything about the kitchen sink and refused to come. Someone did connect the sink. I remember that and as the only contractor around who does that stuff is Partuk, he would be well advised to sort it. I'm concerned that it will overflow again when I'm not home, like it did yesterday, and I really don't need that. All that means is that I have to fight with City Hall and I'm really not in the mood. Partuk made a big mistake denying that he did the work. He did and I remember that quite well. So does Orna. Of course, I could just get my plumber over and make City Hall pay the bill, but, why should I? I really do have better things to do today, like sort the paper size issues on the new printer that I never got around to yesterday, and a few other minor issues. I'd best get started if I want to get anything done today.

SO MUCH FOR NOT BUYING HP

Who said Canon is better than HP? Well, it could be, for that matter there are times when nothing is better than HP and I mean nothing-no printer at all is better than the frustration HP causes. This shiny brand new canon printer scanner is better only because it's smaller and I got it set up all by myself. I even got the ink in!! The only problem seems to be that A4 paper doesn't fit in the paper feed. A minor problem you say? To me it's a major one and I will get to the bottom of it today. It's just too insane! The most commonly used size of paper doesn't fit? I'm sure it does, just not according to the directions!
I got my beloved A Team screen saver back yesterday. It's not on Cannell's site any more, but after a long search on the interweb, I found it, and promptly downloaded it. Now this looks like MY COMPUTER. Now all I have to do is get my pictures in this one. I have them on various assorted disks lying around here. One is in the car. I'll get it out on my way to work and put the pics in tonight.
On Friday I announced my new work schedule to Shmaryah. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings at the door store, Wednesday off and Thursday, Friday at the flower shop. It's flexible so that if I'm needed at one or the other, I'll just hop on Harley and scoot over. And no more 8-10 hour days. By law I'm only allowed to work 4 hours a day, so I'll be getting home earlier now. Things are quiet enough at the door store now that we've installed all the doors from the war and are working on new building projects. There's a lot less pressure now so I can slow down a bit and start to do personal stuff. There are a few projects here at Gimp House that need my attention and I'd like to start pushing them forward. Right now looks like a good time to start.

STRANGE SATURDAY MORNING

We had several power outages this morning. I reset the TV at least 4 times and no sooner did I get it reset than it went out again. I watched a few A Team episodes from the last season and at 1100 decided to get up, take Peg out and fire up the old computer. It (the computer) is still up to it's old tricks-the ones that supposedly had been fixed, but obviously weren't. I'll have to talk to the guy tomorrow. I also want him to sort the TV card so I can burn stuff from the TIVO. With any luck a new run of A Team should be starting soon and when it does, I'll be able to get all the episodes on disk from the TIVO and forget about the VCR tapes. That will be nice. I might even put the new printer up, maybe. I'm not in much of a mood for playing with hardware today. I also should recycle the air conditioner in the back room. I keep missing the guy who installed the new one that refuses to work on heat.
I AM going to have a bit of a rant this week on the local editorial page about the parking situation in town. City Hall's coffers are empty but they could fill up real fast just by enforcing parking laws, and then, just the cars parked on sidewalks, never mind the red and white no parking zones. Of course if they enforced all the parking laws, they would soon be able to distribute a dividend to the local residents! It's beyond ridiculous that people in wheelchairs can't use sidewalks because a car is taking up the whole thing, and mothers with babies in strollers have to go down into the street to get by. That's just plain dangerous. Yup, I think I'll work on that letter today. It's really coming together in my mind. The only reason parking laws are not enforced now is that all the jerks who would get tickets would go running to the mayor to get them canceled, and he's such a wuss he'd cancel them. If they were enforced and violators made to pay up, things would change real fast and people would start parking legally instead of any place they damn well please. I think I'll go write that letter right after I rummage around this machine for my old A Team screen saver. Cannell took it off his site. Jerk. It's in here someplace and I will find it!

ME AND MY BANK

I was certain that I was headed straight for major trouble at the bank, but got lucky, real lucky, yesterday. Banking in this country is truly insane. Until a few months ago, sky high over drafts were not only allowed, they were encouraged. Big profits for the banks by way of high interest. Then, the government decided that we should live within our means and limited over drafts! These days overdrafts must be with in certain agreed to limits and anything over those limits can be returned not paid which can wreak havoc. My allowed limits are very high, so things should be ok. They were until yesterday when I realized that 2 checks were in danger of bouncing sky high. Not wanting that, I went to the bank and asked "What do I do now?" There's a little known escape clause that allows customers to sign up for a 10% safety valve, which means that if you are going be a little bit over, you can use that 10% to cover it; yes, of course, at a higher interest rate. Fine. It's covered. So I signed up for that! And the checks were paid. Now that I'm paying close attention to what's going on in all my accounts, things will start getting better real fast. I pretty much let things drift until the start of this month, but, no more. I now know exactly what is happening in each account and am keeping track in the business diaries in both stores and my personal one.
Yesterday was VAT day and Shmaryah thought we'd have to pay a lot, but somewhere in my gut I knew we wouldn't. As it turned out, VAT still owes us, so that was great! There's also a large amount still owed us from the war and both of those amounts will come in handy for my "Bank Clean Up Campaign" when they arrive.
I talked to my sawbones yesterday and it looks like the 'Great Toe Chop' will have to wait a bit. The hospital it was approved for is the one hospital my sawbones isn't licensed to cut in yet. He's working on it, and I should have a date sometime this week. And I so wanted to get it done right now. So I'll wait a little longer. It's just more pain, right? No big deal.
Other than that, I'm in a great mood. The banks and businesses are under control and the sun is shining, and I'm fine.

SAW SAWBONES

The trip to my sawbones went off without a hitch yesterday. He gave me the form I need to get things moving, and I'll take it ti the clinic here this morning. I want to get this show on the road and get rid of those pesky toes.
I got a few other things done as well. I took the cell phone that wasn't working to get it fixed, and while waiting for them to fix it, bought a snow suit! It's waterproof, warm, and I look like the abominable snow woman in it. It's brilliant and I'm ready for either of the Poles! I also returned a book that I bought a second copy of and picked up two others.I also found a few purple coffee cups to replace the one I broke on Saturday-very important. Can't drink morning coffee from a non purple cup, can I?
For some odd reason (it must be odd, right?) my air conditioner refuses to heat. I'll catch the A/C guy later and have him come sort it. It's not quite cold enough yet to use it, but it soon will be and I want it ready.
The flower shop move is coming along nicely and the last few things should be out of the old shop today.
I did something to my knee last night in bed and thought I'd have trouble getting up, but it sorted itself! It made a very nasty cracking sound when I turned over that really hurt, one of those sharp knife like hurts, but settled down when I got the knee pillow back in the right place. There's a sort of residual memory of that pain there now. Just what I need, another big pain! As long as it's letting me lurch along, it's ok, just a minor annoyance. Let's see. Anything else? Nope, not really, except my annoyance at having just about all my money tied up in the businesses and not having enough to go gallivanting around Europe, never mind pay back my brother and Kathleen! That last is actually more the government's fault than mine as they still haven't paid up on the war damages. At least for now, both businesses are ho;ding their own, and things are ok at the bank.

ALL BOW DOWN

I did it!! I got my favorites back and working on Firefox. Am I good or am I good? Don't know about the good part, but I am pretty damned chuffed about it right now. I'm just curious enough about the computer in the store to get dressed now and go check it out. I want to know if it was just this computer, or all of mine! I might even fire up the laptop later today just to find out.

DAMN DAMN AND DAMN

And a few Grrrs for good measure.Firefox just isn't working right. All my bookmarks are lost and nothing I did yesterday helped. Talk about annoying. Of course, it had happen on Saturday, the day I watch all the TIVO shows and clean it up to leave room the next weeks recordings. Can't be in both places at the same time. I suppose I should be happy that one tech thing is working like it should, especially after all the trouble I had with it. It wouldn't be so bad if Firefox would save favorites, but it isn't even doing that now. if I can't figure it out in the next 5 minutes, I just might download Opera and give that a try.
I had planned to post about ex athlete gimps and pain, so, here goes.
Once upon a long time ago, I was a bit of an athlete, as in figure skater. Not Olympic level or any competition, but it was my passion. Still is, even though I can't skate any more. I used to skate for hours upon hours and only ever got injured once on the ice. Skates were more comfortable that shoes. I used to walk from home (7 miles) to town just to stay in shape, run up and down the stairs in the 16 story building in town and inflict other forms of torture on my body. All that leaves one with a pretty high pain thresh hold. So, if I say I'm hurting, I AM HURTING. All that abuse is what killed my knees, hips and back. The stroke didn't help any, but, had I not been in reasonable shape to start with, there's no way I'd be able to function through the pain even with the magic pills!
As the pain in my right foot is getting pretty bad these days, I am having the bad toes chopped soon. Better the post op pain which will go away than the constant pain every time I stand up. So, yeah, it's time to slice and dice those toes! But first, it's time to figure out what's wrong with my browser.

STRANGE GOINGS ON

I Just opened Firefox and all my favorites are gone, and worse than that, it won't save any! In all the years I've been using it, that has never happened. Maybe I should reboot? I think I will after I post this.
It was one busy week, and I had planned to use today to catch up, not futz around with computer giltches! Looks like I don't have much choice.
Yaacov has gone and developed pneumonia, which is very not good. Stubborn male that he is, he refused to go in hospital for proper treatment. I can understand that. Yaron (oldest son) is leaving tonight to go back to the States and he wants to spend every second possible with him. He's a darling guy, our Yaron is, and we had a lovely visit on Wednesday. It's a big secret that his inlaws are springing for a ticket for him to come back in December. Even Yaron doesn't know yet! I pray that Yaccov will make it til then. We won't know for a while if the radiation helped or not. I thought is did for a while, but this pnuemonia isn't encouraging.
Poor Etty is on the verge of a complete psychiatric breakdown similar to the one she had 30 or so years ago when a child she was taking care died in her care. This is so not good. I must be better about calling her every day after Yaron leaves. Of course, I'll keep up my weekly trips and go more often if needed.
Shmaryah is out of hospital and managing pretty well with his bad, and I mean BAD back. The flower shop is taking shape nicely. We are just about moved out of the old one and the new one looks great, and is doing well business wise.
I finally got around to talking to my brother and I am so proud of him. They've moved into their Bubba House and I think there's a chance he just might take care of it. The big difference is that he found it, he bought it, it's his, and there are no strings attached. Long ago our father helped him buy a house, but, there were so many strings attached that he never really felt it was his. This one is, and he sounds so very proud of it. He was even out in the yard working! It turns out that very thing I was afraid of is what got him off his butt and out of there. There was a fire in the laundry area of that crap old apartment house on a day when they had the baby. He bought the Bubba House the very next day and moved them out the next weekend. Good boy-You tell him, Robbie!
I went to the dentist yesterday and the craters are healing just fine. I told him the story of how I brought our nation union to it's knees and he was so impressed that he gave me a free tooth! The far left upper tooth is the first one that broke and it's actually ok except for being broken a bit. He built a new one on the old one. He did that on my first visit to the one on the far right and that one cost me 350.
F***K I just broke my favorite coffe cup. F***K. That was me shrieking you just heard. Right, the dental work is under control, so, on Monday, it's off to the sawbones to see about getting some pesky toes chopped off. It's not a good time for that, but is there ever a good time? It really needs doing, so I'll just get it done and pray that I won't have to go anywhere in the 3 days afterwards.
That's about it for now. There's a lot more I'd planned to write about, but I have a cup to pick up or rather, pieces of a cup, a dog to bring in,and a computer to reboot. I might be back later.

BUSY

Now, there's a word for you. If I had my English-English dictionary to hand, I'd copy the definition, but I don't. We all know what it means. We also use it to excuse us from not doing things we know we should have done, like call, write or visit some one. Is there an age thing in the equation? When I was young and healthy, I was busy all the time, but somehow I got around to everything no matter how busy I was. These days, I just don't seem to get half of what I want to do done. It's partly a function of being tired.
Personally, I am more than willing to accept having been busy as an excuse (meaning to excuse) anyone who tells me they were busy, while at the same time loathing to use that word to excuse myself. I owe so many people emails(at the least) since I got back from the great adventure over the Pond). People that I adore and love. Ok, the first two weeks after I was back, I was still exhausted, and barely got to the computer. Then, I just got busy and now, even though I'm still busy, there really is no excuse for not sending e mails, except that I'm embarresed by how much time has gone by. Busy just will not cut it as an excuse. And I'm tired of saying how bad I am to these same people, because they already know.
Promise to self-"I will e mail Alice, Ellen and Jonathan tonight." I will, busy or not.

WRONG WAY GIMP

Forget about calling me Spike. Wrong Way is much more suitable after yesterday. After getting things sorted at the bank, I came home to get the car, grabbed Legs and went to Orange to sort a few cell phone issues. At a bit before noon thirthy I took the Door Store keys to Lavana to give to her som Omri who was on his way to keep the Door Store open while his dad's in hospital and I was on the Haifa run. I took the new shortcut Yaacov showed me last time and by some miracle got to their house in good time. We left and on the way to Haifa things just fell apart. I'd only gone to Haifa that way the one time, and sailed past the turn to Haifa. Ok, we have plenty of time. After that, I took every wrong turn possible and a few that weren't possible in Haifa, which I actually know quite well, having worked there in the dim and distant past. They've gone and made a bunch of streets one way and generally screwed things up. In the end we got to the hospital 20 minutes early. He didn't want to eat anything and I wasn't about eat away from home with those craters in my mouth, so we headed for the nursery. He asked if I wanted to go by way of Tel Aviv to which I replied, "No, Gaza!" in reference to my first drive to Eilat back in the 80s when I took a wrong turn and we found ourselves in Gaza. I did ask Yaacov to warn me about traffic lights and upcoming turns. We got to the Nursery in good time, called Lavana for her to tell him what she wanted me to bring back for the shop. We got that organized and headed out. I got to town spot on 1900 (closing time) and directed closing the Door Store, took Omri to help unload the stuff at the flower shop, took Lavana to deliver flowers in Metula, where I promptly took a whopper of a wrong turn and we found ourselves cruising the security fence between Israel and Lebanon. Oops. We finally found the right house, and got ourselves out of there before the security types could stop us and went to deliver an arrangement at a kibbutz that has some great greens that she likes to cut and use in arrangements. She found some 'bird of paradise' to cut too, and we scarpered out of there. We got back to town without incident or getting lost, and I fell into bed.
Today all I have to do is sort out some billing issues, talk to Visa, take Omri to visit his dad in hospital, and bring the other car down to town. It will be interesting to see how I mess it up. There are days when it's not always fun to be me, but it sure is interesting!

JUST CALL ME SPIKE

Not quite yet, but the day is coming when 'Spike' will be an appropriate nickname for me! I had two teeth yanked yesterday. The first one came right out, but the second one was obviously very much at home where it was and was ready to fight for it's homsteading rights in my mouth. In the end, it was evicted along with all three roots, one of which tried to hide but was finally found and removed. I go back in 10 days to get the stitches taken out of the lower crater. The drive home had it's moments. Only the lower excavation site was sewn up, the upper one was left as is. It, of course started bleeding on the way home. The solution to that was to stuff a KFC napkin in (the chicken tastes a lot better than the napkins) but that was all we had. I spent a fair amount of the time on the road wondering what happens to swallowed blood. I was specifically told not to spit anything out, so obeyed instructions and swallowed. There were a fair number of broken off teeth pieces that went down too. Does that mean my stomach will grow teeth and I'll be able to just bypass all that chewing and let my stomach do the work? If so, why am I getting my teeth done to start with? Must remember to ask the dentist next time I go! On the up side, there's no pain from the site of the Big Dig this morning, just a little swelling in the lower jaw area.
Today is Take Yaacov To Haifa Day, so I'd better get a move on. Got stuff to do at the bank before anything else. At last, things are good enough to be able to reduce the credit limits on the door store account and do a major clean up in my account, as in pay off all the personal credit cards! It would be even better if the government would keep it's word and pay up on the rest of the damages. They'll get around to it one of these days.

WELL DONE

Amazing as it sounds, my baby brother outsmarted me! He went and bought a trailer for him and Vicky and I swear he did it in order to prevent me from becoming a slum lordess as planned. I'm thrilled on one hand, while not exactly ecstatic on the other. I'm thrilled because they are moving out of that crap apartment into a nice clean new place without falling down stairs, and a trick toilet, but I'm also concerned that he won't be bothered too much with the upkeep and it will fall apart around them one day. No, it's not paranoia, I know he did it because he knew I'd haul my crippled butt over there in the Spring and buy an apartment house for him, and he didn't want that; he wanted what he wanted, and that's fine. I'm trusting that Robbie (Vicky's best friend) will keep an eye on the upkeep end of things, and not let it fall apart around them. It really is perfect for them in so many ways, and I'm glad and proud that he got off his butt and did it. He really doesn't like change, and is not the type to go out and create such an upheaval for himself willingly. Well done, Jeffro! I'm going to have Lavana send a couple of plants to them for the new place as soon as I get back from the dentist today. I'm having some teeth pullled and bone replacement in preparation for some fake teeth-posty things that the dentist will do another day. OUCH.
Shmaryah is going to hospital today. He knocked his back out and should have gone yesterday. I was all armed and ready to have it out with him yesterday,but it just wasn't the time, and now he'll be away for a few days. Good thing I have that hospital wired and can get up to date reports on what he's up to there. Last time there were reports of him being seen with *that woman* out and about. There will be none of that this time. If he has to be in hospital, there will be no sneaking out. Just for the fun of it, I might take Lavana up there and bring his car down here so he can't escape in it. Yeah, I like that idea! The extra set of keys is in the store and the car *is* in my name. There's a plan!

THAT'LL TEACH ME

After a somewhat tiring day, I got home early and tried to sort the program access on the new improved(?) computer. It was only this morning that I got it sorted. The guy who 'did' the computer is a whiz with hardware, but I know more about software! I told him that the very first thing we do after connecting to the interweb-(he thought he could do it without installing the dialer)-was to download and configure Thunderbird. Number 2 was to download AVG about which he had heard of, but never used. When we talked about what he was doing to the PC he said he'd install the OS I wanted and an anti virus prog. That elicited a very loud "Oh no, you don't! I'll put AVG in!" His responce was bewilderment. While he was here, I put it in and explained it to him. It was a bit strange explaining my favorite programs to someone who does computers for a living considereing how computer ignorant I was only a few short years ago. Strange, but nice! Firefox obviously has to be my default browser, but I need IE too because banks here only work in IE I took a shot at sorting that last night with absolutely no success. This morning I got it done in just a few seconds.I also need him to figure out how to give me access to the other hard drive. It has a bunch of stuff I really want on it, like my A Team screen saver, which no longer seems to be available on Cannell's site. My beloved firewall is also there. Oh, well, he's sorting a computer for one of our key copying machines so I'll catch him then. At least this computer is legal again! And working at warp speed.
I did get a few things ironed out with Mr. S and now I am more confident about him. The guy in Safed is toast, and I heard it from the person above him on the corporate food chain. Corporate politics is the name of the game. It'll take a month or two to get that sorted, but I'm ok with it now.
The weather people sat it's going to storm this weekend and I'm so looking forward to it. A proper, rain, wing, and thunderstorm. And I'll nice and cozy tucked in at home with the papers, TV and computer! I can't wait.
Next week, Shmaryah has a consult with a surgeon to try and figure out what's growing in his tummy. I still think it's a stolen M&M growing there. Every time he mentions it, I pick up scissors, a rusty exacto knife and a stapler and tell I'm ready to operate! There is no indication that it might malignant. All his blood tests were just fine, but the thing is growing, and starting to hurt. We'll know more on Monday, which, of course is the day I go to get a bunch of teeth yanked. I hope the schedule will allow me to go to the cutter with him. I'll check that later today.
And for my next trick, I will disentangle the laptop wires from the spahetti bowl of the PC cables. No, I do not know why I didn't have what's his name do it when he was connecting the PC-duh.

ARON CALLED

Pretty much took the day off yesterday and ran errands and such. Filled the jeep with diesel, went grocery shoppping,went to Safad to get phones and sort the phone bills of the various stores, visited the regional distributor of the doors we sell, and got an earful on Shmaryah, parked the jeep, hopped on Harley Too, went to the flower shop, beat the rain home, fiddled with the computer, put the phones together,listened to phone message from Aron, called him back, called cable and told them their phone line is dead, the techie came and fixed the cable line.
Aron says his dad is very ill, but at the moment it doesn't look like cancer. He's in the ICU at whatever hospital he's in with a fever and is very weak. They still aren't sure what it is, but think maybe not cancer. After hearing that, my stomach should have settled down, but it didn't. Something is very wrong with him. There was a show on very late last night about medical expiriments the Israeli Army did on soldiers during the years he was in the army. Woke me right up, it did, but by the time I realized what they were on about, it was too late to record it. I'll send Aron an E mail about it later and have him pass the questions on to Terry as and when. If it turns out to be relevant, there are ways to get a recording of that show. AND the lawyer who is handling things for some of the ex soldiers handled my motorcycle accident back in the day, so that's good! I'd better get that e mail off to him.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON BAD STUFF

I can't get poor Itz (my ex) out of my head. Every time I think of him, and that's most of the time these days I get a little frisson of fear in the pit of my stomach. That is such a not good feeling. It always means something really bad is going to happen to happen to the person I'm thinking of when that happens.
I wasn't surprised at all when Aron told me the bad news. It was almost as if I was expecting it. I'd been thinking of Itz on and off for a month or so for absolutely no reason at all. He was just there in my head and that is not at all usual. Then, BANG, Aron told me he has cancer of the pancreas. Right now there's not a damn thing I can do about it except worry from this far away.
I'm way too tired right now to make much sense about this and thoughts are just chasing themselves around my head and driving me wild.

CRAP CRAP CRAP AND MORE CRAP

My son called last night with the worst news possible. His 57 year old father has pancreatic cancer and it's about as bad as it can be. Seems his sister, my ex daughter, told him about it and was cold as an ice block about it, as only she can be, so he called me for a more caring reaction. Poor kid, to have to go through this with an ice cube for a sister. At least when I went through it with my mother, who was only 58, my brother was right there with me. We might be divorced, but it was as friendly a divorce as can be even though we did have a grand battle or two or three afterwards. When the dust settled, we were still friends and he did come visit me the day I sprang myself from the hospital after my heart attack.
I thought about it all night long and then it hit me. He never smoked, drank and ate healthy, so what happened? He was a diver in the Israeli Navy and trained in one of the most polluted rivers in the world. A lot of guys from those units ended up with cancer that was linked to diving there. Granted, knowing that was most likely the source won't help much now, but it does at least explain it. I'm very very sad about it because he is the father of my kids and a nice guy, just not the nice guy for me. His present wife is a nurse and a damn good one. She's also a wonderful woman and I like her a lot. This is going to be so hard for her. Worse even that when her first husband was killed in a hunting accident long ago.
The worst part for me is that there's not a damn thing I can do about it except be here to listen to any of them who want to talk.
It might be fuel for my battle at the parking lot today. The new super market in town has gotten the mall management to turn the parking lot into a pay to park lot unless you buy something for 50 shekels or more. What am I going to buy at the bank for 50 shekels? The plan for today is to drive to the bank and test the new arrangement. It's not like there's an abundance of parking in town, so this new thing is very not good. I'm quite looking forward to the brouhaha and am in no mood to be messed with!

ROAD WEARY GIMP

In between driving marathons, I somehow managed to arrange for the importer of M&Ms to supply the neighborhood shop I buy my supply from, to bring the larger bags of them, 125 grams as opposed to the small 45 gram bags. When I left town yesterday I was right behind the importer's truck si I knew they had been delivered. I was thrilled and on the way home just home, stopped in to buy the stock for next week. The genius owner didn't have the sense to leave them at the store, he took them to their storage place, and they didn't even have one bag in the store. A phone call later and it's come back in an hour. Ok, I'll go back in hour, unless it starts raining, which it will any minute now. At last, a steady supply of peanut M&Ms. Yes, I do like the small ones, but I am ADDICTED to the peanut ones!!
I have now decided that taking Yaacov to his treatments will only happen on days that are not the day after I was there and walked up 35 stories of stairs!! (you might want a map of Israel for this) On Wendesday we went to Carmiel to get something for Etti and Yaacov, then to Nazareth to visit them, then down to Tel Adashim to buy things for the flower shop, then to Yavniel, and got home at midnight, only to wake up and drive to Nazareth , Haifa, Tel Adashim, Nazareth, and home. Tired doesn't quite cover it. I fell asleep and woke up really late this morning. I got my blood test results and they are fine, then to the flower shop for a while, then headed home by way of my M&M supplier as already related. I'm really looking forward to a nap, but will be going out again to get my stash! I might go fil up the jeep first, then drive it right up to the store. We'll see.

ROLLERCOASTER DAZE

Yesterday was one of those days when all you can do is wonder when the roller coaster will stop and you can get off.
I decided the night before to get the blood tests and EKG done in the morning and fasted as per instuctions. We started with the blood tests and the nurse was one of those from the school of brutality. Bet she got staight As in needle hurting. That's one impressive hematoma on my right arm! Then, we moved right along to EKG which was normal!! Only a bit less than year after my heart attack, a normal EKG!! Cancel the cardiac quack. For dessert I got my anti flu shot.
From there, I went to the flower shop. Shmaryah's car was there, so I got his report from his trip to the doctor. Day before yesterday he was going on about a lumpy thing in his stomach and I made him go to his doctor, which he did in the morning. They think it might be just a fatty growth but want to do tests. The surgeon he also saw wanted to cut it out, but he said no. At that point I asked Lavana for the scissors and threatened to do it myself. My diagnosis is that the lump is one the M&Ms he stole from me and it's growing to punish him. He got sent back to the door store and I waited with Lavana for a shipment of things that were supposed to arrive in the morning. While waiting, I decided to take a swing through the new grocery store that finally opened across the road from us. I was a bit embarrassed by the locals who were oohing and ahhing over the new store. Excuse me, people, but there are bigger more impressive neighborhood markets in just about every other city here, not to mention American. Even Maine. I picked up a few things on my way through and got in line at check out. Just as my turn came, a manager came over and told me to follow him to the main check out so it would go faster. That register was crowded but he told the gal to take me next. She didn't and I decided to find a line again. It was so crowded by then that I couldn't turn around to go back, so, I dropped the stuff I'd wanted on a shelf near the exit and left all pissed off. What is it that people think they know what's best for us crips? I was next where I was and even told him I was just fine, but, no, he knew better, and I ended up leaving after vowing never to return. On the way back to the flower store I spotted the M&Ms importer in the parking lot and yelled at him to stop and intruduced myself as the addict from Kiryat Shmonah and begged him to give my pals at the 24 hour store the "big" bags of M&Ms. He laughed and promised to sort it. I told him that they really have to have them because the new store pissed me off an I won't be going there ever again. I was really pissed off. Yeah, I know he was just trying to be helpful, but guess what the road to hell is paved with? Managers from that chain who tried to help a crip..........
I got back to the store, had a bit of a rage and a little cry. I'd left my lunch there. Remember the fast for the blood test? Right. Lavana went charging over there and had a few words with the idiot manager type who had been trying to helpful. According to her, he was almost as upset as I was and aplogized profusely. When Lavana got back, I went to my favorite sandwich grill place and got a sandwich.
Our shipment finally arrived and we unpacked it only to find a couple of minor mistakes that will be corrected next time the sales guy comes.
My computer (the big one) was taken off to computer ICU by a local computer fixer and he walked by, so we discussed what he'll do to it. It just might be back on Friday, all working with another hard drive and a legal OS. So, I'll just continue using this one.
I think it's Wednesday today and that means we close early and Lavana and I go on a buying trip to look for ideas and stuff to sell.
Oh, oh, Almost forgot! I have a teeny tiny disco ball for THE DISCO. How cool is that?
On the way home I stopped to get M&Ms and had a good laught with the lads about my *attack* on the guy in the parking lot.
When I got home, I found the air conditioner on and I KNOW I turned it off the day before. Orna swears she wasn't even in the house, never mind turned it back on. So, how did it get on? I turned it off and hid the remote. I just hope I'll find the remote next time I want to use it!

ORCHID MURDERING TEADRINKER

My pal down south got an Orchid for New Year, and after profuse thanks, asked how to take care of it. Not knowing myself, I sent her to reasearch the question on the interweb. She reported back that she was supposed to water it once a week and ignore it. On Saturday I got a paniced call from her. She said that the flowers fell off and some leaves too.
TD "I followed the directions and the stuff just fell off while I was looking at it"
PG "YOU MURDERED THE ORCHID"
TD "I did not. It died in front of my eyes"
PG "YOU DID TOO. YOU MURDERED THE ORCHID"
TD "Did not. I followed the directions from the interweb and it died"
PG "DID TOO. You didn't follow the directions at all. They said to water it once a week and ignore it. YOU DIDN'T IGNORE IT. YOU LOOKED AT IT AND THAT'S NOT IGNORING.
On an on we went like that for several minutes. She did murder it, but it might be savable. It hasn't turned brown yet so if she keeps watering it and really does ignore it, it might be ok.

LAWS OF NATURE

I always forget the first law of nature. The one that states that the day after you wash the car it will rain. On Friday I took the Disco for it's long promised wash (I promised to wash it if it passed inspection) and brought it home. Orna was out hanging laundry and did a double or maybe triple take when she saw it, and wasted a few minutes trying to figure out who parked a car just like mine in my space. As I was right there with her and not threatening the life of my parking space thief, she finally figured it out. I stuck my head out several times on Saturday to admire the clean car outside. It really is a magnificent vehicle. I'm just vain enough that keeping it filthy on the outside which tricks people into thinking that I've been off road with it a lot. The only time it's been off road was during the war when Golan and I left the Nusery by the back fields with the ceramic fountain in back, but that doesn't really count. I just haven't had time since learning how to drive it properly on road to go off road. Now that I've learned it, I'm looking for a chance. The plan is to take this coming Friday morning off and going out then. Of course by then it might be dirty enough again. It started raining Saturday and poured off and on all day yesterday. As it was a semi holiday yesterday I decided to run a bunch of errands and spent some time at the flower shop after I finished my stuff. The skies opened at one point and I waited for a break in the downpour. At least I was ready for it with a brand new rain poncho! When I finally headed for home, there was an amazing rainbow right over the whole town. It was a spectacular rainbow and the purple stripe was right on top. I'd no sooner gotten home and into bed than the rain started again with a bit of thunder and lightning. Wasn't I just thrilled? There's nothing I like more than a good storm. Seems there was a bit of flooding in town. Shmaryah called to tell me that the store had flooded again, and Orna reported that our street was a river for half an hour or so. She also begged me not to wash the car again any time soon. It IS a law of nature that if cars or windows are washed; it WILL rain.

FAMILY

Families are the oddest things. At least relations are, not only relationships, though they are odd too. Turns out that Etti and Yaacov are actually family. Really and truly. By marriage, through my daughter, you know, the one who refuses to talk to or even about me! Yesterday I left at noon to go see Etti and Yaacov. The plan was to take them out to lunch then visit their son's business because there was no way I was going going to climb their stairs again so soon. I picked them up and as Nazareth Elite doesn't really have any place nice to eat (Nazaerth now has a KFC which isn't kosher) we went down to Afula and had lunch at the same place Golan and I ate after the missile fell back during the war. We had a very nice meal, then went to the nursery where Dotan and his wife were waiting for us. We sat around and chatted. Yaacov even helped a few customers with advice and whatnot. My daughter came up and Dotan's wife asked about her husband. We quickly got to the fact that her father is related to my daughter's husband's father! If I got it right they are either brothers or first cousins. So, we ARE related after all. How cool is that? I've always said that they are the closest thing I have to family here, and now it turns out that they really are, and the fun part is that it's through my snob of a daughter who will be embarrassed by the relationship. She's really turned into into the most insufferable snob imaginable. The first thing I did when I got home was to send an e mail to my son. He will be thrilled by the news because there's not a conceited bone in his body and he adores them. He, in turn, will inform his sister, who in turn, will stick her nose in the air and make a nasty comment. Me, I'm just as thrilled as can be about it. I pretty much danced in my seat all the way home to my beloved Don McClean driving disk!! I HAVE FAMILY HERE and they are some of my favorite people here. It also means that they will argue less when I try to help them because it's easier to accept help from family than friends! If you ever doubted that G-d works in the strangest ways, here's the proof.
Back during the war, when Golan and I were at the Nursery, I ordered what we Israelis call ' house shoes, or,'slippers'-ceramic things to hang on the wall outside my front door to put plants in and they were waiting for me yesterday. I almost burst with joy when she sold them to me at the 'family discount'. I'll get Golan to put them up and bring plants for them from my own flower/plant shop. This is so cool. Lavana and I are going to visit her sister in law and then go to the Nursery next Wednesday afternoon because we need some things they sell for our shop and both places are in the same general area. She's almost as excited about this as I am, and is trying to figure out how we might be related too. She'll probably find it too, even if she has to go back to Adam and Eve!!

GETTING A GRIP

It seems like I just might be starting to get a grip on this whole Yaacov thing. The interweb has been a big help and I'm putting myself through Med School every minute I get free. There's lots of information about it out there. Even though it's not good and I don't have access to all the reports from his tests, I do know enough to understand how bad it really is. This is one nasty cancer. The radiation cand chemo can help for a while, but, like life itself, the end is known. All any of us can do is make it easier for him and the family. That is my new mission. I'll be leaving town at 1300 or so to take Etti and Yaacov out for a light meal, and to grab a taxi driver from the taxi stand right under their house and make a deal with him to take Yaacov to his radiation treatments. Dotan simply can not leave work to do it every day and I can't take that much driving. I'll do any trips to Haifa until Yaron gets here. Then, he, Dotan, and I will sit down and get it all organized.
I'm very sad about the whole thing but at least there is something I do to help.
Last night Shmaryah and Lavana had his sister and some friends over for a BBQ in their Sukka- the booth that is traditional on this holiday. It was very nice except the Shmaryah was insulted that I couldn't eat the traditional delicacy they all go wild over-lamb testicals. Pardon me, but YUCK. And it's supposed to be THE THING. Yes, he is going to pay for it today with many comments to effect that it was all quite yummy except for his 'balls' And it was, just that was not.
Ok, time to get dressed, and to the store early so I can get a parking place before our lot fills up!

NOT GOOD NEWS

Contrary to the evidence of previous posts, I really don't like to post about bad things here, but, this really sucks. I went to visit Etti and Yaacov yesterday and it was not good. He has a very virulent form of brain tumor, and is still in shell shock from the news. It's so bad that their son is flying in from The States at the end of the month. Etti is very busy trying to keep the seriousness of it hidden from Yaacov that I suspect that she really doesn't quite get it herself. I was alone with him for a few minutes, and even though he didn't say much, he knows, and is playing along with her to make her feel better. He starts radiation treatments on Sunday and from what I've read, they can help for a while, but not long. This so sucks.
I was super stupid yesterday and only ate about 6 M&Ms all day(not really my idea of a balanced diet,contrary to documented evidence) so, of course, felt crap all day today. I scarpered home early and picked up a good meal on thae way, ate it and took a nap that I woke up from at 2330. I've also not been drinking enough, so am pouring the water in at an alarming rate. You'd think I'd learned my lesson on the trip, but I guess I'm just a slow learner. I just drank a half liter of water and am feeling better all ready! It's a good thing that we are in the middle of a holiday here and half the country is closed and we can get away with closing early. I'm off to Nazareth Elite again on Thursday. I'm having a hard time figuring out why in 1990 it took exactly 45 minutes to get there from here (I know this because I drove that route every day that year) and now it takes over an hour even though they've widened the road and raised the speed limit and I have a better car? It's just not making any sense to me.
Other than that, and not knowing where my camera is, I'm ok, just worried sick about Yaacov and Etti. I'm off to grab another bottle of water and back to bed. If Fingers hadn't sent a note, it might have been another year before I got around to posting here. Time just gets away from me and there's not enough to start with. We really need more hours in a day!

WHATEVER ELSE YOU DO, DO NOT LIE TO ME

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not always comfortable to tell the truth, and sometimes telling a lie seems to be easier. However, if I find out, things will get decidedly uncomfortable. Not to mention unbearably strained.
Who lied to me and got caught? Mr. S. That's who! I'm not going into the whole thing here except to say that things are getting decidely interesting and his wife and I will know the whole story next week. I didn't buy his business with my eyes closed. I knew there was some hinky stuff hiding out there, but the last few weeks have been almost too much. Now that I've caught him and know pretty much what's going on, it won't take the PI we hired long to get to bottom of it and supply hard proof. Then, watch out. I've sunk pretty much every penny of my inheritance into that business, and I did it for two major reasons. One, to give me something to do, and two, to guarantee my brother and his kid's futures because the business is solid. It's Mr. S. and his sidekick who are the trouble. She's trying to do things that just don't jibe with my way of doing things and she has to go. I trusted him until I found some very odd charges to the business credit card and he lied about them. Bad idea. My legs don't work so good, but my brain, in spite of the stroke damage is just fine. There's also the thing that my coming into his business was almost a direct order from above. There's a reason it happened the way it did and it had nothing to do with anything in this world. Mystical folderol? Maybe, but I don't think so. Some things happen because they are supposed to and no power in this world can stop them from happening. I thought it all out again on Yom Kippur, and realized that in spite of the fact that I could have just taken the rest of my inheritance and traveled and just enjoyed it, buying that business was I had to do, so I did it and now, I have to stop the evil influence on him. He seems to fighting it to some extent, but isn't quite ready to put a complete stop to it. Ok. If he can't, I can and will. I'm not afraid on anyone on this earth. No matter what or who he's mixed up with, it can and will be settled by the end of next week, and I'll have fun doing it. I'll post the whole story, gory details and all when it's over. For now, it's enough that I know there are no bugs on any of my phones, or in the house, or car. The computer is clean too, now and no one involved has enough English to understand this, but if by some miracle, they do, they have been warned that it's almost over and it's their turn to watch out..

,YOM KIPPUR

Why is it that we change our clocks just before Yom Kippur? We went back an hour to standard time last night and I just finished changing my watch, phones, the computer and the clock next to my bed. According to the radio the rest of the world won't change for another month. Not that it bothers me in the least to be out of step with everyone else; it rather suits me. It's the crazy reason. The Ultra Orthodox think it makes the fast shorter, but it doesn't. So, of course, because they think so, it is so. Ah, well, so be it. It doesn't matter to me at all, as long as my clocks, watches, phones, etc. show the correct time.

I always get nostalgic over the Holidays. They bring back memories from my ever so long ago childhood when we all went to Portland for services. The arguments I had with Dad about driving there instead of staying overnight with The Grandparents. I usually lost, but there were a few years when I went to stay with them and met up with Mom, Dad and Jeff at Beth El. Of course I was right back then, but, so what? I loved the feeling of Autumn in the air and how cool the weather was when all us kids went to hang out around outside and visit the other kids from Shaarei Zedek across the street where my grandparents went.
Yom Kippur was the best because at noon or so, the women and kids would all go to the Branz's house and wait for the fast to be over. Us older kids would drive the adults wild by doing sit ups and going out for long walks to show that fasting didn't slow us down at all. Much head shaking and tongue clicking among the adults didn't stop us from racing up and down the stairs. Yeah, ok, so we were always first in line for food when the fast ended, but it was great fun, if not exactly in the spirit of the day. I'm so thankful for the great memories from those days.
In Israel the non religious among us have their own traditional ways for getting through the day. Kids go out on their bikes and race along on the empty roads and the older crowd sits around watching videos and DVDs.
Other than taking my morning meds, I fast and read and think and talk to my parents. It's a very quiet day up here because the kids in town aren't really into the whole bike thing. There's a lot more respect for the religious from the kids here than in the rest of country, but this isn't the time to get into all that. Zom Kal and Gmar Hatimah Tovah.

BACK TO THE U.S. OF A.

It is my intention to finish telling the story of The Great Ameerican Adventure. I'm going to continue for now from memory because the pad I kept notes in is locked in the flower shop for now.
If I remember correctly; I left off when Susie and I had left Jag's place in N. Carolina and headed straight into Hurricane Alberto which was mean enough to rain all over us and hit us with side winds. I drove in this for 3 or 4 hours until I decided to stop for the night and push on in the morning.
By morning, Alberto wisely decided to veer off and we drove off into a cloudy day with scattered rain showers. As we had a flight out of Miami that couldn't be changed and a stop in Boynton Beach that I had no intention of skipping, we pushed on and after being tricked by road signs in S. Carolina and Georgia, not to mention the lying sign in Florida that pointed to a rest stop that tuned out to be strip mall, we stopped at a proper rest stop a mile or so down I 95 with me raging about trickery and other treacherous things.
Poor Susie was just about ready to start eating the car so we stopped at an Olive Garden some place in Florida that was crawling with cop/sherriff cars and went inside for what we thought would be a nice meal. I can't remember what I ordered except that it came with a huge bowl of salad which was fine as I was desperate for weeds by then. The waiter appeared and informed Susie that her order couldn't be filled because they were out of it. She ordered something else and then the manager appeared and told us they were out of both of our entrees and that we could order anything we wanted; on the house. As I was just fine with my weeds, Susie reordered and quite enjoyed her free meal.
After dinner, we pushed on towards Boynton Beach and after 12 hours on the road, found a motel on Rt.1 and checked in. We had trouble with the A/C which I had turned on to heat It was sorted by a motel employee. In the morning we drove off to find the Boynton Beach Bitch (my father's widow) and have a little fun at her expense. We got to her house easily and I had my fun. Details by private request email only) Let's just say it went better than expected and leave it at that. After that, we went to try and find a beach for Susie to look for sea shells on. How silly....try to find a beach in a town named Botnton Beach. They are all private. We did find a nice restaurant and ate there for supper and breakfast the next morning before heading out for Miami and our flight to Nevada.
For some reason known to no one at all, I decided to check out the airport before finding the motel I wanted to stay in that night.
Of course I managed to get good and lost, but in the end I figured things out and found the motel that gives a whole new meaning to Highway Robbery. We checked in and crashed for the night. It was a nice room, but we could have bought a whole house for the price. We checked out in the morning and headed for Miami to look for a beach, which we found but it was sea shell free so Susie never did get a sea shell for her friend.
We got the car returned ok and made the flight to Reno. I have some pictures of Miami from the air and a few of some cool cloud formations. There was a stop over at Pheonix and I saw my wheely get back on the plane there. When we landed at Reno we discovered that Susie's suitcase had not gotten back on with my wheely. The wheely pusher was a darling and fellow smoker so she and I left Susie to sort the missing luggage issue and went out for a few puffs. After Susie finished with the lost luggage issue we went to the car rental place and a super nice gal got us the car and gave me a lighter because mine was stolen by the airport security people. We headed off in the general direction of Winnemuca but stopped for the night at a nice motel just off the highway. We found Winnemucca in the morning and Jeanie found us and took us to the Motel El Cheapo. Susie's travelling runaway suitcase showed up there the next day
Jeannie is a fellow VAer and a darling, wonderful gal-ex army helo mechanic who can also fix wheelies and has damn good taste in cars. She has a 67 F150 that sounds just like it should-great. She lives way out of town, literally at the end of no where and has a view to kill for. As there is next to no ambient light out there (there is a porch light in need of shooting on her street) we spent a lot of time sitting out in the dark looking at the sky. That woman can cook and her BBQ and gumbo are second to none.
We did some shopping at the local Walmart where Jeannie's mother works and once when I was taking her to work, ran a red light. No cops in the area so that was ok. Over the days we were there, I ran at least 2 stop signs, gave a deputy sherriff the finger and was run into by a kid on bicycle. Talk about lawless. I love driving in Winnemucca.
We discovered a salad (weed) bar at the Winner's Casino/hotel there and ate there lots. As our plans for Reno and Lake Tahoe were trashed by an empoyee Jeannie had to work instead of, we moved out the first motel into Winner's for the last night. It was great, but the cause of a few bad moments for Susie and me. We had to wait for a while for our room to be ready and she asked what we'd do while waiting. I said "we'll just park our butts in the lobby and wait."
Susie heard the word "park" and short circuited to 'wait in the parking lot' We had a good laugh after we got the misunderstanding sorted and waited in the lobby. It was so sad for me to say goodbye to Jeannie and Winnemucca, but we had to get back to Reno for our flight to Seattle. The speed limit on the Interstate in Nevada is 75 but as Susie needed a bathroom, I pushed the car to well over 90-that's miles per hour, not kilometers per hour. Would someone please explain how I got out of that state without so much as one single traffic citation? I was nervous until the plane took off for Seattle. The whole Washington State part of the trip was too nuts to even start to explain. The flight landed in the wee morning hours [they lost my new purple suitcase(the one with my new LL Bean boots)] and I had to drive from SEATAC to Roy without a ball on the steering wheel because I forgot mine in Reno. After breakfast we found a store that had one that wasn't very good. We finally made it to Ginger's house and followed her to their camp on Lake Mayfield-without the ball. After a really great visit with the rest of her family and some friends, I crashed for a nap then, we went for a boat ride on the lake. That was something I thought I'd never do again-get into a boat. It was so fantastic I can't even begin to find the words to describe it. I cried tears of joy. What I did not do was drink enough water which played a major part in the next part of the trip. Washington State was a 36 or so hour stop over and I spent most of it driving. When we got back to SEATAC we tried to find my bag, but no luck. Alaska Airlines is not one I'd recommend. Susie and I were originally seated in the first row and our hand luggage stowed. Suddenly a guy appeared and told us to move to the back of the plane because our seats were "out of commision" whatever that means. As soon as we had moved, he reaseated a lady from the back in our original seats. The attendants refused to move our stuff to our new seats and was downright rude. I ended up crying and she ignored me while being ever so sweet to the teenaged hooligans in the row ahead of us. I know I cry when I'm tired, but this was something else. The hooligans were noisy and kept bothering us and refused to pipe down. We finally landed at Burbank and called Kathleen who thought we were due the next day. She arose to the challenge and recruited her brother to drive to the rescue. First order of business was lunch which we had at a very posh restaurant in some idiot part of LA where it's illegal to smoke. I had a lobster and it was great. I also fell in love with her brother, which didn't stop me from kicking him in a most sensitive place quite by accident the next day. When we got to her house, I suddenly felt sick and barfed up all the lovely lobster and we diagnosed me as suffering from heat stroke. I stretched out on the sofa and started dosing myself with water and salt. I slept a lot too. Feeling better the next morning, we went to a deli for breakfast, did some shopping in a pharmacy and I think we took it easy the rest of the day. Thanks to heat stroke most of LA is pretty fuzzy, but I loved Kathleen's house and and her extended family and spent as much time as I could on her patio. My meds were in the bag with my LL Bean boots so I was a bit shaky until we took me to a doctor at an emergency clinic where the doc sorted the meds and gave me a quick check up. At some stage we found a store that sells knee pillows so I could replace the one that went missing in Winnemucca. I bought 3 and am still on the lookout for another like the missing one. We drove around LA a bit and Susie went to Universal Studios while I rested. We went to Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Wax Museum where I took tons of pictures. First time in my life I enjoyed playing tourist. We also went to Disney World where my credit card decided not to work. In addition to my brother, I now owe Kathleen a small fortune, which will be paid very soon. On the way out of Disney World, I tried to take out a gate post with my knee. Post 1-knee 0. Susie and I rode around on electric scooters. I had a few bad minutes with a minor recurrance of the heat stroke, but a short rest with a large water bottle sorted that.
We had an absolutely wonderful visit with Vicky and Don Ecker from UFO Magazine and good friends of Dwight Schultz the guy who played Murdock on A Team.
Other than waiting for what seemed like forever, I got my flight back to Israel just fine. Even with a stop over in Toronto that flight seemed like it would never end, but it did and we landed on time, and minus one suitcase, and plus a ton of debt, I got home safe and sound only to have two vehicles that wouldn't go. The missing suitcase eventually showed up and the Land Rover is doing just fine, but Harey Too is under the weather yet again and I have to get his fixer guy up here PDQ.
OK, that's pretty much the whole story. Of course there's a lot more in the fond memory storage area of my brain.