The Year In Review

As the year 2019 comes to a close let me review of how it went for me...

January- The year started off as any other year in the last few, nothing notable comes to mind.

February- It started with my mother falling, cracking a rib which turned into a punctured lung, emergency trauma surgery, a 10 day stay in ICU, and eventually a move to a rehab facility.

March- Mom home for a short stint before another fall and a repeat of February. This time after the second surgery she refused to eat and drink for several days and we thought we were going to lose her. My daughter visited at the end of the month and things started to look better.

April- Mom moved to a rehab facility again, was weak from the two surgeries and did not respond to rehab, needed 24 hour care in the home along with being oxygen dependent.

May- Rehab stopped and her insurance would not cover in-home care, but would cover long-term care in a nursing facility. I started to explore moving to Colorado.

June- Finished 8 years at Coventry Public Schools, started to clean out my mother's house and made the decision to move west.

July- Bought a new used car, finished up at The Tobacco Shop, and took a 4 day drive to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Everything I owned was backed into the car.

August- Unemployed and living in a strange city, but near my daughter once again, but away from my son.  Relationship with daughter was rough and second guessing my move.

September- Finally found employment, and relationship with daughter improving.

October- Maeve had to put her horse down and then 10 days later her dog, was heartbroken for and with her.

November- Maeve finds handsome young gelding and starts to heal, relationship with her getting much better.

December- Two weeks before the holidays was informed that my job was being eliminated at the end of the month. Panic starts to creep in...found new position and with a raise three days after Christmas.

Here is to a less turbulent 2020...

Exit Plan?

So as I get ready to end my CT chapter and start a new one in CO, I am starting to think about what I want to do before I leave.

After much consideration, it is not really doing anything in the state but more about foods. I am aware that there is no good pizza or bagels in Colorado (both from visiting and conversations with The Maeve), both of those are easily taken care of in getting my last few tastes of these two CT delectable treats. The other that keeps coming to my mind is seafood, I know with today's globalization, that seafood is available in CO but it comes with a heavier burden on the wallet. 

As I think about the various seafoods I enjoy (which is just about everything that comes out of the ocean that is edible), most fish ships well, as with lobster and other crustaceans.  I think that the toughest find in CO will be a really fresh raw oyster (Crassosterea Virginicas). 

I have been fortunate to have been exposed to oysters right off the boat from Norm Bloom and the Copps Island area in Norwalk. There is nothing like getting a bushel of them handed to you as a gift for some work done and eating them within 90 minutes from boat to mouth. 

I also am related the Talmadge family which had oystered the LI sound for decades, so I had been introduced and loved oysters for as long as I can remember. 

So I guess an outing or two enjoying some fresh oysters before departing is what I want to do, so who is in? 

Blue points, Ninigret, Pemaquid, Point Judith, Mystics?

BTW, they pair really well with scotch and/or bourbon.

Another Addition of Brain Smatterings

I had a conversation with a fellow blogger and she reminded me that I have not been blogging enough, so here is a conglomerate of things rattle around in my head...(I hope you are happy)

• HBM and Beard update: still have both, just trimmed everything even though I want it all longer and better. Just started to wax the 'stache again, even did a new run of homemade wax. Beard is now long enough that I really have to pay attention when eating food that requires no utensils or I am eating the beard too
• Frustrated with getting communication established with my daughter's school. I may be separated by distance, but that does not mean I am not active in her life. Do your job, because I am definitely going to try my best to make you do it.
• The country I am living in is going down fast, we have no strong leadership, and they are supported by people that are not awake enough to see what is happening. 
• Racism and bigotry is still alive, it is just now out of the closet once again. And I have friends that want to defend it via the 1st amendment. Maybe you people need to also look at the 5th and STFU, just saying...
• I bought a bicycle. This summer I have made a valiant effort of getting back into shape, round is a shape BTW, and have been good about getting out and exercising. I have tried running, but the knees are just not into it (too many years of officiating and long seasons of plate work), add in that I am over weight and old (once again too many years of plate work). So let me see if I remember how to ride a bike...what is that old colloquial?

'Nuff for now, until next time...

Colorado-isms

So far my travels to see my daughter has truly been an adventure. So here are some things I have come across while in Colorado so far...

• This is the land of the bearded, I have much competition, not that it is a competition.
• If you think following self involved people on the sidewalk is annoying, try downtown Aspen, they are now self involved wearing and walking in ski boots. (Raise the ante because some are carrying their skis and poles and have no special awareness)
• They do not use cardinal directions or map position here, up means up in altitude and down is down in altitude. I am used to down meaning south....so you go up to Aspen even though it is located south of Glenwood Springs.
• There are many old time cigar ads still on the sides of the buildings in Aspen, but it is not a cigar friendly town.
• The people here a very friendly and the locals know everyone and their business...
• Their idea of snow removal is a lot different then back east, roads are made passable and sidewalks are not salted, traverse with caution on both.

Will post more as I come across them.

Afternoon Adventures: I Survived Cabela's

What to do on a chilly Saturday afternoon in CT….

It was suggested that my daughter and I venture to Cabela's- the redneck mecca in the woods and wilderness of East Hartford.

I know I shouldn't pre judge, and all that visit the holy see of hunting are not simple country folk. I like the outdoors and appreciate having the proper clothing and equipment to confront the elements. I am more of a LL Bean, REI, and/or an EMS guy, and they have excellent warrantee policies for their products. Most of what I have seen of Cabela's worn by other people come in several versions of camo accented with safety orange or pink.

Cabela's did impress me with their large display of stuffed animals and we did enjoy seeing the collection of deer, elk, moose, bears, snakes, ermine, birds, big cats, coyotes, and wolves. Also the live aquarium with native fish was cool. My daughter impressed a few older gentlemen with how fast she could identify the various trophy size swimmers.

I was also impressed with the wide selection of non camo apparel, but for the same price I can get LL Bean and have the guarantee. We didn't purchase anything, she wanted either a camouflaged hunting blind or a portable ice fishing hut for the back yard. I said no.

We checked out the eatery there and I was interested in having some wild boar or elk, but the Maeve was not interested, so we scooted over to a local noodle shop for some Pho.

Of course the day would not have been complete without a pit stop on the way home at Munson's.

Traipsing in SECT

So I set out to go to the shore with my daughter, our first stop was Barn Island Wildlife Management Area in Stonington, CT. When we arrived (ignoring the GPS) we were greeted with a parking lot full of boat trailers. We squeezed into a spot and wandered to the boat launch to watch the doings and snap a few photos. Maeve found a small horseshoe crab shell and that made her day, but the overcrowding was too much so we decided to move on.

 We did see this interesting house on the way out, the first of two castles we saw on the day

Our next stop was Bluff Point in Groton. This place was even crazier than Barn Island. the area to hang at Bluff Point is a good walk from the parking lot, but when you have to park 3/4 of a mile from  the trail head, then do that distance and more again, just was not into it. Especially when Maeve travels heavier then Hannibal crossing the Alps, and he had elephants.

So at this point we just decided to motor along routes 1 and 156(?) and see where the rest of the day took us. As we rolled into New London, we passed a store that caught Maeve's eye, so we stopped to get our geek on, and she bought her first comic book. Wonder Woman of course, she is thrilled with the purchase. Also got to go down memory lane rolling past the El-N-Gee (still there) and where Bank Street Tavern was, those were some fun times.

We continued down the road and headed toward Niantic and we were starting to get hungry and could go for some seafood. First place I thought of going to was out of business, the second had a line out the door, so I continued down the road and before long we were in Lyme. Checking with the GPS we saw the Black Seal come up on the radar and headed to Essex Village for some fine dining. Why not nothing else was falling into favor for us.

The Black Seal was quiet and the food was great. We split a RI Clam Chowder, clear broth our fav, and Maeve had a nice chicken parm and I had a fried Oyster Po'Boy. Also ran into an acquaintance from work which is always nice.

From there I decided to surprise her with a fun thing to do on the ride home, a side trip across the Chester/Hadlyme ferry. She got too distracted taking photos she forgot to get of the car until the ride was over. From there we headed home going past where JP Weigel used to be great bike frames (is he still around?)

So I now remember what I don't like about the beach....People. Besides that is was a great afternoon with my beautiful daughter.