Brown Town

The excitement is overwhelming for me.  The new (Third) town square is now open in The Villages.  In spite of what our friend "FRED" calls it, Brown Town, it is actually called Brown Wood and Paddock Square is the spot where all the old goiters will now go to get hammered each night.   AS with everything in The Villages, it is very well done and authentic to the last detail.   The Barnstormer is the theater that has nicer seats in it than our furniture in our living room. 

For whatever reason, The Villages designed the new square to look like old Florida in every way.  They transplanted 2000 huge trees, had sculptures made and brought in from all over the country and have not missed any details right down to horse shoe prints in the concrete on the dance floor.  Now picture this.  Mabel is what, 108 this year and is looped on rum and coke and decides to take a spin with Gomer and she trips in the horse hoof.  Believe me, I've fallen off a sidewalk in The Villages and it was not pretty.  Seeing Mabel spattered out on the dance floor as she attempts to Wobble would not be pretty and would most likely defeat Gomers plans for when they got home at 9:00 pm.

As you can see, part of the new square includes stadium seating which I don't understand.  When you're what, 110 the last thing you need to handle are steps every time you want to do the Wobble.  I look at it this way, The Villages already has 880 clubs, the broken hip club would be a big seller.  The steps unto themselves are not such a big deal nor is Ethel being 112 but when they pickle themselves all night it could just be ugly and something this old fart doesn't want to see.  Having someone's depends come undone in the square would certainly be embarrassing so I will staple mine together so I won't be embarrassed when I fall into the horse hoof print. 

The best part of Brown Town is that everyone who has been occupying Sumter Landing where we hang out will hopefully head south to Brown Town leaving more room for us up at the landing and we won't run out of 7 & 7's.  I'm curious to know if their happy hour down there is one hour or two.   Needless to say, this is the first phase of the town expansion along with 10,000 more homes and a huge shopping mall.   I am very excited to get there.  I always judge a town square by the softness of the bread at Subway.  Highway 466A had dry bread and no change.  The one in Sumter Landing is good, soft bread, proper change and nice people who call me sir.  I think that young whipper snapper behind the counter is wondering if I can actually chew the bread. 

The other new thing in The Villages is a Marcus Welby type medical system.  Less patients and personalized service.  If you're old enough to remember Marcus Welby you'll notice that every time a patient called him at home with a problem he was always drinking and then hopped into his car to go fix their bunions.  I'm not sure but I think Mark had a drinking problem, but Dr. Kiley (Mr. Streisand) always wore his helmet.  What a babe.  The question is this;  Are the new medical services in The Villages good, or a bunch of drunks in Lincoln Continentals coming to lop off a toe in your living room?

What's Behind Door One

There are so many things Steve said he would never do again.  The first was hanging a suspended ceiling.  If you go further into this blog you'll see that he just could not help himself and put up another ceiling which was just a dog.  We bought plastic sections which we thought would snap together with little if any problems.  I think he still has the scars from trying to snap hundreds of pieces together. The second one was that he never wanted to install another shower door. 

Steve installed a shower door at out other house on Theodore Street and vowed he'd never do it again.  He really was trying to get me to agree to a shower curtain but I was not going to budge on that.  Putting a shower curtain over a shower stall would be like putting a sheet over your living room window and I just didn't want a living room window in our bathroom.   The problem that Steve has with installing a shower door is really not the installation itself but the stupidity of the designer.  The door frame has 90 degree angles but the bottom corner of the shower stall is curved.  Now I was no brain with geometry but I know that a 90 degree corner would not fit into a round hole.  After reading the directions, which we kind of do depending on the project, really helped us this time.  It really turned out nicely.  There are two questions remain unanswered, first, is there really water to the shower and second, will the door leak.   Stay tuned.  If anyone ever uses that shower we will certainly post it.  Please remember, when Steve and I put the new valves onto the sink connections and were so happy that we didn't have any water leaking we were thrilled.  Come to find out, the supply lines were not connected to anything hence there not being any water when we cut off the supply pipes.  We were so proud of ourselves.  The next plumbing issue will occur when we attempt to install a bar sink and glass washer.  Sooner or later the floor drain in our basement is going to come in handy.  This reminds me of the Lucy Show episode where they install a shower door backward and the drain is stuck closed.  Sooner than later we will end up soaked and or floating in the water. 



We're Board

At long last we're making major progress on the basement. It took us ages to get back into the swing of things but indeed we are now putting the finishing touches on the trim work.   We thought we were so smug and that the door casings matched the door, after all, white is white.  Unfortunately, we found out that sometimes white is really gray.  Instead of painting all the doors we figured it would be easier to paint 400 feet of trim.  

Steve started out painting each board with two coat and it was taking for ever.  I finally told Steve that is would be nice to have the room done sometime before I die so we went out and bought a power painter.  We were a bit nervous about it and how much over spray we'd get.  So finally we got back at it, we set up the staging area, covered everything with plastic and put the sprayer together.  Steve started to spray and it was going pretty well.  We did six boards and it started to spit at us.  As it turned out those six boards took an entire quart of pain.  We stopped and put out last quart in and did more until is started to spit at us again.   This time Steve had to go get more paint as we figured at this rate we'd need to start purchasing paint by the drum.  He went to Menards in hopes that the paint left in the head of the sprayer would not clog up.  I thought about putting it into the refrigerator but just didn't know if that would ruin our cheese.  We finished the painting in short order then it dawned on us that what we had for floor trim would hardly finish the hallway so it's back to Menards to buy more trim and back to painting again.  We have three gallons of paint now so spray we will.  

You might ask, "What did Brian do?"  Well, I put the boards on the saw horses and helped take the wet boards off.  If there is one thing I hate it's to get my hands dirty.  Once I made oatmeal cookies and the only way to mix that crap together was with my hands.  It was absolutely disgusting.  I guess I will need to get myself a pair of rubber gloves.  I knew when I was a little boy that becoming an auto mechanic was just not for me.   So it's back to painting again this weekend if Steve can stop coughing long enough.  I suspect that if we clog up his lungs with paint spray he'll stop coughing.  We really need to get this done because we have new furniture being delivered in December.  After we get done with the trim we will begin the construction of a second bar in our house, one on the main floor and one in the basement.  People are starting to wonder if there is a problem here.  After all this painting there probably should be.  We will be the first to hit the bar once it's done.  

Just How Old Are We

 For those of us who remember Going Out Of My Head, When I Fall in Love, and Hurts so Bad, you will remember The Lettermen who still do a fine job singing in three part Harmony.  We invited The Lettermen to come back to Jefferson to perform at the end of September because they were so well received the last time they were here, a couple years ago.  Our former executive director had become good friends with the only remaining Lettermen, Tony Butala, the little gray haired guy who can still belt out a rune.  Not only are they good entertainers after all these years, they are also wonderful men and so kind. 

Prior to the show starting the Lettermen told the audience no video photography but we could take all the pictures we want.  As the show began I snapped some pictures and soon got a tap on my shoulder from a very rude usher telling me "put the camera away, not photography."  I looked at this old bag and said, obviously you didn't listen to the announcements, pictures are fine.  What she didn't realize was she snotted off two board members with her rude instructions.  The next day I let our new executive director know what happened. 

The nice part of The Lettermen show is that they allow people to come up for photos with them as they are singing a song and then they come out into the lobby after the show and will sign autographs and take pictures until everyone who wants them has been satisfied.  As some of you know, at a previous auction I was determined to obtain their show poster and a wine basket from the Butala Winery in Napa Valley.  I bid $350 and won them both.  This auction I only had to pay $50 for the poster.  Steve and I plan to hang the two Lettermen posters along with our Amy Grant poster and pictures of her at our house down in the rec room once we're done with it.  We also have signed merchandise from Ricky Nelson's sons who also performed here in Jefferson.   The Lettermen are such wonderful guys I hope to see them when they arrive in The Villages this winter.   Unfortunately this post ends with a bit of sadness.  As I mentioned, Tony is friends with our former executive director and her husband Rich.  A week ago Rich was taken from us due to complications from kidney cancer.  I wrote to Tony to let him know and as busy as he is, he wrote back to express his sadness of Rich's passing.  Rich was truly a wonderful man who I liked very much.  We will miss him so much. 

Fine Furnishings

Steve and I are often teased because we buy stuff that may seem stupid and a bit extravagant.  Unfortunately, that is NOT true when it comes to hotel rooms. 

This last summer we drove to The Villages with many reservations due to Steve's clotting issues.  We were assured that with proper time to stop and walk around he should be OK and they really could not link the long drive to his medical history.  We made it down there fine and it was quite a nice drive after not doing it for a long time.  One the way home we made two stop overs as we are now too OLD to do it in one night.  We always tell each other that we are NOT going to stay in a cheap dive and look for nice places but it never seems to happen.  Having Mr. Moe with us makes things more difficult as a lot of hotels will not take him.  I told Steve that I'll hide him under my coat, so who's to know?  As I've always said, it's never illegal unless you get caught.  That doesn't sit well with Steve so we stay where they will let us have Mr. Moe. So we stopped someplace north of Atlanta on the way back and as is always the plan, I get Mr. Moe settled in and Steve goes to a local fast food place to get dinner.  This time he brought back sub sandwiches which I just love.  I could eat at Subway everyday.  Steve got back with the sandwiches made by Big Buba (face of a 12 year old, body of an bull moose) but there was no table in this plush suite we rented.  We had to improvise so we used the ironing board.  At least it did have a table cloth and even a pad under it.  The problem was that only one person at a time could eat on this lovely piece of furniture and your plastic cup had a tendency to tip over so you had to be careful.   This was also the place where the holder for the shower head was broken so I had to hold it while I soaped up while still hanging on in this tub.  The bottom was like that of a canoe.  I thought, just what we need is for me to slip in this canoe and break a hip.  Needless to say, there was more water on the floor than in the tub.  It was quite an ordeal but proved that the old fossil is still bendable. 

Nothing is What You Think

As many of you may know, I have been a licensed realtor for Century 21 Integrity Group in Jefferson for a year now and it's been very interesting so see how people live and all the different older homes that I would have never seen without being a realtor. 

Each realtor in our office has their own way of advertising and I just kind of take it in and do what the much younger agents do.  One of those things is to order name riders that hang below the Century 21 for sale sign.  I ordered the largest name rider assuming it would be easier for people to see it from the road.  I ordered five of them and could not wait for their arrival.  They finally arrived and I proceeded to tear the box open to see the large black signs.  Unfortunately, they are not quite right.  Please look at the picture again and find out what's wrong.  Although I could live with the error, I didn't think it would go over well.  I placed the order again and waited more time.  Finally my signs arrive so I have Steve go with me to hang the riders on my house listings.  Of course, nothing goes quite the way you planned.  The signs were much too large so we had to bring them home where good old Steve took a tin snips to them so they'd fit the sign.  We went out and hung my signs and it made me proud.  Unfortunately, I might have been better with the first signs as neither house sold.   I guess that's the way things go in the business.  I'll hang in there and did get another listing on the lake so I will go there and hang my sign over the weekend.   You can find my listing link below.  I am also going to start a Century 21 blog in hopes that I can land some listings or perhaps a buyer.  I'm really not in this to have 10-20 clients at a time.  I'd rather have three and do a good job but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.   My lake listing is below. 
http://www.century21.com/real-estate/brian-monfre/A10953689/

Monday Night Hottie

This is our Monday night and although we both dread going to work at bingo, once we're there, at least I love it.  If I do say so myself, "I am HOT out there".  I'm not sure if it's because the folks are getting up there in the years, their vision is getting worse or I'm just damn HOT.  I absolutely love joking with them and some nights I will even call out a table if they refuse to buy a 50-50 raffle ticket from me.  Usually it is table 12 who refuses to cooperate and pay me for services rendered.  So I threaten to expose them as cheap non-CPA supporting bingo players but that doesn't even work so I'm forced to just turn my back on them and provide my services elsewhere.  Our progressive pot is really getting up there so I will have many more people to harass this next week.  Although we are happy when a person wins the jackpot, we'd also like to hang onto it to build up our crowd.  I keep hoping that before I go to Florida on December 28th I get a chance to break my 50-50 sales record of 440 tickets in one night.  I am still wearing my summer shorts and showing off some leg but I guess I'll have to resort to my old 70's hot pants to induce people to buy.  In short, I love working with the people but I'm still refusing to wait on tables at the Pine Cone in spite of them asking me again.  I'm not that stupid.

Contest Winner

There was very little enthuseasm regarding our last contest so only one person played and she finally won.  Maureen or Jefferson won a gift certificate to Brick Haus in Jefferson for lunch.   Thank you for humoring us Maureen and winning the contrest.  For those of you who were too chicken to play the answer was Martha Stewart Assembly Tool.   The clues were all out there for you to win. 

Here is th epicture.  Another contest will follow. 



 

She's a NUT

As everyone is aware, if Steve and I are not home you can find us up at the Pine Cone.  We have gotten to know all the girls up there and we get pretty good servie from all of them.  When you think about it in perspective, it's kind of a sad life but they like us and we like the gals up there. 

The gal giving this stupid looking guy a bad time is our favorite up at the Cone, Sharon.  She is an oldster at the Cone but she really gives me a bad time and I give her the same back.  The other day she was training a new server that I needed to step in and give the new girl some pointers.  I said to Emily, "Do you want to be a good waitress at the Cone?" and she said "Yes".  I responded by saying that anything Sharon tells you, do the opposite and you'll be the best waitress here.  I got struck. 

All kidding aside, Sharon is one of the hardest working ladies we know.  She cleans five or six houses including ours and the Jefferson Bus offices.   She has the most delightful personality and I really think she will use the tips I gave her in a later post on this blog. 

Our Little Boy

Our little boy is all grown up and is still a pistol.  Months ago I told Steve that I wanted to get a laser pointer and see what he did with it.  At first he wasn't sure but he soon learned that he could chase it.  The part he still hasn't caught onto is that he will never catch it.  Someone told me that doing this to our dog will give him OCD.   He's yet to dust, shine the wood floors or alphabetize our spices but he sure does love it a lot. 

When Mr. Moe sees us going near what we call Mousy his tail goes down, he gets into a lunging position and his right paw comes up.  Then he runs full force chasing the mouse back and forth across the house.  Steve did it so long the other day that he puked.   (Moe, not Steve) That wasn't so good but the little guy just loves it.  As you can see, he was pretty worn out but it keeps him out of trouble and as a puppy, he is still full of energy. 

Moe also has to work to earn his keep.  Each day when Steve gets ready for work Moe gets very uptight and wants to go to work.  When Steve is ready he asks Moe if he wants to go to work and he runs out the garage door and sits by the front door of Steve's car.  When he gets to work he makes his rounds, everyone holds him and he lays under Steve's desk until someone comes in again to hold him.  The other day Steve had a private meeting with a new driver and shut his door.  You can see that Moe was not happy to be excluded. 

Beauty is Only Skin Deep But.............

During our July and August visit to our home in The Villages, our dear friends convinced us to go to a "show" and lunch with a bunch of friends.  What is the old saying?  With friends like this, who needs enemies?  The singers were really not singers but lip syncing to various songs.  If you look closely at the singers they were also not what they appeared to be either.
The afternoon started out by our waitress planting herself and the end of our table of eight and saying in a loud voice, and I quote "liten up fellas, I'm only going to say this once....  the vegetables are corn, carrots, cold slaw and apple sauce".  That just got me started and I knew it was going to be a rough day.  I laughed so hard at that I just knew I was in for trouble. 

After the lunch the "ladies", and I use that word lightly, came out to sing their songs.  We were told to place the tips in a certain part of their clothing which I simply would not do.  Every Monday night at bingo I get soggy dollars bills from that piece of clothing and I certainly was not going to participate in that. 

Being the smart a-- I am I decided to give them a little run for their money so I put the first dollar bill in between the buttons of my shirt.  Lady Gabriel came and politely took it.  The next time she came around I put the bill a little further into my shirt and this time she unbuttoned my shirt.  I was a bit appalled.   So at this point I was laughing so hard I thought I'd give it one more try and put it in there again.  This time Joan Crawford came to get it and proceeded to put my face between her piggy banks if you know what I mean which embarrassed the hell out of me but I deserved it and got a wild round of applause. 

I think it's very important to understand that I had nothing to drink except a diet soda.  God knows what would have happened had I been drinking.  After the show they both came out to apologize for teasing me and to say what a good sport I am.   I think Steve might have been a bit embarrassed but what the hell, you only live once and I hope this show was the first and last one I end up at.  I have to admit, we did laugh a lot.  Our dear friend Jimm told the other guys at our table that Steve was the conservative one but Brian.......  Should I be insulted? 

I have since gone up to the Pine Cone and suggested that they get the attention of the entire dinning room and say, "listen up people, the specials are....... and I'm not telling you this again".  They liked it.

BINGO ANGER

One would think that playing bingo should be fun and most of the time is it.  This last Monday night our jackpot reached just under $3000 so people were tense, and that is an understatement. 

The evening started by a man coming up to Steve at the payout table telling Steve that he put his bingo stuff down on the table and someone moved the "stuff" from his lucky spot.  He told Steve that after he had a cigarette and came back in, if his stuff was moved there is going to hell to pay.  Well, he came back inside and the ladies moved his stuff from his lucky spot so once again, up to Steve he goes telling Steve that they moved his stuff.  Steve got up and went out to the spot and asked if they couldn't just get along and pointe dout that the room was packed and perhaps they could sit some other place.  He said "she moved my daubber" so the lady said I'm sorry, and moved it back about an inch which really got him going.  Finally a friend of his came along and got him to sit on the upper balcony.Now keep in mind, these are people in their 30's and 40's at least.

For anyone who has played bingo it is usually played "last number called" meaning if thenext number is called and you do't have a bingo you can't call the previous bingo late.  Well, Joyce called bingo just as the caller began the next number thus she lost.  This lady went nuts and it wasn't even the lady who won.  She began yelling at Steve that he (Steve) heard the call and they are being ignored at the bar where they sit.  The call back lady asked if she thought we should be them wireless microphones.  She settled down for a minute then went to the bathroom.  She must have been constapated because she came out more angry and this time she blamed the floor worker at the payout table and we were too noicy.  We finally told her that everyone plays on the main floor and she whould play out there.  She left in a huff.  The call back lady told the caller and he announced that if he does not hear the bingo at the stage it is invalid.  Well, that got her going again.  It as just horrible.  I was sitting there and I heard Joyce call the bingo after the next number was called.  Joyce never said a thing and the call back lady heard the late call all the way across the room.   Steve took the brunt of most everyone's anger that night.  It wsa frustrating but he has a way of handling this with a great amount of composure.  I'd have told her to go -----herself.  She is just mean. 

For those of you old enough to remember Lily Tomlin she had a great line that Steve had altered to fit the event.  "Wouldn't you rather cooperate than lose the game and possibly the use of one eye".  We laughed about it the rest of Monday night.  This next weekend should be a real hoot.  The jackpot will be around $3500.  Steve willneed a body guard. 

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Well, after a long class in real estate law, many test, 250 flash cards and 72 hours of watching Wisocnsin Realtor's Association DVD's, I finally had the nerve to take my state license exam and it was not easy.  Every now and then I'll think of a term off the top of my head and will look it up on the itnernet to keep my old brain working.  The funny part, if there was a funny part is that the test hardly ever asked about easements, incumberances, or any of that stuff.  It was all about fair houseing, lead based paint, material adverse facts, and you'd better know every one of the forms you will need to go into practice.  I wrote to the teacher of the law class and told her to let the other classmates know that if they know the forms you can answer even the most difficult questions because you just have to find it on the forms.  There was a bunch of stuff about time limits regarding the submitting of papers but you could find it all in the forms IF you know which form to look at. 

I was blessed anough to have a friend of mine, Chris Nash take me on as a "very part time" sales associate.  I am really doing this to help out down there when there isn't a realtor on the floor.  I usually work on Fridyas so the hope is that someone will come in or call on Friday.  This next week I work Wednesday and Friday. 

I did make the local paper and did get a "sort of" lead from it.  Trina is working on my newspaper inserts so maybe I'll land a coupld customers.  The article is below.  I've been told I look like a murderer in the picture.  A local mailman asked Chris how he got my mug shot numbers off my shirt.  Boy it's a rough crowd in Jefferson.

MONFRE JOINS CENTURY 21 INTEGRITY GROUP

 Century 21 Integrity group of Jefferson is proud to announce the addition of Brian Monfre to their sales staff.  Brian received his real estate sales license in December 2011 after successfully completing the Wisconsin Realtor’s Association class along with a course in real estate law at MATC.  Brian is currently working on obtaining his license to practice real estate in Florida with an emphasis in home sales in The Villages, Florida where he owns a home.

 Brian’s goal is to maintain a smaller number of real estate clients so I can provide personalized, convenient service while making a sometimes difficult transaction as pleasant as possible. 

 Brian is better known in the community as the owner of Jefferson Bus Service where he has worked for 33 years purchasing the company from his father in 1990.

 In his spare time Brian is the current treasurer for the Jefferson Council for the Performing Arts and is known as the 50-50 raffle man every Monday Night Bingo.  “I really enjoy the time I spend working for the Council.  Every event is a challenge”.

 Brian is currently offering a free Comparative Market Analysis through the end of June 2012 to anyone who might be interested in listing their home with Century 21.  It is important to remember that as an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) sales representative, Century 21 Integrity Group is able to show homes from any other MLS listing from participating agencies, not just homes listed by Century 21. 

 Brian is now accepting customers through the Century 21 Integrity Group office at (920) 674-2041 extension 111. 

Mr. Moes is Captured ??????

Well, Mr. Moe finaly got put in jail, so to speak.  Moe, Moe has been going up and down the steps for a long time but never sat on the bridge and cried.  We have yet to figure out what his problem was.  I finally had to go half way up the stairs to get him to come down.  His new thing is to come running down the strps and jump from about the third step landing on the woor floor.  I'm trying to get him to stop it so he doesn't get hurt but you know how kids are, they just won't listen.  In any event, he was so cute up there.  He is starting a new thng by whimpering when he wants something.  It's a good and bad thing.  He did wake me up the other morning as he sat byt the door to go out so that's a good thing.   

Mr. Moe is a real pistol.  At night when I take him out he goes by the door but a soon as I reach for him to hook the leash up he runds into my office, growling, going in circles then he comes back again just far away from me that I can't get him.  Then he runs back into the office, through the bar, into the living room, through the kitchen, into the dining room and then all over again.  After I capture him, laughing hysterically at him I hook up his lesh and then he pulls on the other end so it's a tug of war with an 8 pound pup full of attitude.  when he loses that battle he unties my shoes.  The part that makes me mad is that Steve finally got me to give up my velcro shows and look what happens.   Had I stuck with velcro Mr. Moe's hair would have stuck to it and I could have captured him sooner than I do.  I think laughing at him might be part of the disciplinary issue.   Needless to say, we're really enjoying our little boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE

On May 2nd Moes experienced his first birthday party as the three of us celebrated Steve's 53rd birthday.  Neither Moe nor Max ever get people food other than a lick of the birthday cake during our birthday celebrations.  Max would take a bite of the cake, Moe was not so sure.  He licked it a little but was leary to bite.  I suspect that by his birthday on July 19th Moe will get the hang of it.  He really is a good boy.  He'd be even better if he'd make sure to go pottie outside "all the time" and not just some of the time.  We have the number one pretty much down but the number two is still a bit of a problem. 

I got Steve a Kindle thing.  He loves to read and has the thing in his hands all the time.  I think he's read at least five books already so it was a great gift selection. 

We were going to head to Steak Fire for dinner on the 2nd but he wanted to go to Salamone's for pizza so that's what we did.  As usual it was very good.  We ate too much as always.

MIDLIFE CRISIS

As many people know, Steve was driving a "hot" black Mustang that everyone in town loved.  I must say, it was a very nice car however, it was not very preactical and the thought of stuffing someone or something in the back seat was laughable at best.  We always had to take my Ford everywhere because we never knew who would be joining us or if we'd be bringing home doors to install in tha basement.  Whoever gets Steve's car will get a gem as it only had 6000 miles on it so it made for a very sweet trade in car. 

I loved driving the car.  Getting in was not really a problem, it was getting out of it that posed issues for me, and admitedly, Steve as well.  Driving it in the winter was a hzaard to say the least.  It is so low to the ground that you get stuck in even the smallest snow bank.  What's worse is that when there was a lot of snow you couldn't see around the snow banks and would have to pull half way out into the road to see what was coming.  It was a fun car in any event. 

Steve's new Lacrosse is very nice.  A good old family man car.  It has lots of fun things and the drivers seat is like sitting in the cockpit of an aircraft.  Unlike myself, Steve knows what all the buttons are for and won't crash into a pole trying to figure it out like I will.  (See previous entry).   We now have two practical cars that we can take where ever we go.  I have to say this, Steve spent weeks and weeks researching the car he wanted. Every day I waited to see what the car of the day was.  After he got that down the next issue was color.  That was a little more limited but an issue nonetheless.  It is a very nice car and I'm sure he's enjoyng it but has been hearing a lot of crap about trading his "hot Mustang". 

It's Buick Time

As much as Steve and I don't want to admit it, it's Buick time.  As we've been told by our frinds in Florida, "old people drive Buicks" and the Champagne color I selected is an "old person color".  Funny thing, the person who told us this is older than us. 

I really like my Enclave however it is huge.  I know that one day Steve will hear the crash in the garage and it will be me after I run the car into the freezer.  I think we're going to have to get a hanging tennis ball that hits the windshield so I know when to stop.  I'm certain that this car would never fit into the garage at our house in The Villages. 

I'm sure we all know what the word complex means and how technilogically challenged I can be, well, this care is like driving a computer.  It has this touch screen navigation-radio, do everything for you computer.  Steve and I played with it and thought we had it figured out.  The next day when I was going to work the lady who lives in the dash (we call her Evelyn) started talking to me.  "Follow the highlighted route and the navigation will begin".  I thought, how nice, it's going to help me find the office.  When I looked further, she was taking me to Florida which would not have been a bad thing.  This thing even gives us live traffic and weather reports.  Go figure. 

I was proud of myself today.  I had to go and find a house that was located on Wishing Well Lane in Fort.  I had no clue where that was.  I had done some preliminary research on the house and then headed out to find it.  "Evelyn" took me right to the house without a problem.  The issue arose when I wanted her to shut the hell up again.  I finally stopped at McDonals in Fort Atkinson and figured out how to shut her up. 

What's so scary to me is that I can start the car from my cell phone.  I could be in Florida and unlock the car 1200 miles away.  I can start it, check the fuel, tires, mpg, you name it and all from my cell phone.  A person has to wonder what they will think of next.  I think it's going to take some time to get used to this and most likely replace the freezer that sits in front of my car.

NEW CONTEST

(New Blog Posts Follow!)

MORE CHALLENGING

Tha last Brian and Steve's Adventure contest was quite easy so we're going to mix it up a bit. The attached picture is an item that was very useful. Continue reading th eblog and you "may" find more clues"

Here are the rules:

• The answer is four and only four words
• The answer must include the exact product name as it appeared in the box from which it came
• The anwer must include the designer name and exact name of the item.
• Every day or so a letter will appear (in random order) for each of the four words.
• Again, the items name must appear in the exact correct oder from the package the item originally appeared.
• Good Luck and Enjoy
• The winner will recieve another gift certificate to a bestro of our liking.

Here is the picture and the letters. (not necessarily in any order). Have fun.
WORD ONE:  (M) (T) (R) (A) (H) (A)
WORD TWO:  (S) (W) (A) (T) (E) (T) (R)
WORD THREE (A) (B) (S) (L) (E) (M) (Y) (S)
WORD FOUR (L) (O) (T) (O)

DAD AND FLOSSY

Well it's time to fess up.  Brian, and now Moe, have issues with dental floss.  I should not share this story but I tease everyone so I may as well tease myself and share my deepest carkest story that few people. 

You probably don't know that Brian has a problem with the use of public bathrooms.  It has nothing to do with them being clean it's just a "thing".  One day at work I needed to use the restroom so I went home.  I got to the duty room, took a seat and thought, well, while I'm here I may as well do something so I got my floss and started the task of proper dental hygene.  I did my flossing and then it was time to wrap things up and go back to work.  I stood up and looked for the dental floss that was now well used.  I could not find it.  I looked everywhere in the small toilet room and just could not find it so I went to work.  About fifteen minutes later I started to experience a slight burning feeling "you know where".  I went into my office as it became more uncomfortable.  I looked down younder and found the missing mint string in my underwear.  I pulled it out and hoped the burning would go away and it did in time. 

That being said, a few days ago Steve and I had delicious steaks on the grill and after that it was time to floss again.  I went and got the floss and sat next to the pool when the phone rang.  Steve answered and handed the phone to me.  I spoke to Nicole for a bit and then hung up.  I had laid the floss across my lap and "it was gone".  Having remained clothed by the pool for fear of a drone strike on my naked person, I just could not find the floss.  As I looked to my left I saw Moe, head down chompping on something.   Believe it or not, my first instinct was to go and smell Moe's breath.  YIKES.  I thought I'd smell mint.  Not a chance.  We took flashlights and looked everywnere.  We looked in the pool, in the house, under the furniture, on the bed, you name it and nothing.   I immediately called the doggie 911 and they told us dental floss is usually eaten by cats and occassionally bus owners but not dogs and we should bring him in.  Having no clue where we are during the day, finding this place at night was a trick. 

We got to the ER hospital and met with what I felt was a rude and crude so called dog nurse.  We asked if they could use a scope to look and they said they don't have one.  We asked if it could be seen on an xray and she said no, the only way to find it is to "CUT" him.  I let that one go.  She then went to speak to the doctor again and came back and said, and I quote, you can wait to see if he passes it otherwise take him to your vet and have them "CUT" him.  I literally sat there trying to figure out a nice way to tell her to go to hell but iIkept my mouth shut. 

They told us to wait 24-48 hours and see if he passed it.  If not they'd have to "CUT" him.  We were then told to give him bread as it's bulky and gets soggy and with some luck it would push the floss out.   For those of you who don't know what The Villages is all about, everyone goes to bed at 9:00 PM and everything closes.  It was about 10:00 and we could not find bread anywhere.  Finally we found some.  We gave Moe bread and then more bread the next day. 

Thirty hours after the floss meal Steve took him out at 2:45 AM and came running into the house and said to a sleeping Brian, I think I found it.  I got up and went outside to watch as Steve went through the "movement" with a screwdriver and held it up for me to see.  We shined the light on it and tried to figure out if it was grass or floss.  It was definately floss.  Steve asked what we should do with it and I said we should start a scrap book!  We decided on my second thought to "throw the dam thing over the wall that surrounds our house".  Needless to say, we were so relieved.  Having sugery on a six month old puppy is something we just didn't want to do. 

The moral of this story is keep dental floos between your teeth and not between your legs.

THE NEW JBS SOUTH EDITION

When we moved to The Villages in April of 2008 we had quite a lot of work to do to cover up some pretty horrible colors.  The picture at left is actually kind of peach which was mild compared to the dreamsicle orange we had in the kitchen.  The kitchen was our first line of attack because I couldn't stand it.  The cabinets were "shabby sheik" and it was just horrible. I called it shabby shit.   We painted the cabinets and it looks good for now. 

For those of you who used to come to Vista del Lago to visit us you will recall that we had a guest room that was theme oriented.  It was kind of an inside out garden room.  Picture things you'd see on the outside of a house on the inside.  Awnings going in instead of out, etc.  When we sold the house the new owners told us to please leave that room the way it was. 

That being said we could not go without a theme room in our house in The Villages.   After a ton of laughs and ideas, we came up with a beach theme.  Not too original but nice nonetheless.  Steve spent hours building the headboard from paddle boards and painted the room blue.  You will see the basic idea here,

As time went on we began to realize that not having an office to work in was a problem.  I worked on the small desk in the living room and Steve on the dining room table.  Not so good.   We assessed the number of visitors we had coming down in the foreseeable future and thought that changing it into an office was the right thing to do so that's what we did.  It is still a work in progress as you can see.  I found a gorgeous picture for behind the desk but I will never pay $300 for one picture.  Keep in mind, it killed me to spend $27 on new "non Velcro" sneakers.  I am adjusting well. 

So, here is the work in progress.  We have some things to get for the wall and my matching file cabinet arrives tomorrow.  I am in to ring binders and hanging file folders so I will be ready to roll.  

Notice the bands around the drapes.  I shocked Steve when I said I could simply not deal with them not hanging straight down so I asked him to make some bands for the drapes so we can train them to hang straight.   He was shocked I would ask for such an anal action but there you have it.

Quite the change if you ask me.  We used to have two printers in the master bedroom closet so every time we'd want to print something we'd have to go from the living room, into the bedroom, into the bathroom and then into the closet.  A real pain.  All the printers are now in the closet to the right.  Where you see the white blob to the left will be where my new file cabinet goes.   Being tax time, I have spent so much time in here you have no idea.  Some more finishing touches and we're ready until we buy a bigger house. 

AND THE WINNER IS.......

We were not expecting a winner in less than 24 hours but there you have it.  The winner was MH of Cottage Grove who sent me the following response:

Horseshoe "Field or Pits"

The triangular covers keep the sand dry from the rain and the narrow concrete paths are for walking back and forth to retrieve your horseshoes.

Just to refresh every one's memory, here was the photo that obviously was not challenging enough.   I am now scoping out The Villages for a more difficult contest picture.  Stay tuned for the next Villages contest appearing soon.  Spread the word to family and friends. 

THE CONTEST

Steve and I took Moe to the mailbox on Water Lilly and thought we'd introduce him to "The Villages" poop areas.  During our walk & tug session, we ran into the item shown to the left.  We had no idea what it was so Steve being Steve, took it apart and found out what it was.  Needless to say, I was shocked but it did make sense even for me. 

The only clue you will get is that this item is located behind the Bonita mailboxes and next to the Bonita pool. 

The first person who emails me with the correct answer will win a gift card to Subway.  Perhaps if it is very difficult, and I suspect it will be, we "might" give you another hint but we'll see. 

Write to brianvlgr@live.com,  with "Villages Guess" in the subject line.

Happy Guessing 

THE NEW CLEAN UP

Does this look like the face of a guilty party?  I think so.  As you may, or may not know, Steve and I had new carpeting installed in the house down in Florida.  A stupid thing to do while you're trying to house train a puppy.  The old stuff was so ugly, letting his "duties" fall on it would have been a help. If not for the toxicity of the excretions, it really wouldn't have mattered at all.

Speaking of toxicity, while Steve is in Wisconsin, Moe and I are having a battle to see who is going to win out the potie war.  I guarantee, I will win.

That being said, I may win the war but I think he's winning the battles.  He did his job behind the love seat which made me angry.  I didn't yell, hit or even cry, but I was close. (to crying).  The landfill outside Madison smells better.

I knew I had to do something without puking during the removal of toxic waste, so I used the can of spray air freshener Steve showed me before he left, so that would be my ammunition.  I got my cleaner, paper towel, scrub brush and "the can" and had at it.  I knew that if I didn't do something about the smell this was going to become a problem.  My first instint was to spray the dump with the fancy spray but that didn't sound so good.  Then the light went on, dim as it is.  I decided to spray the pretty fragerance into the air and while it trickled down to the "area" I would have at it.  So I'd spray a bunch in the air and pick things up.  Spray into the air and wipe up the area, spray the stuff and scrub the landfill, spray into the air and blot again. 

So had you come into the house you'd have seen sprays coming up from the back of the love seat and then the sound of brushing on the carpet.  

All that being said, it does work.  I wish I could sell it as a kit.  The spray, scrub and shit kit. 

And so it goes....



Moe

Moe is trying to make peace with what Florida laughingly call "grass".  He enjoys being outside more than he dislikes the grass is my guess.

But this morning Moe is not having a good day.  He must have eaten something outside that didn't agree with him because he has been chowing down on that grass like mad.  And anyone who has ever had a dog knows what happens after a dog eats grass.  You get to see it again, from either bow or stern!

This all started early this am so Brian took the first shift and is now catching up on sleep while I am on duty.  All part of having a dog!

Happy New Year!

2012 has arrived.  And no, neither Brian or I looked or felt like this little guy after our New Year's Eve celebration.  Well, to be honest, I feel like that pretty much every morning, New Year's or not! 

And that makes 2011 history.  Can't say that we are sorry to see it go.  We've had better years.  Yes, there was good, but the bad was pretty bad.  Health issues and loss of loved ones pretty much wrap up the bad.

But hey, lets be optimistic!  2012 brings us all that damned election media frenzy.  That is unless the Mayans are right after all and 2012 is the last year for all of us.  I seriously doubt that, but it will be in the news too.

Actually, our New Year's Eve was more like the picture on the left.  We enjoyed a New Year's Eve party here in The Villages with friends, old and new.  And there was actually a "Conga Line" and even though Brian is not a dancer, he did jump in with the rest of us.  What I wouldn't give for a photo of that!  :-) So, Happy 2012 Everyone!