The Coffee Shop

[LongTermGuy]

Getting late 1:07am...wife in bed...Cat well-fed and outside...doors locked...Pistol next to computer...Last stop here... (Oh..before I forget)..saw this warning minutes ago... ...

`Breaking: Latest GFS weather model shows a strong tropical storm slamming into the West Coast of Florida on Sunday morning`

[darin]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

Your kid is a teenager, and spending time "alone" in Portugal?

I can relate to feeling "single." I've been single for 31 years. Unmarried, actually, I've had plenty of girl friends, but I have lived alone all that while. It's the norm for me. Doubt I could share my house with someone else at this point. I'd feel invaded.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Well, I better shower up quick before I take the car up to the dealer and piss them off... I'm out.

[darin]

Your kid is a teenager, and spending time "alone" in Portugal?

I can relate to feeling "single." I've been single for 31 years. Unmarried, actually, I've had plenty of girl friends, but I have lived alone all that while. It's the norm for me. Doubt I could share my house with someone else at this point. I'd feel invaded.

She's with a friend. She's good. She'll protect him if something goes wrong.


I definitely need time to wipe my slate clean. Not 31 years probably Doubt I'll be alive that long!

[High_Plains_Drifter]

She's with a friend. She's good. She'll protect him if something goes wrong.

That's awesome, man...

I definitely need time to wipe my slate clean. Not 31 years probably Doubt I'll be alive that long!

Ya know... I never really intended to be single/live alone for this long, it just happened. To be perfectly honest, I think I got older and with major neurosurgery happening, I just lost the drive. I really never "chased" girls in my life. I just ran into them here and there and things clicked. That kinda ground to a halt... so... I've lived alone for a long time and now it's, normal, for me.

I do have my 'girl-friend', Heather, but it's not hot and heavy. Maybe if she had more to offer a serious relationship I'd pursue that more, but she's piss poor and still lives with mommy and daddy, at 43 years old. That just doesn't cut it for me, and good looks alone doesn't do it either.

[Kathianne]

I'm in an empty house after my kid left for portugal yesterday - she'll spend a week in Porto just doing whatever adult teens do. I bet I could have measured the stillness in the house last night - I heart my daughter's cat, Ziva (her brother Tony is with my son and ex) exploring the house, but just knowing my kid won't be in made things feel different. I felt markedly single. I tried to fall asleep by 6p, but only napped, then was up till 11. Woke up 2hrs early today, too.

I feel ya. It's not really 'empty' yet, but the wall is marked. I didn't feel the 'stirrings' of loss with college, first long solo trips, even first apartments. It hit when youngest was married to a really good woman for him. All were good, none would fly back.

I was happy they were on their own paths, but a bit melancholy. Suddenly after a few months, I was celebrating them and myself. For really the first time since my baby girl was born, I really could figure out myself. The good and the not so. While I'd been working on it for half a decade, it was after the wedding that I took the steps I always had urged the kids to: minimize and work on flaws, drop the negative. Follow your heart and passions, which should be based on your gifts. Enjoy life.

[darin]

I feel ya. It's not really 'empty' yet, but the wall is marked. I didn't feel the 'stirrings' of loss with college, first long solo trips, even first apartments. It hit when youngest was married to a really good woman for him. All were good, none would fly back.

I was happy they were on their own paths, but a bit melancholy. Suddenly after a few months, I was celebrating them and myself. For really the first time since my baby girl was born, I really could figure out myself. The good and the not so. While I'd been working on it for half a decade, it was after the wedding that I took the steps I always had urged the kids to: minimize and work on flaws, drop the negative. Follow your heart and passions, which should be based on your gifts. Enjoy life.

Thanks Kath. I suppose the measure of successful parenting is that our kids do not need us. WANT us, sure...but not need. It is, as they say, what it is. And life is good.

[Kathianne]

The following pics were from yesterday's hike at Sedona Airport trails. There's an "upper" trail and lower trail. We chose the lower.

Today three of us are going to Red Rock Crossing to swim. Out to dinner, as in "goodbye," though one is making the drive down to help.

Tomorrow the RV "lifers" are giving me a goodbye get together. I've only been there 3 months, but have felt a "community" there like no where else.

Change, has been for the good.

20180523_145737.jpg

20180523_153557.jpg

20180523_160756.jpg

20180523_153429.jpg

[High_Plains_Drifter]

The following pics were from yesterday's hike at Sedona Airport trails. There's an "upper" trail and lower trail. We chose the lower.

Today three of us are going to Red Rock Crossing to swim. Out to dinner, as in "goodbye," though one is making the drive down to help.

Tomorrow the RV "lifers" are giving me a goodbye get together. I've only been there 3 months, but have felt a "community" there like no where else.

Change, has been for the good.

Yup... looks all too familiar... good ole AZ.

Where are you moving to, Kath?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

So I dropped the Camaro off at the dealer and showed my salesman, Colin, the couple small but deep dings and the spots in the paint, and then said, "you're not going to like this now," and a service writer in ear shot chuckled, but I started pointing out the gross misplacement of the big hood stripe and how both were badly trimmed on the front edge, and a few buckles in the stripe under the rear spoiler, and he had to admit that it was a shitty job. He said that they had had a guy come in to put those on. I said I couldn't imagine how anyone could put those huge stripes on and when done look at them and just go... aaaa... good enough. Aaaaah, NO. Even I know to do a job like that the hood should be measured and reference tape laid down to keep things straight and even. This is a 2SS Chevy Camaro. This car could very well be in a car show at some point, and people will surely stand in front of it and look at those stripes. If me and my neighbor spotted the crappy trim job and how far off one of the stripes is, then most other car nuts will too, and that just isn't going to cut it. So he said there's a guy from Minnesota that they know of that is supposed to be top notch for installing those factory stripes, so they're going to order new ones have that guy remove the old ones and then put on the new ones, the right way. They didn't even flinch though when I said I thought they should be redone. I told Colin that I didn't mean to be a picking son of a bitch and he said don't give it another thought, that he would be the same way. He's a younger guy and also is a car nut and has a couple hotrods himself. So, I'm pretty happy. It's getting clay barred and buffed today and new stripes are on order. It's all warranty work anyway, they can write it all off. I do hope that they put a bug in the guys ear that did such a pathetic job on the stripes though. Other than that, the car is mint, no other complaints.

[Kathianne]

Yup... looks all too familiar... good ole AZ.

Where are you moving to, Kath?

Caasa Grande, in the Valley. Teaching starts at the end of July.