Did some money re-balancing and paid Home Depot $200 of the zero interest bill due next March. $2,000 left to go. This was for the new oven, range and hood. I installed the security latch assembly on the side garage door today. This needed to be done a long time ago, maybe 3 or 4 years, but I just got to it. Caulked the door as well. It's ready for painting. Built the bio-filter today for the outdoor pond. Now I need to rip up one step and run the plumbing and wiring from the pump to the filter. Hopefully the filter can go under the deck since it needs minimal maintenance. Answered some eMail about the library website from Richard and Anne. Dinner was crabcake with tomato and flat bread. It's hot out today, supposed to be around 96. It seems OK to me. All projects went well.

I worked out in the yard. Went to Ace and got some hydraulic cement then mixed some up and poured it below the new door trim. Installed the trim after the concrete cured. It looks pretty good. It's a hot day but I worked in the garden trimming the roses and apple tree. The magnet came from Walmart for Arlene's rock. I went into the shop and glued it on with epoxy. Dinner this evening was pasta that I picked up earlier in Krogers.

Worked on the door frame today. Tried patching below the frame with an old batch of hydraulic cement I found in the garage but it was no go. The stuff didn't cure. Will need to purchase new stuff. We had Nathans hot dogs for lunch today for memorial day. This is a once in a blue moon treat. I dressed mine with Vidalia and brown spicy mustard. For dinner we had porkchops with beets and apple sauce. Very nice.

Watched Sunday Morning which I didn't care for then it was time to leave for the ballet. Ii had to get gas in kogers first. since we left at 10:20 for an 11:00 performance in Morrisville, there was plenty of time. Gas came down a little. I paid 3.55 with grocery points. We got to the theater at quarter of but went in anyway to hang out. Got to see the backstage warmups and listen to the beautiful host, Katarina who spoke multiple languages. Wearing a stunning blue dress with print on it, she had a neckline that plunged to her navel. I loved it. The ballet was the best I have ever seen. We can't wait for more from the Bolshoi. Once again, Libbie made her fantastic pizza.

I put up a very wet ladder on the front window over the garage and tried climbing it with my the screen I fetched from the attic. I slipped on the wet ladder rungs and fell over pulling the ladder and screen with me. Bruised my leg, arm and butt pretty badly. Rested a while then climbed the ladder, scraped the window and installed the screen. I also went to Lowes and bought a new PVC Brick Mold for the side door. I previously removed the brick mold because it was rotted on the bottom. Will fill the cavity at the bottom with cement before installing the new one. In the PM we went to the Farmers market. Picked up some produce as well as plants for our dish gardens for the design entries on June 11. On the way home we stopped at BJ's for ribs and Sargento cheese. It's hard getting in and out of the car with my bruised body. The pain is pretty sharp but since I can put full weight on my leg, nothing is broken.
Dinner was roasted beets, ribs and shiraz. Nice.

Worked some more on the shopping cart and had lots of success. I bought a second domain, this time its avsashop.org. I believe i need to transfer the Netfirms account to avsashop.org to get it configured the way I want or else I'll be stuck with two domains forever. I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with avsashop.com. I like the way this cart is shaping up and I'll definitely consider porting Bluebird over to it. Dinner was Jack Daniels Baby Back ribs with Lima beans and Shiraz.

This was a very productive day. I got the categories fixed on the shopping cart using the "better categories" addon. Next I went up the ladder and washed the two windows and caulked. While waiting for the caulk to dry I mowed the front lawn. Libbie came home for lunch and after lunch I climbed the ladder and painted the two windows. This wore me down for the day. Did some research on SSL certificates and put in a support question to netfirms about Rapid SSL. They answered I could buy a GeoTrust certificate which doesn't answer the question. Dinner was a barbecue sandwich using Jack Daniels pork barbecue which was very tasty. This was good stuff!!!

This was a great day for the Zen Cart installation. I got everything working more or less the way I wanted including image handling and buttons. Dinner was pork cops with green beans. Didn't like the green beans but the chop was excellent.

I worked on understanding the Zencart and almost forgot about the groceries. Went to Krogers and did a minimal purchase of groceries since we didn't need too much. Dinner was Pad Thai which we picked up at Trader joes the other day. It was pretty good. Watched some of dancing with the stars because the Black Eye Peas were on.

I got the OOMA device working correctly this morning. I had a wiring problem plugging the ethernet into the wrong port. I liked it so much I ended up canceling the Vonage service. It also sounds much better than I expected. I'll get the Scout device to make it easier to retrieve voicemail. I spent time organizing pictures and backing up folders. I still don't have everything on the server. Libbie and I went out after lunch today and picked up groceries in Trader Joes. I continued to work on the AVSA Shop shopping cart. There's much I don't understand about templates, etc. Dinner was pasta we picked up in TJ's today.

We couldn't find Kitty's card that I assembled. Searched everywhere. We got going at 7:30 and stopped down the street on NJ70 at McDonalds for breakfast. Had a nice trip through Delaware where i avoided the $4 toll once again. Stopped an a dunkin donuts in Aberdeen for more coffee and 2 donuts each. They were good. Did a gas stop in Emporia, VA where we paid 3.92 which was a ripoff. Also did a chicken wrap at Mcdonalds for one stop eaat and gas. The people in the McDonalds were awful - dress seemed to be undershirts which I think is disgusting. It was nice to find 64 at MM 138 and cruise in peace to Raleigh. We got home at 3 pm. After Lib drove to the greenhouse and unloaded she had to water the plants because they were super dry. Later she found the Kitty Get Well card with all the AVSA signatures under her violets. I looked up her address, filled it out and stamped it then took it to the Post office. I also tried looking for milk in Walgreens. Some some teenage hookers in short dresses but no skim milk. Drove to Krogers and got slim milk. I noticed Krogers gas was 3.77 or 3.67 with points. Libbie made her pizza from scratch because 3 PM was enough time to make bread for a crust.

We went to Mickey D's for breakfast again and also topped off our gas tank for the trip back tomorrow. Gas was 3.69. Looked up Patty brunkers phone number on Spokeo which Libbie used to call her and chat. She lives nearby the hotel but she was going to the art museum today as a volunteer.
I went to John Carters talk today about creating an educational exhibit. It was a nicely done presentation. I left near the end and retrieved my camera to get pictures of the nice exhibits he brought with him.
After packing up the booth, Stephie showed up with her two kids. We had a nice visit but we were tired and wanted to lay down. Cocktail hour started at 5 which was when we were still loading the car. I really wanted to lay down for a while. We went down and had a glass of wine then went to our table. There was a Fife and Drum which was nice but they stayed and played during dinner which was head pounding drums. This was not dinner music. Too make matters worse, we had a long boring George Washington talk for 45 minutes. Yuck. I received a society award this wevening. dinner was roast pork and mashed new potatoes with ice cream and a fruit turnover. Too much food and not enough wine. We dragged ourselves to bed where I passed out for the evening.

We did breakfast in McDonalds for $8 which was much better than the $35 breakfast at the hotel. I ran the booth this morning while Libbie attended the Virus talk. We had a starbucks wrap sandwich for lunch which was good. After a long day we went out to dinner at Bahama Breeze again but this time we had to wait for 45 minutes. About 10 of the Texas gang showed up while we were waiting and they got seated before we did. There was a pretty good rain storm gooing on when we arrived. Had a lovely dinner then dragged ourselves back to the hotel where I crashed. It was probably the 2 galsses of wine that did it!

This morning I hung around while judging was going on. At noon we had the library meeting planning our strategy for the year then started the photography shortly after. The show was very nice. I met a photographer who really knew what he was doing, Neil something or other. We both worked until we were dead tired. Went out to dinner to Bahama Breeze again by the Cherry Hill Mall. I had almond crusted tilapia with mashed sweet potatoes and a glass of shiraz.

We had the hotel continental breakfast for $11 each. We sat with Anne and Richard then Libbie made calls to visit Stephanie and Slim chicks while I went to the 9 am board meeting. Not much happened at the meeting. I tried to press the issue about schedule and timing of the website but got nowhere except the answer was that it's a legal issue and the resolution date is open ended. The meeting ended surprisingly before noon or shortly after the break. Wow. This freed me up for the rest of the day. Libbie came back in the rain shortly after lunch after sitting in a McDonalds during a downpour talking on the phone to Sue about Sue's problems which are many and varied. We went to the Presidents reception but just as we got there the phone rang and Jennifer arrived with our plants which we went downstairs to help unload. Went back to the reception and had finger foods and wine. I talked to Janet about the archivist duties and will assist her which involves a trip to Beaumont. This evening we went out and had pizza down the street for dinner.

After breakfast this morning we got into the car and left home at 8 am. It's supposed to rain but so far we drove in NC under blue skies and little to no traffic. We stopped on I-95 around Roanoke for more coffee and a McDonalds biscuit. We hit rain from Richmond to Fredericksburg. Bought gas in Fredericksburg at 3.92 and also had a ranch wrap in McDonalds. This was also a good bathroom break. This time going North I wanted to avoid the DE-MD toll so we did the drive around. It took 7 minutes. If we had not gone around, the toll and 2 exits would probably be 5 minutes so I estimate this added 2 minutes to our trip. We had a very good trip, we arrived at 3:30. I briefly had a chat with Winston about the website. Nothing has changed. After settling into our room and unpacking the plant boxes we called the Nicholas's and also Marjorie and went out to Bahama Breeze with them for dinner. I had the Jerk painted salmon with sweet potatoes. We each had a glass of Shiraz with dinner. Bahama Breeze was next to the Cherry hill Mall. After getting back at 8:30 we went to our room and to bed.

Did some last minute work outside today. Put stakes in for the tomatoes and the one renegade Dahlia that appeared by itself. Tied the plants as appropriate. Went back inside and prepared the cameras and lights for the trip to AVSA. Packed up my suitcase. For lunch I had the leftover Chinese and also a BLT. For dinner Libbie made the Trader Joe's pasta. We watched about 20 minutes of Dancing with The Stars before turning it off and going back upstairs to fine tune our suitcases for the AVSA trip.

Got up and started organizing files as well as I did a few touch ups to Jessica's album. Watched an Indy film this afternoon, Endure and briefly went outside to stake the Dahlias and tomatoes. Couldn't find the string so that job is incomplete. Printed labels for the Violet Convention sales this week. Libbie had to go to OfficeMax for Avery 8162 labels. WE had a yummy pizza this evening with real tomatoes. After dinner I watched spanish TV for a while, Nuestra Belleza Latina. I started gathering my journals for the past 15 years by running the program "egret" against the phpblog. This VB program I wrote gathers the individual daily entries and compiles them into a yearly journal. I may compile the 2000-1010 into a decade journal and put it on Google for archiving.

The Guenthers arrived around 1 am this morning. Libbie went down to greet them. In the morning they went to the greenhouse at 9:30 but we had to leave for the opera at 10:30. Libbie managed to get away and get home in time to get dressed and make tuna sandwiches. We got to the theater on time and even took some pics for the Met Facebook page. The performance was delayed 40 minutes by troubles with "the Machine" which stages the opera. When it went on the Opera was spectacular. Bryn Terfel and Jonas Kaufman are part of a stellar cast. The music, singing and staging were a complete experience. We got home around 6:30. We ordered Chinese takeout which we had with shiraz. Yummy. I finished up Jessica's 40 page album today as well. What a relief.

Worked on Jessica's album and finished it today. Now I still have the last minute tweaks such as adjusting borders and choosing backgrounds. This was a big relief. Looked at the AVSA budget. What a mess. Revenue is still going down while expenses remain level. Libbie and I went to Trader Joes this afternoon for wine and sundry items. We had wine, Lima Beans and ribs for dinner. The Guenthers spent this morning at Disneyworld then they were going to drive here. We heard they got into the car at 2 PM which means a midnight arrival if we're lucky.

This was catch up day. Sorted stuff, unpacked the suitcases, dealt with some finances, etc. Resurrected the Chumby from Best Buy and programmed it to display pics from Traviata as well as Facebook, Picasa and Flickr. Dinner was La Cocina where we had Margaritas and our standard Quesadilla La Cocina. There was an accident on Old Raleigh Rd where we couldn't get buy so we came home through buckingham. It's been a while since we went that way - the back entrance.

Well, I woke up this morning and made the decision to leave today. I'll pack the apartment up this morning then get going by 8:30 which will allow me to miss rush hours in Tampa, Orland and JAX. I managed to get everything buttoned up but later realized I left my water bottle in the bike handlebar bag, partially filled with water. Sirius XM has Florida traffic on one of their channels. I programmed preset A0 to access this easily. It gives Miami on the 1's, Orlando on the 4's and Tampa on the 8's, both traffic and weather for each of those cities. It was pretty handy for the traffic. I left at 8:28 and had a pretty easy drive with no congestion or slowdowns anywhere. First stop was in Brunswick where gas was an outrageous 3.99. I used exit 29, should have waited for exit 36 or so where they were advertising 3.89. Next stop was Florence but instead of my normal exit 164 I drove further to hwy 38, the Hess station where gas was 3.65. I chose this because there are no lights getting on or off the highway and it's less congested for the same price. There also is no food here and since I had my cut up cup of fruit from Publix all was fine. I arrived home at 7:15 where Libbie greeted me with BLT's and strawberry shortcake.

I decided not to paint the door this trip. I'll bring a sanding sponge next time and maybe blue tape and a good paint brush. I want to start a painting but I'm not sure if it should be a simple tree or the complicated building I was going to paint.
Took the old cruiser bike to Goodwill and dropped it off then hooked up my bike and drove to the Venice Train Depot. Rode the Venice waterways all the way to Casperian Beach. It was great. Very scenic and I love the Casperian Beach park. Came back and had Thai Curry chicken for dinner along with some Ravenswood Zinfindel and Key Lime Cheesecake. I treated myself nicely. I also called Comcast today and turned off the Internet. I'm also going to try getting rid of Vonage and switching to an Ooma. I took out a 941 area code google number for use in the condo, specifically with the Ooma device.
I have mixed feelings about driving home tomorrow. I want to stay another day.

Got up early this morning and started quietly cutting away the carpet where the new door frame has to go. When it got to be 9 am I got to work seriously on the effort. Cut a 2x4 and a 1x4 for use as shims and nailed them to the sides. Cut a 1/2 inch off the new frame and installed it but the door was too tight against the carpet. I decided to pull the door out and remove the sheetrock on the header. It was a messy job but necessary. The door fits much better. After getting the door secured I went to Home Depot and bought a door handle with lock and shims. Using the shims I was able to get the door straight and then spackle all the nail holes. For lunch and dinner I ordered 2 sandwiches from the club house, a hamburger and a BLT, both with side orders of sweet potato fries. Both were excellent. I listened to Walkure live on Sirius but dozed off several times. I worked hard, did not go out on the bicycle at all which was too bad.

Bought a newspaper this morning. I'm not sure it was worth it. Hopped on the bicycle and rode to Oscar Scherer. This almost killed me I was so tired. That's what I get for eating donuts after breakfast. I was also concerned about tire pressure on the rear tire. When I got back I checked it and it was low at 35 but that's not too bad. Dinner was a beanburger with Vidalia on flat bread.