Inside Scoop

For the first time in years we were able to get inside the US Capital. You have to take a guided tour to get into the Capital, I can remember the good old days when you could just walk in through any of the doors. But, in the name of security, yada-yada-yada! At any rate if you go to the south east corner of the Capital property at around 9:00 AM and stand in line you can get tickets for public tours. The tickets have a tour time and you show up and go through security. I thought DG was going to be strip searched because he had replacement batteries for the camera in his pocket. They stopped the line, made five people go back through the metal detector until they had cleared the security risk (2 AA batteries.) An interesting piece of trivia, the original capital dome was made of wood, it was replaced with a massive cast iron dome. What happened to the wood dome? It was burned to produce steam to power the cranes that lifted the cast iron dome into place.

Now you know the inside scoop,

TR

And I left the jacket home!

I was wondering around the US Capital on Tuesday and I came across the special entrance, too bad I left the jacket home. We had to dodge a congressmen from Tennessee driving a Buick Roadmaster, he nearly ran over us three times on the plaza outside the east entrance to the Capital. Perhaps I should run for Congress! I promise a chicken in every pot!

TR

Endless meetings

We survived hours of seemingly endless meetings. I swear one speaker lacked a pulse and was only being held up by the government salary he continues to draw. We had a little free time to enjoy DC and will have more postings over the next couple of weeks.

TR

TR goes to Washington

We are off bright and early Tuesday morning for a conference in DC. It is going to be hot enough to melt members of my species, and DG will be in a long series of mind numbing meetings, but we will make the most of it and try to stop and admire the history along the way. I can smell the power from here, or is that just the tourists steaming in the sun?

TR

Lunch with a view

I just love lunch with a view, fresh grilled seafood is a plus. Meritt's daughter's should try this one on the boyfriend to find out what he is really made of.

TR

Saturday Rambling

We made it to Saturday. Time to relax. No reason to panic. It will all be ok. One way or another we always make it through. I am sure of it. Next week we are in DC Tuesday through Friday, most of it in a series of mind numbing meetings, but with a few hours at the beginning and end to enjoy the wonderful city. It looks like this may be the only visit to DC this year so we will try to make the most of it.

TR

We may have to get out the pulling straps

DG has had a very long and exhausting week. And he has one more very long day to go with 5 hours on two panel presentations for a major statewide convention tomorrow. We may have do like the helpful lady at the dairy farm in northern Indiana and get out the pulling straps to wrench him out of bed in the morning.

TR

Chicago

The building over my shoulder to the right, with the clock on top, is the world headquarters of Boeing. I understand that they have convinced the Pentagon to rebid the refueling tanker contract that they lost. Of course they lost on the second go around; the first one was tossed because of bidding irregularities where Boeing was accused of being unfair.

TR

Hanging out at the Hyatt

Here I am hanging out in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency in Chicago over Memorial Day Weekend, I wonder if that is Mahala's long lost rocker?

TR

Out to sea in the fall

We are headed out to sea in September. WH and DG are taking a cruise to Alaska in September to help DG recover from the sorrow of turning %0 the end of August. The cruise line has been warned to stock up on liquid anesthetics, tasty foods and krill. DG is hoping to see whales, eagles, bears and flightless water fowl. I am hoping to run into a few old friends along the way. Hotel reservations have been made in Seattle for a couple of nights on each end of the trip. I hope the ride is as wonderful as our crossing of the English Chanel last August shown in the picture above.

TR

Contemplating

It is the end of a long week and here I sit contemplating.

Here are some of my pondering:

Have we really survived the week, or is this some sort of unexpected purgatory?

Will we survive next week?

Why me?

Why not?

If I jump, will I know what it feels like to fly before I splat?

Do fish think?

Do fish blink?

Would anyone notice if I had a little sushi snack?

TR

Battling our way through the airports

They may have taken away our manicure scissors, but we still find a way to fend off the airport idiots. You know the kind, the ones who don’t seem to know that you have to empty your pockets and take off your cell phone before you try to go through the metal detector. Just try to get in my way!

TR

In Honor of D-Day

Here I am in St. Mere Eglise last summer. This would be a good weekend to watch the movie "The Longest Day."

TR

Savannah Hilton Head International Airport

You would think after all we did in Scotland last summer they would at least reward us with a decent single malt. Oh well, it sure was better then the typical airport offerings. Nice and refreshing after a long days toil in Georgia.

TR

Alive

Sorry, no picture for this one. We made it home just before midnight last night. US-less Air has done a good job of redeeming themselves. Other than a comically surly flight attendant and of course runway departure delays to assure that we were on time instead of early, the trip went well. The guy sitting next to us described the flight attendant as "Barnie Fife" on an airplane (Meritt you aren't missing a police officer are you?)

Then came this morning. Big Red had to be jump started this morning. He was so dead that the mini Panzer couldn't do the job and an expert had to be called in. We started for the dealer and Big Red died on an expressway on-ramp. No power, no starting, no lights, no nothing. We had to be towed to the dealer who is swamped with work. Maybe there is some cosmic confluence that caused a worldwide breakdown of red cars today. No word on the prognosis. It has been a very long day.

TR

Headed South

DG and I are off in the morning for a quick trip south, flying into Savannah Georgia. DG gets to go get paid for talking for a day about things that he talks about in his sleep, you would never believe the things he talks about in his sleep. I am along for the ride. As pretty as Savannah is, we probably will not see any of it. Our destination is about 15 miles northwest of the city with no time in the schedule for anything but work. Such is the life of a flightless traveling fowl.

TR