Post by captbob on Mar 1, 2015 2:14:28 GMT -5
Left here (St. Pete) this yesterday morning at 6:45 and drove to Jacksonville for some family stuff. Drove home this that evening. 515 miles round trip. Much of it in driving rain. I just decided that I'm getting too old for this kinda silliness, and that newsflash pretty much sucks.
Used to drive further than that for a good concert, for an invitation to go diving for lobster or even a birthday party that wasn't to be missed, without even thinking about it.
The offer was there to stay the night, but I wanted to get home. Figured that it would be easier driving through Orlando at night rather than when all the theme parks were open. Reckon that would have been true if not for the rain and all the road construction. Kinda changes the game when the road isn't where it was the past dozen times you drove on it, the temporary new road has more curves in it than a go cart track and the windshield wipers can't go fast enough to clear the rain.
Can't believe that folks actually slowed down to under 70 MPH going through all that. Bunch of sissies if ya ask me. Heck, most of them are in rental cars anyway!
First stop in Jacksonville was to visit mom. Pretty much threw me for a loop when she wasn't where I last saw her.
Did I mention she is in a cemetery?
Yup... gone. No stone, no bench just a patch of fresh dirt.
I felt like the Grinch when the Whos sang even after the presents were all gone. Just stood there scratching my puzzler and wondering how this could be. It's just not like her to go somewhere without out telling me first.
So, I called my sister and mentioned that mom was missing. The conversation continued something like this:
"Oh yeah, we had her moved."
(I didn't even know you could do that!)
"Uh... and you were going to tell me this... when??"
"Ah, we just did it last week. I didn't like where she was and I forgot to let you know."
"Had she complained about the spot she was in?"
"Well, it was under that tree, and I just couldn't keep the stone clean and ..... (blah, blah, blah)
I sat down on someone else's wet bench and lit a cigarette, figuring that my sister must have run out of rooms to redecorate in her house. So moving mom just must have made sense to her. You'd completely understand if you knew my sister.
Heck, she had her driveway ripped out and pavers installed (with 3* broken water lines during the process) and hid my mom on me in the same week. Pretty sure she considered that a slow week.
* Three lines
1 the paver installers broke the sprinkler line to the front yard
2 then broke the line for city water to the house
3 THEN broke the city line going to ALL the neighbors down hill from her
I thought this was funny as hell! Almost as good as the story about they (sis & her hubsand) had spent the previous weekend cleaning out their garage (they had the floor done with that fancy garage floor speckled paint process - probably cost more than my entire house!) and how the paver crew had opened the garage door to use a cement saw to cut out the old driveway, thus filling the garage with cement dust. I had tears running down my face by this point in her story. She probably thought I was as upset as she had been at the time of the cement dust bowl and was commiserating with her regarding this tragedy.
I gotta back up and fill this in a bit more, because it's just too good not to share... (beer run)
Okay, so my sister had had the garage floor done and cleaned the garage "cleaner than it had ever been".
She is on the phone with some friend - she uses a head set (kinda like a football coach wears) so that she is hands free while on the phone and can do 15 other things during the call as to maximize her time.
She hears an "odd noise" (the guys outside busy filling her garage with cement dust) and doesn't think anything of it. But it continues for quite some time, so curiosity finally compels her to investigate.
She goes and opens the garage door into the house and can't see a thing. Solid wall of cement dust.
She's screaming at them to stop and, of course, they can't hear her - because there's a huge noisy saw doing what cement saws are designed to do.
SO... she runs to the front door to go around to the front of the garage to put a stop to the catastrophe being unleashed upon her new showcase garage.
Aside: Granted, were I in that situation I too would have been a tad miffed. Difference being, I would have grabbed a fully loaded AK47 on the way out the door and everyone could have read the end of the story in the newspaper or seen it on the evening news.
Well, she can't go out the front door... because there is a MUD LAKE from all the broken water lines.
Having hung up on her friend by now, she runs out the back of the house. And the "landscaper" (yardman?) is right there. Now, she's screaming at him "MAKE THEM STOP!! MAKE THEM STOP!!"
As if he has a clue what she is referring to.
At that point, (of her telling me this story) her phone rang and I never did hear the end of it.
I need to write myself a note to remember to ask.
I didn't even bring up her forgetting to tell me that my mother had been relocated. She earned a Mulligan on that one.
ANYWAY, the rest of my day trip went pretty much as I had figured it wood. Went to see dad while he still knows who I am. And got to see my nephew's (and wife) new house. It was actually one of my best trips up there. Shoulda stayed an extra day.
Used to drive further than that for a good concert, for an invitation to go diving for lobster or even a birthday party that wasn't to be missed, without even thinking about it.
The offer was there to stay the night, but I wanted to get home. Figured that it would be easier driving through Orlando at night rather than when all the theme parks were open. Reckon that would have been true if not for the rain and all the road construction. Kinda changes the game when the road isn't where it was the past dozen times you drove on it, the temporary new road has more curves in it than a go cart track and the windshield wipers can't go fast enough to clear the rain.
Can't believe that folks actually slowed down to under 70 MPH going through all that. Bunch of sissies if ya ask me. Heck, most of them are in rental cars anyway!
First stop in Jacksonville was to visit mom. Pretty much threw me for a loop when she wasn't where I last saw her.
Did I mention she is in a cemetery?
Yup... gone. No stone, no bench just a patch of fresh dirt.
I felt like the Grinch when the Whos sang even after the presents were all gone. Just stood there scratching my puzzler and wondering how this could be. It's just not like her to go somewhere without out telling me first.
So, I called my sister and mentioned that mom was missing. The conversation continued something like this:
"Oh yeah, we had her moved."
(I didn't even know you could do that!)
"Uh... and you were going to tell me this... when??"
"Ah, we just did it last week. I didn't like where she was and I forgot to let you know."
"Had she complained about the spot she was in?"
"Well, it was under that tree, and I just couldn't keep the stone clean and ..... (blah, blah, blah)
I sat down on someone else's wet bench and lit a cigarette, figuring that my sister must have run out of rooms to redecorate in her house. So moving mom just must have made sense to her. You'd completely understand if you knew my sister.
Heck, she had her driveway ripped out and pavers installed (with 3* broken water lines during the process) and hid my mom on me in the same week. Pretty sure she considered that a slow week.
* Three lines
1 the paver installers broke the sprinkler line to the front yard
2 then broke the line for city water to the house
3 THEN broke the city line going to ALL the neighbors down hill from her
I thought this was funny as hell! Almost as good as the story about they (sis & her hubsand) had spent the previous weekend cleaning out their garage (they had the floor done with that fancy garage floor speckled paint process - probably cost more than my entire house!) and how the paver crew had opened the garage door to use a cement saw to cut out the old driveway, thus filling the garage with cement dust. I had tears running down my face by this point in her story. She probably thought I was as upset as she had been at the time of the cement dust bowl and was commiserating with her regarding this tragedy.
I gotta back up and fill this in a bit more, because it's just too good not to share... (beer run)
Okay, so my sister had had the garage floor done and cleaned the garage "cleaner than it had ever been".
She is on the phone with some friend - she uses a head set (kinda like a football coach wears) so that she is hands free while on the phone and can do 15 other things during the call as to maximize her time.
She hears an "odd noise" (the guys outside busy filling her garage with cement dust) and doesn't think anything of it. But it continues for quite some time, so curiosity finally compels her to investigate.
She goes and opens the garage door into the house and can't see a thing. Solid wall of cement dust.
She's screaming at them to stop and, of course, they can't hear her - because there's a huge noisy saw doing what cement saws are designed to do.
SO... she runs to the front door to go around to the front of the garage to put a stop to the catastrophe being unleashed upon her new showcase garage.
Aside: Granted, were I in that situation I too would have been a tad miffed. Difference being, I would have grabbed a fully loaded AK47 on the way out the door and everyone could have read the end of the story in the newspaper or seen it on the evening news.
Well, she can't go out the front door... because there is a MUD LAKE from all the broken water lines.
Having hung up on her friend by now, she runs out the back of the house. And the "landscaper" (yardman?) is right there. Now, she's screaming at him "MAKE THEM STOP!! MAKE THEM STOP!!"
As if he has a clue what she is referring to.
At that point, (of her telling me this story) her phone rang and I never did hear the end of it.
I need to write myself a note to remember to ask.
I didn't even bring up her forgetting to tell me that my mother had been relocated. She earned a Mulligan on that one.
ANYWAY, the rest of my day trip went pretty much as I had figured it wood. Went to see dad while he still knows who I am. And got to see my nephew's (and wife) new house. It was actually one of my best trips up there. Shoulda stayed an extra day.