March 15, 2009

Let's start with last weekend activities. Last Saturday after our morning run, yoga, and weight lifting we headed over to Mystic, CT for lunch at 5 Guys and a Burger. Being rookies at this fine establishment we ordered bacon cheeseburgers and an large order of french fries. Little did we know that the standard burger is a double patty burger and the large order of fries will feed a family of four. The burger was excellent and the fries had an appropriate amount of grease to keep the arteries plugged - but it was enough food to last us for a couple of days. The next stop was to take a seal watch from the Univ. of CT in Groton. It was a nice sunny and, for once, warm day so the boat was full but regardless there was plenty of room for observing the cute critters. The seals are in the Long Island Sound after migrating down here during the winter from coastal Maine - apparently our 40 degree water is better then the 30 degree water up there, personally I find it all too chilly (look closely in the photo, the seals are the lumps on the rocks). It was interesting to note that seals reminded us greatly of the alligators we saw in the Everglades, as they were laying on rocks in the Sound sleeping. Apparently most of the animal kingdom spends their days laying around sleeping - don't know where humans went wrong, but it does seem to be a more attractive lifestyle than what we evolved. It was a great day although even with the warmer temperatures, being out on a boat as we moved from one site to another to see the seals we were quite chilled through by the end.

Last Sunday was spent with Joann packing up and leaving on Amtrack for a weeklong stay in NJ with her leadership team working on 2009 focus areas, while I knocked off a few chores and dug into a book. The rest of the week was the usual mix of work and exercise for both of us. Nothing too exciting going on a work right now although it is nice to see our stock price begin to recover some. On Wednesday it was off to the doctor for my annual physical which I have discovered as you age consists of checking on the various body parts that don't work quite like they used to and seeing if that is a normal part of aging or is it something that needs attention. Everything checked out fine although since I tend to get stress migraines from work, the doc suggested I relax some - thanks for that, it was all I was missing on how to deal with them. Jo got home late Thursday. She was exhausted as she was up early, went to bed late all week, and put in a full day leading her meetings in between.

For this weekend, Friday was spent curled up in front of a fire watching some TV - well it was mostly Joann curled up asleep trying to catch up some and me having to explain what happened on the show every 20 minutes or so when she would happen to wake up. Yesterday we visited Wethersfield, CT with Sheri and Bruno. The main goal was a visit to Comstock, Ferre and Co., which is one of the oldest seed companies, to select the seeds for this year's garden. Unfortunately, the selection in the actual physical store didn't match the online offerings so we only managed to get part of what we wanted. We also had lunch at a local tavern and then toured the town as it dates back to before the revolutionary war - several of the houses dated to the 1750's. As is usual for most of New England - Washington slept here - although in this case it appears to be actually documented. It was a great visit to a lovely little town and the ice cream store, with homemade ice cream, was worth the drive up.

That is all for this week - hope you have a great week and that spring temperatures finally arrive.