I Have Re-Retired to Florida

[indoa...@gmail.com]

My wife, two kitties, and I moved from California last September and settled in South Florida next to Miami. I do believe I like it here, and I strongly suspect my complaining wife does too. We are definitely both happier. I positively love the hot, humid weather. And I relax and grin from ear to ear when we have good thunderstorm.

The only really wicked thing I've done since we've been here is to eye the pink plastic flamingos for sale at a local plant nursery. They mean it as a joke. No one these days is so unsophisticated as to put a bunch of pink plastic flamingos on his front lawn. Except for me. 8-)

Indoarsman

[Robert]

I think that people buy them to put in their yards just to
piss off their neighbors...... It works !!!!!

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, May 19, 2013 8:22:38 AM UTC-4, Robert wrote:

> I think that people buy them to put in their yards just to
> piss off their neighbors...... It works !!!!!

Well I wouldn't want to do that. The neighbors across the street have an alligator infested canal behind their houses where it would be easy to dispose of undesirable new neighbors. It might be prudent to hide my pink plastic flamingos behind the shrubbery.

I'll have to make do with the genuine flock of white ibises that patrol the neighborhood looking for bugs. They're fun to watch.

Indoarsman

[Robert]

On May 20, 6:22 am, indoars...@gmail.com wrote:

> Well I wouldn't want to do that. The neighbors across the street have an alligator infested canal behind their houses where it would be easy to dispose of undesirable new neighbors. It might be prudent to hide my pink plastic flamingos behind the shrubbery.
>
> I'll have to make do with the genuine flock of white ibises that patrol the neighborhood looking for bugs. They're fun to watch.
>
> Indoarsman

If you got a goat and put it on a rope in your front yard, not only
would you not have to mow it, but the neighbors wouldn't notice
the pink flamingoes so much...... Just a suggestion......

[brian]

We have a "goat guy" who comes out to our property and temporarily
fences the area to be "cut" and then fills it with his goat heard.
Couple days later he returns and takes it all away.

AND......... you are right during this goat rodeo I haven't noticed
even one of those pesky flamingoes!

[Robert]

On May 22, 11:41 am, brian <bfunk...@cox.net> wrote:

> We have a "goat guy" who comes out to our property and temporarily
> fences the area to be "cut" and then fills it with his goat heard.
> Couple days later he returns and takes it all away.
>
> AND......... you are right during this goat rodeo I haven't noticed
> even one of those pesky flamingoes!

I wonder if goats who landscape your front
yard are called........"scape goats".......

I'm jus' sayin' .......

[brian]

;-)

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 3:04:53 PM UTC-4, Robert wrote:

> I wonder if goats who landscape your front
> yard are called........"scape goats".......

Let's call them "old goats". That would give me some cover if one of the sweet young things that jog past my house in the morning should complain about "that old goat".

Indoarsman ( ) <-- halo

[Robert]

On May 25, 4:29 pm, indoars...@gmail.com wrote:

> Let's call them "old goats". That would give me some cover if one of the sweet young things that jog past my house in the morning should complain about "that old goat".
>
> Indoarsman ( ) <-- halo

Reminds me of a story about my wife and I when we got our first house
in Ft Lauderdale.
It turned out to be in a retirement neighborhood and every
afternoon
there would be herds of seniors out for their evening walk.
We were a young couple then, and I did our own yard work. One
afternoon one old gentleman stopped me as I was cutting the
grass and asked me " How much does the lady here pay you to
do this ? ""

I thought for a second and replied " Well, if I do a good job, she
lets me spend the night with her "..

He hurried off and didn't look back......

True story.... !!! :>)))

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, May 26, 2013 11:39:07 AM UTC-4, Robert wrote:

>I thought for a second and replied " Well, if I do a good job, > she lets me spend the night with her "..
>
> He hurried off and didn't look back......

I don't know what this world is coming to.

I haven't been in Fort Lauderdale since 1959. Like everything else around here, it seems to have changed a bit.

Indoarsman

[Ken]

Good 1

[NotMe]

<indoa...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:00510672-cf01-4acc...@googlegroups.com...

{{{

A few years ago we ended up with ~ 2 dozen pink plastic flamingos. My kids
'started', as a joke, a company that would, under cover on night, deliver
them to your friends for a donation to a charity.

The recipiant had to pay a ransom, again to charity, to move them to someone
else's front yard.

Over time the number of flamingos dwindled to nothing and the project
stopped.

It was fun while it lasted.

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Monday, May 27, 2013 11:02:54 AM UTC-4, NotMe wrote:

> It was fun while it lasted.

It was a noble experiment! Did this happen in Florida?

Indoarsman

[VickieB]

~~~~
Well looky here who I found in my newsgroup travels. Hi NotMe .. enjoyed
the story! I hope you and yours are doing well.

I spent some of my wasted yoof 'liberating' plastic pink flamingos from
the lawns of placid Santa Ana, CA .. yes, liquor was involved .. and
we'd team up to see who could get the most. The fun part was scuttling
around in the dark without getting caught. It was so dumb .. at least
before we went home we'd drop our plastic flock in the parking lot of a
supermarket in the neighborhood .. hoping word would get around ...

BTW - why is it okay to add an 'e' on some plural words that end in 'o'
.. but not on others? Spellchecker is upset with flamingoes .. but not
buffaloes, or mosquitoes .. I teased it with potatos and mangos and
pianoes ....

Anyway, I like your kids' flamingo idea better .. and now I'm reminded
of that yard gnome prank in the 70's, where college kids kidnapped him,
took him on a trip cross country, taking his picture at famous sites - I
remember the Grand Canyon - and sending them to the owner's address. He
eventually returned home .. I don't remember how .. but I always wanted
to do that..

v .. crazy person hiding out in SW-OK

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Monday, June 3, 2013 6:53:39 AM UTC-4, VickieB wrote:

> v .. crazy person hiding out in SW-OK

Normally I'd get me my gun and wait outside for them pink plastic flamingo poachers to make an appearance, but people in Oklahoma are out of season this year. I hope it's calm where you are Vickie.

Indoarsman

[VickieB]

~~~~
LOL .. Whoa, my flamingo rustlin' days are long gone.

Thanks, we SW Okies keep dodging the bullet .. and I have thought hard
on a reply to those people who ask why we keep living in such a
terrible, dangerous place:

Risk is inherent to life, after all. There's no place that's completely
safe from everything. The Midwest and Southern Plains have tornadoes ..
the East Coast, Florida and the Bay Coast, have hurricanes. The North
East has terrible blizzards. If you live near a big river you have
floods. California has earthquakes, Colorado has avalanches, Washington
has volcanoes, and Arizona has wildfires. Where should people live?

Once an area is settled, the generations that live and die there, that
have made all their memories there, remain for a variety of reasons ..
mostly because of the proximity to family and friends. Home, basically,
with everything that word implies.

I hope you continue to enjoy your retirement in FLA .. it sure looks
pretty, but ever since I heard that people keep lights burning in their
closets 24/7 to keep their clothes from mildewing, I might rather fight
tornadoes than humidity .. not to mention those giant cockroaches and
lizards on the lanai. ;D
v

[indoa...@gmail.com]

Well, Vickie, where you live is a lot like 'name your poison'. In California we were relatively unscathed by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, but we did an expensive earthquake retrofit to strengthen the house 1n 1990. In 1991 the entire neighborhood was incinerated by the Oakland Firestorm!

My wife complained this morning about the corpses of two winged beasties in the family room. I removed them and waved to the lizards while I was outside. Matter of fact, I enjoy the lizards and their antics. Leapin' lizards!

Indoarsman

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013 9:32:25 AM UTC-4, indoa...@gmail.com wrote:

> Well, Vickie, where you live is a lot like 'name your poison'.

That reads wrong. I didn't mean where Vickie lives. I meant 'where one lives'.

Indoarsman

[VickieB]

~~~~
Yep, killer tornadoes, earthquakes, or wildfires (shame about that) ..
you names yer pizen and takes yer chances. You have giant cockroaches
and lizards, we have rattlesnakes and water moccasins (who hang from
creek trees!).
v

[VickieB]

~~~~
No problem, I knew exactly what you meant.
v

[Robert]

On Jun 6, 5:39 am, VickieB <victo...@privacy.net> wrote:

> Yep, killer tornadoes, earthquakes, or wildfires (shame about that) ..
> you names yer pizen and takes yer chances. You have giant cockroaches
> and lizards, we have rattlesnakes and water moccasins (who hang from
> creek trees!).
> v

You guys got me curious so I went and googled "Safest Places to Live
in
the US", and a number of links are there regarding crime, weather,
etc.
So we have choices...... but, looking at a few of the locations, one
has
to make some tradeoffs on life style....

[indoa...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, June 6, 2013 9:01:51 AM UTC-4, Robert wrote:

> You guys got me curious so I went and googled "Safest Places to Live in
> the US", and a number of links are there regarding crime, weather, etc.
>
> So we have choices...... but, looking at a few of the locations, one
> has to make some tradeoffs on life style....

Carmel and the Monterey Peninsula were the most gorgeous places in California for me, but they were too far from the big city for my wife. They are still gorgeous because they are too far away from the big city and the freeways.

We're in Coral Gables, which is gorgeous. I was last here in 1959 and I liked it at the time. Funny thing is that my wife complains about all the Latin Americans here. Ha! My wife is a recovering South American. She refuses to speak Spanish, but she watches her Spanish soap operas in secret. Meanwhile, she gets me to do the talking in Spanish for her.

And so it goes.

Indoarsman

[VickieB]

~~~~
Yes, we can adjust our lifestyles, but nature can always surpass our
expectations with a bigger hurricane, a bigger earthquake, a bigger
tornado, etc. .. the human heart seems to be bigger on faith, than reason.

v .. Okie born and bred .. to this day, I don't know anyone who was
killed in a tornado

[Robert]

On Jun 7, 6:15 am, VickieB <victo...@privacy.net> wrote:

> v .. Okie born and bred .. to this day, I don't know anyone who was
> killed in a tornado

If a person is killed in a tornado, they are either buried ....or
scattered
all over Oklahoma........
I don't know any of them, now, either...!!! :>)))))

But, seriously, folks....... weather deaths are very rare... It's not
the
sort of thing one really worries about....
One chooses to live near family, near work, near a big lake,
near an airport, whatever and most likely a combination....

If wwe planned everything out for our safety, we would all
be hypochondriacs.... and I am certain that several dozen
of us in the US are not... .

[VickieB]

On 6/7/2013 7:16 AM, Robert wrote:
> On Jun 7, 6:15 am, VickieB <victo...@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> v .. Okie born and bred .. to this day, I don't know anyone who was
>> killed in a tornado
>
>
> If a person is killed in a tornado, they are either buried ....or
> scattered
> all over Oklahoma........
> I don't know any of them, now, either...!!! :>)))))
>

~~~
;) Nyuk, nyuk, a comedian eh? .. that's okay, I enjoy a bit of
smartassery myself.
~~~

> But, seriously, folks....... weather deaths are very rare... It's not
> the
> sort of thing one really worries about....
> One chooses to live near family, near work, near a big lake,
> near an airport, whatever and most likely a combination....
>
> If wwe planned everything out for our safety, we would all
> be hypochondriacs.... and I am certain that several dozen
> of us in the US are not... .
>

~~~~
Yep, I like to live my life with the same attitude I once saw in a
Peanuts cartoon. Charlie Brown was talking to Snoopy about Snoopy's
grandmother-dog, who had told him that we spend half our lives worrying
about stuff that never happens. Charlie said something about her being
wise .. Snoopy said the last time he saw her she was chasing rabbits
across a cloverleaf interchange.

v .. joie de vivre!

[Indoarsman]

On Friday, June 7, 2013 7:15:50 AM UTC-4, VickieB wrote:

> v .. Okie born and bred .. to this day, I don't
> know anyone who was killed in a tornado

Well, there's no reason to start now. By the way, has anyone ever explained the Oklahoma accent? It sounds a lot like the accent in Cornwall, England. Just like the natives in New Orleans sound like they are from Brooklyn or the Bronx.

Indoarsman

[VickieB]

~~~~
Do have any examples? Don't know about Cornwall, but people in
"Nawlin's" don't sound like New Yawkers to me.

Just as there is no single Southern accent, there is no single Okie
accent .. some of us have a soft Southern drawl, dropping the 'g' off of
'ing' words .. others have more of a nasal twang. In fact, the closer we
are to the Texas border, the more redneck we sound .. someone's last
words may be, "Hey y'all, wah chis!" ;D
v

[NotMe]

"VickieB" <vict...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:b1jb4k...@mid.individual.net...

> On 6/8/2013 3:08 PM, Indoarsman wrote:
>> On Friday, June 7, 2013 7:15:50 AM UTC-4, VickieB wrote:
>>
>>> v .. Okie born and bred .. to this day, I don't
>>> know anyone who was killed in a tornado
>>
>> Well, there's no reason to start now. By the way, has anyone ever
>> explained the Oklahoma accent? It sounds a lot like the accent in
>> Cornwall, England. Just like the natives in New Orleans sound like they
>> are from Brooklyn or the Bronx.
>>
>> Indoarsman
>>
> ~~~~
> Do have any examples? Don't know about Cornwall, but people in "Nawlin's"
> don't sound like New Yawkers to me.

It's not NY but Brooklyn. Except for some local phases (you'all and
usesguys comes to mind) there is little difference between Brooklyn and
Nawlins. (I grew up in NOLA and can shift between Mid West Accent -- aka
broadcast voice and local NOLA pathos in the same breath)

I have family that grew up in Brooklyn and after a few beers it's hard to
tell the difference. (No one cares in any case)

[VickieB]

~~~~
Now that I've listened to some Zydeco, they do use Brooklynese dem,
dese, and doze. Nawlin's has long been one of the most diverse cities in
the country .. many different accents, cultures .. Cajun is my favorite,
love their sorta-French words and phrases .. "makin' groceries."

Tell me, do you call that chicken part a wishbone, or a pully bone?
v

[Robert]

On Jun 10, 6:33 am, VickieB <victo...@privacy.net> wrote:

> Tell me, do you call that chicken part a wishbone, or a pully bone?
> v

In Texas --- a wishbone...

[NotMe]

"VickieB" <vict...@privacy.net> wrote in message

news:b1lrrf...@mid.individual.net...

Don't recall likely both or none at all. chicken was for eatin not playing.
Recall 'all things come to he who orders gumbo'

My grand kids were raised in Texas and NC and have the tell tale accents
(which they can switch on/off at will).

Always good for a grin and a giggle when our relatives come up from NOLA as
my wife and I switch back to the NOLA verbal roots.

[Indoarsman]

On Tuesday, June 11, 2013 11:08:28 PM UTC-4, NotMe wrote:

> > Tell me, do you call that chicken part a wishbone, or a pully bone?

[Whatever are they talkin' about? They must mean 'the little boy'.]

Indoarsman