The sign in the gift shop on the Cape May - Lewes Ferry said - "We no longer Skinny Dip, we now Chunky Dunk." Just another way for someone to tell me that I am fat. It was that way all weekend.
My mother in law said, "You can tell David doesn't miss any meals"
My mom said, "you and Steve were so fit and trim when you were in the Marines, maybe you need to start running again."
My brother Steve said, "What is your waist size?" SAME AS YOURS BRO!
The airlines announced that they are going to start charging for extra pounds. The seat at the baseball stadium seemed awful small. Anyway, it seems like a good time to go on a serious diet. Especially after all that good NJ food. It is normally 8 hours between when we leave home and I am sinking my teeth into a NJ submarine, but we were taking Sharon's Mom and our niece Mandy with us for the visit so we went to NJ via the Cape May - Lewes Ferry. It is a pleasant boat ride across the Delaware Bay. I think everyone enjoyed it. It added about 4 hours to the trip, we went over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at Annapolis, which is also impressive.
We had a quick trip, traveling on Friday and Monday - which only left Saturday and Sunday for visiting. We went to North Wildwood Saturday morning just before the rain that lasted all day hit. Saturday night about 20 people gathered and Mom's and we had some "Big Johns" pizza, a special taste and memory from my days growing up in NJ. Did you know that smell is the closest sense we have to memory? When I walk into Big Johns the smell is exactly what I remember from 35 - 40 years ago. The pizza tastes like I remember it also. Sharon agrees with me about NJ food and is becoming a big fan of Big John's Pizza. Especially the sweet peppers, onions and sausage pizza that Freddie turned us on to. Never had that growing up, but it is good.
Sunday I spent the day with Fred. Brian had tickets for the Phillies and Orioles game and he was taking his Dad for Fathers day and they invited me. Thanks again for that! I'd never been into the new stadium in Philadelphia before. I went to the old Connie Mack stadium two or three times. Once I remember Uncle Carson taking Fred and I and we got to see Johnny Callison play right field. The one game I went to at Veterans Stadium I saw Mike Schmidt hit a home run. The Phillies lost this game 2-1 a real pitchers duel. Ryan Howard didn't play cause he had the flu, he might have made the difference. He had hit a 3 run home run the night before. After the game Fred and I slept in the car as Brian fought bumper to bumper traffic for quite awhile. (I don't know who snores louder me or Fred.) Then we visited Jim and Pam and got to see their home and sample some of Jim's grill expertise. AJ/Alan is a good baby and I finally got to hold him at their house. He was being held by everyone else at Mom's on Saturday night.
Sharon, her Mom, my Mom, Mandy and Dianna went to the shore again on Sunday while I was watching baseball. This time it didn't rain and they got to walk on the Ocean City Board walk and see the sights. This was the first time Mandy or Sharon's mom had seen the ocean and when they said that on the beach on old fella didn't believe that Mom Jarvis had never seen the ocean. Sharon loves feeding the seagulls, she could stand and do that all day long I think. She was surprised that the came down and took food right out of my hand, she just throws it to them. I think Mandy and Sharon's Mom - Lotus Jarvis had a good time visiting and I want to thank everyone for making them feel at home.
Hey life is too short to hold grudges or be mad at anyone. Family is too important to not stay in touch and stay close.
Well I think that I've rambled aimlessly long enough.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Checklists
Saturday at work the river was running about 10 feet above normal and I was scheduled for a 7:30 trip and my friend Mike Swope was scheduled for an 8:00 o'clock trip. Mike rode in with me and he tried to get moved up to my trip and no one wanted to switch, well I headed for the river to pump up the boats and get ready and he stayed back with his trip and the river manager "Bo" got me switched to the 8:00 o'clock trip, but on a "gung ho" boat. That means that the customers paid extra to hit the bigger waves and tougher holes on the river and probably flip the boat and swim 3 or 4 times. Anyway I thought, Mike what have you got me into this time? At the water level we were at they actually give the customers a rebate and put them in a bigger boat and you don't have to take as many risks, but it is clearly understood that these guys wanted to go for the gusto. So anyway we hit all the big stuff and they got what they asked for and we all stayed in the boat the entire day. There was a great shot on the video of us smashing into a wall of water in a rapid called Greyhound Bus stopper that was neat. We ran the meat of the hole and the wave broke on us right as we hit, it buried the boat and we hung on for dear life hoping to stay upright and we did. Very satisfying!
Sunday on the river Mike and I were on the 8:30 trip and we were down tying on the lunch coolers and stuff on the boats and the 8:00 o'clock trip was all ready to go. There was a female guide on the earlier trip that has the name Ode, like Ode to joy. Well, the trip leader told a group to go down and find the guide Ode. The group thought he said "old" and they came down next to my boat and asked me if I was old. I said yes, I'm old, so? They said then you are our guide. I was meeting and greeting them when the trip leader came down and corrected the situation.
You just have to smile about those things. One older fella on the trip that I was on said that it made him feel real good to see someone as old as me guiding on the trip. I don't feel old! Especially on the river.
I like checklists, Sully Sullenberger, the pilot that landed on the Hudson used a checklist to prepare for that descent. It helped keep the situation in focus. A checklist just gives you the things to do and possibly in the right order. When JB and I used to scuba dive a checklist was essential to make sure that you had all of your gear. It could ruin your outing if you forgot an essential piece of gear for the dive. I have a checklist for packing for rafting, paddle, PFD, helmet, throw bag, sun screen, etc. I have a checklist attached to my travel bag. On the front side is our name and address and on the backside is Bible, fan, charger, slippers, dirty clothes bag, water, night light - there is more but you get the idea.
If you read Ecclesiastes 8:15 the checklist would be 1. Eat 2. Drink 3. Be Merry. I wish that checklist for all of you.
Sunday on the river Mike and I were on the 8:30 trip and we were down tying on the lunch coolers and stuff on the boats and the 8:00 o'clock trip was all ready to go. There was a female guide on the earlier trip that has the name Ode, like Ode to joy. Well, the trip leader told a group to go down and find the guide Ode. The group thought he said "old" and they came down next to my boat and asked me if I was old. I said yes, I'm old, so? They said then you are our guide. I was meeting and greeting them when the trip leader came down and corrected the situation.
You just have to smile about those things. One older fella on the trip that I was on said that it made him feel real good to see someone as old as me guiding on the trip. I don't feel old! Especially on the river.
I like checklists, Sully Sullenberger, the pilot that landed on the Hudson used a checklist to prepare for that descent. It helped keep the situation in focus. A checklist just gives you the things to do and possibly in the right order. When JB and I used to scuba dive a checklist was essential to make sure that you had all of your gear. It could ruin your outing if you forgot an essential piece of gear for the dive. I have a checklist for packing for rafting, paddle, PFD, helmet, throw bag, sun screen, etc. I have a checklist attached to my travel bag. On the front side is our name and address and on the backside is Bible, fan, charger, slippers, dirty clothes bag, water, night light - there is more but you get the idea.
If you read Ecclesiastes 8:15 the checklist would be 1. Eat 2. Drink 3. Be Merry. I wish that checklist for all of you.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Nothing on but his PFD and a smile
Well it was the last day for students on Friday, so the buses didn't run today, drivers were cleaning them up and getting ready to turn them in for the summer. Most can't wait, they were scheduled to turn them in tomorrow, but many had them cleaned and ready today. We took any that were ready today less for us to mess with tomorrow.
Not a lot to write about this week, we've had a lot of rain and they have also had a lot of rain in Virginia and North Carolina where we get most of the water for the New River. So the river was running 11 feet plus on Saturday and I took a afternoon express trip down, we had 4 boats and one of them flipped in a really bad place called Berry's Hole in the rapid called Double Z, it is nasty place to be. It took almost a mile of river to recover the people and get the boat turned back over. I was very frustrated. The funny part was that one of the young men in the boat that flipped lost his clothing in the hydraulic. He got in another boat with nothing on but his PFD (personal flotation device - lifejacket) and a smile. One of the girls commented that she didn't know the water was that cold. That made his smile go away. After a few minutes of embarrassment, one of the guides on the trip dug a pair of splash pants out for him to wear although they were too big at least he was covered.
Not a lot to write about this week, we've had a lot of rain and they have also had a lot of rain in Virginia and North Carolina where we get most of the water for the New River. So the river was running 11 feet plus on Saturday and I took a afternoon express trip down, we had 4 boats and one of them flipped in a really bad place called Berry's Hole in the rapid called Double Z, it is nasty place to be. It took almost a mile of river to recover the people and get the boat turned back over. I was very frustrated. The funny part was that one of the young men in the boat that flipped lost his clothing in the hydraulic. He got in another boat with nothing on but his PFD (personal flotation device - lifejacket) and a smile. One of the girls commented that she didn't know the water was that cold. That made his smile go away. After a few minutes of embarrassment, one of the guides on the trip dug a pair of splash pants out for him to wear although they were too big at least he was covered.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Where the Blackberries Grow in the Summertime
Sharon said that I should quit boring you guys with these aimless ramblings. Someday I'm going to write a book and maybe I'll use these to write it from. The seven Seays know that a good book title for our stories would be "Don't tell Dad."
When I first became bus director for Fayette County a little girl was on a bus and we had a sub driver that didn't know where she lived and she was the last student on the bus. He asked her where she lived and she said, "Where the blackberries grow in the summertime" as if he would be able to know where that was. We did eventually get that little girl home, but that would be a good title for a book - "Where the blackberries grow in the summertime."
When I first became bus director for Fayette County a little girl was on a bus and we had a sub driver that didn't know where she lived and she was the last student on the bus. He asked her where she lived and she said, "Where the blackberries grow in the summertime" as if he would be able to know where that was. We did eventually get that little girl home, but that would be a good title for a book - "Where the blackberries grow in the summertime."
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