A Snowbird in Paradise

Why didn't we go South in October with so many other Snowbirds? Well, Halloween and Thanksgiving, but as I freeze my toes and sniffle away I wonder if we will go earlier next year.

Oh yes...now I remember. There are all those wonderful winter moments with the granddaughters!!!

There is no way I can take photos AND serve dinner so I just took some before of the table. There were actually 4 tables, but without food they look a little silly. The four tables were: Appetizers, meal, dessert, and coffee and mints. Worst problem was keeping the little ones out of the candy.

Ides of October? Why beware? No...Julius Caesar was killed on the Ides of MARCH. No...Columbus Day is the TWELFTH of October.

Well, if you had lived your life on the Western shore of Lake Erie, and boated for most of it you would KNOW! One day shortly after the 15th, the wind is going to start blowing out of the West...REALLY blowing, and keep blowing for days. So what? Did you say "So What"? When the wind blows the water out any boat still tied to the dock will be dangling and stuck in the mud...so stuck that when the water comes back the boat will not be able to float and will swamp...probably not usable again. In the summer every dock would be filled with boats. There are several marinas in town, one boat club, and hundreds of homes with private docks. The number of boats is greater than the total population of the town. Many people in inland towns keep their boats here and make this a bustling place in the summer.

I see this wonderful vine from my craftroom window and enjoy it with mixed feelings.

Joan, one of my DSP friends, although we have wandered a bit apart with the demise of Hello, sent me these bean seeds last fall. I planted mine in a long pot to go up my trellis. Well, either the lack of sun, rain, water or all three, or the pot was too shallow, but mine didn't do very well...certainly not like THESE. I had about 5 seeds left over and gave them to my neighbor and look what hers did!

But...my Clematis did better and, now in September, is still blooming. She gave me the Clematis.

In the "granny forum" there was discussion about Googling your own name. So I started with my full name which I don't use all that often. A description of an adventure I was on years and YEARS ago came up.
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Teacher Laura Lou XXX drives from Michigan to Washington, DC to visit Us here at ICUG
	From Saginaw, Michigan…. The part of the State shaped like "a Mitten on the Map", Laura Lou XXX! One of the many people that Maga introduced to ICUG and Email and Message Forums. Laura was so impressed with the ICUG Poster Series that she used them in her Public School Classroom teaching her students American History. She also joined Our Computer Network and joined our nightly Brainstorming sessions to create new Projects using Computer Desktop Publishing.
Here in my Office Laura Lou and I take a look at the Front Door Software Program on the PC.

Laura became so excited about ICUG using Scanners, Graphics Design software, Color Printing and Telecommunications, that she decided to take a week off and drive to Washington, DC from Michigan, to spend time with us in the Office and learn the Computer Techniques used to produce the Poster Series. Laura's friends and family were quite amazed that she was so motivated as to drive alone, to visit people that she had never met in person, and spend a week with them. Few people can understand the close friendships that can and do form through people meeting and coming to share and know one another online. So very often we hear about the negative experiences that some people have in the Online Community, but here you'll find the most positive stories. Just ask Mike and Sue! As in life, one should use good judgment in forming any new friendships or associations

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Let's see what else I can find!
Here's another. I had totally forgotten this one from the old Passport to Knowledge project.
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Re: Backyard Biodiversity Survey

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From: "Laura Lou XXX"
Subject: Re: Backyard Biodiversity Survey
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 22:48:15 -0400

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Our data will be in tomorrow. This survey had to be done by my sixth hour
exploratory class...made up of 20 students from my three science classes.
They will then share with the rest of their classmates.

It is a good thing that I decided to do it this way. We have had a rather
wet Michigan spring. Although the far edge of the campus looks like a
lovely green lawn, it hides a soupy-wet layer of mud. As I was leaving the
team with a plot about 3 feet into the woods after taking some photos, I
tripped over a root and sprawled face-first flat into the muddy lawn.
Imagine a 60 year old woman covered from hair to toes with mud trying to
retain a shred of dignity. It wasn't easy. I wasn't hurt and once the
students could see that, we all had a great laugh. Too bad the camera, too,
was covered with mud and unable to record this moment.

Now aren't you glad you asked.

Laura XXX
XXX Middle School
XXX, MI
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As I put away some of my summer clothes and drag out the sweatshirts and heavier slacks Florida seems closer. The nights are getting cool although the days are still warm enough for an occasional boat ride. We are starting to make some decisions about when to leave, where to stop overnight and so on. More later.

Part of being an Snowbird is connecting with other Snowbirds over the summer. There is better attendance at the local Retired Teacher's group lunches. The next will be at a new racetrack that opened not too far away. That must have happened while we were in Florida because the place is a surprise to me.

We (my son and I) have been working on my Home Office all summer. There is still a custom counter-top coming Sept 10. This weekend we probably will finish the list of little details including a mirrored sliding door on the closet. Then after the counter-tops are installed, I can put the cork on the little bit of wall under the cabinets. Looks like it will have to be cork-floor tiles. The roll cork is too thin, they say.

I looked up from the computer yesterday afternoon to see a HAWK perched on the top of the birdfeeder shepherd's hook. I reached for the camera just as he opened those wings and flapped off.

He was a small hawk, only a little larger than the largest of the blackbirds. The dull brown with bits of white on the wing tips and tail are perfect camouflage. His back was to me but he turned his head and the hooked beak was unmistakable.

The absence of all other birds for a while after he left was unmistakable, too. What a cafeteria my garden must be for him!

The girls enjoy wandering around the garden but I am not getting much help this year. I will be having the younger DGD some days while her mother tutors and her sister is in the Performance Camp. It is really the older of the two who would be the most help, though. I still have some veggie seeds to plant, zinnias, and vegetable beds to weed.

The weeds in my garden path drive me to distraction! I just get it weeded and another variety pops up. I doused it with Preen but that only lasts so long and some weed varieties just don't care. So, I bought a propane weed torch! It is a "Man's Toy" but this woman likes it, too!

It works very well on cement, patio-block, my gravel path and along the fence line. There was a moment when I was hitting the weeds where the fence crosses from my neighbor's grass to weed cloth topped with hay topped with mulch. That hay catches fire real easily, doesn't it? Fortunately I had a hose handy.

I killed back the weeds that sprouted in the expansion strips in the cement between the sunroom and the pool. ALso, I hit the weeds along the back fence. Those were some tall weeds!

Now I just have to see how long the weeds are gone. I am sure I will have to hit the path once a month or so.