Category: Family

Halloween At Ward Manor

Last year, The Wife and I were out of town for the holiday. This year, we set up a table at the end of the drive and set out candy and other treats. The big fad was teal buckets with things other than candy for kids with allergies or other issues. Sounded like a decent idea. And heck, a bunch of party favors were cheaper than candy. So, we had that and a traditional candy bucket. The Wife and MIL put together little candy bags to ration things.

The grandniece came over and visited the neighbors. She was dressed up as a mermaid Escorting her was The Wife’s mother and The Wife dressed up in a Mama Shark costume. Let me explain this costume. Imagine one of those blow-up lawn decorations turned into a costume. Yeah. The cats were slightly terrified when she tried it on. Still, they enjoyed making the lap around the houses. The Wife’s niece then took the costume for a later shindig. We sat outside handing out candy and toys. I was surprised at how popular little slinkies were.

Plus we got to see the next door neighbors’ new baby dressed up as Mario.

The Wards Jaunt To Orlando

This past weekend The Wife and I traipsed across the state to the House of Mouse’s shopping mall – otherwise known as Disney Springs. Why? Mainly so I could go to a concert at the House of Blues. It’s kind of funny that out of a four-band lineup. I was only really interested in the two middle bands. It was also a chance for some couple time for The Wife and I.

Anyways, we decided to get that the smart thing would be to get a hotel on Thursday, spend Friday in Disney Springs, and head home on Saturday morning. We even got a hotel close to Disney Springs so we could walk rather than dealing with parking. However, since I was busy with my new job, I didn’t do my normal checklist for the trip. As a result, some items were forgotten. Such as The Wife’s neck fan, her portable bedtime fan – and my ear pro for the concert. There were some other interesting difficulties. I purchased a new safe for travel. It required some last-minute jury-rigging. That requires a full review in another post. Maybe after another trip.

We had fun exploring Disney Springs. There was a Diwali Dance shindig going on. We got to see a few dozen folks in colorful costumes dance up and down the way. This is the kind of multicultural stuff I like. Bring your neat stuff in and show off. We spent a lot of time visiting the various shops. The Wife loves handbags, so we stopped into a couple of stores for the brands she really likes. She has the same experience that I have with gun shops. It’s neat to see the new stuff but damn those things are expensive. At least The Wife can see if the items she was lusting after show up at the outlet stores near us. Then there was the issue of the lightsaber. Did I want the lightsaber? Yes. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay what they were asking. The Wife, being The Wife, walked through the fact that yes, we could afford it, and I was just having sticker shock/repulse. So, a replica of the original Luke Skywalker came home with us. I will admit that it was neat when one of the hotel employees stopped us on the way back the room to see which one I got – and then proceeded to show us his collection.

The concert. At The Wife’s urging, I got one of the upgraded seats the House of Blues was offering. Expensive, but worth it – for the most part. I didn’t have to fight the floor crowd. Just sit back and watch the show. The only issue was that it felt like my seat was under a fan. If I do this again, I’m bringing a jacket. So, as I stated earlier, I forgot my ear pro. The lady running the VIP program was nice enough to find me some foam earplugs. From prior concert experience, I knew those weren’t really going to help. So, I decided to try using my AirPod Pros with the ANC turned on. Yeah, that helped out a lot. First band was Edge of Paradise. Their overall music isn’t bad, but I dislike how their vocalist sings. It sounds too shrieky. Next was Nanowar Of Steel. I was disappointed that they didn’t play “Pasadena 1994.” However, they more than made up with their stage presence. This is a band who knows they are there to make the audience laugh and rock. Between costumes and antics, they more than fulfilled their purpose. The third band was Amaranthe. This was the band that really drew me across the state. They were the first band I heard that did the clean female, clean male, and growling male vocal combination – and they do it so well. The funny thing with Amaranthe is that some of their songs I’ll recognize immediately, but some I need to hear a bit. They played most of the songs that I love hearing. The final band was Dragonforce. Yeah, I didn’t stick around for their show. It’s not that I didn’t want to see them. It’s more that I had seen the two bands I really wanted to see, and I was feeling the combined discomforts of fatigue and sitting on a metal barstool for a few hours. Do I regret not staying? No, not really. At that point, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the performance – and I don’t want that kind of concert experience.

Saturday morning was a nice drive back. And we even managed to pick up the groceries. Overall, it was a successful trip. I just need to find a place to mount my new lightsaber.

What’s Happening At Ward Manor?

It was my last week at my now “old” job. I worked for that division for fifteen years – my entire professional career. There was some concern HR wouldn’t be able to finish their pre-work before I was scheduled to transfer to the new division. Thursday I had lunch with my teammates. Well, most of them. Some were either ill or dealing with ill podlings. That time of the year. Friday was my last day. I’m excited to start my new job, but I know I’m going to miss my team.

Saturday, The Wife competed in our Area Humorous Competition and took first place. I’m extraordinarily please that she will get to go on to division. Which means The Wife and I have to do some editing and rehearsal to get her ready. Now. if only the contest wasn’t on the same day as a big craft fair that we usually try to hit with Rocket Engineer Brother’s wife and my mom.

On Sunday, I put up a pole for a couple of our bird feeders. The Wife wanted one close to one of our windows so the cats can see the birds up close. During this I found out one of the other poles had suffered a structural failure. Probably due to us exceeding the weight limit with one of the feeders. Fortunately, Amazon had a heavy duty one on a lighting sale. We also put up a new camera to cover one of the blind spots. Because one of the neighbor’s windows is just in the camera view, The Wife and MIL went over to let them know. Which gave them a chance to see the neighbor’s new baby.

Ward Manor Chronicles

It’s been an interesting week at the Manor.

Last week I get a call that there’s some suspicious activity on The Wife’s debit card. I look at the transaction. It’s not something I recognize. Go to ask The Wife, but she’s in a meeting. In an abundance of caution, I tell the bot that we didn’t authorize it. They cancel her debit card. The Wife gets off the phone. Yeah, it was the payment for one of our streaming services. They upped the price, which is why it didn’t match what I had on our budget. Oh well.

Then the cats gave us more fun. EBC and Colonel have been sparring partners since we merged clowders five years ago. This has resulted in EBC picking up some injuries that need tending – and occasional vet visits. This time, The Wife found what looked like bite marks on EBC’s chin. WTF? Some drainage and anti-biotic ointment did some good, but not enough. Vet time. Good news – it wasn’t a bite. Bad news – some other type of infection. A shot of antibiotic seems to have helped, but EBC was a bit wonky for the next day or so.

Saturday, The Wife and I decided to do a couples day. We went to the Dali Museum up in St. Pete. They have this new Dali 360 presentation, which was really nifty. I would highly recommend it. Then we went through the main museum. Interesting bit of trivia we picked up from one of the volunteers. Because the museum is on the water, they keep all of the art on the top floor. You know, in case of storm surge. The only downside was when we tried to become members. Their promotional materials stressed that we could apply our day’s admission against the cost of membership. It would help if any of their staff could have actually done that. We’ll still likely become members because it gets us free admission to a few other things around here that we’ve been planning to go to. Afterwards, The Wife and I went to the Rosemary and Thyme in Sarasota. It’s one of our favorite restaurants. During the summer season, they run a fixed price menu, which is always good.

Sunday we had our first cold front come through – which meant the morning were cool enough for The Wife to use the retractable screen we had installed on the front door back in March. The cats, of course, found that fascinating. The Wife went over to SIL’s place to provide some instruction due to SIL receiving a brand-new Cricut for her birthday. MIL and I later her joined her, with a bag of airsofts I divested from my collection for BIL.

The Wife and I also started binging through Ashoka. I already agreed that I would have to explain a lot, since The Wife did not see Star Wars Rebels. However, the shifts in continuity elicited a comment that we needed to rewatch everything chronologically. Um, okay. That’s a lot of stuff, but I’ll suffer through it.

Tuesday was the rescheduled party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our Toastmasters club. Part of that was a fundraiser where you paid to taste and judge brownies brought in by some of the club members. The Wife – at my prompting – brought orange-chocolate brownies.

Hits at Away Games

Just some turns of phrase recently that I want to chronicle. First from the day job.

Colleague: This is the best acronym for a group ever – Monitoring and Analytics Governance, Integration, and Consolidation (MAGIC)!

Me: Would their meetings be called MAGIC: The Gathering?

This was uttered after watching some truly astounding traffic antics.

Me: If you make me use my tourniquet because you’re a fucking moron, I’m going to be a mite bit annoyed.

Ward Manor Goings On

Last week, I got the call offering me a new position. The job is pretty much what I’m already doing, but with an expanded scope. Plus, I’m going to be essentially building a program up. It’s going to be interesting work. Even better, they don’t have physical space for me, so I get to continue my full-time telework. However, the transition looks like it’s going to make a hectic month. Particularly as I try to figure out who can absorb my duties. Particularly since my team is losing another senior person at the same time. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Over the weekend, The Wife, MIL, Mom, The Brother, and me drove down to see family in Okeechobee. We don’t get down there as much as we would like, but we have some relatives on my dad’s side we like chatting with and visiting. We had to go a different route than normal, which meant going through Yeehaw Junction. The Wife hadn’t been that way, and hadn’t seen the Desert Inn. It’s pretty much dilapidated these days, but I have memories of waiting in that parking lot with a broken down van. Anyways, we had a good visit with lunch at a local place called Lightsey’s. If you’re in Okeechobee, it’s a great spot for fish.

Smart Home Travails

I understand the concerns about having a lot of “smart” devices in the home. The denizens of Ward Manor have decided the benefits outweigh the risks/costs. We try to have some dumb stuff available if the internet goes down.

One thing we have a bunch of are Kasa smart plugs. Also, the carriage lights are also Kasa. Normally, they’re used mostly when the Christmas decorations go up so we can use routines for turning lights on and off. But we do have a couple of “daily use” items on the plugs. For the second time, all of these stopped talking to the network. The only remedy I’ve found is rebooting the router. Which impacts everything else. So, it’s finding a five minute period no one is needing any other smart item to reboot. Then, there’s the worry as the router comes back up that something is going wrong.

These are the times I want to rip everything out. Which generally goes away after a week as I see the benefits of my various devices.

More Ward Manor Happenings

Well, in just over a year, the Ward Wagon is paid off. Last week, we sent off the payoff check to the bank. This is a good thing as there is a chance we might be in the market for a second vehicle.

Speaking of the new job, we are in a holding pattern. I know I made it on to the list of qualified candidates (according to HR), but we are waiting to hear about interviews. Since it’s also getting to the end of the fiscal year for the federal government – and the job is under the finance chief – that may delay things. One of my colleagues tried to cheer me up by reminding me that I’m in such a niche job, I may be the only qualified candidate and I’m just waiting to hear back from HR. This is not nearly as comforting as it introduced another outcome that is entirely on dependent on HR’s ability to communicate. And I’m not all that trusting of their ability to communicate.

Last weekend, The Wife and I went down and did our TSA Pre-Check stuff. Even if I don’t get the new position, I’m looking at flying at least twice in the next year. Not having to do the unloading of all the electronics I normally carry is worth the cost of time and money. The Wife I was surprised that I was fine with getting fingerprinted and my picture taken. Hell, I’ve had to do that with my CWP and my job. While I dislike the whole concept, it’s not like I’m avoiding being in a database somewhere. The location was interesting – a cubicle inside a Staples. At least it wasn’t a federal building, which means I didn’t need to change my EDC. I’m also really good at doing a “neutral face” for official pictures. And apparently you just get a code you get to enter when making plane reservations. Now to find out if my booking software at work will take the code.

Labor Day Weekend Happenings

Labor Day weekend has special significance for The Wife and me. We had our first date on the Sunday before Labor Day back in 2017. Previously, we have gone back to the same restaurant, but this year that wasn’t possible.

Saturday The Wife and I trekked down to Fort Meyers. A coworker of The Wife was in a local theater production of Willy Wonka. Overall, we enjoyed it, but we got done sooner than we anticipated. After discussion, we decided to trek back up and go to an Indian restaurant we’ve been looking to try for months. A restaurant we were originally planning on going for our birthdays. It didn’t disappoint. If you’re in the Bradenton/Sarasota area, we recommend Tandoor on University.

Sunday, BIL and SIL came over. The Wife and SIL needed to do some crafty stuff for SIL’s work. While they were doing that, BIL and I took the opportunity to clean some of our guns. I am trying to field strip, clean, oil, and replace batteries on my sidearm and home defense rifle every six months. I also took down my latest acquisition – the S&W FSC (which I still haven’t put rounds through).

Monday, I trekked up to The Brother’s place to help him put together a new bookcase for his boardgames. He also learned the fun of vacuum storage bags. For my help, The Brother purchased me these shells that would essentially allow me to use a AA battery for a D or C cell battery. I don’t have many items that run on D’s or C’s, which would mean I could use these to streamline my inventory. I’ll talk more when they show up.

No Damage

The hurricane passed well north and west of Ward Manor. Lights didn’t even flicker. The only weird thing was Hulu saying it was “off the air.” Like I said, weird.

We did get lots of rain. Which means the backyard might go from brown back to green. For a few days.

Now to pull everything back out.