May 26th - Memorial Day,  2014  

A Good Day for Remembering

Have I ever told you about my eldest brother, Robert?  Quite a guy, Robert.  Here's a photo of him when he was younger than memory - good looking fellow, don't you agree?   I guess this photo must have been taken back in, oh, the late 1950s.  Rob held the place of the eldest of the four kids in our family; just as I'm the youngest.  Despite the ten year difference in our ages, he and I looked so much alike that a friend of mine, in seeing Rob and me beside one another, remarked that if we had both been of the same gender we most certainly would have been taken for twins.

We thought a lot alike as well; being the two risk-takers, the debaters, the explorers, and the tradition-breakers of the family.

 It was Rob who tutored me in math so I'd pass the SATs, and Rob who arrived by my side first when I came into too-close contact with a container of poison as a very young kid - it was Rob who blazed the trails in so many ways as we all were growing up.  Though there was a great distance of time between us there was always a strong link between Rob and me;  call it a "psychic bond" if you like - some strong connection which never ended and never weakened.

Rob was always attracted to the oceans, and ultimately became a marine biologist; inventing the aquaculture method now used world-wide to farm shrimp. He and his wonderful wife Nica raised five amazing kids; mostly in Australia.  Here's a photo of his family - again, an old picture from 1991 but they look so great I couldn't resist sharing it:

But that's not why I called your attention to him.

Rob's first love of the ocean began with his being a beachcomber (which our dad interpreted as being a "bum").  One day when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old I received a package from Rob.  In it was one of those glass floats that are attached to fishing nets that he'd found on the beach one day.  With it was a poem he'd written, which I want to share with you.  It has affected me deeply  all my life, and I gift it to you in the hope of it touching your heart as warmly and as deeply as it has always touched mine.

Oh, and if you're confused by why he addresses me as "Drucie" in the poem below - it's because that's my full name...

When they ask you, Drucie, "What does he do?", you can
say that I'm a beachcomber.  A beachcomber is someone who
looks for things like this glass ball.  For the soul reason
that it is beautiful.  Living means:  to find beautiful things.
The purpose of finding beautiful things is to give them away.
And that, Drucie, is love.

A beachcomber gives away beautiful things, thus he lives to
love.  That is what human means.  A beachcomber is a
human being.  The most beautiful thing a human being can give
away is himself.  As often and as completely as possible.
Fulfilled living is infinite loving and that, Drucie, is God.

The beachcomber is God.  His life is fulfilled giving away
beauty.  He gives himself away untold times and his gifts
come together and grow.  A unity is made and remade with
all the gifts.  The unity of a beautiful thing;  a thing to find and
give away.  I give you myself, Drucie, in this glass ball.


I kept that glass ball for many, many years, and though it finally broke, I've never forgotten it or that poem.


As to my eldest brother, Robert, he once again led the way for his family - this time across the rainbow bridge, when in June of 2009, having been mostly paralyzed by the hideous disease ALS, (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) he bid his wife and children goodbye and ended their ordeal and his by taking his own life.  His family continues his fight to allow death with dignity for people in Australia with debilitating terminal diseases.

While no one in my immediate family fought in any political wars, both my mother and my brother Rob fought a far more insidious war with ALS.  For me, Memorial Day is for them.

New Landscaping Gives a Beautiful New Look To Our House!!

It occurred to me that when I showed you photos of the exterior of our Floridian house, I never showed you the "beard" of juniper that cluttered - uh- bordered the driveway.  The reason is simple.  I've hated that juniper since the day we moved in. It was ugly and nasty, no other way to say it.  I DID show a bit of it to you on Facebook recently when a flock of ibises munched their way around it.  

There is is - on one side of the drive.  Ugly and nasty, and those tall shoots are elm tree shoots, because one of my elms is nearby and throws out seed pods in desperate profusion.  Here's a picture of the juniper on the other side of the drive -  just as nasty. I always knew that it was not only ugly and scratchy but a perfect haven for snakes and other creatures.   We really wanted to replace it with a lovely display of brown river rock and maybe some nice flowers growing around the mailbox.

So, after having talked about it for months and months, back in late August we finally contacted a number of landscapers and got a bid from one called Village Landscapers.  Having no idea of what we wanted (other than the removal of the damned juniper) we told him to walk through the property and give us a bid on whatever he thought he'd like to do, and we'd pare and choose and nitpick until we met someplace in the middle and could zero in on what we wanted.  Well - his "okay, I'm going to go hog-wild with this property" bid came to over $11,000!!!!  After we picked ourselves off the floor we examined his very, very detailed bid and chose the things we wanted him to actually accomplish - for a little under $3000.  Well, that was just fine - the only catch was that he is SO busy he told us it would be at least 6 to 8 WEEKS before he could fit us into his schedule.  Talk about the suspense!!! 

Now, my lawn care trolls -uh- persons, talented little monsters -stop it- mowers that they are, had on occasion "trimmed" (word used very loosely) my plant life.  When I asked for my delicate hibiscus shrub to be "trimmed back" he buzz-cut the poor thing with the same electric pruning saw you use to cut off tree limbs - no shape, no care - just zapped off the top few feet of the thing - everything they touched looked HIDEOUS - so I told them they were FORBIDDEN to EVER touch anything but my lawn again!  I started counting the minutes until I could FIRE them!  See, around here it's difficult to find what in California we would call a "GARDENER".  There are lawn care companies.  They don't know a flower from a tomato plant.  The landscaper however promised me that they knew of some genuine gardeners, and would hook us up with one after they re-did the garden.

Okay, so here we were, watching the garden get shaggier and shaggier while we waited for the magic phone call that would tell us that the landscapers were on their way.  That call came on Thursday!   YAY!!!

Friday morning they appeared - the two landscapers and a crew of five guys, along with several trucks full of tools and machines and all sorts of cool stuff.  I was introduced to each of them then they got right to work - REMOVING THE JUNIPER!!!  No easy task, I assure you!

This was not only because juniper has large roots that are runners under ground but the elm tree nearby also had roots spreading everywhere, and they had to dig down and yank out a lot of roots and so forth - and just as I had always suspected, one of the things they pulled out of there

 was a Black Racer snake about 3 feet long!  This being Florida, where being constantly surrounded

by all sorts of wildlife is the norm, they asked me where I wanted them to put my snake.  I told them I didn't want it so they just threw it into the truck with the juniper they'd yanked out and assured me they'd take it with them when they left.

They MORE than filled up the below hauler with juniper (and the snake) - because they were also trimming the shrubs along the sides of the house and REMOVING a lot of the shrubs from the back of

the house.  I don't know if you recall the photos I

shared here on the blog of all the shrubbery in the back by the patio and along the north side of the house but all they were really doing was making it easier for the squirrels to climb up the screens to get to the roof. So out they had to come.

They also trimmed the back hedge and put in a metal liner to keep weeds out from beneath.

Here's how the back looks now, with the extraneous shrubbery removed - it's a bit bare right now but actually I feel much less "fenced in" when I look out the back, plus this gives us a lot of room to plant some herbs!  Take a look:

 They left the camillia plant but there's still plenty of room for
dill, tarragon, thyme, and other herbs.




The patio is now entirely open and not all cluttered up the way it was.  I can see some nice, low-growing flowers next to the house, can't you?

 

The back yard is more open now and I'm thinking we might just fill in that bare space with grass, or maybe more low-growing flowers.  The place looks MUCH bigger now, too!

And here (below) is the back hedge with the new metal liner, which

gives it a pretty curve and makes it much more attractive.

But that's just the back yard!  Wait'll you see the front!!

I'll pass by the west and east sides of the house, since all they did was trim the plants there to make them properly shaped and neat looking but I left you with the juniper and the reptile just being removed.  What happened next?

Well, before they left for the day they had prepared the areas that would have the brown river rock and had even mostly finished one of the elms.  Here's what it looked like yesterday evening:  You can see the "weed mat" they put on on the area around the mailbox.  This (obviously) will prevent grass, elm trees and weeds from growing up in between the rocks.  I've actually seen some neighbors' houses where they didn't put down that mat and it now looks terrible, with all sorts of stuff growing up between the rocks.  Definitely worth the extra bucks!

The area on the right side of the drive had not had the weed mat down by the time the crew left last night - you can see what a good job they did in removing all that juniper and shaping the area to be ready to receive the river rock.

This morning they showed up on exactly on time (again) and the first thing they did was call me outside to show me the flowers they'd chosen.

You see, I wanted a display of yellow, pink, and blue flowers around and all over the mailbox/lamp post (a couple of neighbors have two colors of flowers around their mailboxes and it looks very lovely), and I also wanted the same color combination in the window box.  I had asked for pink mandevilla, which vines around and has lovely pink blooms (a perennial)  but the foreman, Jesse, had been phoning around to find some and couldn't.  This morning he showed up with one - having almost miraculously discovered a healthy-looking, flowering plant!  What a guy!  This is what the mandevilla flower looks like, by the way.  Can you see a profusion of these winding their way around that lamp post?  Yeah!!

Okay, so as you can see in the photo on the right, they set the plants around the mailbox, cutting little Xs through the weed mat and then returning it once the plants were in the ground.  All three types of plants around the mailbox are perennails.

After the plants were done they poured the river rock into the designated areas and raked it into place.  As some of the crew were doing that, others were planting annuals into the window box, (photo below) that are also blue, pink, and yellow.  Al had wanted to put color pots into the window box but he'd have to go to the nursery himself to pick out what he liked, and since they're expensive, Jesse didn't want to pick out something we might not be happy with.  So we'll hopefully have these flowers blooming until maybe March, which will give us enough time to figure out what we'd want to replace them with.  

 So, at last our garden is beautiful!

This first photo looks out from the front door to the elm tree. Crisp and clean looking!

And here's our new,  lovely River Rock display with the newly planted flowers around the mail box.  It'll take a while before they settle in and start to bloom but in another year or two I expect them to look splendid!

Let me know what you think about our new look!!

Trains, Boats, and...No, Just Trains

A very Happy New Year to everyone! 

My, I haven't added anything to Meander's End in a long while!  My apologies!  I've been too...uh...nope, can't say busy...oh wait, yes I can - Al and I wrote and published our book, "A Portrait of Dorian Grey - What To Expect When You Live With Large Birds".  It's a small but wonderful book that tells the honest truth about being the human part of a flock - and we wrote it so people who think birds are just feathered dogs will learn the truth!

Anyway, as you no doubt recall, my sister lives not far from us (one of the major reasons we moved here, actually) and she and I frequently take the opportunity to go on outings just to have some time together.  She's usually quite busy with clubs, politics, and various organizations to which she belongs but we try to make time for each other.

Heather and her trusty camera

About three weeks ago she and I attended an exhibition of model trains that was held in one of the neighborhood recreation centers.  We took scads of photos of the setups in the various sizes, and I'm eager to share them with you.  Al and I have owned a set of model trains for years, and in fact, the prettiest Christmas Tree we ever displayed had not only wreaths of hand-threaded popcorn adorning it, it also had our little train set circling around it.  It was very Currier and Ives - quite charming, if I do say so myself.

Our trains are boxed up now but I want to point out to you that this hobby can not only be fascinating and addictive, it can be expensive!  Our little setup is "N" gauge - the second to smallest of the commonly used sets in the US.  In the N gauge the average engine is only about 5 or 6 inches long and around one inch tall.  At the same time, the workings and detail in the locomotives is so exact and detailed (it DOES have to pull a series of cars, after all) that while a simple passenger car might cost between $6 and $20, and an average engine might cost $40 or $50, we have one engine that cost over $150 back in the 1980s!  I can't even imagine how much it would cost today. 

I've been looking around the internet to find some of the details about trains to give you a better idea of what this hobby is about and I've been amazed and somewhat shocked at the prices of the locomotives!   This is NOT a cheap hobby!  So much so that I'll include those prices on my little graph below.  The cost of locomotives varies widely, based on many factors but what I've included might give you a general idea.  The cars are far less expensive than the engines, since for the most part they don't have to actually do anything but be hauled along.  I didn't look up anything about the scenery or tracks so I can't say how much they'd cost.

Some of the HO gauge trains

Anyway, let me explain the gauges of model trains so you have some reference point.  There are six gauges popularly collected in the US and two others (of which I'm aware) that are also used - mostly in Europe.  The gauge is simple to explain:  The largest gauge is "G", which is 1:22-1/2, meaning a real train engine is 22-1/2 times as large as the model engine.  A real train is 220 times larger than a Z gauge train, whose scale is 1 to 220. Get it?

SCALE                 Size Ratio to a real train                Avg Price of Locomotive
G Scale:                1:22.5                                                     $300- $1200 and up
O Scale                 1.48                                                         $300 - $600 and up
S Scale                 1:64                                                         $500 - $1000 and up
HO Scale             1:87                                                         $60 and up
TT Scale **         1:120                                                       didn't find any
N Scale                1:160                                                       $50 and up
Z Scale                1:220                                                       $100-$350 and up
T Scale**            1:480                                                       didn't find any

** These two scales are popular in Europe but rare in the US.

I imagine the price of a z scale locomotive is so high because of the tiny detail work required to actually make the things work, since they're not only tiny, they're lightweight.


So off Heather and I went to the exhibit where four rooms were populated by interesting setups which we explored, photographed, and admired along with quite a lot of other people.  It was very interesting to see how very involved the owners of these setups are.  We chatted with several of them - all of whom are solidly in love with their hobby.

I'll post these photos in size order, even though the exhibition was not set up that way.  You'll notice how the backgrounds,  environments, and characters increase in complexity, detail, and availability as the gauge increases.

The smallest scale setup in the exhibition was the Z scale.  There was only one, which was set up in the same room as the "N" scale (the next larger scale).  There are actually 2 sets of trains moving in the pictured setup.   Look closely and you'll see one of them on the near side of the figure 8.

Z Scale setup - the smallest gauge used in the US

The other set is in front of the black box at the far side of the setup.  That black box is the control center where the engineer determines the speed and direction of each locomotive.  The z scale locomotive is only about 2 inches long.  As you can see, the landscaping is fairly simplistic - several buildings and cars, evergreen trees, some industrial-looking buildings and of course roads and grassy areas.  I think there were some miniscule people there but frankly I don't recall.  This was one setup amongst many, and of course, the tiniest of them all.  

Next are the N gauge - the same size Al and I have. As you can see, the setup gets a little more elaborate; this one includes a river as well as roads, buildings, cars, etc but nothing animated. There were several layers of track though - t

N Gauge train

ake a look at the area on the right - there are two levels of tracks going around this mountain.  The men with the green shirts are the train owners and operators.   As you can see below, the options for N gauge are broader than the Z.  The below left photo  shows a table that was entirely filled with circus items, from buildings to rides and everything in between. 

N gauge industrial area

N gauge circus settings










 The next size displayed was the HO, which is the most popular size in this country.  Locomotives in HO scale average about 17 inches long.  The setups become more elaborate and the scenery as well as the train cars themselves offer animation. As you can see on the right, the scenes have become more detailed, with fences and shrubbery, people, animals, and all the activites one might see in any town. 

This crane can load sand into the truck

The train station. Aww...see the couple on
 the left saying goodbye?

Note the boats on the water
and the people on the beach!
 



The orange "fire" in the pumps flicker and shimmer

Okay, now we move up to the O scale - where the trains are only 1/48th the size of real trains.  Here's where we get into some heavier and larger trains with yet more elaborate scenery.  Everything is larger and the animations become more interesting.



You can see how big the trains are getting in relation to
the man in this photo.

O scale industrial area with oil cars on the train.

 

 

And finally, the largest model trains - the G scale, which are only 22-1/2 times as smaller than a real train.  These were the juggernauts of the exhibition, with scenery elaborate and very detailed - quite a lot of it was animated, from little prairie dogs and rabbits that popped up and down from their holes in the ground to a house on fire with glowing timbers.  How about a team of men welding the railroad tracks or relaxing on a lake? We even saw some wonderful vintage cars on a road near the railroad tracks.  The G scale is for the true, dyed-in-the-wool train enthusiast, since the sky is the limit where scenery and animation are concerned, and the cost of locomotives and cars can be nothing short of phenomenal.  We chatted with one fellow who not only displayed his prize engine for us, he let me hold it for a moment to confirm his estimate that the monster weighed over 35 pounds!  He said he had paid over $1200 for it, and I can believe it easily!  This was the last room we visited and I'm glad we saved the best for last - everything else paled in comparison. The six photos below are just a taste of the scenery I photographed, from construction sites to a mountainside of burned trees that reminded me of the hillsides of California after the wild fires.  This was truly amazing - an incredible hobby into which the afficianados pour their hearts and creativity.  If you have a chance to visit such an exhibition in your area, I heartily suggest you take advantage of it - you'll be amazed and delighted!  I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed the event!



 

 

 

This was the $1200, 35 pound G gauge engine.  Beautiful!

See the little blue light?  It flickered as though the worker really was welding!

Two antique cars were part of the G gauge setup

These prairie dogs popped up and down intermittently.  Cute!

Fun on the lake.  Can you see the duck and the turtle on the rock?

The house on fire!  Firemen to the rescue, including one on the roof!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!!

Tropical Storm Debby as of 12:30pm on Tuesday 6/26/12

No doubt you've been hearing in the news about tropical storm Debby doing all sorts of flooding and tornadoes and other unpleasantries to northern and central Florida.   Surprise!  North-central Florida is where Al and I live!

So how have we been faring while you've been watching news films of submerged cars and hotel swimming pools being flooded by storm surge? (weren't those films impressive?)

Relax.  We're just fine.  We're in the center of the state and fortunately far enough south that we've missed the brunt of this storm, which as I type is moving at a snail's pace between Florida and Georgia, happily dumping over a foot of rain on them.  They're the places getting flooded.

I have to admit that on Sunday we "enjoyed" some impressively heavy rain throughout the entire day which was apparently Debby's leading edge, and though it was windy around here it wasn't strong enough to be concerning.  Once the rain stopped we had a long enough dry period that the ground soaked up the water before the next series of thunderstorms occurred.   I'm told we're now going to have intermittent thunderstorms for the rest of the week.  Thanks, Deb.

Quite a way south of us there were a few tornadoes, which scare the @%^#! out of me but the nearest one was just southeast of Tampa and we're comfortably far from there.  Nobody told us Florida got tornadoes, by the way and I intend to send a strongly worded letter of protest to the governor about it - if I can find out who the devil he is...

Actually the rain was much appreciated by some of the local neighbors (seen below) because all the many catch-basins in the area filled way up with water for them to swim and quack in. 

This is a local brace of ducks who found several swimming venues in the neighborhood.  I don't know what they were waiting for - maybe the lifeguard or something...



Anyway, I thought you'd like to see two of the local catch basins which in the winter are either nearly dry or entirely dry, now brimming with rainfall.  Actually, the water level has RECEDED in both of these since Sunday, and it's only Tuesday.  Yes, as you can see, they're attached to drainage pipes so they can't actually overflow.  They're designed in such a way that the water filling the streets and roadways is diverted to collect in the basins, preventing roadway flooding and water dripping into our basement, which is especially fortunate, since we do not HAVE a basement.






 

This one is just outside our community's back gate.
It's about 30 feet deep right now, though in winter
the water is shallow at the very bottom.





This catch basin is within the community and is totally dry in
the winter.  It, too is about 30 feet deep and the water was
higher yesterday.  You can see the ducks having a swim in it.

So, for now we're doing okay.   Other than some residual windiness from Debby and a collection of short-lived rainstorms we seem to be back to our "normal" weather pattern, which, like Camelot, shows us some amount of sunshine in the morning, followed by rainy patches in the afternoon and evening.  The stories about it raining over your house and being dry at your neighbor's across the street are true.  Very weird but typically Floridian.  

Gotta go now - I want to dash out to the mailbox before the next rainstorm begins!

 

Come On In!

Since nobody has come to visit us in our tiny, little house I guess I have to break down and show it to you from here, as promised.  Hmm...where to start...

The living room is probably the best place; especially since it's what you see when you come into the front door.  This first set of photos was taken from just inside the front door.  Oh, there's no artwork on the right-hand wall because we intend to buy a sectional sofa with recliners on each end


 and the present sofa will be moved to run parallel to that back wall where you see the curtain.  (That curtain leads to our Florida room, by the way). The door on the right, next to the curtain leads to our bedroom.

 The two photos below show you  the living room from standing near the aforementioned  Florida room. There's the front door just on the right of the big window, which is entirely blocked by Rover & Polgara's huge cage.  Dorian's cage is just to the left of their cage. What looks like another room in the right-hand photo IS another room - you're looking into the guest bedroom - but I'll get to that in a moment. To the left of the bird cages is the dining room - somewhat cramped in comparison to our old dining room but somehow we fit everything in.   

 Here it is on the left.  If you peer over to the left you'll see that it leads directly into the living room - you can see the shelves on the wall.  The little shelf on the right side of the photo where my purse is sitting on divides the dining area from the kitchen and is designed to accommodate two little barstools so you can eat there.  We don't eat there - we use kitchen-y things there instead.


Speaking of kitchens, below you see my little kitchen.  The photo  on the left shows you the other half of that shelf I mentioned and leads into the left side of the kitchen itself.  
  The black things are the stove/oven and the dishwasher.  On the right is the other half of the kitchen; with the black fridge.  Eventually I'm going to replace this fridge with the white, side-by-sdie one we brought with us from California but for now this one serves the purpose.  Nothing wrong with it - I just prefer white appliances.














The two photos above show something very important to me - the view out the kitchen window.  If you've got to be stuck doing dishes every day you might as well have a nice view while you're doing it.  All the properties here run into one another and what you see is my neighbor's house and back yard but because there are no fences it provides a nice, expansive view which is very pleasant. 


Moving back into the living room you can open those curtains in the back and see the French doors that lead to my Florida room.  A
Florida room is a room mostly made
of windows, which as you can see, clearly describes this room.  I'm told that this was originally just part of the back yard and that the original owners of the house had this area made into the Florida room.  I believe this had to have been done on a strict budget, since the walls are aluminum and the windows vinyl.  It's like sitting in a room with tin foil for walls and clear plastic wrap for windows.  It feels like you could deconstruct with with a hand-operated can opener.  No, I'm not exaggerating - come visit and you'll see.  The room has its own air conditioner which we haven't tried yet but we'll get to it eventually.  It doesn't keep out the ubiquitous Florida humidity so you can imagine that we don't sit out there very often.  In the picture on the right you can see the door that leads out to our tiny patio which we use when Al smokes ribs.  Still haven't touched that barbeque out there...



 Moving back into the house, here are two photos of Al's and my bedroom.  It's about half the size of our former bedroom - probably less.  The bedroom is immediately off the living room.  Look back up at the first 2 photos.  As I mentioned, in the photo on the right there's a door next to the curtains.  That door leads to our bedroom.   In the photo to the left you can see that there's a private bathroom on the left side of the bedroom and a walk-in closet on the right.  Somehow we actually fit all our Japanese and Chinese art in the room!  At this writing we still haven't put the huge Chinese wood carving on the wall or the 4 piece fish picture but we've got to hire our handyman to do that - we'll get around to it eventually.

Jumping over to the other side of the house we come to the wing that holds the other two bedrooms.

On the left you see the lovely, bright Guest Bedroom (hint - hint) all ready and waiting for people to come stay in it.  Although it faces southwest it has 2 windows (as does the office) so it's the brightest room in the house.   On the right is the hallway that leads from the guest bedroom to our shared office.  In that picture you can peer into the living room on the right-hand side.  The linen closet is on the left side of the photo and just beyond the picture on the wall on the left is the second bathroom.  The photo looks into the office on my side.

 Here's a much closer view of my half of our office.  Buddah stands facing north,

watching over our endeavors.  Al's desk is pictured on the right and though you can't see it, our printers etc are just behind his desk.  There are 2 windows in this room also however one of them is half covered by a bookshelf.  Pity too, because there's a pair of cardinals that I think are nesting just outside that window and it's difficult to see them.

Well, that's it, really.  That's our house.  Small, compact, but designed to flow from one room to another and this airiness gives the illusion that the house is bigger than it really is.  Small though it is, it's got plenty of room for visitors to come and stay in comfort.  Your invitation is an open one.  Come take a look for yourself.