That Darn pool: Part 3

Pool today and although it is hard to believe, worse than last week. Got to play 2 games. In the 2nd game, I got off one shot. Gotta sign off now as I need to soak my chafed behind in ice water!

Pool Part 2

Pool Part 2

Fast forward to 2020 and here I am in Swan Lake Village competing in a Wednesday pool league. On the first day of competition they asked me if I thought I should have a handicap. Ha! me? A handicap? Don’t they know I was an NYC champion? I quickly replied that I wouldn’t be needing one. To say that was a foolish decision is an understatement!!!! What a dope!

Quite simply, I have been getting creamed!!! A genuine ass whooping each of the first two weeks. These people play all the time and I haven’t picked up a pool cue in forty years. What was I thinking? I will admit I’ve had a few brief flashes of brilliance during the first 2 weeks, but please emphasize the word “brief”! The rest of my work has been nothing short of mediocre! 

It’s bad enough that I play ping pong at the community center twice a week and get beat by 80 and 90 years olds (Yes, I said 90. 93 to be exact. You have to see this guy play to believe it.) Now I am getting my behind kicked by the seniors here at Swan Lake. It’s been an eye opening experience for me and I am humbled. But I also have pride and determination. Well, at least a little...

And so I found myself over at the pool hall here on campus Saturday morning for a little pool solitaire. This only served to reinforce the fact that my game is way off, but at least I got in some practice and learned a few things about playing the tables here. I am feeling modestly better about my game.

I am hoping for slight improvement this Wednesday. I need to be calm and play smooth and let my old game unfold. We’ll see! 

Ultimately I have to answer this question: Is being good at pool still of value to someone 70 years old? Am I actually willing to put in the necessary time to get better? After all, I really have nothing to prove. And yet the youth inside me calls me to compete and be better.

My life is a roll of toilet paper these days. As the paper gets low the roll turns faster and faster. Such is my life. With so many things to do and so little time left to accomplish them, I need to be selective about how I spend my time. The youth inside me says to go for it, but the aging grandpa says slow down pal, you can’t do it all. 

The bottom line: Life is good and I feel great and each day is a gift!!!  

A classic Grandpa moment!

Get Good at Something! (Part 1)

Sixth grade way back in 1960 was an extremely difficult year for me.  Don't get me wrong because I loved school. The problem was that my parents had recently split up and I was struggling mightily at age 12 to keep my feet on the ground. Few parents ever divorced back when I was growing up in the early 60's. It was a big deal for me and I was confused and hurting. I was very fortunate that year to have a kind, gentle and compassionate man for my teacher named Larry Prato. Always ready with a gentle manner or a kind word for a young broken boy.

One day something happened in class that helped to completely turn my life around.  Mr. Prato was leading a discussion when he asked the following question: “What are you good at?” He asked us to take a minute and come up with the one thing we really did well. I was dumbfounded! I actually felt panicky because I couldn’t think of a single thing I was good at. Did riding my bike count? How about watching tv?  Flipping baseball cards with my friends? Good Lord!

The simple truth was that I wasn’t good at anything and it made me feel even more like a loser.  I mulled it over in bed that night and decided it was time to turn things around. I secretly pledged that I would become the best at something over the next few months. The question was what?

I loved playing table tennis at my local boys’ club, but you needed a partner to play, and I wanted something that I could work on by myself. I loved playing baseball and was a really good hitter, but I lacked speed and was weak in the field so that was out. Besides, it is a team sport.

What I finally chose to excel at is laughable now, but my decision at age 12 was to become a terrific pool player. It made sense to me at age 12. My local boys’ club was a great venue for me to perfect my skills. I could go every day after school, grab a table, and practice for hours.  If somebody wanted to play against me, that was fine.  If there was no one around, I could play all by myself.  

William “Birdie” Kinnear was the game room supervisor at that time and was a mentor to me in my budding pool career.  I began to think of nothing else. I was consumed by the game. That was a good thing for a kid previously preoccupied with divorce. Every afternoon I rushed to the club and played my heart out. Birdie taught me to play "pool solitaire", which allowed me to compete against myself and work on a variety of shots. 
Below is the setup for pool solitaire with the cue showing the first shot. The object is to run the table. Ball positioning is crucial! 

Over the next few months, I buried my personal problems and devoted my life to the game. Soon my game and my self confidence grew. Birdie noticed and I was eventually selected to represent my club on a team sent to compete in the New York City Championship Tournament. That year we won the whole competition!!! I was extremely proud to be a part of that and to this day I treasure the little plaque I was given for being on our winning team. 

All of the dedication and hard work I put into getting good at pool helped me gain much needed confidence and helped to get me through a very difficult period in my life. An important life lesson was learned!

Italian x 2

A good part of Friday was spent over in Cape Coral getting keys and a new fob programmed for the truck. I only got 1 key and no fob with my truck purchase and that was unacceptable. Situation now remedied.The locksmith and his wife were an interesting couple from Israel.

Friday night was the Swan Lake Lasagna Dinner and Joanna and I volunteered to be servers. We actually had a good time and the serving work turned out to be fairly easy. Quite a large crowd turned out (175 I think) for this tasty hot meal which included salad and a cannoli for dessert.We love Italian food but Joanna is on a low carb diet so I got to overeat just a bit.

Saturday I got to watch the Orangemen whip the Pitt Panthers. This Boeheim team has gone from unwatchable to very entertaining over the past few weeks. Later in the afternoon we drove up to Punta Gorda and met Tom Widell for a dinner at his church. His wife Nancy is away for a few days so it was just the 3 of us. Guess what we had...spaghetti! Italian night part 2 you might say. This dinner included a cool basket raffle but I was unlucky. However, Tom managed to win two prizes so it was a good night overall. Dinner was great and included ice cream and mini eclairs for desert. They even served wine!!

Pollen season has begun and a yellow film is all over everything and making me wheeze. I had to wash the car today as it was getting pretty bad.

So I guess this is a pretty mundane entry on a weekend when Trump impeachment trial is ongoing but too boring to even watch.
The only other thing I have to report is that I walked 2.5 miles today. I have been walking every day but today was the most I have done in one session. Getting and feeling stronger!

When an old person dies...

This is Teddy. Teddy very much likes to eat. When he is hungry, he will pester and pester in hopes of getting something, but it never works as we make him wait. He was 22 lbs. at one point but we put him on a diet (which he hates! Too bad Puss!) He was 19.2 lbs. at his last vet visit and surely less than that now. Getting healthy!

In the above picture he has just eaten. That is when he crashes for a nice long nap, like a lion on the Serengeti after a good kill. He loves to sleep with his head propped up. I think this is left from his barn days when he needed to be alert for predators. 

I've been getting to know more and more people in the community here at Swan Lake, and I am impressed with the intelligence, wisdom, compassion, and love that these people show. It may be a community of old folks, but they know how to make things run smoothly and they know how to have fun. I'd like to transport all of them to Washington, DC to replace our rotten Congress. They could fix this country in no time!! Oh and don't forget the fact that these people can really cook great food!

Let me close with this worthy saying I read from Alex Haley: 
"When an old person dies, it is the same as if a library has just burned down." 
I find this to be true. Every person has a story to tell and a wealth of life experience to share. 

3 Trucks!

I live in an area where having a pickup truck is a must. Make that a 4 wheel drive pickup! Gotta have the ability to haul; a lawnmower, a load of wood, the 4 wheeler. fishing equipment...you get the idea! You also need to get around in an area where we measure the snow in feet! It's probably not doing much for my carbon footprint, but as you will see I am doing what I can. (Not waiting for big govamint)

I have only owned 3 pickup trucks in my entire life. Hard to believe eh? Yeah, quite surprising when most of my buddies trade up on a regular basis.  But I have tried to make them last...less stress on our environment and resources when we make stuff last!

My first pickup was a blue 1985 Dodge Ram with 4 wheel drive that I purchased brand new for 10K. It was like riding in a tin can and had a manual transmission, but was a real workhorse with a slant 6 engine.  I drove t for 17 years, almost 100k miles before moving up to a 2001 silver colored Chevy Silverado in 2002. It was like coming out of the stone age when I slipped into the comfy cab of my Chevy. Can you guess how many years I owned it? If you guessed 17, you are right on! I finally let it go this fall as my mechanic pretty much condemned it for being all rusted out. I got not quite 150k miles out of it. Here are some fight eyes I dug up of the 2001:

Gotta love this second one of me getting ready to go camping on Mad River in 2006.  The truck is in the background. That pack was so heavy I had to practice walking with it!


Since arriving in Florida last month I have been on the lookout for my "last" truck. Hey, c'mon...do the math! I'll be 87 years old in 17 years. Think I'll be driving a pickup? Think I'll be driving? Uhh...will I still be here?

Last week Joanna and I discovered a wholesale used car dealership near Tampa. Some nearly new trucks at bargain prices. We went up but couldn't score cause we needed cash or a cashier's check. Thanks to my bradda, Rich, who lives down the road in Naples,  we were indeed able to arrange a cashier's check and now we are the proud owners of  a 2018 Silverado.  Looks and rides like brand new. V-6 engine easy on the environment. (Well, easier!). I'm getting 22 mpg. We're gonna drive it up to Pulaski in April when we come up for a 1 month visit. Then we are flying back down here to begin our trip out west in the motorhome. 2nd half of May and into June we are heading for Yellowstone Park on a big adventure that you can follow right here!
And so here is my "final" truck! May it get old and rust out long before I do!!!

Mr. Martini and Mr. Rossi

Decided to have a Manhattan last night. Ran out of vermouth so picked up some. However, they did not have Martini and Rossi, except in big huge bottles. So, I decided to get an off brand for the first time. This is in spite of the fact that a wise sage once told me never to use anything but Martini and Rossi. Well, stupid me learned the lesson the hard way. Couldn't even finish the drink. Today I remedied the situation with a stop at Total Wine.

Had lunch yesterday with Tom and Nancy Widell at Phil's in Punta Gorda. The food was great last Wednesday and just as good today. We always enjoy our time with Tom and Nancy!! Today I went to see "1917" at the movies with my brother. Excellent film...very well done!  No pictures today and yesterday as I am a moron!

Almost bought a truck on Saturday up in Tampa at a wholesale dealer. Everyone was very nice but we really felt like cattle. It's like they are doing you a favor letting you buy there. And actually they are as the prices are fabulous. 2018 4x4 Silverado with 35k miles for only 22k. Wow! When it came time to buy we were informed that we needed cash or a cashier's check. No exceptions! So we passed but we plan to go back again in March.  Mooo!!!! Here is the truck:

Above is the "cattle pen" where you wait patiently for your vehicle to appear so you can take it for a test drive

The Wizard of Oz Meets Publix

Made my first bike trip to Publix today on my "Oz" bike. We are now rusted into one gear so thank goodness it is mostly a flat trip. You can see that I can carry quite a bit of cargo, thanks to the Dairylea crate I stole from Mike Tirrell's garage!

As some of you know, Publix is my favorite grocery store. Good prices, good service, good variety, and the best darn key lime pie in America!!! Many of you know the story of our epic journeys on the ICW in our sailboat, and the accompanying quest for the best key lime pie.  After trying this dessert delight up and down the east coast, I can say with a great deal of confidence that you can count on Publix key lime to be great. By the way, I must note that I did not get a key lime pie today as we are trying to slim down a little.

So while many of you are scooting around town in your vehicles running errands, know that I am riding my trusty pony whenever I can. My mighty Schwin leaves no carbon footprint, and it helps to build my appetite (which needs really no building at all). So what are you doing to lessen your carbon footprint? Meatless Mondays? Driving a Prius? Walking (skiing) more?

We are heading out for dinner tonight and I will try to remember to take a few fotos. I wonder if the restaurant will serve key lime pie?

The "Steve" Factor

Years ago I learned that most of the problems in my life are caused by me. I guess you will need an example, so here is one: When we owned our 38 foot sailboat, Cross Roads, we traveled down the east coast of the U.S. on the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW). It was a glorious adventure for Joanna and I, but right before we left I got the idea to redo our fuel system and add a second diesel fuel filter. I designed the whole new system myself and I was quite proud of the finished product that allowed me to switch filters on my diesel in just a few seconds should we get a clogged filter.

We were ready to go and all went well for the first 3 days. Then suddenly we started to have engine problems. My diesel was starved for fuel and we were cutting our daily trips short to deal with an engine that was struggling. To make a long story short, it turned out that I had used the wrong sealant on my fittings and they were leaking air. A no-no for a diesel! A day to redo all the fittings properly and we were finally good to go. The "Steve Factor" had been overcome. Time and again I have learned to look for the factor in any mechanical/electrical/technical problem. About 90% of the time any situation can be solved by taking the factor into consideration.

So yesterday afternoon the refrigerator quit working in the RV. I just happened to be working on it at the time. I have a tech unit that protects my fridge from damage when we are on the road. Basically it keeps the fridge from overheating when we go up and down hills. It's called an APR and it has worked well. That is until I decided to run diagnostics on it when the cooling fan ran overtime last week.

I was in touch with the company for tech support but somehow the system crashed. No fridge...dead and not running...food no longer being cooled...very stressful.  I spent hours testing and reading manuals and watching videos. I was miserable and stressed out because I knew the "Steve Factor' was somehow responsible. We went to bed with a dead fridge and it was a restless night. This morning I called a pro and he said he would try to make it later in the day. A $125 bucks just to show and $125 bucks an hour. Yikes! The Steve factor was about to get costly!!!

I finally got a response from tech support and they pointed out that I had made a programming mistake. In minutes I corrected it and the fridge was back online! Once again, the Steve factor had been overcome. The good news is that all the searching and reading about my problem has helped me understand my system much more clearly. So in the end knowledge is power and it is a win.

The lesson is clear. As my wife says, "When things are not going your way in any situation, don't blame others." Look to yourself first. It's good advice for us all! This doesn't apply only to mechanical, electrical, or technical problems, but rather in all areas of life and especially personal relationships. In any conflict situation, learn to identify the fact that in most cases, over 50% of the problem is you!!!!!!! I know it is true for me!

Tonight I am a happy boy! I have ice!!!!

Mr. Rogers and Trucks!

Joanna and I went with her sister to see the Mr. Rogers movie with Tom Hanks. Hanks pretty much nailed Fred Rogers and we enjoyed being part of his neighborhood.

We had a front roll through yesterday and it rained in the afternoon.  I spent time analyzing my refrigeration system which has an add-on safety unit called APR. The APR unit automatically shuts off the fridge if it overheats for some reason and has its own cooling fan. I thought there might be an issue with the fan. After spending time reading and studying manuals and running diagnostics I am satisfied it is working correctly. There are always things to do to keep the bus and its systems running smoothly.

I've been doing a lot of walking to improve my fitness and trying to do over 6k steps per day. So far this month I am on target. I enjoy seeing and talking to all the friendly people as I make my rounds. Today I had a nice chat with a lady named Ruth who has a menagerie of house plants and several cats.

I also enjoy walking around the RV loop and seeing all the trucks. Many of the RVs here are 5th wheel jobs that require a hefty pickup truck to provide a tow. Since I recently sold my 2001 Silverado I am now in the market for a good used truck. It's gotta be 4 wheel drive with no rust. I see trucks all around me that are potential buys but none are for sale. This is unfortunate as they all seem to be lavishly maintained by their owners. They all shine like they just came through the car wash!

Believe it or not if I buy a truck it will be only the third truck I have ever owned in my life. My first was a 1985 Dodge pickup that I purchased new in 1985. I kept it for 17 years!! My second truck was the 2001 Silverado which I just sold. I'd still have it as mechanically it was perfect. Unfortunately, it was badly rusted out and my mechanic, Dicky Krebs, condemned it. So now the search is on for a suitable replacement. Time is on my side! I can't possibly afford to buy a brand new one. Partly because the prices are insane, and partly because I don't think I will still be driving in 17 years. (I'm hoping to still be here!)

Home sweet home:

Trucks everywhere! All clean and shiny!

 Da pool

 Entrance to RV section of park

And so the new year begins!

We had a great time kicking off the new year in Naples with Rich and Robin.

Now we are back home in Ft. Myers and taking care of business here. I set up the awning on the motorhome this afternoon after we unpacked and did some walking.  The good news is that I met my exercise quota for today. The bad news is that I ate almost a whole bag of Cheetos a little while ago.
I've been looking for a "new" pickup here in south Florida and even looked at one but so far no luck. I will keep on trying!
Tomorrow we are heading over to spend some more time with Diana.