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Showing posts from April, 2007

From Memphis

Nice weather here. Had wonderful BBQ at Germantown Commessary last night. They prob have as gooda BBQ as anyone here. We have been helping Momma by unpacking boxes, throwing out old useless stuff and making her laugh ! I have had a couple of good visits w/ Daddy, who by the way, has really 'rallied' and seems very much morer 'with it' now that he is off aLL the excess drugs. Stephen is coming up today for the day and I think he is going to be really surprised by the difference in Daddy since the last time he was here.

Old Camel in Arizona

Workers digging at the site of a future Wal-Mart store in suburban Mesa have unearthed the bones of a prehistoric camel that's estimated to be about 10,000 years old. Arizona State University geology museum curator Brad Archer hurried out to the site Friday when he got the news that the owner of a nursery was carefully excavating bones found at the bottom of a hole being dug for a new ornamental citrus tree. "There's no question that this is a camel; these creatures walked the land here until about 8,000 years ago, when the same event that wiped out a great deal of mammal life took place," Archer told The Arizona Republic. more

Mid Week

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The first two photos show my friends, Jerry and Mary Nasello's DAC-ART house that is under construction. Looks pretty impressive ! It is down here in Gulf SHores, tucked into a nice parcel of wilderness overlooking the Gulf. Next is the type of huge wallof concrete condos that are going up down here all over...yuk ! I understand that they are not selling either. A flock of birds spent the whole day in the property next door recently. My 'Johnsons Lilies" that I dug in memphis and moved down here are blooming...I am compiling a list of plants that really don't mind a lot of salt. My windowboxes are looking wonderful...I keep them on the ground until I am mostly using A/C as I have casement windows and they block me opening them . The hinges on the remaining south window hurricane shiutters ahve completely rusted thru...we took the shutters down so none would let loose in a wind and crash into the glass. The surveyors were here this week and marked the corners of the new...

Weekend

Fabo weather here...we drove around in the Thing, but it pulled it's opossum trick of acting dead at Tacky Jack's II and we had to leave it in the parking lot and 'hitch' a ride home last night. The three gals who took us back to the Lagoon House were a hoot....3 mom's in their 30's having a big ole time at a beach house for the weekend or week. They were very sweet to take us back to the house even tho it was out of the way for them. They entertained us with stories of their last few days the whole way back...describing how lady like they were in their most trying moments and how one of them threw up in a cup by the side of the pool and the fellow sunbathers around them never noticed. Dave and I went over to Becky and Warren's beach house and hung out on the decks and beach walked on Sat. Also took wireless laptop and got online w/ their open wireless connection. On Sunday we went to the Episcopal Church on my street. The new rector is a really nice g...

For Those in Memphis

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Chris Smither is playing on Sunday evening at Walnut Grove and Perkins over at Holy Communion's Coffee House Concert series. If I was there, I'd go for sure....Harry and I once drove to Nashville to see him. Another time, I took Miller and Nick to Knoxville to see him and Cary, Frances, and Harrison went w/ us. I drove to Helena, Ark to see him one afternoon. He is so very talented, and does a good show. ...a guitar player of the highest order. Here is the 'write up' Chris Smither http://www.smither.com At 7 p.m. on Sunday, April 22, Chris Smither returns to the Coffee House Concerts Series stage. (It's a place to enjoy a really good cup of coffee, a glass of wine, a snack or dessert and some extraordinarily-talented acoustic musicians and singers. ) Smither was the second artist to play in our series when it began in 2004 and that show sold out very quickly (see the Previous Concerts page). Chris continues his non-stop touring, this time in support of his new...

Georgous Day Here

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Good Morning, the sun is shining and today should be a perfect temp. Maybe I will put on a swim suit and mow the grass at Hardwood Dr. Well, the weeds, as the actual grass is still flat and short, it is the weeds that stick up. Yesterday the surveyors staked out the new house (roughly) for the tree remover guys to come. Got to take out about 3 or 4 living ones and 2 dead ones. All pines. My builder, Dan Z. and the block fellow, Mike, came over and we discussed betting my blocks here from Granada, MS. No small job. I scanned and emailed some questions about the plans to Ted and his draftsman yesterday. The main thing we are waiting on is drawings from the engineer. He is way behind. We keep bugging him, but it doesn't seem to help. He promises things by one date then doesn't deliver. I just got an email from these people in the UK, called BabyExperiences. They want me to link to their site. Look at what they sell...I was amazed. Make a cast of your pregnant stomach and boobs. L...

Google to Add Presentations

On the Google Blog , adding presentation software to the Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Move over Powerpoint.

Blue Man Group

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Dave took me to see Blue Man Group in Mobile last night. Big show. Great show. Sorta a rock concert for grown-ups. Also a bit like Vaudeville . The big band (which had 3 different people on drum sets) and a really great female vocalist was very talented and 'tight'. The show is a percussion extravaganza. If they come to your town or you live near one where the show plays, go. Not inexpensive, but worth it !

Daddy

Momma said day before yesterday was maybe the worst day of her life. Daddy's Alzheimer induced behaviour has taken a big change for the worst. The area of The Village of Germantown that he has been living in can no longer deal with the amount of help and attention he requires. Before he is moved to the next level of care there he must be evaluated by a psychiatrist who looks at every drug he is on and assesses the whole situation and writes up new recommendations. Daddy has been on a lot of meds from all sorts of different doctors, so it is a good thing to have one specialist in charge of his entire med situation. Since we didn't already have a 'family' psychiatrist, I got on the Internet and found two in Memphis that specialize in geriatrics. One of them, Dr. Kenneth Sakauye , a middle age Asian fellow teaches at UT and has an office downtown but also on Wolf River Blvd in G'town ...he has agreed to take Daddy as his patient. We think this is a very good thing...

I Won !

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Check this....a couple weekends ago, I went to a Sat afternoon fund raiser on P'cola Beach at the Elk's 'lodge' and bought 10 drawing tickets for 10 bucks. They had boxes in front of the various prizes. I dropped one in this gift basket's box and low and behold I won about 100+ bucks worth of booze and one package of cookies. The baskets were wrapped up in shrink wrap and ribbons and bows and to be honest, I didnt really look to see what was inside when I put my ticket in. This photos is after I took the wrapping off.

Long Time...No Post

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I know it has been a super long time since I have made a post. I have just been super busy. Some of it is written here...on this page on Concrete Cottage. Photos too. I have been working on several websites night and day as it just so happens tons of stuff HAD to be changed at once. Plus getting taxes in the mail and doing the banking so the checks wouldn't bounce. Fed and AL. Big Ouch ! Plus, I went over to Island Winds West to take some photos and Dave was helping me hang a scrapbooking tool cabinet and low and behold, the rental co had not done the big Spring Cleaning and the place was not only filthy, it had a ton of stuff in need of repair. I worked 3 days solid trying to get it ready for the busy summer season. There was no time to line up a cleaning service and I mean, I worked my poor little fingers to the bone. Tons of stuff needed work that required tools & paint, so I had to do it to make it happen fast and right. Big changes in Memphis, but I will add that tomorro...

Happy Easter from Lundy

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Click to Hear my Easter Message to Each of You ...XOXOX

Comments on Current Events

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Some 'people' just don't know what to make of the latest celebrity news.... this Monkey doesn't

Yahoo now locates foreclosures

Go to http://realestate.yahoo.com Add location, click forclosures You get some info but not all, they lead you to a site that charges for exact address. Some have photos, some don't. Some have sq ft and number of bedroom, etc.. I see 5 houses in the subdivision directly behind the Wilderwood Lane house in Cordova, TN are in final stages of foreclosure. Too bad. Only 12 in Gulf Shores, they all look like older places except one 2 million gulf front and a 600 thousand beach place. Six in Orange Beach, 3 expensive, 3 cheap.

The Fruitcake Lady Remembered

Seems this older woman has died. YouTube has a video segment from the Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno that is going to make you laugh--I promise. If you don't see it above, click here.

little to big to little

Be sure to have your window max so you can access the scale at the bottom to click. Click everything. Courtesy of Nikon Big to Little and back again...

Little Quick Fun

I scored 90% Dixie.... And I didnt try to. See how you rank...kinda fun and quick. They could have had a question about the word "PECAN", I certainly hear THAT mispronounced on a regular basis. Yankee and Dixie Quiz

Weekend

We finally got a good rain on Sat Night and Sunday. We sure needed it. So did P'cola . Sat night, Dave, Warren Gottesegen and I went to a new restaurant in Orange Beach, Geno's Fresh Catch Grill. The newspaper said the guy who has opened it is from Memphis. It was packed and had really good food, we thought. All the cooking takes place in full view and the fish is totally freshly caught....big choice and grilled tastes like a wood fire. We took notes for a restaurant review for my website about Gulf Shores. Earlier Sat, Dave and I went to Univ of West Fla. for a Festival on the Green. Pretty campus w/ tons of live oaks and flowering trees in bloom, way north of P'cola . Small festival but nice outing. Most of Sunday afternoon was spent trying to get a universal remote control to work on the TV at Miller's condo. Renters were coming in later in the day. It took two trips to the store and about a bazillion thumb clicks to try to get one of them to recognize the code for...

Are you a good swimmer ?

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Heather did a screen-shot of the Google Map directions for getting fromNew York to Paris. Read the instructions. It is real funny...you might have to click it to see the big version.

Keeping Condos Rented

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I had this brainstorm idea to put a cabinet of scrapbooking tools in each condo and then advertise them on my scrapbook site , as well as in local scrapbook stores. The cabinets are very shallow and put in sorta out-of-the-way places, up fairly high. It cost about 200 bucks for cabinets and to outfit them and already I have heard about renters getting real excited about their being there. I put everything in w/ industrial strength velcro and will add a laminated photo of everything in its place to assist people putting stuff back. The sturdy bin on top holds some folders w/ leftover stickers and background paper I had on hand and don't need. I just put a note asking people to not put back any cut sheet, just use it all or nothing. That should help keep things neat. I don't advertise including any consumables, so the paper stuff is just a bonus. I have tons more I can replenish with. We have so many new huge condo buildings getting completed that I need a 'edge', a reaso...

Google Paper

New Gmail feature....want your gmail printed out and delivered to you from Google for free ? Sounds odd, but I just saw the notice today... http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html Pretty funny if you read the text....Google is good about clever April Fools Day jokes.

Spelling Matters

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I got a great deal on 4 antique exterior copper lanterns due to the guy's misspelling of the ebay item's description. Now eBay does spell correct, kinda like Google, but if it doesn't recognize what the misspelling is, it doesn't react...so somehow, I stumbled upon the sale of 2 sets of 2 lanterns off an old mansion in Winter Park FL that a guy named Julio had under his 'camp' .. think English is his second language......and he and i developed a private correspondence since I wrote and asked for larger pixel resolution photos before I bid. Anyway, he seemed to want me to get them and even sent me tips on how to outbid the other one or two bidders. There would have been more bidders if he had spelled Lanturn or Exterior or Candle correctly...and he described them as tin in the description, but later when I asked him to ck them for me, he said they did not resopnd to a magnet. B4 I bid on them, I showed my builder, Dan the photos and he said "get 'em...