Back Home

Veronica and I finally made it back home late last night. Flying and being sick made yesterday a very long day and night. I was starting to feel better but that did not last long and now Veronica is sick too. It was definitely not one of our better vacations, that's for sure. We really did not take many pictures at all this year. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we found out that our dear buddy and pal, Dakota, past away last November. We were shocked and saddened to hear this news. I will miss Dakota deeply. Being in camp just wasn't quite the same without her being with us.
IN MEMORY OF A DEAR FRIEND

Dakota

I WILL MISS YOU

Below is a video that I took while Darcy and I were heading out for an evening of fishing. This was on the last night of our vacation up on Eagle Lake.

More Upcoming Travel Events

Yesterday I received news from Veronica that we are going to Vegas in October. Last night we also made a decision on where we wanted to go next year. After tossing around options, we decided that we would return to Alaska. Because we had such an excursion heavy itinerary on our last cruise to Alaska, that we wanted to return so that we could spend more time in the actual cities/towns that we docked at. We decided to get an oceanview balcony cabin this time. Unfortunately all of the aft oceanview balcony cabins were taken so we ended up with a oveanview balcony cabin near the aft but on the starboard side and on the 10th deck. Once again we will be on the NCL Pearl....a beautiful ship. This cruise will start on may 1st, in Vancouver, BC and end in Seattle, WA after 8 nights of cruising. We will most likely stay in Seattle before the cruise and then get some type of car service to take us to Vancouver, which is not that far away from Seattle. Today I spent the part of the day researching travel insurance for our cruise purchasing our tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show KÀ . This show is held at the MGM Grand. We ended up with fantastic seats....6 rows from the stage and just a hair to the right of center stage. Tomorrow is our last day here for a week. We leave early Friday morning to head up to International Falls, MN and then on Saturday morning, we are Canada bound. By Saturday afternoon, we should be settled into our favorite cabin, which is #8, right on the water over seeing the dock and boats and I will be busy getting all of our gear ready to start fishing on Sunday morning. I have been watching the projected weather and temperature reports on a daily basis. It looks like it will be rather cool up there...most days 62-74 degrees. I was worried that Veronica would be miserable with the heat and would have to opt out of fishing on some of the really hot days but it looks like that won't be happening. I would much rather have Veronica take a day off of fishing because she wants to take a break and read a book and relax compared to her having to take a day off because it is so hot and humid and she is miserable. Hopefully the weather predictions stay accurate. Hopefully I will have some great photos to share...going to be working on my trophy...over 50 inch musky.

Canada Bound

I just checked the calendar and counted the days...only 23 days and a wake up until Veronica and I leave for our annual migration up to Andy Myers Lodge on Eagle Lake, in Ontario Canada. I will have to cram 2 weeks of fishing into one week this year. I am hoping to get my trophy fish in 3 fish species...musky, walleye and northern pike. Opposite of what I have been doing in years past, I will be downsizing some of the lures that I will be using to catch some of these fish. I found out that the larger bladed bucktails were giving my old joints and back fits so this year downsizing is in order. If I fished with the larger bladed bucktails everyday, my body would get used to it but when you only throw these baits once a year, it can be quite the shock to the body. I am hoping that one of these days, I will be in a location where I can fish daily for these types of fish. It will be great to get away for a week and I know Veronica could sure use the break after the last 5 weeks of punishment that she has taken over the whole store remodel. Hopefully I will have some great photos and stories to share with everyone.

The Often Mentioned Ken From Canada

I have many times made mention of my friend Ken from up in Ontario, Canada...more specifically Vermilion Bay. He is lucky enough to be able to fish on some fantastic lakes in the area up there. One of the many lakes that he gets to fish on is Eagle Lake. Ken emails me with quite a number of videos, photos and jokes. Many of which I share with everyone out there in blogville. He are a couple of photos of Ken fishing and guiding others so that they can catch big fish. The first photo is of a Northern Pike and the 2nd photo is of a real nice walleye that Ken caught....the walleye are great fried. Veronica and I usually do some walleye fishing our first day on the lake. That way we will have some great fried walleye dinners to start our vacation off on the right foot. Because we currently live on the East coast, the only time we get to eat walleye, is when we are up at Eagle Lake. We need to move closer to our friends and favorite fishing grounds. Thanks again Ken...for sharing these great photos and for giving me my fishing fix for when I am not able to actually be up there. See you in August!!!!!

The Many Faces Of Me

These photos will wrap up "The Early Years" series. It is amazing how we change over the years. These are the many faces of me as the years have gone by.
I must be bored to death already and I have just begun my journey through life. Taken in the 50s.

Taken in the mid 60s. I am the one on the right posing in style.

Now this brings back memories.Taken back in the early 70s. You gotta love the hair. Those were the good ole days.

Yikes.....my hair has disappeared. These were in the mid to late 70s.

You gotta love a guy in uniform. Taken back in the 80s.

Who the heck is this and what is he doing sneaking in on my blog. Taken back in the 90s...I was helping Veronica out at work.

Taken in the late 90s

Taken in early 2000

Taken in 2007

The below photos of me were taken a couple of days ago.......jusat kidding.... I figured that I would throw in a couple photos of my buddy...Hershel Harley. Hershel is a real cut up and quite the ladies man. I have to really keep an eye on him when we are traveling.

The Early Years Part #4

I'm the one on the left. I was at 3 1/2-4 years old at the time.
Me at 5-6 years old

Me at 3 1/2- 4 years old. This was taken in Carmel, IN Here I am at 3 1/2 years old doing my best Howdy Doody impersonation or maybe with the hair, it might have been my best Elvis impersonation.

Here I am in Carmel, IN and I was 3 1/2-4 years old. Look at the car in the background.

No peeking!!!

Here I am at 3 1/2 weeks old

The rest are of me at 3 1/2 years old. My table etiquite left much to be desired and depending on what I am eating, it hasn't got much better to this day.

The Early Years Part #3

Here are a couple of photographs of my parents. Their anniversary is coming up this Wed, 1/28.

Here is a photograph of my Dad dressed up for Halloween. This was about 2-3 years ago.

Tomorrow I will post the last of this series...The Early Years. There will be some photos of me when I was 3 1/2 weeks old up to about 6 years old. After I post those, please be gentle with your comments :)

Thank You!!!

I just wanted to take a moment and thank you for your very kind comments. I am deeply humbled by them and I appreciate them greatly. Rick

Todays Thought

It is not important the color of a man's skin
What is important, is that he is comfortable in it.
Me

The Early Years Part #2

What are those early years without some very important people being involved.
Below is a picture of my Bubby and Zady. Zady was a watch repairmen by trade. I remember that he had a small watch repair shop in Hartford, CT. I would visit him once in a while in the city, while he was at work. Everytime I saw him there he would have one of those jewelers monocle at his eyes so that he could see what he was repairing. Every morning before going to work, my Bubby would pack him up a peanut butter and banana sandwhich on toast for his lunch...his favorite. Zady was an excellent gardener too. He would grow roses and especially dahlias. Zady was very hard to understand because he spoke with a very heavy slavic accent. Bubby was the nicest person that you would ever want to meet. She loved to cook.
Here is a picture of my other grandparents, Nana and Gramps. Nana and Gramps lived in New London, CT. They owned a furrier shop. Back in those days furs were very sought after, fashionable and a widely accepted garment or accessory. One of my memories of Nana was that she had diabetes and she would sneak a bowl of ice cream or something else that she knew she wasn't supposed to eat. When we would catch her "sneaking", she would have this cheshire cat-like grin on her face.

All of my Grandparents are gone and I miss them very much but my fond memories of them will stay with me always. Stay tuned for more of "The Early Years".

BLOGGING MEMORIES OF LIFE Followup

I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has visited my blog and for all of the comments that were left too. Many people, through their comments, wanted to know what relationship Veronica and I share. Veronica is my wife of just over 11 years. She is also my best friend. I think that it is also important for me to explain why I continue to blog and why I wrote the entry BLOGGING MEMORIES OF LIFE. When I first started my blog, I did it mainly to present my nature and flower photography with others. I was diagnosed with Mast Cell Disease several years ago. If you go back in my blog, you will finds entries about that medical issue. Just this last year, after being a smoker for about 34 years, I found out that I had myoplasia on the right side of my tongue. It was a pre-cancerous growth and yes it made quitting smoking a very easy decision and task. This medical issue is also discussed in depth, in some of my earlier blog entries. Because of these 2 events it gave me a different viewpoint of life, living and of my own mortality. Currently all medical issues are in check but you never really know when something will change. In some ways I continue to write in this blog as a way of preparing for my eventual death. I realize that this might sound rather morbid but it is a fact of life that I accept. It might not be today...tomorrow or the next day but it will happen. I wanted to leave something behind that Veronica could read, reminisce and hopefully it would bring a smile on her face after I was gone....giving her a partial look at the footprints through my life including things that we shared together. I guess like most of you out there...I just want to be remembered...to leave something behind that would mean something to others. Like I refered to in the original entry....I welcome all of you in sharing my continued journey but at the end of the day and the lights dim...it is mainly for Veronica that I do this.

BLOGGING MEMORIES OF LIFE

About 1 year ago, Veronica gave me a journal book and suggested that I write down my thoughts on a daily basis and she would do the same. That way when either one of us died, the other would be able to read the journal and have something that was written by the other. To be honest with you, I really did not have the interest or drive to sit each day and hand write how I felt, my thoughts of the day or what might be bothering me. Call my lack of interest whatever you want, but let's call it what it truly was....laziness and boredom. I really don't like sitting and handwriting anything down on a daily basis....I find it really boring. My handwriting is atrocious and my thought process does not blend well with handwriting everything down, especially when trying to compose something so that it reads like I had put some sort of serious thought to it. I originally started my blog so that I could journal what I felt was meaningful to me, throw in a few personal thoughts, some tidbits of humor, some photos for good measure and share it with all of you. But as my blog has grown over the days, weeks and months and looking back on it's growth and content, I have discovered that I was actually doing what Veronica had asked me to do but in a format that I enjoyed doing and one that is so much better than the hand written journal method ...instead of being one dimensional, now we have something that is multi-dimensional.I do enjoy people visiting my blog and I don't mind sharing portions of my life's journeys with you, but at the end of my days, this blog is truly for Veronica. One of these days after I have left this world and you feel alone or sad or just want to reminisce, with me in your thoughts....Veronica....with the snow lightly falling outside...with the fireplace crackling....put on your warm jammies and pour yourself a cup of our favorite coffee...not too much cream for you, so unlike the way I enjoy it...lol... find a comfy couch to sit in...and let's take that walk down memory lane together. Just like this blog, I will always be here...awaiting those special visits from you....where we can be together again. Love Always......Rick

Welcome New Visitors

I just wanted to welcome and thank all of the new visitors to my blog. I hope that you will feel free to spend some time and view some of my older entries. So grab yourself a cup of coffee, hot cocoa, tea and whatever your drink of choice might be and kick back and enjoy yourself.

Some People Will Do Anything For 15 Minutes Of Fame

My friend Ken, from Canada, sent me another great video. Thanks Ken and keep'm coming. Just click on the link to view the video:
http://www.maniacworld.com/Record-New-Years-Eve-Jump.html

Do I Have Stupid Written On My Forehead?

I received something in the mail today that I just felt the need to share with you. I received an envelope from what originally appeared to be HSBC..the credit card folks. I do actually have an HSBC credit card that I use once in a great while. Upon opening up the envelope, the first thing that I noticed was that there were 2 real checks inside...one for $8.25 and the other for $9.75. Now these are actual checks made out to me. The 2nd thing that I noticed in the envelope was a "form" slip of paper and the top line was highlighted in yellow marker along with a line on another section below. The first highlighted line stated in bold lettering "RE: MONEY BACK ON YOUR HSBC PLATINUM CREDIT CARD PURCHASES". The lower highlighted line "BONUS! YOU CAN CLAIM AND ADDITIONAL 2% BACK". Both of these lines were boldly underlined too. After reading all of writing on the slip of paper it basically gave me this information- by cashing the $8.25 check, I would have joined a program called Just For Me. By cashing the check I could start earning 2% cash back on new purchases and receive up to $100.00 a year cash back. By cashing the $9.75 check, I would have joined a program called Buyers Advantage. With this program, I would receive an additional 2% back for my purchases and thus making it up to $200.00 that I could receive per year.
On the one last additional piece of paper that was in the envelope, there were further descriptions on what these 2 checks would provide to me via the 2 programs. Just For Me would provide me with 2% on my first $5,000 worth of new purchases up to the $100.00 yearly limit. The Just For Me Plan also provided me with a savings of up to 20% off for discounted facials, manicures at participating businesses along with a week of FREE Jazzercise Classes...That's right folks....1 FULL WEEK OF FREE JAZZERCISE CLASSES. I truly feel blessed by this particular perk....almost like the tooth fairy, after many decades of being a no show, returned for one last visit.
The Buyers Advantage would provide me with an additional $100.00 on purchases made through them. The Buyers Advantage program would also provide me with a Return Purchases plan, Automatic Warranty Extension and a savings of up to 50% when I repair most household and electronic items.

Of course there was a whole hell of a lot of fine print on the reverse side of this form letter but unfortunately I am still awaiting for my newly purchased quadrafocal glasses, from the optometrist, in order to read the little munchkin writing that is there.

Now here comes the "kicker".....at the end of the 30 day trail period, my credit card will be charged $59.99 for EACH program. And that charge is not done annually but SEMI-ANNUALLY. That comes to almost $120.00 semi-annually or almost $240.00 a year for the 2 programs and I have not even made 1 purchase so that I can cash in on the fantastic deal of getting my whopping 2% back.
Another thing about these programs is that they state that they are not affiliated with HSBC at all, which means HSBC provided these people with my highly guarded personal info.

Now, I know that I might not be the brightest bulb in the lot but I truly despise someone trying to put a red hot poker up this ole mans keester.

One Happy And Very Lucky Penguin

My friend Ken, from Canada, emailed me this great video. I am not sure where he gets these videos but keep them coming!!!!

The Other Skagway Alaska

Over the last couple of days I have been trying to arrange an excursion in Skagway, Alaska for Veronica and I, during our upcoming Alaska cruise. I also wanted to obtain a feel for Skagway...the real Skagway. The Skagway that most visitors might not know about, think about or see...the "other" Skagway....the non touristy Skagway. I did some reasearch on line about Skagway along with making contact with a business there, Frontier Excursions, for our excursions while in Skagway. During this time of year, it is difficult to make contact with some of the businesses in Skagway. Not because they don't want your business or that they aren't friendly but because of the Winters that they endure up there. The Winter weather can make it extremely difficult to move around up there with the snow and brutal wind chills. I made contact with Jeanne, who is a very friendly and helpful woman and is the owner of Frontier Excursions. Jeanne lives in Skagway and she explained to me that during the harsh Winter months, she tries to get to her office in town at least twice a week to take care of business. Through Jeanne I ended up booking a Yukon Discovery Tour plus an add on side tour of the Gold Rush Cemetery in town and a scenic overlook that looks over the town and harbor areas....a good photography opportunity. If you ever get the chance to go on an Alaska cruise and have a port of call in Skagway, I would definitely recommend giving Jeanne and Frontier Excursions a phone call. She will go out of her way to take great care of you and set you up with an excursion that highlights the best of Skagway and surrounding beautiful scenery and wildlife, along with the Yukon Territory. And as "icing on your cake" the excursion prices through Frontier Excursions are much better than what you get through the cruise lines and promotional tour companies. A link to Frontier Excursions will be at the bottom of this blog entry. Jeanne told me that Skagway is only 4 blocks wide and 23 blocks long. Food and other items are barged, not trucked into Skagway. The barge carries the large containers that you would normally see behind 18 wheel trucks. By the sounds of it, there are only about 6 businesses that are open during the winter months...maybe a few more and just because the weather might be brutal at times up there, people in Skagway still make their way around outside to get wherever they need to go. Life in Skagway does not totally stop just because of a few snowflakes and a little cold weather. It definitely sounded as if Skagway is mainly a cruise ship port of call town....when the cruise ships stop at Skagway as a port of call, the town is very busy and this is when the residents make most of their income. After the cruise ship season ends, the town slowly closes up except for a few essential businesses. But even after the cruise ships have finished visiting Skagway for the season and Winter has rolled in full force, fraternal organizations in Skagway are busy putting together several of the towns special events that they have each year. During the Winter there are events such as the multi day Christmas Yule Tide Celebration and the Buckwheat Classic cross-country ski race. From what I have read on Skagways Chamber of Commerce page...back in 2005, Skagway had only 854 residents but when the cruise ships came in, the number of people in Skagway tripled if not more.
A portion of the downtown area has been designated as the Skagway unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, and over 800,000 visitors are expected during the summer season. Skagway is the point of embarkment for the famous Chilkoot and White Pass Trails.
Skagway has 5 churches, 1 library, and 1 financial institution. There are approximately 250 hotel/motel rooms in 11 facilities, ranging from modern to historic, including 3 bed & breakfasts, 1 home hostel and 3 cabin-style lodges. Some of these businesses are open year round. Parking is available during the summer for over 300 recreational vehicles, in addition to numerous tent camping sites. Skagway has 1 clinic, staffed by a physician's assistant and a nurse practitioner and is open Monday through Friday year-round. Several doctors, a public health nurse, and a dentist each visit on a regular basis. A mental health counselor is also available. Emergencies are transported by air to Juneau, if possible, or by road to Whitehorse.
Skagway has 1 school, K-12, with 17 classrooms, and an average of 105 students, 13 teachers and 1 superintendent.
As remote as Skagway might seem, it has all of the infrastructure as any other town except on a smaller scale.
I find the lifestyle combined with the challenges of the weather and location to be quite interesting and in a lot of ways alluring. I can see why Jeanne had nothing but good things to say about Skagway and living in Alaska.
For more excursion information in Skagway:

http://www.frontierexcursions.com/

For more information about Skagway:

http://www.skagwaychamber.org/community.html

It's Our Money - Let Us Do What We Want With It

I have been wanting to write about this for a long time and I am just now getting around to it. Did you know that you are only allowed a certain number of withdrawals/tranfers from your savings account before you accrue a penalty fee. This includes tranfers from your saving to another in house account...within the same bank. When I have a vacation or there is something special I want to buy and I am saving up for it over a matter of time, I would usually transfer some of the money for whatever it was that i wanted, from our checking into our savings account. That way it was "protected and out of the way"...out of our checking account. With it being in savings, I knew that I would not spend the money through the course of normal living and spending throughout the course of the month. Then when I had built up enough to get...let us say....airline tickets...I would transfer the cost of the airline tickets over from our savings account to our checking account and buy the tickets using our bank card. One year I did this around Christmas time. Transferring different ammounts of money from savings to checking when I found a gift that I wanted to buy Veronica. After the end of a statement period, I must have transfered more that 6 times. Because I went over the government mandated 6 transaction rule, I was penalized, I believe it was $20. I am not sure who got this money...whether it was the bank or the government. When I saw this penalty charged to our account, I called the bank up and was told that anyone who withdraws or transfers money more that 6 times from the savings account during a statement period gets the penalty. After doing a little research on line, here is what I found outr about this:

Section 204.2(d)(2) of Regulation D of the Federal Reserve Board:

…the depositor is permitted or authorized to make no more than six transfers and withdrawals, or a combination of such transfers and withdrawals, per calendar month or statement cycle… to another account (including a transaction account) of the depositor at the same institution or to a third party by means of a preauthorized or automatic transfer, or telephonic (including data transmission) agreement, order, or instruction, and no more than three of the six such transfers may be made by check, draft, debit card, or similar order made by the depositor and payable to third parties.

I have a real problem with this. People work very hard for their money and they should have the complete right to put the money in the bank or do what they want with it, ie moving it from one account to another, as they see fit. I don't feel that the government should be penalizing us because we aren't saving our money the way that they want us to. The same government that is penalizing us, is the same goverment that is at least a trillion dollars in debt and hasn't learned how to manage their own money. Doesn't make much sense to me...how about you?

Is It Spring Already?

This morning I woke up and it was 66 degrees. It is almost 9:30AM now and the temperature has gone up to 70 degrees. Here we are, well into January and it feels like Springtime. That is the way this Winter has gone so far. No real long lasting cold spells. The weather has reealy messed up the timing of some of the garden plants. Our dafodils have already broke ground. A cold front will be coming through in a couple of hours and that should bring the temperatures back down to a more normal level.

While Cruisin' around the internet(pun intended), I found this really cool countdown clock that leads us up to our very first cruise: