Today's count

My walk today found pretty much the same as yesterday. The count was 9-35-5. That's 9 Obama lawn signs, 35 houses for sale, and 5 McCain lawn signs.

I was surprised by the lower numbers of signs but not surprised at the higher number of houses for sale. I walked in a neighborhood south of Eton Rd where the lots are only 40 feet wide as opposed to 50 feet here on my side of Eton.

The distance walked on the 4 streets today that I did this count on is actually less than the distance of the streets walked yesterday even though I walked the same total distance. This is because I walked a half-mile each of Eton and Adams roads which have no homes on them. Yesterday's walk was all done on neighborhood streets.

So, again, OBAMA WINS!

Oh, and can you believe McCain's wimpy-ass attempt to get out of debating Obama? Like everyone on Capitol Hill needs his input, he being one of 100 senators. He's a scaredy-cat who knows his rhetoric [1.(in writing or speech) the undue use of exaggeration or display; bombast.] falls short of expressing anything intelligent. And now, according to NPR this morning, his campaign staff is trying to get him to backpedal because they understand that this tactic is backfiring.

Go for the throat, Obama!

27 years ago today...

COURTNEY WAS BORN!

Happy birthday, Courtney. I hope you're having fun celebrating in Germany. I can't wait to see you tomorrow and hear all about it.

Love you!

OBAMA WINS!

If signage is any indication, Obama will sweep the election with over double the votes of McCain.

On my 3.8 mile (there you go, Richard!) 'power walk' today around my neighborhood I counted 21 lawn signs for Obama, 10 for McCain and, very interestingly, 26 'For Sale' signs.

Obama is out-signing McCain just over 2-to-1. I'm very curious to see if this is holds true to the outcome of the election.

Twenty-six homes for sale on 6 half-mile streets in my neighborhood. That's a frigging lot! When I looked for this house in 2004 I think there were maybe 8 for sale in this neighborhood.

I laughed in total disbelief

Okay. I have to have my say, I guess. I'm being egged on by something I received in the mail today from the Republican National Committee (RNC - which should stand for REAL NUT CASES).

Let me highlight some of the lines in this letter that ridiculously treats me as if I was once 'one of them.' I am not, and probably never will be, a registered Republican. Democrats get me by default because we don't have a strong third party that represents my 'anti-tax, personal freedoms' beliefs. Personal freedoms win out.

This letter starts off:
"I don't want to believe you've abandoned the Republican Party, but I have to ask...Have you given up?"

Now, I ask you, what kind of opening line is that? Is it meant to summon up feelings of guilt by using the word 'abandoned?' And are they thinking that they might catch me a bit off-guard, confusing me, as in "Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm Republican. I forgot." And how can I give up something that I never had? More words to instill guilt.

It goes on to say that the REAL NUT CASES haven't received my membership renewal and 'our' party depends on it. (Hmmm. Depends...John McCain...depends...yes, old men can have that problem, too.)

And here's the part that got me laughing out loud, very loud, because it solidified my definition of the acronym RNC: "So I am surprised and concerned especially because I know how generously you supported President Bush and the RNC in the past. You helped to advance our vision for America and elect Republicans at all levels of government."

Is there someone out in the world posing as me and doing silly Republican things? Because this Karen E. has NEVER liked the slur-speeched, seemingly uneducated fool we call our President and NEVER given him or other Republicans so much as a penny to forward their right-wing, 'let me tell you how to live your life' agenda. Paula Poundstone had a very funny line on the radio show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." She said, "The value of the dollar has sunk so low we can now put Bush's picture on it!" You go, Paula!

Another thing in this letter I find quite amusing is the fact that they will not use McCain's name.
"Your generous financial assistance and active involvement are more important than ever as we work to elect a Republican president and Congress."

The underlying interpretation of using the words 'Republican president' instead of 'John McCain' is obvious. They know that John McCain is nothing more than George Bush. 'So let's focus on Republicans as a whole instead of reminding people of McCain.' Even John McCain knows that he needed someone to upstage him because he wasn't doing well on his own; that's why he picked Sarah Palin - to draw attention away from himself since he doesn't have much to offer. And we see that that one is backfiring as people realize that she is not qualified for the job, especially being one heartbeat away from the presidency.

But they do use Obama's name. "There is so much at stake. The Democrats are determined to put a liberal like Barack Obama in the White House, expand their narrow majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and push our country to the Left with their agenda of high taxes, big government and weakened national security."

Let's start with their claim of Obama's supposed 'agenda of high taxes' and 'big government.' Here is a quote from two writers from the Wall Street Journal, Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee. You can read the whole article here.

Both candidates for president have proposed tax plans. But they are starkly different in their approaches and their economic impact. Sen. Obama is focused on cutting taxes for middle-class families and small businesses, and investing in key areas like health, innovation and education. He would do this while cutting unnecessary spending, paying for his proposals and bringing down the budget deficit. In contrast, John McCain offers what would essentially be a third Bush term, with his economic speeches outlining $3.4 trillion of tax cuts over 10 years beyond what President Bush has already proposed and geared even more to high-income earners. The McCain plan would lead to deficits the likes of which we have never seen in this country. It would take money from the middle class and from future generations so that the wealthy can live better today.

Back to this letter I received. I heard a story on NPR yesterday that told about another low, dirty tactic the RNC and McCain are using to confuse voters. It was a mailing to registered Democratic voters in Florida that included a card labeled "[Republican] Party Affiliation Voter Registration Card." In an attached letter, McCain asks recipients to update the enclosed card — and to contribute to his campaign. According to the NPR story (read the whole story here), they could find no Republicans who received this mailing, only Democrats.

All these tactics seem desperate to me. I'm hoping people can see the 'littleness' in John McCain. We've lived through 8 years of this type of person; I hope we're all smart enough not to let it happen again.

Pack 'em up, move 'em out!

That's what we did in early August - packed as much as we needed (and then some), squished the kids into the rental and shipped out to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Our original plans of renting a narrowboat and cruising the canals around Oxford, England, had to be put on hold until next year because of the price of oil, which drove up the price of plane tickets. We had to do something more frugal. Head to the water, Richard exclaimed! Richard is always happy if he's around water, preferring to be in it on a sailboat.

(This post will be edited later, as soon as I find the rest of my pictures! So check back again.)

Before we could head off, we had to rid our car of the critter that had adopted our porch as home for a few days before we left for our trip. This guy, named Jack by Richard, hung out on our front porch for about 3 days, this after Jonah encouraged Sarah to feed it a can of tuna!! While we were packing up the car he thought he would try to bum a ride to his next destination: unknown. He was a really nice kitty but we were packed full and couldn't find a spot for him.


On the way down we stopped at a cute little local diner, Rosalie's Diner, in Strasburg, Ohio, on Wooster Rd. (I love saying 'Wooster!')
The waitress was a real hoot. She was as 'Southernly-hospitable' as they come. Jonah was quite impressed with the fare; he was coming down with a cold and the soup was just perfect.
That night we stopped at a Hampton Inn in Hillsville, VA.
Lucky for the fish of the family that they had a pool.
Jonah wasn't up to swimming so he sunk his nose into his book.
The first thing we did when we finally got to the condo was walk down to the water. At that time in the evening there were dolphin swimming around, popping up here and there. It was fun to watch them, hoping they would come closer.
For the most part, we spent our time on the beach during the day. Jonah bowed out the first day at the beach as he was sick with a cold. We ended up taking him to the island clinic and he was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. Here you can see Sarah, Hannah, and Richard (floating in the salt water) playing in the waves.
The second day on the beach Jonah was able to join us. Richard and Jonah rented a sailboat and took that out for an hour. Sarah switched places with Jonah on the boat at one point but, unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of them on it. But Richard and Hannah got busy later building a sand creation.
That's Jonah on the left in the water with Hannah and Sarah making their way back in.Here's Hannah heading out to catch the waves!
Sarah asked her dad to put sunscreen on her but she didn't mean THIS MUCH!
Lunch on the beach - maybe - if I don't steal your sammy!
Hannah and Jonah both learned how to do cartwheels on this trip.

Wind-worn after a day on the beach.
And here's Richard, looking all spiffy after a shower and lots of sun!
After we returned to our room, the girls thought it would be fun to take a bubble bath in the jacuzzi.
Here is a shot of Hannah seen through a window. I was trying to spook them! That picture was taken right before she changed into her jammies and decided to turn into a ghost!! Ahhhh!
I got such a kick out of the fact that there is a Piggly Wiggly on the island. This is SO out of my childhood. Although I had never been to one, you would hear of them on shows like The Andy Griffith Show. I had to get a few pictures!
Don't you just love the check-out lane markers! We had to go into the Piggly Wiggly to get Sarah a birthday cake. We couldn't find a bakery but that was okay because Sarah got to pick out her favorite cake, chocolate with chocolate! (She's female all the way!)
Here are a few pictures taken at one of the restaurants we ate at on the island. We did a lot of cooking right in our condo. Oh, it was a Marriott. We had to sit through one of those hour and a half sales pitches to get a really good rate on the place. Jonah came with us and he had some really great questions for the guy.
We spent one day in the city of Savannah, Georgia. It was less than an hour drive so it was convenient and gave us the opportunity to show that city to the kids. While we were there we had lunch, did a little shopping, and took a boat ride down the Savannah river. This is a picture of a tug boat that passed us by.
Richard is always smiling when he's on a boat.
The freight traffic here is the 6th busiest in the U.S. and is predicted to be the 2nd busiest in a few years.
The kids on a street in Savannah.
Throughout the city of Savannah they have these parks called squares. They seem to each be dedicated to some part of history or some person in history.
This is a typical sign that could be found at the restaurant we had lunch at.
I took this picture as we were leaving Savannah, crossing a bridge to South Carolina. Savannah is on the right.
We took a walk at night on the beach.
This next picture was taken with a flash but it was not raining. The particles you see were the particles of humidity. The air was so humid all the time. I tried turning off the air conditioning in our condo one day only to find that the tile floor in the kitchen became dangerously covered in moisture.

Here's some normal teenage sassiness!
I'll end with this video of the pool at our condo complex. Those are Sarah and Hannah in the pool.

The funny thing cats do

Check out this silly video of Hannah's cat, Pebbles, chasing a laser spot light. I like when she takes the time to lick herself. This is her way of saying, "Hmmmph! I know they are messing with me but I DO have my pride!"

There's a chill in the air!

The temperature dipped a bit lower than I prefer yesterday evening so we did what any cozy-minded person would do...started the first fire of the season. And everything goes better with a glass of wine!

I know a few people who like this time of year and I don't mind it either except that it reminds me that cold winter days are on the horizon.

I'm counting down: Six more years! That's when California is on the calendar. They have GREAT wine there!