May I take you back to August 1st? Okay, thanks.
I went to my desk to grab a new 'book' of personal checks. The box was empty. Oh yeah, it was a while back that I turned in the 'time to reorder' slip at the bank. Where were the new checks? I hunted all over. No checks. I headed to the bank for answers, but I was still somewhat concerned that I had misplaced the new order. I have been kinda busy, y'know.
So I got to my bank, just down the street about a half mile. As a family, we have had accounts at this bank for over 35 years. When I spoke to one of the bank officers I was informed that they had no record of an order being processed and that they had changed printing companies. It had probably gotten missed in the transition, I was told. Just marvelous. What was I to do? The officer put in a new order and gave me five free 'starter checks'-the limit for freebies.
Now in this case, starter checks are a funny predicament as they are not really starter checks being that the account has been established for over six years. Starter checks are NOT funny because most business establishments will not accept them. Can't use them at the mall, supermarket, Home Depot, Ace, pharmacy, etc.
You get the picture? I can't do diddly unless I pay cash, have either Amanda or my mother write a check to pay, or put it on my credit card (I won't do that). Thankfully, ESP, my shipper will accept them from me and I can use them to pay the bills that get mailed like utilities, etc. (Gee, I hope :-/)
Anyway, back to ordering the new checks...the bank officer assures me that I'll have them in 5 - 10 business days.
Let me now insert the fact that I have just written 'starter check' number twelve. The first five disappeared quickly even though I tried to hold off on stuff until my REAL checks would arrive. I tried to be patient, but when the tenth day rolled by with the checks NOT being in the mail, I headed back to the bank to complain. They assured me that the order had been placed on the 2nd (it evidently took them an entire day to place it?) and that I would have the new checks within a day or two. I insisted on five more 'free' starter checks. They weren't too pleased about that.
Saturday morning rolled around and my mother was heading for the bank. I owed her for half the fuel oil delivery and the water bill. She had been patiently waiting for my checks to arrive. I gave up and wrote out a starter check to her. A couple funny things then happened. I decided to go to the bank as I needed to get some cash to buy some food. My mother was still at the bank when I arrived. Funny number two was when she tried to deposit that starter check and they discovered that they had printed the wrong account number on it (and the other 4)! Good thing that I was there because they went in to panic mode about those other four checks. Thankfully for them, I hadn't used any of the others and gave them back...again asking for more 'starters'.
Sadly, the question "do you think my checks will be in the mail today?" has become a family joke. We are convinced that I am cursed. I went to the bank once again last Friday morning. I had a nicer officer who at least made the effort to look up my account to see if it had been charged for the missing checks. She said that they post the charge to the account the day that the checks are shipped. My account had been charged on Wednesday 13th.
Yay! I should have them shortly. If not that week, certainly by Monday's mail.
Tuesday's mail came and the curse lived on. I was furious and headed back to the bank. I had bills to pay and not enough 'starter' checks. And besides, I really needed to blow my top at someone.
Back to the original officer, drat. I told her that my checks STILL HADN'T ARRIVED. It was now two and a half weeks. It was MORE than inconvenient. And what did she do? She passed the buck, of course. After all the bank HAD ordered them and the printing company had shipped them. It was the United States Postal Service at fault. Well, I was not pleased with that 'not me' attitude and I told her as much. I told her that I should not have to pay for the checks, if and when they ever arrive. She offered to reorder!!!!! Huh????? and wait and wonder once again? Then she offered to order additional checks, leaving the original order in place. The additional order would be at no charge to me. This I agreed to (although I'm somehow sure that the 'no charge to me' part will be conveniently forgotten by the bank and more 'meetings' will ensue over that one). Then she said she thought she might have a trace put on the original shipment.
HUH??? THOUGHT???MIGHT??? I truly believe that this should be at the top of the list of follow-ups! ... followed quickly by the offer to issue me a debit card at no charge so that I, a longtime, loyal customer, will not be so inconvenienced in the meantime. Pfft. Haven't heard a thing.
I asked for five more 'starter' checks and got them with a glare from the teller.
I went home and paid more bills. Then off to ESP to ship some keys. I've got two more sets left to ship this week. One tomorrow and another Friday. Guess what? I'll then be needing more 'starter' checks. As........
I still haven't gotten my new checks in the mail.
The curse idea just might have some merit. What do you think, tomorrow maybe? 20 days and still counting...................
Of course the cover has absolutely nothing to do with my one page story inside. I had done a slight rewrite, the editor changed some stuff. All in all not a too bad result. Missing a bit of heart, though, in the final draft.
Rockport shops dressed up and held a scarecrow contest. Interpersed throughout this post are some of the creations.
Some were quite clever
Some were more ghoulish than others.
Some were geared towards either our seacoast location or maybe our sailor visitors.
And one was in keeping with our artsy side.
Which is your fave? Bikini gal, hippie, farmer, fancy lady, scared-dead, sailor, or artiste?
We love the officers and crew of the USS John L. Hall.
RocNavCom gave the USS John L. Hall my painting for the ship's library!
This evening she was moved to a calmer seas location in Gloucester. Most events for the crew will still be held. They will transport everyone from the ship over to Rockport. There will be no more civilian tours. The veteran's tour that was supposed to happen today has been rescheduled for tomorrow in Gloucester.
After the Drop-In Center, I went home and picked up 'A' to go watch the softball game between the crew of the Hall and Rockport's police/fire departments.
The second annual game was as cold as the first! The young sailor above was such a cutie in his shorts and heavy knit knee-highs! It made him look like he had knickers on. My mom met us down there and we all cheered for the Navy guys. After the fourth inning, mom went home and 'A' went with me back to the church Drop-In. The Navy guys had used the church for changing in to their game attire and needed to get back in after the game. Also there was a lot of food stuff that needed to be packed away or loaded for transport to tomorrow's Drop-In location and also out to the ship. It ended up that 'A' and I helped pack up and then close up the church. In the process we found a bag of clothes that had been left behind! So......we carted them out to my truck and headed for the American Legion Post where SG (co-chair of RocNavCom) and some of the crew were relaxing for an hour or so. Once parked outside, I called SG on her cell phone to let her know what was up. We then each made two trips around the outside of the building trying to find each other! I finally gave up and stopped by the door and waited. She circled back and all was well! 'A' thought it was great fun hanging out with the sailors.
It was a pleasant, rolling ride aboard the Privateer out to the Hall, anchored about one mile out in Sandy Bay, just inside the breakwater.
We approached the Hall on the leeward side and tied up to the large water barge. We disembarked the Privateer on to the rolling barge. From there we ascended the steep 'stairs' to the John L. Hall.
The Hall is 453 feet long. One of the smaller ships of the US Navy. She has a crew of approximately 200. In comparison, the battleship USS Alabama is 680 feet and had a crew of over 2500, the aircraft carrier Lexington was over 800 feet with over 4500 crewmen. The John L. Hall has an abundance of computer controlled 'detecting' devices and every type of radar imaginable.
We toured the forward deck, wheelhouse, mess hall, combat control room, radar room, and electronics area. Also, we spent time looking down in to the massive engine room and had a tour of one of two helicopter hangers. Mounted on the upper aft deck was a very large gun capable of firing 1500 rounds per minute! Sorry the picture is poor but we were facing into the sun.
And all the while we were there, and 24 hours 'round the clock while the ship is at anchor, the patrol boat circles. One sailor at the wheel, the other manning his automatic rifle!
Keeping an eye on everything, particularly any boats that venture too close! They kept a watchful eye on the ship tours, as well, and it was a bit unnerving photographing them while they watched me. (click to enlarge this photo and you'll notice the helmsman taking a long look in our direction) There were continual patrols on deck, as well.
All in all a super day!
The USS John L. Hall (FFG-32) is a guided missile frigate. She's now anchored for the weekend in Sandy Bay, Rockport's outer harbor. Here's a photo from the end of Bearskin Neck.
This marks the second year that the Rockport Navy Committee (RocNavCom) has brought a ship to the Sandy Bay Harbor of Refuge (as it was once known). The tradition of a navy ship visiting Rockport each year began long ago after plans for Sandy Bay being the home of the United States Atlantic Fleet never panned out. After many decades the visits stopped. And now, thanks to the hard work of the committee and the citizen volunteers of Rockport, the tradition has been renewed.
Here's a picture (below) of the "Privateer"(pictured above) as it approaches the USS John L. Hall. Gives you some idea of the size of the Hall. 
She's vacuuming up all the acorns. It is soooo much easier than trying to rake them. Oh, for the little bits of humor we can still find.
on our back 'common way' and down the neighbor's driveway. Now I'm really pissed off (sorry, at least I didn't swear). So I watched, waited, photographed, and verbally assaulted one of them on his second time around. 
They quit for the day.
Now this is a really cool book put out by the town. It lists every household member by address. It gives each person's name, birth year, occupation, and whether they are a registered voter. It comes in handy when the 'fire' horn sounds and you turn on the police scanner to catch the address. With this handy little book you can find out who is in trouble...or who merely burned dinner. Something that has been deleted from this issue of the book is the notation of each person's political affiliation. I think it's deserving of it's unofficial name.
I took some time off this morning to go to the beach. Beautiful day. 65°F, foggy, rainy, dripping. Just have to love New England! 'A' and I went first to Front Beach hoping to find some sea glass. We weren't very successful. Tide was still too high, and darn, people just don't use enough glass these days! Prior to heading out, I had tried to check the tide charts. I'm amazed that the Sandy Bay Yacht Club does not post the tides on their web site. Everything else but, it seems. Oh well.
Oops, sorry folks in that neighborhood, I guess it should read the South End. It was there that we were entertained with high waves and surfers.
After watching for a while and taking some photos, we called my mother and asked if she would like us to come home to pick her up and bring her to the beach to watch. She did. The three of us then crammed in to my little truck and made a second visit to Cape Hedge Beach. By that time there were six wet-suited surfers. We stayed and watched until our growling stomachs told us to get home to have lunch.
Originally, the order and pick-up windows were outside and all dining was either in your car or at picnic tables. He's upgraded over the years and moved indoors. We still eat in our car. Tradition, you understand. The owners live upstairs. At normal mealtimes the parking lot is crammed full. This picture was taken mid afternoon. We don't like waiting in line!
The following photo will give you some idea of the size of this (these) fungus.
Now this weekend is supposed to be rainy and miserably humid, and instead the sun is shining brightly. Still, we have Sunday for more rain and hopefully Monday, as I'll be working!
The following picture is Tuck's main store that is just up the hill a block from the candy factory.
Tuck's Candies began in 1929 and has been a family owned and operated business for all of it's nearly 80 years. After work either tomorrow or Monday, I will post a brief history of the business.
Amanda forgot about it this morning and I had to yell STOP before she walked right in to it. She did stop a mere couple inches from Spike and his web. The entire town may have heard her shriek! Each morning I take a broom and destroy all Spike's hard work and each night he builds it again.
This beautiful braided tree was sent to us, last summer when my Dad died, by my friends in Florida. But what does one do with such a gorgeous tree when winter approaches? This guy likes a temperate climate. They will survive indoors but they don't like the change from humid summer to dryness in a winter heated house. The 'best bet for survival' solution became to haul it down to the workshop in the cellar. The lowest temperature there through the winter is 52°F and it isn't as dry as upstairs. Not much natural light though, even with placing it just below the tiny windows high in the cellar wall. It wasn't very happy and by March we were dubious about it's survival. Mid-April it was still struggling along but looked very pathetic so I decided to risk the low outdoor temps in favor of moderate days and higher humidity. After two very cold nights, we thought it had succumbed. We waited, fertilized, and watered, and watched. It recovered. So despite poor living conditions, we still have the ficus. It's leaves are smaller than last year, though. I think seeing it through another winter might be a challenge!
......my car keys inside!"
Window number four out of six that I am installing...weather permitting. The fungus are thriving for the most part. 
Actually, a few are getting mold growth on them.
Another design that I have come up with uses both the ivories (naturals) and the ebonies (sharps). 
These are on a trial basis as they will be more expensive. I've made two ivory and ebony, and one ivory and walnut.
