Aloha from Flip...

ALOHA from the Xterra World Championship course.


Another Email from Flip. Apparently he has been reading James' blog and learned about the World Championships in Hawaii. He is becoming a master at showing up in the craziest places, although Hawaii is not really a crazy place for a Flip. Check him out hangin' with the athletes getting ready for the swim.
He did say that he was kinda bummed that neither Steph or James saw him in the crowd of supporters. But, oh well, at least he was there in person to lend a "foot".

The boy is getting his wheels...

Chris and Courtney stopped by yesterday and of course brought Greyson for a visit. He is really getting big. They were planning on a trip to the Pumpkin Patch, but it started raining right after they left, so they'll probably go today. The weather is better today. They got him dressed for his outing. Check out the Big Boy look.

Jeans, flannel shirt and high tops. The boy is stylin' in a country sort of way. He is also full on crawling. Hands and knees, on the move. He seems somewhat frustrated though. He pulls himself up to a standing position and really wants to walk. He'll be cruisin' by Christmas, just in time to get into all the decorations.

The Shame of it All......

As you can see from the picture below, Flip has not only physically deserted me and Flop, but has has ideologically deserted us as well. I don't know how this could have happened. I thought we three were a team, when all along he was harboring these left wing tendencies. How could I not have noticed?

Flop was desolated by the news. He just mopes around the house and his "sole"ful moans are driving me crazy. I really have to do something about this.

The only thing I can think of is to get him some grief counseling. I'm not really sure if that is at all possible, but with the power of the Internet, I am sure I can find something.

News from Flip

Got an email from Flip. I almost deleted it because it showed up in my spam file. I didn't recognize the email address because he used a library computer. I guess he hacked into their account. The subject was "Hey Flop, Doin' well on the Left Coast", so I immediately opened it. I have no idea how he made his way across the country. He sent this picture of him and his new pals. They're all blue and he is now in a "Blue" state. My worst fears may have come true, he is a "Left Foot Liberal".

Apparently they spend their time hanging out at the beach "Sole Surfing". Check this out !!!

At least he is staying true to his heritage!

The Little Guy is on the Move....

Chris called tonight and asked if we would go with them to look at a house they are thinking of buying. I guess they are seeking parental approval, or at least our opinion. Cute little house in pretty good condition, the neighborhood looks OK, and the price seems right. Of course, we went over a little early to see Greyson. The little, well not so little any more, guy is really on the move, as you can see below.



He is just a bit away from crawling. Then watch out, he'll be getting into everything.

Great Progress.....

Milestone #2 has been met. Today the scale read 175.4 lbs. Five pounds more ? Gail says NO ! I say YES. We'll see.

The hard part is going to be adjusting to not loosing any more weight. I am so used to counting every calorie that it might be hard to increase the amount. Since mid-August, I have been averaging between 1300 and 1400 calories a day. I don't know if I can continue to eat as healthy as we have been and increase the calories enough to maintain at say 170. I have become the master of trade-offs, say 190 calories for two Michelob Ultras, or 170 for a Weight Watchers Ice Cream Sandwich. Maybe I could get used to having both! That just might work!

Gail is also doing really well. She has achieved her goal, but has decided that she may drop just a little more. Just enough to make her favorite pants a little looser (sp).

All and all, we have done great. As a reward, we go out to dinner every Friday night, but, just like at home, we are conscious of every calorie. What sucks is that a lot of restaurant food is very High Cal, and junk food is out of the question, unless we fast for the first half of the day. We're working on a manageable plan.

Steph may have been right....

Unfortunately, Steph may have been right. Flop may have run away. Check out this article from this morning's paper. Flip-Flops that show your support for your favorite candidate?

I talked to Flop, and he told me that both he and Flip had heard rumors that this was happening. He said that it was like running off to join the circus. If this is the path that Flip has chosen, I only hope that he doesn't support Obama, but he is a "Left" foot.

This is UNBELIEVEABLE..........

Gail came home from grocery shopping yesterday with a surprise for me.

Flop must have been on the computer longer than I thought. It seems he found a website where he could have Flip's picture put on milk cartons. Amazing! I have to do something about this situation soon!

Fishing with Chris....

I took Chris on the inaugural fishing trip in the kayaks. We went to First Landing State Park, the infamous site of Flip's disappearance. That park may have it in for me. This time I left my insulated water bottle on the bumper of the truck and lost it on departure. Anyway, about the fishing.

We paddled straight across from the beach where we launch. We fished for about 2 1/2 hours. Didn't really have that much luck. In total we caught 13 fish, when, all put together, would probably made one decent fish. Here's a picture of Chris with one of his doubles.
As you can see they were really small. The wind came up pretty strong, so we called it a day and headed in. Besides, we had to reinstall a gutter for a guy nearby and got that out of the way early. That's about it for now.

Memorabilia Conspiracy and High Tech Flop......

As I mentioned earlier, I put Flop on "The Man Shelf" in the office. He must have instigated a rebellion of my memorabilia. Apparently the Silver Surfer (a gift form Jake) supplied the muscle. He took the lei (from Otani for my last birthday) off Ron Jon Teddy (another gift from Jake), attached it to the surfboard (from Chris) to slide down to the table. You know that taking the lei from Ron Jon Teddy had to be a "bear".

Once on the table, Flop took one of the lanyards I made for the kayaks, attached it to my tackle box (I had the fishing gear out in preparation for Chris and me going fishing) to slide down to the floor.
Once on the floor, he went to the desk chair and climbed up the the desk.

What I didn't realize is that while was on the "Man Shelf", he could look over my shoulder while I was on the computer. Apparently he is a fast learner. He must have stolen my password and logged onto the Internet. This is what I discovered when I walked into the office.

He was on the Virginia Beach Police website trying to file an MSR (Missing Shoe Report), and also issue an APB for Flop. I don't know what to do now.

Pretty smart for a Flop.

Searching for Flip.....

Since I have called off the search for Flip, Flop has been moping around the house. Yesterday he actually tried to sneak out the dog door. I assume that he was personally going out to look for Flop. As you can see, he almost made it.


I had to find a place for him where he can't get to the door again. The only place I could think of was "The Man Shelf" in the office. Do you think this will keep him put?

The shelf is seven foot off the floor and should keep him from moving around the house. It should also keep him from sneaking out. In addition, he has a place of honor among my other memorabilia.

You Had To Know It Was Coming....

WARNING: Opinions expressed here are my own and may offend some readers!!!! Parental discretion is strongly advised.

Last night I watched the second "Presidential" debate. As I sat listening to the unending drivel opined by each of the candidates, my mind asked "Haven't we heard this bullshit before?" My answer was a resounding YES. It was then that I realized that I was extremely tired of this campaign. Not physically tired, but mentally beaten down. It seemed as if I had been following this campaign for years. WAIT, I have been following it for years. This campaign has dragged on for way longer than necessary, and the result is the two candidates we have? Couldn't we have done better? Are these the two best we have to run the country? I hope not! But, they are the "Parties" representatives. We've been told, and they hope we are convinced, that Obama and McCain are the "heirs apparent" in their respective parties. Screw the parties. WHAT ABOUT US? WE THE PEOPLE? Where is OUR leader?

Besides being tired, I am SICK! I am sick of hearing all the talking heads discuss, ad nauseum, who won and who lost. It' obvious to me the loser is the American people. Do either of these guys represent you? Or, do they represent all the special interest groups, corporations, and other "Devils" they have sold their souls to? You don't have to answer that question, it's rhetorical ;-)
(Pretend you are a politician)

My opinion:

What's wrong with American politics is that we have lost the direction and idealism of our Founding Fathers. No, they weren't always right, but they were always responsible and dedicated. Their major point of dissent was whether we should have a strong Federal Government (Federalists) or a weak Federal Government (Anti-Federalists or States Rightists) . The Anti-Federalists believed the power should reside with the States. That way, the states, ergo the people, would control the real power. Unfortunately, the Federalists won out! Our leaders today are more concerned with winning reelection than doing the job they were elected to do, and the Federal Government wields power with dizzying ineptitude.

Our Founding Fathers could not even imagine the position of "Professional Politicians". Their view of government was that all persons with a stake in this nation would perform his civic duty by doing a tour of duty in that governance. Each community would send a representative to Washington to provide the input from his constituents. Yes, I know that their idea of a person with a stake in this nation was a white, male, landowner. But, think about that. At that time, white, male, landowners were usually the most highly educated, economically active, leaders in their communities. Farmers as well as scholars and industrialists.Who better to send to Washington? This perception has changed over the years and has been addressed through Constitutional Amendment. But, the concept of popular representatives doing their tour and then going home is still fundamentally sound.

That brings up another sore point. We DO NOT live in a Democracy! We live in a Representative Democracy! We elect "Representatives" to perform the day to day activity of government. Otherwise, "We The People" would be voting on every bill / law / appointee / budget / etc. required to run the country. In theory this works, but with professional politicians spending their entire adult lives in Washington, they lose sight of "We The People" and concentrate on "Me The Politician." Re-election trumps representation, and "We The People" have become so lazy and complacent that most of us don't even care, or really want to know, what is going on in our own government. Just parade some smooth talking, good looking, well dressed, financially supported piece of meat in front of us and we will trip all over ourselves to send him to Washington. AND, even if he looks us straight in the eyes and lies to us, fails to "represent" us, breaks the law, commits unthinkable acts, WE WILL SEND HIM BACK AGAIN! Go Figure!

So, let's put together a plan. "We The People" will form a nationwide alliance. We will all agree not to vote unless there is a candidate that actually meets our requirements. We have just two: 1. That they be completely open and honest, and 2. That they actually Represent the people.

WHAT IF THEY HELD AN ELECTION AND NOBODY SHOWED UP. Imagine the message that would send to Washington!!!!!

It's Working.....

About two months ago, Gail and I went on diets along with adding biking and kayaking to our activities. I had never really seriously counted calories in an attempt to lose weight. My plan was Atkins Carb counting. Well the calorie thing is working very well, much to my amazement. Part of it could be that I am listing everything I eat. Anyway, I got on the scale this morning and goal 1 has been achieved. When I started I weighed 197 lbs. This morning the scale said 179 lbs. Eighteen pounds in two months.

I want to get down to 170, but Gail may not allow that. She thinks at 170 I am too skinny.

It's working very well for Gail also, but it isn't polite to talk about a woman's weight. Let's just say that her goal is nearly met as well.

The Sad Truth.....

Is this pathetic or what ? I came home for lunch and to let the dogs out, and what did I find? Flop had crawled up to the window to look outside for Flip. Sad proof below.

The poor guy can't seem to accept the fact that Flip is gone.

Failed rescue attempt - Flip is gone........

As I mentioned yesterday, I lost one of my Rainbows (Flip) when we went kayaking yesterday. This morning we went back to First Landing Park in an attempt to rescue him from the great outdoors. Our attempt was a failure. Flip was nowhere to be found. I can only hope the someone picked him up and will give him a good home. Flop is heartbroken. His partner of 15+ years is gone forever. We plan to have a ceremony to commemorate the loss and help Flop deal with his grief. Until then, I'll just have to deal with the forlorn looks and lonely sighs. Can you see the forlorn look?

Poor Flop......

First Landing State Park

We decided to go kayaking today and put off all the work around the house until tomorrow. On the way home, we decided that tomorrow morning we are going to ride our bikes up to the Oceanfront and do the work in the afternoon. Sounds like a plan to me!

Back to kayaking. We decided to go back to First Landing State Park and head in the other direction from our first trip. We paddled up through Broad Bay, followed a channel into White Hill Lake, across Broad Bay into some canals in Bay Island. A total of 6.68 miles in 3 1/2 hours. Great trip.

We ran into Randy, the guide from Kayak Nature Tours. He was leading a tour for the Little People's Convention. Good to see him again. He pointed out a few areas of interest. Map of trip below.



One is the lonliest number....

Only low spot of the day, lost one of my Rainbows. We think it fell out of the truck when we stopped to pay for parking. Usually there is a person at the gate to collect the fees. Today I had to pay on the honor system. You put your money in an envelope and put into the safe. That's the only time it could have fallen out. I guess we'll run back up there tomorrow morning to see if it is still there. I'd hate to have to break in a new pair!

This is a bridge we had to go under to get into White Hill Lake.....
Gail's view under the bridge......
This is how you have to go under.....
Osprey nest in the tree........
The "Captain" paddling ahead while I stopped to take pictures.....
Paddling out from White Hill Lake......
Our rest stop on the way back in......
Some of the great scenery.......
Coming out of White Hill Lake........
Happy Yakkers.......
One last shot of the scenery......
We really enjoy being out in the Yaks. Although we are both whooped after a long paddle, the peace and relaxation are the greatest stress reliever you could imagine. As I have said before, 90% of the time we are totally alone. No people, no problems, no schedule. Just paddle and watch the scenery pass by.

One last note. Last night I installed new seats in the kayaks. These have butt pads and higher back supports. They are great. No more back aches while paddling.

New seat....

Greyson's Ready to Crawl.....Video

Chris stopped by this morning to return the tools he borrowed and brought Greyson along. He's going to be one of those Dads that takes the boy with him everywhere. Anyway, Greyson is almost at the point of crawling. He belly crawls across the floor. When he wants to move a little faster, he just rolls. "Hell on Wheels" shortly.

Look at me.......

I'm a big boy now....

We had planned to kayaking this morning, but it was a little chilly. Plan on going a little later today.

I Plan To Make This Official...

This is a cool video that Steph sent me. What the hell, I couldn't do any more harm to the country than our current leaders, executive and congress.

A vote for Jim is a vote for yourself. Common man, uncommon beliefs.

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=357563&altf=Kjn1&altl=Xbmti