Then, last week, I decided to go on the internet and begin searching for house rentals in Davenport, IA - mainly because my only daughter lives there and every time I visited her I liked the city more. (This was before the floods and tornadoes!) For a long time, the thought of being in the middle of the country, even further away from my beloved ocean, held me back from actively pursuing that idea... not to mention their long, cold winters.

Reading the Quad City Times online, I found an interesting and compelling article about a local couple who've been restoring many of the old Victorian homes located in a historic district, and turning them into rental units, with strict guidelines in their leases. (No rusty cars, no more than two cars per apartment, no large dogs, etc.) Reading the news articles about their work, and seeing all the community awards they received over the years, my interest was peaked even more. This sounded promising!

Going to an inventory of their restored houses that were currently available, I quickly found the perfect place for me. It's a huge Victorian house with the entire top floor closed-off due to having too-low ceilings for most people today. Usually, these big old houses are rented as duplexes - so I'd have had someone living above or below me (not!) But, because of the low ceilings upstairs, this particular house would be all mine... thanks to those short Victorians! (They lined the upstairs floors with insulation to keep the heating bills down.)

"My house" has a large, long living room, a medium-sized kitchen, a small bedroom and a small 'shower-only' bathroom. And, as far as I'm concerned, that's enough... it's the perfect size for just me and Smudge kitty. And the best feature ~ the one that I really LOVE ~ is the huge wrap-a-round porch. There's a rather sparse "Zen garden" in the front, a well-treed side yard and a really big back yard. It sits at the end of a dead-end lane, in a fully-restored neighborhood. They had just finished restoring it for the second time, what they called a "mini-restoration," so it has now has new paint in every room and gorgeous "glowing" wood oak floors throughout. I also saw that it had a washer-dryer hook-up... somewhere? (I forgot to ask them where - and if it has a basement? I'll assume it does, and we'll see....)

I'm moving in on July 1st, so I've been busy packing. Moving an 8-room house full of furniture into a smaller 4-room house just isn't feasible - and Frank is staying here for two more years until he retires - so I'm only bringing what I can "jam" into my car, for now... just the bare necessities. This will give me a chance to 'try it out,' and to see if Davenport, IA is somewhere that I'll want to stay long-term, or not. (Gotta try a winter first! Yikes!) The Mississippi River is located down below me - way down below me. They say I can actually see it from the upstairs windows, and fortunately, given their recent weather, the house sits high up on a summit - far, far back from Old Man River.

It will be so refreshing, and so truly wonderful, to live in a neighborhood where people speak english again, and without having hundreds of loud cars, trucks and SUV's zooming back and forth, 24-7. I'll miss Frank doting on me - and I'm sure, at first, the silence there will be deafening, especially after all these years of living in what has become a barrio, but I'm so looking forward being able to sleep at night without being awakened by vehicle noise or car crashes. That alone makes this move well-worth any hassles. Yep... I'll even take a tornado and a flood over this damn place! (Famous last words..?)

Now, if I can just get Smudge and I there safely ~ without getting anymore speeding tickets!

Was I speeding? "Not really..." and "No!"

The first ticket was on my way to Cape Cod from TN last September. It was the result of my passing a truck that had just blown one of those big mega-tires in the right-hand lane. As pieces of tire rubber began to fly all over the place, I sped up to avoid them, passing the truck. Right at the very moment I passed him, there sat a VA state trooper in the grass island with his laser gun pointed directly at me. I couldn't believe my eyes! Of course, he immediately put on his lights, zoomed up behind me, and pulled me over. I explained to him why I had been speeding temporarily, but he just laughed. He laughed at me! He didn't believe me. I told him to go back and look along the road and he'd see the rubber strips all over the place... but, nooooo... he just wrote me a ticket.... for going 80 mph in a 65 mph zone.

The second ticket was really a pisser! I was just exiting one highway and entering another on my way back from Florida. I had barely gotten onto the new highway when I saw 4-5 police cruisers lined-up along the side of the road, and 2 or 3 policemen were waving people over to stop. I thought there must be an accident up ahead, so I pulled over, even though many other people just kept going, speeding right past me. When I saw them, I had looked at my speedometer to make sure I wasn't speeding, and I was going 68 mph in a 65 mph zone (on cruise control.) And then it dawned on me... duh... this was a damn speed trap! But surely, I thought, I won't get a ticket for going just 3 mph over the speed limit... will I?

The officer who approached my car said, "Ma'am, I have you on laser going 70 mph in a 55 mph zone." As my jaw dropped, he asked for my license and registration. Never once did I ever see any 55 mph signs. I didn't even think there were any 55 mph zones on our highways anymore - except maybe in construction zones, which this was not. When stopped, I must have had my front tires in a 55 mph zone and my back tires still in a 65 mph zone. I've since learned that it was what they call a prima facie speed limit area, as opposed to a fixed maximum speed limit area. Fixed maximum limits make it unlawful to exceed the speed limit anywhere, at any time, for any reason. Prima facie speed limits are often newly posted speed limits which allow drivers to prove in certain cases that exceeding the speed limit was not unsafe and, therefore, was lawful.

So, I got one speeding ticket in VA, and another one in GA. Two in 8 months. Was I going to drive all the way back to either state to try and fight these unfair tickets? Of course not. So, I begrudgingly paid them - and now I'll paying more for car insurance, too.

That's me ~ the little ol' speed demon from TN.

Everyday, hundreds and hundreds of these irritating boom cars are going past our house, at all hours of the day and night, leaving nerves shattered in their wake. "Aggravating" isn't the word for it... it's enough to make you want to kill someone. And that's what happened recently in Georgia - a neighbor, fed-up and frustrated by the incessant noise from a boom car, went outside one night and shot the driver dead. (No... I'm not ready to do that YET, but I sure can understand his frustration!)

If you had a neighbor who was having loud parties every night, the local police could come and shut them down for disturbing the peace. But when it's boom cars going by, they do nothing. Even if you called them, the vehicle(s) would be long gone by the time they got there. And, because it's just a misdemeanor, a "nuisance," they probably wouldn't even bother to come out. Actually, this boom car noise isn't 'just a nuisance,' it's a very real health threat to those exposed to it. Also, the noise generated inside these boom cars prevents the drivers from hearing the sirens of approaching emergency vehicles - so they are also a danger to medical personnel and law enforcement when responding to an accident or other emergency. (It has also been found that these drivers are often the same drivers frequently picked-up for causing accidents, having multiple DUI's and drug offenses and driving on revoked licenses.)

So, what is one to do? Move, you say? Well, why should innocent people, doing no harm to anyone, be forced to move out of their homes, with all the expense and disruption entailed, just because a bunch of juveniles (many of whom are illegal aliens) are being allowed to pollute the neighborhood with their loud boom cars full of expensive equipment? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Just as a matter of principle, it's the wrong solution. The right solution would be for the police to enforce local noise ordinances.

So, I'm going on a crusade! I'm going to "bug" my local law enforcement... the "Keystone Cops" in Pigeon Poop, TN. I think I'll start by picking up the phone and calling them each and every time a loud, annoying boom car goes by my house. I'll just say, "Hello - Karen here - another boom car just went by and shattered my nerves...." and then I'll hang up. I'll have to do that hundreds of times a day, seven days a week, and even into the wee hours of the mornings. Every time one of these annoying cars disturbs me, I'll disturb them; maybe then they'll start stopping them!

It's a better idea than grabbing one of Frank's rifles and shooting them dead... don'cha think?

This from: www.lowertheboom.org

"Boom cars, with their high-intensity/low-frequency sounds and infrasound, are a known stressor that can lead to specific, negative events in the body. Within a few seconds of being in contact with their offensive noise the body sets off it's fight-or-flight adrenaline response. Impulses from the brain trigger the autonomic nervous system, which sets off the general stress response. As a result, glandular, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems are then affected.

The muscles tense. Blood pressure increases. Increased sugar, cholesterol, and adrenaline are then released into the bloodstream. Peripheral blood vessels constrict. Increased activity related to gastric ulcer formation occurs. Subjective responses to such noise, such as irritability and mood changes, can alter one's immune system and lead to chronic illness."

When was the last time you ordered a pizza? How about that fast food you love so much at Taco Bell? Do you have a favorite "authentic" Mexican restaurant you like to frequent? Or, are you a vegan who eats no meat or dairy products, so you don't worry much about contaminated foods (like us meat-eaters) causing you ill effects? Well, you just might want to read this if any of that is the case.

A case in New York's Jewish community drew a great deal of attention a few years ago, and gave investigators their first real lead on the cause of these unexplained seizures. A 14 year-old orthodox Jewish boy, suffering from seizures, was found to have a tapeworm infection called, "cysticercosis." These particular tapeworms only come from infected pork. BUT... this family didn't eat pork, as it was against their religion. Then others, in the same Jewish community, also began presenting with these unexplained seizures ~ and the search was on!

To make a long story short - it was found, after the Center for Disease Control (CDC) conducted home interviews with the families affected, that all of these families employed domestic help from Mexico. Their tapeworm infestation did not come from uncooked pork at all, it came from infected household help who hadn't properly washed their hands before handling their food. These workers were unknowingly depositing the egg larvae right into their foods and onto other surfaces in their homes. The household workers did not know they were infected, anymore than we will know if we get infected, because the infestation had happened years ago, in their home country, from eating contaminated pork. Many Mexicans in the country today are silent carriers.

It is now believed that thousands of illnesses, and even some deaths, have unknowingly been caused by cysticercosis. It has often been misdiagnosed, and therefore untreated, and the brain cysts, seen by MRI, were thought to be brain tumors. That was the case of the Jewish boy, until his blood was tested. Those of us in the U.S. who have been infected without knowing it are what they call, "dead-end hosts." (How thrilling!)

"When humans ingest eggs, through fecal-oral transmission or possibly through autoinfection, they become dead-end hosts of the larval stage of the parasite and develop cysticercosis. Fecal-oral contamination usually occurs viá infected food handlers who do not appropriately wash their hands before working, or by fruit and vegetables fertilized with contaminated human waste." © 2007 The American Academy of Family Physicians

Nope. You don't have to eat contaminated pork to get this particular tapeworm anymore - it can now happen from just eating a meal out, eating a pizza made by someone infected or ingesting eggs that got on your hands from touching a contaminated surface. With so many people coming into the U.S. these days without being screened for parasitic infections or other diseases, we all need to take whatever precautions we can to avoid contamination, while trying not to become paranoid!

I don't know about you, but since learning of this, I'm not about to eat at Mexican restaurants, nor will I hire foreign workers from third world countries as domestic workers in my home. And, I think I'll start scrubbing my fruits and vegetables, that could have been fertilized with contaminated human waste or handled by infected farm workers, with some good,old hydrogen peroxide - just in case!

Q & A:

Can this infection be spread from person to person?

No. Not from coughing or sneezing, for example. However, a person who is infected with the intestinal tapeworm stage of the infection (T. solium) will shed tapeworm eggs in their bowel movements. Those tapeworm eggs, deposited in food or on other surfaces, and swallowed, can cause this infection.

What are the symptoms of cysticercosis?

There are none until the parasite eggs develop into cysts which eventually enter the brain, eyes, muscles and other organs. Headaches, seizures, muscle aches and other pains can manifest, depending on how many cysts are present. Seizures are often the first symptom that something is wrong.

Should I be tested for an intestinal tapeworm infection?

Yes. Family members should also be tested. Because the tapeworm infection can be difficult to diagnose by blood tests alone, your health care provider may ask you to submit several stool specimens over several days to examine them for evidence of tapeworms.

How can I prevent cysticercosis and other disease causing germs?

* Avoid eating raw or undercooked pork and other meats.
* Don’t eat ham that comes from pigs that are likely to be infected.
* Wash your hands with soap and water after using the toilet and before handling food, especially when traveling in developing countries.
* Wash and peel all raw vegetables and fruits before eating.
* Drink only bottled or boiled (1 minute) water, or carbonated drinks in cans and bottles. Do not drink fast-food machine fountain drinks or any drinks with ice cubes. Another way to make your water safe is by filtering it through an "absolute 1 micron or less" filter AND dissolving iodine tablets in the filtered water. ("Absolute 1 micron" filters can be found in camping/outdoor supply stores.)

Last month, in the biggest oil and gas sale in Alaska's history, the Bush Administration sold a vast expanse of the Chukchi Sea - home to half our nation's polar bears - to Shell Oil and other oil giants.

But what the heck - what's a few polar bears, compared to Shell Oil profits and the Bush and Cheney stock dividends?

I don't know how much more damage this rouge President can inflict upon our country before he leaves office, but he sure is wrapping up this term in 'true-to-greed, and to-hell -with-everything-and-everybody' style. Why we haven't impeached both of them, for their crimes against America and the planet, is beyond me?

We've given them free rein for eight relentless years - and now, we're just starting to see some of the consequences.

History will surely look back on this Administration with utter disbelief at what they were able to get away with - with so little outrage by the people of this country, and no real efforts to stop them.

Stay tuned... there's a lot more devastation yet to come.

The polar bears aren't the only threatened species - we humans might just find ourselves near extinction... if this kind of behavior continues in D.C. with the next Administration.

One pathetic thing about our election process now is that it's all such a sham. Once they get into office they all get infected with the D.C. virus, and quickly become 'good-old-boy' clones. Corporate lobbyists take over their brains, fill their wallets, and we end up with a whole new series of gripes, aimed at a new figurehead.

Imagine real change... starting with a minimum wage that matches our soaring inflation. Imagine not having millions of interlopers, sneaking in under the cover of darkness, using false names and fake social security numbers, keeping wages suppressed and taking jobs from willing Americans. Imagine no outsourcing of jobs, no poverty, no wars and no corruption. Imagine a country with real forward-looking leadership - someone at the helm with the intelligence and courage to tackle all the difficulties and inequalities we face. Imagine everyone having decent health insurance, all our schools educating our young people to face a challenging future and everyone being secure in their jobs and home ownership.

It wouldn't really take that much to make these positive changes. It would just require a good hard shake-up from the top down, led by a smart leader with guts and integrity. I don't hear that person at the podium these days. I just hear a bunch of political airbags trying to say what they think we want to hear... and failing miserably. I don't know about you, but they're all insulting my intelligence and offending my sensibilities.

As far as 'we the people' go - we might as well take that phrase right out of the Constitution - because it's as if 'we' don't even exist anymore. We've given away the 'power of the people .' Through apathy, cynicism and hopelessness we've allowed ourselves to become mere pawns in the political process - unwilling to stand up, shout loudly and force any real change in the 'status quo.'

President Lincoln could be speaking today, regarding the war in Iraq, when he says:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

President Bush has done a good job over the last eight years of completely eroding a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" from the earth - can anyone ever turn it around?

Perhaps, if we the people stopped being "the silent majority" we could do it.

I can envision living in a pretty cottage in a wooded glen with a babbling brook flowing right outside my door. I'd see deer peeking through the trees every so often, and I'd be able to sit under a star-filled sky at night and only hear the sounds of crickets and frogs. I'd go down to the General Store for my weekly groceries, and I'd know everyone I met.

Of course there would have to be an ocean nearby, and the weather would be perfect each season; springtime would be mild and full of trees and flowers blooming, there'd be warm summer days and cool summer nights, a long brilliant fall season and a short, sometimes snowy, winter. There would be no stifling summer heat waves or humidity, few dreary, rainy days and, surely, no floods. There would be no big blizzards or ice storms, no blinking cartoon Christmas lights and definitely no tourist-laden traffic jams to contend with.

Does such a place even exist? I don't think so - but if I ever found it... I would move there!

In the meantime, I'll enjoy the up-coming three months of peace here in the mountains of Tennessee, and be grateful for the beauty that surrounds me when it's quiet and peaceful.

It's amazing how truly pretty this area is... when not a creature is stirring.

Merry Christmas!

So, here we are today with every kind of trouble known to man... from the miriad threats of global warming, to middle America's financial ruin and a National Debt that staggers the mind, to the Mideast wars for oil interests ("war on terror," my foot!) to the continual onslaught of millions of illegal aliens pouring over the Mexican border and the frightening increase of anti-American sentiment worldwide. What a royal mess! Can anyone fix this? Not likely. It will take more than a few miracles to pull us out of these quagmires. In the meantime, we'll have to endure the political jousting for first place all over the airwaves... or not.

I don't see a candidate at the podium that has the balls to even start to correct the mistakes of these last eight years. Well, maybe one... just maybe... but he hasn't got a chance in hell of being elected. He's tall and handsome and has gray hair. He has a great sense of humor and he's smart. He has plenty of experience... and his name rhymes with "blow." (I'll let you figure out who I'm talking about.) As an Independant, I can vote for anyone. And ,even though there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of my one vote making a difference... given the chance, I'd vote for him.

I think it's going to be Hillary who 'snags' her way in, and so we'll see the dynasty of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton come to fruition. What I'd rather see is the people in this country, especially our college students, get off their duffs and away from their computer games, and start protesting in the streets... loudly! (The 'good old days' of the turbulent 60's are but a sweet memory now....) I think the only hope of real change for better in this country is for 'we the people' to get noticeably vocal. If we choose to remain silent then all kinds of evil can, and will, just continue to succeed.

Regardless, I doubt that any one of the candidates running for office now could possibly be a worse President than who we've had to put up with for the last eight years.

For the sake of our children, and our precious grandchildren... I sure as hell hope not!

It's probably something man-made (or was created by a 'savvy' computer geek) and has nothing to do with "aliens," but come on... just let the rest of us in on the prank. Leaving us hanging like this is just plain unfair.

Even if this one is a fake, more and more authentic photos of strange objects in the sky are showing up all around the world, especially now that so many people have cell phones and digital cameras. Are they 'signs' that we'd better get our act together - and that there is intelligent alien life observing us - or do Dubya and his D.C. cronies have more secrets to reveal? Maybe they're U.S. military drones? Low-flying satellites? Whatever that one is, I want one! My grandkids would love it~ then they could just fly over all the traffic in Minneapolis, instead of having to drive in it....)

Unfortunately, in the past, the UFO subject brought out all the "crazies" - people who held meetings out in the desert wearing funny clothes ~ people who claimed that they'd gone for a ride in a spacecraft and talked with aliens from Zeta Riticuli. The military and the government must have loved them! If they are hiding a 'deeper truth' about alien life from us, what better way to have it easily dismissed than to have a bunch of "loonies" come out in public saying things like that?

But, these days, highly credible people are coming forth with sincere tales of strange sightings of UFO's. In March 1997, thousands of everyday folks in Phoenix, AZ - including the governor - saw an incredibly large triangular craft looming overhead in the night sky, and witnessed the big 'light show' it put on for hours. Airline pilots, police officers, military brass and the like, are also now admitting to having seen unknown aerial craft in our airspace for years. What will the world governments do when more and more credible witnesses come forth? What kind of "cover stories" about weather balloons and flares will they be able to concoct next? (Not to worry, folks - they're just holograms?)

Perhaps, instead of being so concerned about the illegal aliens in our midst, we need to be more concerned about a different kind of alien ~ one that can fly around in weird-looking metallic machines. I think it's time that we all insist that our fearless leaders tell us the truth about what they know about these "unknown" flying craft.

If you go to Google/Images and type-in "strange craft" you'll see additional photos of this same 'contraption,' and you can read the discussion about the 'strange markings' on it. Or, you might want to copy and paste this web address into your browser and read more about this "UFO report"... it sure is intriguing. ("da-da-da-da....")
http://www.ufocasebook.com/strangecraft3.html

“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”

The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.

Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction.

Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. No dead bees have ever been found... and nobody knows why they're disappearing." (NY Times, February 2007)

I've always loved a mystery - ever since reading all those Nancy Drew novels as a kid - but this one is mind-boggling in its implications for our future as consumers. Since that article was written at the beginning of this year, it's become an international crises with bees disappearing in Africa, China and other European countries. Think about it. . . no honey bees to pollenate our flowers, fruits, nuts and vegetables? Good grief, that's really frightening. Are those damn aliens taking our bees now, instead of just dissecting our cattle for their organs? Where are all the millions of bees that have disappeared? Why are there no little bee bodies found anywhere?

I'm going to have to keep my eye on this mystery, that's for sure - I love my flowers, fruits, veggies and nuts and I can't imagine life without them! (Interesting, too, that Jerry Seinfield has just made "Bee Movie," that opens this week in theaters everywhere... I sure hope that won't be the last we see of the bees!)

Gee, it's been a while since I've blogged. I got home from the seashore at the beginning of October, and here it is November already... where did the month go?
(I guess it went the way of the bees... more on that later, in another blog...)

My childhood friend, Karen, was her usual active and adventurous self. We spent the weekends going to all sorts of Fall activities: A Harbor Fest in Hyannis, the Seaside Festival in South Yarmouth, cranberry picking, digging our own sweet potatoes, going out to lunch for fried clams and lobster rolls at Baxter's Boathouse and the Hyannis Yacht Club, and just driving all over the Cape enjoying each other's company. It's funny how friends from childhood are never hard to pick up with again - it's like we just met yesterday after class and went for a hot fudge sundae with the gang... time stands still in such friendships... enduring friendships of the heart.

Speaking of which, I was able to companion my dear friend, Susan, as she begins to adjust to being widowed after 40+ years of marriage. We've been on many journeys together over the years, but this one is a tough one. She's doing real well, considering - but I did see some signs of confusion and bewilderment that are a natural part of such a profound loss and big change in one's life; sleeplessness - especially when alone at night; going out car shopping when she really doesn't need a new car... and just a frantic kind of "busyness" that reveals her inner feelings of panic... things that a friendship can't touch and that only time will help to heal.

I was able to help her a little, in the limited time I had, by completely redoing her master bathroom. It was a room that held many upsetting memories from her husband's long and difficult illness, so a new coat of paint, a new window treatment, some new towels, bath rugs and shower curtain transformed it into a pretty 'new room' for her. She was thrilled with the results... thank goodness!

One day, when Susan was at her daughter's house in R.I., I visited, and left some pretty mums, by Andy's gravesite. She found them there later when she went to visit, and it brought forth such big tears of gratitude. (I guess I was the first one to visit his grave, besides her.) That she was so grateful for my presence, and my meager attempts to offer her some comfort, made me feel valued and cherished. It was a win-win situation for both of us.

And, it's true ~ the road to a friend's house is never long ~ not even when 1,200 miles separate us.

Thirdly, I'll be getting away from this now-horrendous neighborhood, with its constant noisy traffic. That means I'll be able to sleep at night and not be awakened by roaring car engines, loud subwoofers or screeching tires at 3:00 AM. O' yeah, I'll miss Franko and Smudge kitty, but they'll be fine... they're both pretty self-sufficient. Frank can iron his own shirts and pants for ten days, and Smudge can survive without 'Mommy' spoiling her rotten with treats.

Fourthly, this is the time of year when two of the big car shows come to town. For the past two weekends we've had thousands of antique cars arriving. In this age of CO2 concerns you'd think they'd limit the number of cars shows in this little congested valley, but instead of just two car shows a year, we now have eleven, and motorcycle weekends, too.

Between tourism, the car shows, the high level of dangerous ground ozone (that always puts us at the top of the "dirty air" list in the country) plus the thousands of Mexicans who've come here and drive around town in their new souped-up vehicles with the amplified engines, I'm surprised we're not all flopping in the streets like dying fish from the big clouds of car exhaust that continually hang over our heads.

It amazes me every year how so many people come here and sit for hours in lawn chairs on the sidewalks, in 90º heat, to breathe-in the exhaust fumes from all the cars going back and forth on the Parkway. I've never seen anything like it in my life. People sitting, packed like sardines, for miles and miles, watching cars go by. Cripes - I don't even dare open the windows in my house for fear of getting poisoned by the air here... and they eagerly volunteer to sit there right on the street?

"Honey, it's time to go down to Pigeon Forge and eat exhaust fumes for the weekend!" (I really don't get it?)

But then, I don't crumple beer cans with my fist, wear sloppy tee-shirts year-round, wear baseball caps backwards, chew 'tabacca' or go to the NASCAR races, either... so, I guess this damn Yankee just ain't never gonna make it as a Redneck.

My friend, Susan, who lives on the Cape, lost her husband, Andy, on July 19th. The prostate cancer won the long, excrutiating battle. (Dammit!) Then, last week, a friend of Franko's - his former golfing buddy, Randy - died unexpectedly. Well, not entirely unexpectedly - he did have a long history of alcoholism, and we knew that it would one day take his life, but it was unsettling to hear that he had died so young. He died in a motel room, miles from his home in Florida; he had just started a new job in Georgia, and his lifeless body was found there by a maid. That in itself is tragic. It's just no way to go.

So, hearing all this, I think it's time for me to get out of Dodge, in my new Dodge, and to make the most of whatever time I have left!

Hopefully, in just a few weeks, I'll be saddling-up for another 2-day ride to Cape Cod. I'll take the beautiful, scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, go through upper New York State, and then travel down into New England. I'll drive for about eight hours, stop overnight in Connecticut, and then go through Rhode Island and down to the Cape.

I'm so fortunate to have a beautiful house to stay in once I get there - thanks to my friend, Susan, and the generosity of her friend, Kathleen. Kathy lives and works in Paris, France, and she invites her friends and family to stay at her Cape house when she's away. As a friend of a friend, I qualify... and it's such an incredible gift! (Rentals on the Cape, especially during summer and fall months, are outrageously high-priced. I couldn't afford to go if I had to also spend a few thousand dollars in rent.)

At Kathy's house I'll have an ocean view and a private beach to walk. I'll get to spend some quality time just being "at home." It will allow me to visit my friends, and to put these smoggy mountains far behind me, for two weeks of utter relaxation. This year, I've earned it....

Kathy won't take any rent money, or allow anyone to give her gifts to thank her, because she's satisfied with all that she already has. (She's a successful stockbroker, working in the gold-trading market, and obviously 'well-heeled.') She just appreciates knowing that someone is always at the house when she can't be there. That's frustrating to me, because I feel as if I should give her something to thank her... but, she won't hear of it. So, I'm waiting to hear from Susan about which dates are open at Kathy's house... and soon, if there's an opening, I'll be off once again to visit my beloved Cape Cod.

Reunions with my friends of the heart, refreshing ocean breezes, chilly star-filled nights, fresh local seafood... walking down memory lane; all my blessings to count... and something to look forward to... besides just awaiting the end of this ridiculous heat-wave.

It feels like 100 million years since I've enjoyed a fresh, Maine boiled lobster. When I went to the Cape last year, I did have a couple of lobster salad rolls and a baked stuffed lobster - I even had some littleneck clams, dug fresh from the Cape Cod clam beds - but I never did get to have my favorite dish... a boiled lobster dinner.

Why am I sitting here, craving lobster, littleneck clams, fresh salt air and ocean breezes, when they're only two days away by car? Because I've yet to receive my new license plates and tags, so my newly purchased car, that I bought for just such travels, is still uninsured. But my cravings don't know that, and they aren't happy to wait. They want it all... right now!

Some might ask, "Why would anyone crave eating a creature that has teeth in its stomach and two strong front claws that could break a finger in two?" Well, unless you've been raised in New England, or have gone there and experienced the incredible taste of this ancient crustateon's sweet meat, dipped in melted butter, you probably can't understand such a craving.

There are lobsters in the south, and all over the world, but they just aren't the same as Homarus Americanus. I tried eating a lobster from the Gulf of Mexico when I was in Cancun, years ago, and it smelled and tasted like rotten fish. I even tried purchasing a small lobster here, from a grocery store fish tank; it not only looked like a small, black beetle, it tasted even worse. I've been to The Red Lobster restaurant, hoping to find that what they advertise as "fresh Maine lobster tail" is true. Oh, it's a Maine lobster tail alright, but it sure isn't fresh. "Sawdust" came close to what the long-frozen, white meat looked like. I didn't even bother to taste it... I just wanted to cry.

There's a real art to eating a boiled lobster, too. One has to learn how; the younger, the better. (If you've ever seen grown adults trying to eat a lobster for the first time at a restaurant, with those silly plastic bibs placed over their shirts, then you'll know what I'm talking about.) Other than shucking clams, mussels, scallops and oysters, I can't think of another food that we have to actually learn how to 'get-at' in order to eat it.

Just in case you plan to eat a boiled lobster dinner for the very first time - and you don't want to embarrass yourself and make an ungodly mess all over a table in public - here's how to do it like a pro... New England style:

First you separate the claws from the body by twisting them off.  Bend back the hinged “thumb” or pincer of the claw until it breaks off. You can get meat out of it with a pick or small fork. 
Next, break off the claw part from the knuckle. Stand the claw on its edge and use a heavy knife, or a lobster cracker, to chop into the shell. Twist the knife, and the shell will split apart. The meat will then be kept whole. Extract the knuckle meat using the same method. Use a small fork or a lobster pick to get the meat out.
Now, separate the tail from the body by twisting it free. Break the flippers off of the tail. Insert a fork where you broke off the flippers and push the meat out of the tail. Peel back the flap that begins at the flippers; that will expose the black intestinal vein - which you throw out.
The top shell can be unhinged from the body by turning the body on its side and cracking it. Once the top shell has broken free, you can get at the tender piece of meat that lies between the body and the outer shell. You can pick further, and you'll find small morsels of meat located throughout the whole body.
The light green tomalley (thought by many to be the tastiest part of the lobster) can be removed from the body and eaten, and so can the eggs sometimes still found in female lobsters, the red roe... the "caviar" of the lobster.
Finally, break off the legs from the body and extract the meat by squeezing and sucking it out. (Kids of all ages love that part the best!)

There, now that we all know how to officially take apart and eat a boiled lobster - I think it's high time for us to go up to Maine... "ay-ah"... and pig out!

What a pleasant surprise! Bill, my sales representative, was courteous, informative, kind, and patient. He never once pressured me to even look at cars outside of my stated price range. When I decided on the least expensive car I had test driven, and refused the finance manager's sneaky "implantation" of a $1,695.00 extended warranty into my contract, he never changed his demeanor. The F &I guy left quickly in a huff, but Bill remained as courteous as ever, even though I know it cut into his paycheck that I didn't buy the warranty.

I don't know what might have happened if I had gone to a traditional dealership where the sales reps work on full commission, but I'm guessing that it wouldn't have been as low pressure or as pleasant an experience for a woman alone. I have high regard for the Carmax experience now, and I would recommend them to anyone who wants to avoid haggling over prices, warranties, ect.

There are exceptions at traditional dealerships, I had a very nice female sales rep in Williamsburg, VA when I bought my last car. But, looking at that old contract today, I can see where I did get 'taken,' because I went in unprepared and in a rush. They did put an extended warranty into that contract, that I never even noticed, along with credit life insurance that I didn't want or need, and my interest rate on the loan was way too high. But, I bought it in a hurry, and I didn't even look at the contract, so shame on me! After 15 years of driving my old Olds, without any major problems, I certainly got my money's worth out of it, regardless.

Buying a car is a major investment, and it should always be regarded as such. Unfortunately, with all the fancy ads and phoney incentives to purchase cars today, too many of us will fall into the 'hurry up and get it now' mistakes.

Doing research online, and spending the time deciding what I wanted, and especially what I didn't want, made a tremendous difference in my car buying experience. Going through Carmax, instead of a traditional dealership, was definately a bonus and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Now, I have to go out and play with my pretty little Dodge Stratus SXT and get to know her better!