Becky's Birthday.
Friday, March 29, 1996
Happy Birthday To You!
Becky (Rebecca Anne) is my little sister. A year and a half younger (you figure it out; she'd whack me if I told you how old she was), she moved to San Francisco in 1973 with her (now former) husband and bought a beautiful
home on a mountain just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I've always coveted her home. I used to stay there when travelling to SF for business with Hertz. Everything about SF pleases me; the scenery, the people, the city, did I mention the great restaurants? The absolute best anywhere. Sorry New York and Europe.
You loose.
She's a RN (Registered Nurse) with a much respected in Nursing with a speciality as an Adult Nurse Practitioner, and she works at the VA Hospital in San Francisco. Now she's considering moving to Baltimore to be with her boyfriend Bob, who's also in medicene. He's a top dog at The University of Maryland and he manages lots of electrons or something there in Radiology. They're both having some second thoughts about relocating, but since the bottom fell out of the health care market in California with the advent of socialized medicene, HMO's and all that Kaiser-Permanente stuff, there's no rational reason to work in the health care field in California. Everyone's leaving. We have several clients who are former-California doctors.
You can't blame Becky or Bob or any of the medical people one bit. You have to blame the liberals for the mess; their idea of health care with HMO's is truly warped and twisted. It's socialism and it's Killing health care.
Three Weeks Of Help.
Becky's here for three weeks to help us get ready for the Open House and spring onslaught at the Garden Center. She's great. Pitches right in and goes at it with all the enthusiasm of a whirlwind. Wish I could still do that. She had no idea of what she's in for; there's so much to be done. Yet after she's finished, it's all perfectly done and ready to rock and roll. How the hell does she do it? Wish I could afford to hire her.
On Sunday night, Mom and Dad had a birthday dinner for Becky; Bob came up from Baltimore. I ate so much turkey and filling that I was falling asleep at the table. We sang 'Happy Birthday'; God what a pitiful sounding group! I announced that I was becoming a complete vegetarian after I had crabcakes on Thursday at LaMotte's with Becky and Bob. Scary stuff, giving up a comfortable lifestyle for another. But I'm determined.
The rest of the week was busy; two new landscapers added to the crews. This makes five new faces. My Retail Sales Manager position is still unfilled; the last qualified applicant took another job doing something else, I don't know what. But I'm determined to find a candidate for the position, or else do it myself again along with the other 86 or 90 jobs I already do.
Eat All You Want; We'll Make More!
For her birthday yesterday, March 28, I had planned to take Becky and Bob to LaMotte's Restaurant in New Freedom, just a few miles from the Garden Center, for crabcake sandwiches. But we were so busy at the garden center that we'll go on Sunday for dinner. They feature a pure lumpmeat junior 6oz and a whacker 10oz crabcake. Cool. No fillers or binders, just pure lump crabmeat. Best crabcakes I've ever had. All the food is good at LaMotte's; a real local, blue collar restaurant and menu. But people from all over the region come for the crabcakes. Did I mention that they have great crabcakes?
Spam Me.
Becky has a Mac at home and uses something called "VA E-Mail" at the VA Hospital where she works. Last week she figured out how to use email, and spammed me nine times in one day. Wow. Imagine when she discovers the InterNet and The Web what she'll do. Cool.
Tradition.
I'm not real big on sending presents and cards; I'd rather email or call someone and wish them a happy whatever. Wrapping stuff and writing isn't my thing, besides this Pentium PC does a lousy job of wrapping. I have to say thank you to it and after I've shut it down, re-wrap its work so I don't hurt it's feelings.
I hate getting cards and things for holidays and birthdays. Don't know why. It's just happened in the past three years. If I knew I'd tell you.
In each person's life, tradition plays an important role; connecting us to the familiar past and making the uncertain future seem a bit more palatable in this stressed out world. Holidays, birthdays, religious events, cultural and civic affairs make smooth sailing from rough waters. Without these important anchors, the present and future would be traumatic and overwhelming for most if not all of us as we work our way to the end of this life.
Getting Older.
Never trust anyone over 30 was the mantra of the 60s. Now it's Never trust anyone over 50 and soon (in 4 years or so) that'll change for me. Unfortunately, the youth position still has much uncertainty and upheaval in its daily routine. Actually, I've found that the older one gets, the more trust one has in all people. A mellowing of the soul and psyche takes place, gradually acclimating each of us to our structural place in the world. We feel more secure and calm knowing who we are, where we are and why we are.
Happy 45th Birthday, Becky!
The Trilogy Is Now Complete.
Remember The Blizzard of 1996 and The Flood of 1996? Now we've had The Ice Storm of 1996; last night more than two inches of ice coated everything here in Southern York County and Northern Maryland. Thousands of trees destroyed, power, phone and CATV lines down, shrubs crushed, accidents everywhere. I wonder what's next?
Power to our complex went off at 5:20am on Friday morning; the electric clock in greenhouse #1 - the Propagation House - told me so. It was 32F outside, enough to freeze everything solid; luckily it wasn't any colder or the smudge pot heaters would have been inconsequential. I immediately hooked up two auxiliary smuge pot heaters to the LPG lines in GH#1 and the Main Greenhouse to keep the plants from freezing, like in The Blizzard of 1996 that we all somehow survived. Met-Ed has some real headaches; they say the damage to their system will take several days to repair. I'll update the power restoration time to this complex next week.
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Let's Go Back To The Garden Center
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