IRB: Day 3

With Louisville’s hold on the Championship as solid as Kevin Ware’s cast, we can
be thankful that March Madness is yielding to April Spring Sanity. We did not
watch the final game as we spent the evening with a Box o Wine on the deck with
Barry and Bonnie. I practiced moderation and therefore am fully prepared to sit
on the balcony and tackle lesson one of my Statistics course this morning. I’vebeen roped into writing a pre application grant for NCFL which I hope is as
successful as the Cardinals of Louisville not our beloved St Louis Cards who
dropped opening day like an AT&T wireless call on Riva Ave.

Photo on 4-9-13 at 10.10 AM

There is lots of activity on IRB. They are making the 6th Ave access ramp more
handicapped accessible. I’ve yet to see a wheelchair on the beach but since
Florida is Heaven’s Waiting Room it makes sense. A crew of 6 town employees are
watching one guy push sand with a big bucket loader. I wish they would trim the
dunes which are huge! Mostly the 6 guys shout gleefully creative F$&@ bombs and
while away their hourly wages.

The hotel Saturday night had a nice free breakfast as well as free bed bugs or
other biting vermin that attacked Poppy. Photo documentation provided.

Recent guests felt the need to rearrange all of the furniture which is a sureMen Working Beth Supervising sign of a chilly winter when the TV is the center of entertainment. Nothing is
in disrepair for the moment. We are all so very fortunate to have Shawn as our
property manager!

Marina loves the balcony and for some reason has decided beach comers and idle
construction workers are not worth barking at. She is still limping on her
front leg, injured when I pushed her to the back seat and she resisted then fell
in the crack thus jamming her leg. I’m on the ASPCA Watch List.

Poppy took his one free pass yesterday to expand in detail on his cancer. He
misses his Mom and is adjusting to his lot in life. As Don Coplen says, he’s
going to have to put his big boy pants on and move on. Now we need to curb his
appetite, which is ravenous, a sign of his stress that he attributes to
anesthesia. Oh puleeze, Lord, grant me the serenity…

This is a beautiful slice of Paradise. The weather is here wish you were
beautiful.

Ah, but you are, and all are very much loved. The sun is up, the sky is blue,
but you are my sunshines. Make it a memorable day.

IRB Road Trip Day 2

Greetings from Gainsville,

We rode up and down the Smokey Mountains, across Tennessee and all the way down
Georgia and wound up at a pet friendly LaQuinta next to Mr. ha’s Number One Best
Chinese food. It is next to La Fiesta, NĂºmero UNO Mexicana Cantina which shares
a building with the County Parole Office. It’s quite nice. They have Showtime
on so I’m watching Shameless until we go out to Mr. hann’s.

George is reading in the paper that people are negotiating cleaning fees on
condos. We are so ahead of the game. On the way I drove awhile which is always
a rare event. Poppy said his feet hurt from driving, you’d think I tied him to
the bumper and made him run behind.

This was one of Mom and Pops favorite winter hangouts. Ocala they always said
was horse country, even though they never rode horses or played the fillies at
Church Hill Downs. We are going to keep moving toward the shore in the morning.

Marina and I seat wrestled for dibs on the front seat, it’s a tie.

IRB Road Trip 2013: Day the First

Good Morning Team Levesque,

What a fine Sunday morning. We have a nice handicap or pet room here
inMansfield Tennessee, close to Chattanooga. Marina loves the sounds and scents
so much she got us up at 6:45 so she could go outside to sniff and whizz.

We hit about 75 minutes of bumper to bumper construction slow downs, you know,
“Merge to One Lane” so everybody cheats, the lanes clog with semi trailers in
first gear and unregistered vehicles over heating and under fueled, and
strangely enough, there is no construction. The sequestration in action,
federal highway Improvement at its best!

Lots of spring breakers headed north. You can tell the family/college cars from
the old farts going home to pay their taxes… The cars with kayaks, bikes and
small children attached to the exterior versus the Crown Vics.

We listened to the Louisville game first half and watched the second half in the
room. Poppy brought a cooler with 5 apples, 4 beers, and a dozen raw eggs in
their cardboard container securely packed in ice. Today we are left with 3
apples and 12 raw eggs in a muddle of deconstructed cardboard. I don’t ask why,
I am along for the ride.

You can roll a wheel chair into our shower, and water can run out. It’s
daunting.

Poppy reports he is peeing every two hours en route, as is Marina, a triumph in
his book. He has shown me every single one of his favorite rest stops and we
bypassed half of them. This, my children is what “they lived happily ever
after” is all about. You recall many of life’s pathways not by the potholes but
of the places where you found relief. And someone you love comes along for the
ride and doesn’t make fun of you.