STUFF!!

 Well, I guess spring is around the corner, but winter is stubborn. We had a freeze warning two days ago, today the temp. hit 50°

Last few days have been rainy, cool or overcast, plus my daffodils in the back yard are not blooming anymore.

Still making daily trips to the three local parks around here: Peck's Pond, Haverstraw Bay Park or Grassy Point.  I enjoy the breeze coming off the Hudson.

 Next couple of days should be interesting. I haven't worn a suit in 20 years. I have to go to my neice Meaghan's wedding on May 20th. I will be trying on old suits in my closet to see if they still fit.....such is life.

Met with the Historical Society the other day. Discussed my donation of Civil War records to them and a possible article.

HEAVY TRAFFIC

 I ran some errands  yesterday. In the course of which I used Routes 59, 202, 304 and 9W. Speed limits were posted between 30 and 40 mph. But the roads were so crowded, I barely went over 20 mph. And rode my brakes most of the time. 

The Traffic in Rockland County is ridiculous. Where the heck are all these people coming from or going to? At least I accomplished my main goal which was to get A new library card. My old one literally cracked in half. The county has historically had a very bad transportation system. Except for my time in the military and my 7 years of heaven in Virginia, I lived in Rockland all my life. I have never seen it this bad.

JUST THINKING ABOUT....

 54 years ago, I was a seaman apprentice newly assigned to an old Coast Guard Cutter. At 19 years old, I was on the Deck Force still learning the ropes.in 1967, we were charged with search and rescue and keeping a watchful eye on Russian ships right off our coast. This was the CGC TAMAROA, an old, old

 sea going tug that somehow managed to get us

 home after every patrol. The above photo was taken from the flying bridge in heavy seas.

Below is me relaxing on solid ground followed by a photo of the wheel house where I spent many hours steering the TAMROA through some sporty weather. Next is a photo I took of us towing the Mackinac down to be decommissioned.

Then a side view of the old girl in moderate seas. The last photo was when she was sunk as a reef off Cape May. There were a lot of heavy hearts that day.

She was an old cutter but she served her nation from 1943 to 1994. We crew members would bitch and moan about rotten weather, rescuing crazy fishermen, tailing the Russians and going after drug smugglers (we had 10 marijuana leaves painted on the bridge representing our drug busts). 

We had no air conditioning in 67-68. We squished 70 odd people in two tiny berthing areas, but when we left her or the CG, we always managed to remember the good times. Believe me serving your country on an Ocean Going Tug like this made you grow up fast!

I will always remember the lessons learned and the pride we felt when we sailed the seas with our national flag fluttering in the breeze.

FINGERS CROSSED

 The old chariot is in for it's annual physical today. It is 14 years old and so far is treating me OK. 

It's in for a oil and filter change with a check up on fluid levels, leaks, cracked hoses, belts etc. Hope to keep it many more years. Can't afford one of those EV monstrosities that Biden is trying to ram down our throats.

P.S. just got back from the repair shop. It was cheap this time. Just an oil and filter change. Then said the rear brakes were a little low but didn't need replacement yet.

INSPECTOR MAGELLAN

 My sister and I had a treat today. She came over for a visit and brought me my customary coffee and two donuts holes.

We watched something different. There is a French TV series called Magellan. It is about a divorced police inspector who has custody of his two daughters. 

Also in the mix is Magellan's journalist girl friend, a nephew and his partner. We enjoyed the first episode  very much. It's in French with English subtitles. There are seven seasons, I think.

I know that many people are not crazy about subtitles, but I think this series is worth it. If you are a fan of Midsommer Murders, odds are that you will like this show as well.

ELUSIVE SLEEP

 I have been tossing and turning since 4:30 this morning. It's driving me nuts. Over the years as an Operating Engineer I have worked all shifts around the clock. I even worked the dreaded swing shift for two years. That pretty much meant I worked everyone else's day off. 

After several years in the field I finally landed on days. But in order to commute to the City and get to work on time I was up at 4:30 a.m. every morning. 

After a couple of decades of that, my body just won't sleep longer than 6 hours. Even though I have been retired for 11 years now, no matter what time I go to bed, I awaken 6 hours later. 

Last night I was tired. I go to bed at 10:30. Sure enough, I'm awake at 4:30. And mind you this is using a CPAP machine because I have sleep apnea.

I wonder how much sleep people with regular 9 to 5 jobs get? Oh and even before this job, I was in the military. On board a cutter, we stood watches 4 on, 8 off plus turned to ships work. 

So pretty much all my life, I have been subject to weird sleep patterns. A couple of times, I slept until 9 a.m. but guess what, I went to bed at 3 a.m.!

Can't win😴

GREEN ENERGY, TOO FAR, TOO FAST

 My oldest son and I  converse on a number of subjects other than my grandchildren. One subject we discuss is green energy. 

Once upon a time, I was the Environmental Manager for one of our accounts in the city.  I didn't want the job and said so. But no matter, they made me do it anyway. I learned a lot of things in the process. Mainly, the wrong way to do it. I was told for the first year, go green, but spend no money! Being a former Chief Engineer, I had already implemented a number of cost saving measures that reduced our carbon foot print since it is beaten into us engineers to save money.

Eventually I got them to loosen their purse strings a little bit. We bought VFD's for our large package units, etc. 

Well I have been retired, out of the field for a tad over a decade now so I decided to ask my son who is knowledgeable in this area what he felt had the most promise in the future. 

His opinion is that solar energy is the way to go for the future. I think he is right, but we are not there yet. Our government is not very smart. They are trying to do too much too fast. As a result we are suffering 6% inflation. Fuel costs are starting to rise again. We have supply chain issues and food is expensive.

I agree that we should demonstrate a better stewardship of the world. However states like California and probably New York are not thinking right. If they go all electric in California regarding cars, do they realize that they will have to spend millions to upgrade the power grid? We need to  produce more electricity for additional charging stations. 

It varies by state, but those states who don't have an abundance of hydroelectric power will need to produce electricity by using nuclear reactors, oil, natural gas or coal. so how is that going to help reduce our carbon foot print? Then with an increase in EV's we will see an increase in battery reclamation and an accompanying increase in cost. We should not rush the process. We will just make it worse.

A message to government bureaucrats. We want to help, but we don't want to be driven into poverty and food shortages just so you can look good.🙂

Pecks Pond

 One of the places I like to visit regularly is Peck's Pond. A nice relaxing park close to the river. It has water fountains, gazebos and plenty of ducks and geese.  There is a path circling the pond that people use for walking and exercising their dogs.

A very nice place. We used to come here as a family a lot when the  kids were young.

Right now I have the windows down and am grooving to Taylor Dayne, one of my favorite female singers. Nice breeze blowing through the car. I'm enjoying the antics of several dogs.

ON THE HUDSON

 Beautiful day. 58° slightly hazy to the south.  Enjoying the water, the breeze, the geese and the people. Not as crowded as yesterday. The river is glassy, you can barely see a current.

Makes me forget all the B.S. going on in the world today.

73° now. Heading back for another round of nature.

WHAT IF?

 I inwardly groan when I hear people ponder "What if". Everyone always yearns for something different, sometimes without regard to consequences if the " what if " wish came true.

I don't like "what ifs". If I look back at my 75 years, there is not one thing I would do differently. I sat down once and thought about the choices I made. The first "what if" I stumbled across was when I was 19. In  CG Basic Training  when we were graduated, we were asked our top three requests for duty.

I put down Ice Breakers as my first choice. I don't remember the other two. But I wanted to be on an ice breaker to have an adventure, see the world, etc. Well I got an ocean going tug out of the third district. We ran search and rescue patrols in the Atlantic.

Because of that choice, (or rather the Coast Guard made for me), I made friends with my future ship mate and  Best Man for  my wedding. Ed introduced me to Cardinal Spellman's Service mans club. While going there one Thursday night, I met Regina,  with whom I immediately fell in love. Three months later we were engaged.

In the meantime (here is a what if again) I had an opportunity to go to Damage Control School. The curriculum was firefighting, welding, plumbing, masonry, fiberglass repair, etc.

Well Regina and I were married in January of 71. I went to college only to find out that majoring in history was a bad choice. Wound up working as an Operating Engineer (my DC training came in handy), A career in which I  spent 35 years.

It all started with me not getting that Ice Breaker. If I had been assigned to one, I wouldn't have met the love of my life. I woulnt have spent seven great years in Virginia. I wouldn't have had my three kids or three grandkids I have now. So I missed out on excitement and adventure, but I don't regret it one bit. My family is what I care about.

Below is a photo of the first what if that started me on my life's journey. Me and Walter Jones on the stern of the Cutter Tamaroa.

YELLOWSTONE

 That TV series Yellowstone has been around for awhile. My sister Judi came over for a visit. She said it got good reviews so we bought salads for dinner and watched the first two episodes. 

The verdict: Judi thought it was Grim and that Kevin Costner was mean. I thought it was boring. However we agreed to watch season 1 episode 3, the next time she comes over because the second episode was better. I generally like Kevin Costner, but  in my opinion this so far is not a very good series.

POST SCRIPT 4/29: so far we have watched 5 episodes. This is a very strange show. There are almost no redeeming characters. They are all flawed, yet we keep tuning in to see what happens next. 

One thing I know for sure is the character of Beth Dutton, to me at least is the least redeeming character of the bunch. That said, I will bet the actress has a lot of fun doing the character. We keep watching the show to see what happens next.

BILL & REGINA, THE EARLY YEARS

 We were married for almost five decades. But if I had to pick a time I remembered most fondly, it would be our first seven years together when we lived in Virginia. There were a number of reasons. First of all, it was Virginia and I am a Civil War buff. So we wandered all over the state visiting and photographing battlefields.

Secondly, I had dream summer jobs. I worked as what was known as a Seasonal Park Ranger Interpreter portraying a Confederate soldier at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania  National Battlefield. Then I transferred to Booker T. Washington National Monument since it was way closer to home. Soaking up the atmosphere at every stop.

Next I joined the Fincastle Rifles a reenactment group dedicated to keeping history alive. Became really close friends with them. They accepted this transplanted Yankee and even made me an honorary member of Fincaste Rifles camp #1326 SCV.

But the most memorable time we had was when I was a student at Roanoke College. Since I was a Veteran, I was 4 years older than every other student plus we lived off campus. I really enjoyed school and Regina and I associated with a slightly older crowd. I have to give her credit, Regina was not the best cook in the world when we first married, but she loved looking up recipes and started experimenting. In fact we would invite some of the friends we made over for dinner and a night of that dice game Yahtze. She really got good. To the point where my student - friends would ask me, "what is she making this week?" So we hosted weekend dinners and tried out recipes on my unsuspecting friends.

Then about a year before we left Virginia, Regina became Pregnant with our first child. Angela was born in Culpeper, Virginia. For the longest time, we used to bust her chops calling her our "true Virginia Belle". We finally left Virginia when I received a better job offer up North. But I have always missed the " Old Dominion."

The Blue Ridge Mountains, The Washington Redskins, me at Fredericksburg and the Sunken Road at Fredricksburg.

GRAMPS WANTS TO BRAG

 Here is the latest photo of my grandkids. They just got back from 5 days at a water Park. 

It's time to brag. Rocky on the left has his own book called Roccoisms. My son records it whenever Rocco says something weird or profound. 

The middle guy is Liam. He is a percussonist in a band that won the regionals and they go to the state finals at the end of the month. And Piper on the right got everybody's attention when she wrote an impressive short story.

So Grandpa is very proud of them all.

THE NEXT STEPHEN KING

Or so my son Sean tells me is going to be my Granddaughter Piper. She wrote a short story for English class. The teacher wrote "very good but dark" on the paper. I asked her to send me a copy. For a 13 year old its very good, but it is dark 😃 It has elements of Les Miserable and Sweeny Todd in it. I told her I wanted an autographed copy of her first novel.

And by the way she got an A, proud Grandpa here!

RELEARNING BLOGGING!!

 I haven't used this site for so long, I forgot how to do most anything with it. So I spent a good part of the afternoon relearning  how to use it. Fortunately, I haven't deleted anything. 

After some trial and error, I have figured out how to load photos again, how to format the pages, etc. I'm not going to mess with it too much. The original design I concocted is still to my liking, so that is staying. 

My relearning curve is amazing, a lot is coming back just tinkering with the site.  My main goal is not to mess up any of the posts written since 2007.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, BACK TO MUSIC FOR A WHILE!!!

 For the last twenty years or so I haven't listened to music on the radio. When ever I was in the car, I listened to news radio. Well my patience has been exhausted. I can't deal with the constant barrage of doom sayers with respect to China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, Inflation, Trump and on and on.

So today I dug into my old CD collection and pulled out Taylor Dayne, Fleetwood Mac,  The Four Seasons, Billy Joel and even the Kingston Trio. I brought them to the car went down to the Hudson River and blasted them reliving my younger years through the music. (To my grandchildren; take note of those groups, Grandma Regina and I liked them).

I especially needed to hear Taylor Dayne sing "You Can't fight Fate" that song is close to my heart for obvious reasons. So I put it on repeat and turned up the volume until the car doors were shaking. After I was satiated, I went home. 

I don't have a CD boom box or a stereo system of any kind, so in the house I can play them on my CD /DVD player. Not as earth shaking as in the car, but it will do 😆

BOOKS

 I have been a heck of a reader all my life. The first adult book I ever read was by Burke Davis at the tender age of 8. It was titled "Jeb Stuart, The Last Cavalier". I credit that book with starting me on a life long obsession with the American Civil War. My library really kicked into high gear when I went to college and joined the History Book Club. Once you joined, you had to agree to three purchases a year.

Each month there was an editors choice. If you didn't like it, you could substitute a selection. I substituted regularly for the first few years to build up my Civil War collection. While I would request a Civil War biography, Regina would choose Henry VIII or "Marriage in the Middle Ages".

At any rate, we built up quite a collection of books. After a while I just gave up and accepted whatever the editors choice was. We eventually had 6 floor to ceiling book cases in the living room. Once the kids left, we used their closets.

Then an amusing thing happened. We live in a townhouse. It has no attic or basement.  No more storage room here. I finally surrendered and sent a note to the History Book Club canceling my membership. They sent me a note back begging me to stay on. I had been a member for 21 years and they didn't want me to go. They offered to suspend my account for a bit. I politely declined and cut ties.

Fast forward to 2020.. I decided to start clearing out the house. I kept A few books, but donated 70 cases of books to a local library. 30 cases were all Civil War books. Once in a while, I buy A book I really want. But I purchase the e-book version so I store it on the computer.

Regina was an English Literature major in college and I was a History major. So the house was crammed with books. We really loved to read and absorb knowlege. I'd say about 75% of my books were non-fiction. The other 25% were mostly westerns. I love Louis Lamour, Mark Twain, Bret Hart, Owen Wister, Walter Van Tilburg Clark and more recently Robert Parker and Craig Johnson. 

In my humble opinion, the younger generation is missing a lot by being obsessed with video games. Books are way more fulfilling. I've rambled on enough........just read more!!

Do I Belong here????

 Did you ever feel really out of it?? I am on several pages on Facebook. Being retired, I have the time. Unless, I am really riled up, I try to stay away from politics or woke stuff. I was raised in the 50' s, enuf said! Well there is one page on Facebook I really like. It is called "TV and Movie Addicts."

I visit it because I am a Neanderthal when it comes to knowledge of movies and TV. Most of my life, I was either in military school, the Service, studying for college or working crazy shifts as a Building Engineer no time for that!

This site gives me an idea of what is out there. But its also pretty funny because whenever anyone posts A poll, I either never heard of the movie or actor, so I can't make an informed choice. One time one of the people was incredulous. The question was name your favorite female actor. Then we were given numerous choices, none of which I recognized. I watch a bunch of Hallmark movies and had a liking for an actress named Teri Polo. I have seen her in a number of movies and really like her.  So i penciled her in. Well the reaction was Hilarity. Hey, you asked, I answered!

I think they are getting used to me. I don't like science fiction with a few notable exceptions. Don't like Horror at all. But I do like biographies, mysteries, science and nature documentaries, Romantic comedies and anything involving time travel. So its helped my selection somewhat. I am also a history buff, so I watch and enjoy movies like Breaker Morant or Das Boot.

Its been an education. I didn't realize how much I didn't know.here is Teri Polo:

Why Blog???

 I started blogging in 2007. Why, I don't know. My urge comes and goes as you can see by my annual posting history. Its not like I have a lot to contribute to the world and when I got busy or dwelled on certain things I didn't blog at all.

But, lately, I decided to pick up the pace. Its not that I have anything important to say. Its basically because when I cross the bar, I want my grand kids to know what their grandpa Bill was like. I gave the title and IP address to my oldest son who produced all of my grandchildren. 

After some pondering, I remembered how to use the photo uploader, so you dear reader can now see important moments in my life. First is me in the Coast Guard followed by the college era photo of my wife Regina, then a photo of my Dad and me the day before I enlisted in 1967. Next is Regina and I in Virginia in 1974. Next we have a photo of my Father-in-law Vinnie Accardi with his 4 daughters.

 Up next is my son Sean and his S.O.  Kayla followed by Sean and my three Grand Children. After that is a photo of the cutter I served on, the USCGC TAMAROA. The last two are pretty important in my life as well. Mabry Mill on the Virginia, North Carolina border (they made the best pulled pork and buckwheat pancake sandwiches) and finally: the Riverboat Mississippi Queen. Regina and I cruised on her for 8 days in the South touring Civil War battle fields.

At any rate, I decided to Blog more hoping to keep my mind sharp. It is also a nice way of remembering events of the old days. The more I do this, the more I realized I crammed a lot into my 75 year life😄

Watching every penny!!

 I don't know about the rest of you seniors, but inflation is killing me. I am living paycheck to paycheck. My IRA distribution has dropped 400.00 a month. 

I have a meager pension and social security. I remember the days when my dear departed wife would ask me to work OT to pay the mortgage early. Now I'm cutting back on the food bill, no luxuries allowed. When are elected officials going to tame inflation.

Looks like it will be a nice day today. Maybe I will go to Grassy Point  and see if grumpy goose is there.   :⁠-⁠D Beautiful day out. Saw a freighter go upriver. When I got home, I turned down the heat and opened the back door. The weather liars say it is supposed to hit 70.

Canadian Geese are cantankerous!

 I've had a couple of encounters with Canadian geese lately. I don't think they like me. Each morning if the weather permits, I go down to Grassy Point on the Hudson River and just relax. Watch the ships go by, people fish, that sort of thing.

A few days ago, I parked in the pull-off and a goose walked up to the car, looked right at me and honked. It then turned and walked away. And yes, I smiled! Well this morning it was a sunny day in the low 40s so I went there again.

After a short period of serenity, I left. As I pulled on to the road, A goose stepped in front of the car stared at me through the windshield as if I was interrupting its day. It wouldn't move, so I checked for oncoming traffic, saw none so skirted around it. As I left, I wondered if it was the same grumpy goose that I encountered a couple days earlier. It would be fitting because my sister says I'm a grouch. I can be grumpy, but only if I'm aggravated by bureaucratic stupidity.

That was my start for the day.

Sentimental mood today

 I have been thinking a lot about Regina today. She passed away almost 4 years ago. But as the grief counselor said, "think good thoughts". So here goes. For people of different religions and different political views, we were together 50 years counting our engagement.

She had never been to Virginia. After I was discharged from the Coast Guard, I went to Roanoke College in  southwest Virginia. While there she learned how to use a loom, stitch A quilt and became very good with needle point. When I had summer jobs with the National Park Service at Booker T  Washington National Monument, She even volunteered to do living history presentations dressed in period costume churn butter and make lye soap......and she put up with me and my friends with our obsession with Civil War history.

She had never been to Maine before. My family had roots in Maine and she grew to love it. There are Maine/nautical needle points all over the house. She loved the ocean and could stitch for hours listening to the waves crash on the rocks. We went to the Boothbay Region  as often as we could.

One of the things we did was go to Mystic Connecticut every year. She would attend a stitching retreat and learn new stitches or techniques or projects. While she did that I would wander around Olde Mystic Village or visit the aquarium.

Then there was the Bavarian Manor Inn in upstate New York near Cairo. It was a nice relaxing inn with a German style restaurant. Boy did she love their potato pancakes. The inn has a beautiful wrap around porch. Regina would gather all her stitching paraphernalia assisted by me and stitch all day moving with the suns arc across the sky. When we weren't on the porch, we were antiquing. There were several old antique places and true to her nature, she was always looking for Christmas gifts for Angela, Judi or Janet.

And don't laugh; but when I get in these moods, I like to watch Hallmark Channel rom-coms. It helps.

I guess you could say we had a good run, three kids and three grandkids later. Great times, she was my person.

Advice to those of you are being challenged by your waist size

 I am 75 years old and overweight. If anyone out there is in my predicament, I have one thought for you. See a nutritionist! Over the last couple of years, I have manage to lose 77 pounds. I am aiming to lose another 50. Its really hard so don't let it get out of control.

My nutritionist works out a meal plan for me with a certain percentage of fat, carbs and protein. We started off at 1800 calories a day. Then I hit a plateau. She readjusted it down to 1600 calories. I have a food scale which I use to measure out the quantities. Its a pain. But its working.

The other day, I almost gave in. I haven't had sweets for 4 years. I put in a request for Tootsie Roll pops with my regular Shoprite order which is delivered. They texted me and said they were out. My reaction was, "Thank God", because I knew I shouldn't have them.

What the Heck!!!!

 I just found out that my 13 year old princess of a granddaughter got called into the principals office. Guess why?

The other day, her school had "don't bring your back pack to school day". She elected to bring her books etc. To school using my old seabag from my days in the Coast Guard.

Some idiot in school said to her"what do you have in there , a rifle?". Next thing you know, she is getting the third degree from the principal.

What a bunch of hooey. It was the schools idea to hold this day and she innocently uses her grandfather's seabag, only to be called on the carpet by some local bureaucrat.  She is the sweetest kindest kid I know, so I am a bit miffed about it.

Reconnecting to the past

 In 1971, less than one year after we were married, Regina and I moved to Salem, Virginia. I went to college at Roanoke, fell in love with the state and met a couple,  The Thompsons, who became very good friends during our stay in Virginia.

7 years later we moved to New York and sad to say lost contact with our friends. Over the years, I tried to find them and had no success until recently. Well I was stunned to learn that M. had passed away some years ago. I found his wife G. and we reconnected. We both had very pleasant memories of our time together. But, it was tempered by the fact that my wife, Regina, passed away as well.

Fair winds and following seas M.