miscmood's blog

Decorating this year has a new set of challenges. Little Puma Pink Pads, aka, Alfie, is still very much in the kitten stage of his life. He is one year old this month, and no longer has the boxy look of a kitten, but the more elongated look of a cat. But, his breed, a Tonkinese, is a very small breed of cat, and he is still well under five pounds. Smokey, on the other paw, weighs easily three times that. Alfie sees the world through eternally enormous, round sea-green eyes; taking in everything, forgetting nothing. He is fearless. He is a PUMA. Because of my travel plans, I have opted out of a live tree this year, and will use the artificial I've got stowed in the storage room.

Recently I returned to my Atlantic Beach home after a challenging day at work. Part of my welcoming committee was missing when I unlocked my front door and stepped inside. I missed one of my dogs straight away, and discovered as I searched for her, that someone had broken into the rear of my home. Apparently someone needed my stuff more than I did, but in removing the stolen goods from my home, my back door was broken, the screen door left open, as well as my gate, which allowed one of my dogs to wander through. I am very lucky that someone saw her wandering around and picked her up. A series of fortunate events brought my little dog back home to me, but my heart clutches at the very real possibility I could have lost all of my pets that day.

          Kewl pic, yeah? This is jazz musician Marion Meadows; saw him Sunday night at the Sea Walk Pavilion in Jax Beach. I contemplated going out on my beach cruiser in the rain to catch his act, along with Gerald Veasley and the Robert Harris Group. It was the last in the summer jazz concert series, and despite the precipitation, it was a phenomenal evening - well worth having my tie-dye beach blanket soaking up ten pounds worth of rain water I had to then haul back home on my bike.

The sound system at the beach venue is amazingm and, the roadies really have it in gear; quickly and efficiently changing out drum kits and keyboards as the musical baton is passed from one band to the next. Kudos to Jax Beach for bringing the sound of smooth jazz to the First Coast.

It is not HOT at the beach today, it is  S U L T R Y ! ! !  

I am not venturing out beyond what is totally necessary today. Was going to take a junket to the shops, but am, instead, making do with what I have on-hand. It's the first really hot day of summer, which has most certainly arrived on The Right Coast of Florida, although the calendar is stating the official start of summer is not until next week!

Well, who doesn't????? I was on my way to work the other morning listening to the news and gave other motorists a chuckle, I suppose, as I'm sitting in my little convertible at a traffic light, giving my two cents to the radio. JEA wants to raise everyone's bill so they can recover some of their losses.... which royally annoyed me, as I'm still searching for some ways to recoup MY losses!

This past year, I've seen my property tax on my Atlantic Beach home DOUBLE, which has added an extra $100 per month onto my mortgage payment for my humble little home.

I'm now also paying MORE than double to fill the ten-gallon tank on my little car. She's fuel-efficient, but geeze, when I'm glugging in $40+ of the precious black liquid she requires to get me back and forth to work (which about the only place I can afford to drive to!), it's emptying $40 out of my wallet at an alarming rate.

On my way to work yesterday the morning dj team of the station I listen to were welcoming callers to relate their funniest pet stories. One of my faves was submitted by the caller who said she'd come home from work one afternoon to find the family's new kitten curled up in her Waterford cyrstal bowl, which was located in direct line with a nice, warm, Florida sunbeam. It made me chuckle, and caused me to reflect on my own pet stories. I've got quite a few, but probably the one that sticks out the most is the time my schnauzer, Luppet, buried her shirt.

I'd planned the pool party for weeks, and had a nice gathering 'round the pool on the deck.

i routinely ride my bike from my home in ab; down plaza to ocean/first st; and ride just beyond the pier in jax beach. most of the time, this ia very pleasant experience. i see many of the same peeps all the time; one of my faves is the young woman who walks her beautiful golden retriever who carries a tennis ball in his mouth... anyroad, i find it best to avoid riding my beach cruiser on weekends when there are special events taking place.

during one busy weekend as during spring break, i narrowly escaped being run over by an suv whose driver saw fit to not even slow down for the stop sign; he just barrelled right through and i was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision. fortunately, i sustained only very minor injuries, but wish i'd recovered quickly enough to take down that person's tag number. however, by the time i picked myself and my bike up off the edge of the curb, that vehicle was already down by third street!