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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tragedy in this part of the world, too

The morning news brought sadness as two young people from Middleburg were killed yesterday on a boat being driven by the dad of one of the kids. They were on the bow of the boat as it struck a low hanging tree. According to the report, they were killed immediately, with the dad seriously injured.

In my hometown, another ‘water’ accident occurred last week where a snowmobiler struck a tree on the river and was killed. Up in WI, they are on the ice, here in Clay County, they are boating and soaking up the rays. So sad to lose these young people, ages 15 and 17. Last week was the hit and run death of a 21 year old woman, in Jacksonville, for which, by the way, the driver has been arrested. He is only 20 years old himself and just freaked out after hitting her. Fight or flight, and he chose flight. That makes the case against him that much worse, he may even have not been charged for the accident if he had not taken off.

Last night I mentioned the lengthy phone calls which wore down my battery. One of them involved being charged with reading our revised condo documents and checking them for, for, for something. I am sure I will know it when I find it. My niece, Allie, posted last week on Facebook that she hates politics. I am sure she is referring to the civil disorder in Madison and other areas but I assured her she has seen nothing yet. There is politics in the workplace, there is politics in the classroom (she is a senior this year), there is politics at church, there is politics in families, and yes, even in the condo association! Imagine that! And right now, I am with Allie as I struggle through these boring docs!

My other project today is to finish the spread sheet for the condo Owners to sign-in and record their acknowledgement of receiving proper notice of the meeting. And they wanted ME to be the Secretary of the Association? Way too much pressure and stuff to remember in order to be in compliance with State law. Just like in the preschool business, so much attention to be paid to requirements and such, and one false move?, a problem, either now, or in the future.

One part of the little spreadsheet project was to confirm with the County Appraiser’s office as to whom the actual Owners are since many folks have established trusts for their property. This is available on-line so no sweat in getting it. Apparently this is important for our information as well. It is a protection for assets to have them secured in a Trust. I talked to Rosemary, my neighbor, who is an attorney, asking what the advantage or disadvantage of that would be. She suggested simply putting Justin on all my accounts as a co-holder but I am not sure I am willing to do that just yet. Just some food for thought. If you readers have any input, I would love to hear it.

Since I forgot to go to Wal*Mart yesterday, I will do that this afternoon. While out, if I do not forget, Winn Dixie will be my next stop to restock my freezer with those cool microwavable bagged dinners from Swanson. The name is VoilĂ , and the bags are offered 2 for $5 this week. As I was telling Justin, who coaxed me into buying them the first time, I got about 5 servings from one package, serving Martie and I for dinner one night, plus she had a bit more at the table. I then ate the balance of it in two meals. The meat and everything is already in the bag, and in less than 10 minutes, VoilĂ !, several days’ worth of meals!

The Dow is heading south, as was anticipated, with the price of oil going up. All that unrest and upset in the Mideast is wreaking havoc on our supply which will affect the price of gas and every single item we purchase or use made with petroleum. If only the oil companies could drill off-shore as well as tap into our own resources here in the US. Sadly, when the federal government slapped a moratorium on off-shore drilling after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last spring, the owners leased the rigs to other countries. Some are now cranking out oil from our South American neighbors. I already refuse to buy gas from CITGO and other known Venezuelan oil companies, but our country might be getting held by the short hairs, as it were, over our fuel. I might limit my trips across the bridge if gas gets too costly, some estimating $5 or more per gallon soon. Yikes!

We have more folks signing up for the “Tour of Italy” dinner at church on the 28th, with 7 coming from Victory. They let me know yesterday so I called Judy C. to tell her. Mike and she had gone shopping after Bible study and lunch Monday to buy the supplies for the dinner, based upon the number signed up from GS and Keystone Heights. She said, “We are going to have get more plates!” which she and I had found at the Party Store. I had ordered centerpieces for 8 tables which should be just about right but I hope we have enough Italian decorations for the room. I guess it won’t matter when we are all seated and such, the food will steal the show!

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