Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Water heater Glo Bulb goes "POOF"!

It's been an interesting last 4 days here at Casa Di Casey.

Saturday afternoon Mrs Casey informs me that she had to take a cold shower. It was not pleasant. Mrs C is not happy. I try to trouble shoot, but call a plumber after consultations.
Guy comes Saturday at 2 Pm. Good news bad news. It's only the glow bulb thingy. Bad news is all supply houses are closed until Monday.

Okay, they will come back Monday, but in meantime, we are showering at our gym, which opens early in the morning. (5 AM) In other words, we are getting by.

Then Monday comes, and I get a call. Nearest glow bulb for our particular water heater is in Lancaster PA. They are shipping it overnight, and they will be out Tuesday.

Mrs C and I bear down. she's a trooper, that Mrs C. They arrived today before 5 PM, and we now have very hot water. Hurray!

How did people live without water heaters? I survived, having been in the United States God Damn Army and endured probably thousands of cold showers, but still, Mrs C showed me how tough she could be. Boolyah! that's why she got the tattoo for her B'day, and I don't have one!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Mowing at the Cemetery!


Well, it was a beautiful Spring day here in the Lehigh Valley, and I did what I needed to do, and hadn't done since November 4th. I mowed most of Section N at Fairview Cemetery. Those of you who followed my old Lehigh Valley POV blog know that this is the family plot of my wife's family.
Fairview was founded in the 1820's and many of Allentown's most famous are buried there, including three Revolutionary War Veterans, and the Commanding General of Pennsylvania's units, General James Craig. He was in his late 80s, btw, when he died.
Anyhow, dead people don't complain about Charity. Nobody complains about my weed whacking or whose graves I didn't get too. This place is 26 acres, and has a budget of $12,ooo for maintenance. FOR THE YEAR. It had a major embezzlement a decade ago, and some places are in disrepair. The owner of the Funeral home on the property is not responsible for the upkeep, but does what he can with what he has, managing to keep the access roads clear and mowing what he can. He has thanked me many times for what I, and a few other volunteers do.
So on a beautiful sunny, late April day, I was out in the solitude of a beautiful cemetery, giving three hours of my time to work in section N and part of neighboring section S. Nobody complained about how I cut the grass, or the pattern I did it in. I picked up the beer bottles/cans, and food wrappers left by the gang bangers who hang out in there at night, and made a list of gravestones that they knocked over and I need to get help to move back.
I don't get overwhelmed by the size of the task, I just take it one thing, one section at a time. I just wish they would quit destroying the emblems marking all the Veteran's graves. As A veteran, that is the one thing that gets me mad. Oh well.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Gym Nastiness, or why I don't care for fat hairy naked butts in my face.

I like my gym. I go there several times a week to help work out my stress.

But it has some really good, no nonsense rules.

Rules like, "Please turn off all cell phones in the locker room."

Now with a rule like that, you would think that common sense would dictate that if you are there to work out, you would put your phone in your locker, right?

Today after swimming my laps in the pool, I headed over to the much warmer therapy pool for 5 to ten minutes of relaxing "cool down." (BTW, one of the little feats I can now do is swim from one end of the pool to the other without coming up for air. it's a 25m pool, and that's no easy feat for a 5'10", 240 pound guy.)

Anyway, there's a guy in the pool, talking on his cell phone very loudly. Somebody really pissed him off in some kind of deal. seeing it was Sunday, he must be a very important person to need to have his phone while sitting on the edge of the pool.
I see this guy at the gym a lot. I never see him on any equipment, but I always see him on the phone, even in the locker room, where it is supposedly verboten. Must have a special membership, I guess.

My other pet peeve about people ignoring rules is the rule that you must wear swimwear to use the spa facilities. It is on your contract, and there are big signs at the doors to the jacuzzi, steam room, and sauna respectively. Yet I open the door to the Sauna, and there is a guy, laying on the wooden bench, all spread out, au natural. that's right, his fat hairy ass butt cheeks were pressed against the wooden bench slats in the sauna.

This is why I always put a towel down before I sit anywhere, even in my bathing suit, because of inconsiderate pigs like these. So there's my Sunday rant for this week. I feel better now, and have to get back to work on my book, or the Grammar Yoda will be after me for slacking off.
see you later in the week!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Lost Update: Miles to go

Okay, regular readers know that I am a big fan of the TV show "Lost".

So what do you guys think of Dr. Marvin Candle/ Pierre Chang being Miles' Dad? It's bad enough that the late great, fair haired Charlotte grew up on the Island, but Miles was possibly born there as well? I have this really strange feeling that Miles and Smoky judge monster have some kind of karmic connection.

How about Hurley telling Miles that he can see dead people too? and rewriting the second Star Wars movie to make it better? Gotta love it!

Elizabeth Mitchell and Angeline Lilly are the two hottest babes on that island. I like sultry mature women, just ask Mrs C! That those two conspired to turn preteen Ben Linus over to the Others, charting their own eventual descent into Hell is mind boggling.

I've been trying to come up with a good description of how that show operates, and I find inspiration in how the characters react to situations in the "Here and Now" (Sawyer slugging the security guy who is about to expose his duplicity as "Lafleur".
Then contrast that with Sun, Ben, and Locke trying to reunite with their companions 30 years in the past. I call that dealing with the "Here and When."

Sayid is free ranging in the jungle, and grid 334 is where the hatch is getting built. So what if the magnetism pulls a guy's filling from his tooth out through his brain? OOPSIE!

And just whose side is Iliana and Bram on? They have guns, and have asked both Miles and capt Frank what is at the foot of the statue. Well, we know who lives in the Basement of the Temple, don't we? That is Smoky the Judge monster's private rec room!

Next week is a recap episode. I hate those. But after that, it is the final three of the season.

Any thoughts on what the cliffhanger will be? last year the island went "POOF!"

I'm betting that there's a big reunion. I'm also betting that "the side that's going to win" is the newest incarnation of the Dharma group. There will be blood, and Smoky will shed it!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Of Chainsaws and such

Last year I had some slight misadventures cutting down a few trees at casa di' Casey, but there was no permanent damage or injuries incurred.

Monday one of my friends decided to engage in some Testosterone flexing, and dropped a tree on his tool shed, flattening it. The friend who tried to advise me what I should do. I didn't listen to him. I kindly nodded and went about it as I planned. Yeah, I slightly dinged a rain gutter, but otherwise, nothing was worse for the wear

Is that not some delicious irony? Now he asked if I knew where to get his chainsaw fixed.

I told him to go buy a new one. I only wish I had pictures.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The First mowing of the lawn of 2009

I mowed today, after spending an hour cleaning the lawn mower, sharpening the blade, putting in fresh oil, checking the spark plug, and putting in fresh fuel.
It was 50 degrees and sunny, with a brisk breeze. the three dogs loved the extended time in the yard, as I also weed whacked the edges of the sidewalk and then filled all the bird feeders.
Found a dead skunk at the back of the yard, and buried him outside the invisible fence so nobody would get any ideas to dig him up.

The skunk has symbolism for me, as some jerk is anonymously impersonating me on some of the other area blogs, trying to stir things up. That isn't going to work. Casey don't play that.

Anyway, I was hoping to hit Fairview Cemetery this week, but they are forecasting cold rainy days on Tuesday and Wednesday, the two days I could get there, so it looks like next week at the earliest. Work looks bad tomorrow. Oh well, that's why they pay me.

I hope all out there in Blog world had a great Easter. The Resurrection of Christ is symbolic as in new beginnings, I hope those in need of a fresh start find it.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

I am who you think I am, and I love dogs

It has been a very busy, and tough week. Friday alone was a great roller coaster ride.
I wanted to leave work early, but that didn't happen. So I didn't get to Vallos bakery until after three to get our order for Saturday morning at the Jersey shore. Then because of the line, I was there about 45 minutes. This means I didn't get home until after 4 PM, and Ethel the dog had an appointment at the vet for 4:30 PM. Mrs C went to the Jersey shore with her sister and niece at 9 Am, so I was on my own.

Ethel the dog is very sick. so sick that she couldn't get her shots and be boarded. It happens. So I had to cancel boarding for her, Lucy and Sally. I got up at 4 Am as usual Friday to go to work, but now, with all my fun, I don't get back home until after 6PM. I need some me time, so I pack up and head to the gym for a good work out, and then I come home just before 9 PM, having relieved some stress, and check my email. I immediately wish I hadn't, but I move on from there, starting laundry, reading a few more emails and then the paper online before heading to bed.

Saturday I get up at 5 AM, having slept in for an extra hour. I give Ethel her medications by hiding them in a chopped up Oscar Meyer hot dog, and administer her ear drops. I feed the fish, and then I load up the car with all the goodies for the almost three hour drive to Cape May point, New Jersey.

Now don't freak out people, I leave the dogs alone at home in a very big house and Mrs C and I are away each day anyway at work. We have the whole Brinks security thing going on, motion and fire detectors, threshold sensors etc, so there's nothing to worry about.
I get to Cape May point about 9;30, enjoy the Easter Egg hunt, do family lunch and all that, and then at 2 PM I kiss Mrs C good bye and head home. I get back at 5PM, and do another shift of Dog meds, before letting the three puppy girls outside for a while.
Then around 6 PM I turn on the alarm, and go run the errands, as in grocery shopping. I got home around 8:15 PM, and now, after putting the groceries away, I open my email, and what do I get?
Supposedly I spent the last 48 hours online posting anonymously hateful comments on the blogs of other people who I don't get along with.

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GET A BLEEPIN LIFE!

I know that it is hard for some, especially certain residents of certain Pennsylvania counties that border New Jersey and the Delaware river to understand, but I have other things to do than hide behind a computer and think up ways to insult your obviously fragile egos. I'm also irked to hear that one particular wackjob, a NOBODY, you might say, is anonymously impersonating me.

Let me make it very clear to you crazies, and not so crazies.

I SIGN MY NAME TO MY COMMENTS, AND I DON"T WRITE ANYTHING THAT I WOULDN'T SAY TO YOUR FACE. Yes I called someone a stubborn mule concerning their behavior. I signed my name to that comment, see a pattern there? GET OVER IT.

If you don't like what I write, DON 'T READ IT ANYMORE!

This is just a blog, that I use to express myself, nothing more I'm not using it to do character assassination, as some bloggers who consider themselves "relevant" and "credible" do. No settling of personal or political scores here. Just me laughing at myself as I make it through each and every day.

Most bloggers I know understand what we are doing here. It's a support community for many who found a new way to express their innermost thoughts. We share our joys and our pains, without inflicting them on others. But some people take Blogs as their real life, and I think in some cases, their BLOGS HAVE BECOME THEIR LIFE. In Fact, I am convinced of that.

You know something else? I'm not sure if it was Will Rogers or Mark Twain (Samuel Clements), but there is a quote that says you can take a dog as a friend, and he will be a friend for life, but if you make a man your friend, eventually he will bite you. You could say the same for some male bloggers I know. (So far all the women bloggers I know are class acts)

If I had a choice between my three dogs, and certain(and it is a very few, and they are all male, by the way,) bloggers as friends, I would choose my three dogs.

They are loyal, loving, and don't care about my bad days, they treat me the same and aren't fair weather friends. I know of at least a couple of Lehigh Valley Bloggers I could never say that about.

Certain Bloggers versus dogs? Dogs win hands down.

Oh, and by the way, Happy Easter. Sally chased a rabbit out of the yard while I was writing this. I guess there won't be any candy in my basket tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Still Kicking!

I have survived two long days at the real job, and I did get all the painting done Sunday here at casa di Casey.
I did take down the non working light/fan fixture. In a miracle, I did not eloctrocute myself once.
In really good news, I am in my new work office, with new furniture, and a spanking new Dell!
My monitor is a 20" flat screen! Being the "Man" has its privileges! Boolyah!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

It's a Home Improvement Sunday!

Mrs C is in Chicago at a conference, which means it is "Painting" time!

When Mrs C is away, I can paint, and not worry about the fumes making her ill. So when I get home from church and then the gym, I will be putting a second coat of paint on the upstairs hallway.

Then I will be doing another of my famous "ELECTRICAL REPAIRS!"

There is an inoperative ceiling fan that must come down.

We all know about me and electricity, don't we, how I sometimes "Forget" to turn the power off? I'll give an update tonight before I go to bed, and let you know how my home "Defibrillator" testing went!

6:30 PM Update. I survived, much to the chagrin of some rival bloggers, I bet, LOL!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

April Fools Day, and We have so much work to do

Hi, I'm Sheriff Fred, and next to me is Deputy Ethel

Due to Budget Constraints in Allentown, we are all that is left of the Police Department. We will do our best, but there wasn't anything left in the budget to pay for gas in our patrol car, so we will be on foot. Our response time is pretty good, considering we have to run, but we will manage. We blew our budget this year paying for this, our official portrait. Hope you like it!

P.S. We are good friends with McGruff, he said he'd stop by and help out on weekends, if that makes you feel any better!