Texas Lady

And I was feeling so proud of myself for supporting my new husband in his endevours. A few hours later, the phone rang. Of course it was Ronnie on his cell phone. They were back onshore. They got out to fish, turned off the motor and anchored. But when they tried to restart the motor, it wouldn’t fire off. A passing fellow angler towed Ronnie’s boat to shore. He sounded disappointed but committed to fixing the problem with the motor (“probably just needs a tune-up”, he said) and they’d go back “next weekend”. I think I was more disappointed than he was. Ronnie worked on the boat.

So, next weekend the same participants loaded up with fresh bait, a full tank of gas, and lots of enthusiasm, and launched the boat once more. Out they went, full of pride and intentions. This time the U.S. Coast Guard towed them in. And after hearing my hysterical laughter when they got towed in the first time, Ronnie actually took pictures of them being towed across the water. At that point everyone involved was still smiling. Ronnie worked on the boat again.

There followed several instances of Ronnie working on the boat motor, but the boat motor worked on Ronnie, too. Finally, the boat went to the shop….the first shop. After X-amount of money the boat came out of the shop. The fishing trip repeated itself only with different friends and family but with the same outcome. This time it had to be bad gasoline. So they ran the boat around and around until the gasoline could be replenished by fresh cans of gas. Full of hope and conviction, Ronnie turned off the motor. And then turned it on. Total silence until the motor began laughing hilariously back at Ronnie. He didn’t share the humor.

So the boat went into the shop once more.

While attempting to build a website last night I found out I could have a free blog. Is my life interesting enough for a blog? What do I write about? How long will this last? Who knows? But, being the person I am, I gotta give it a shot. Why not?

From reading tech blogs for years and having one friend, Becca, who has a pretty blog all the time, I feel intimidated. Gosh, there is so much impressive information on the web. Information highway. Yep. And mis-information at times, too. I don’t feel like I have any great need inside me to publish words like I once did, many years ago, when the poetry flowed and my head stayed solidly into seeing my world and rhyming the emotions. Now I’ve done it all. People have read my words. One even fell in love with me while reading my words. How cool was that? After ten years of marriage and reading his words, too, it’s still pretty damned cool!

My friend, Stevie, is writing her life story. She has sent me about a dozen exerpts that I am to put together in a cohesive unit, correct the spelling and grammar as necessary and send it back to her whole. What an undertaking! And I haven’t even started yet. Maybe that’s what I’ll do first. Maybe I’ll introduce you all to Stevie. Yeah. Uh huh. Guess I better get her permission first. I don’t think she’d litigate but I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings for anything in the world. So I’ll get back to you on that.

My friend, Lal, wrote her autobiography and had it published in beautiful volumes. How much time did that take, I wonder? I know I’m not that committed, no Ma’am!

My husband, Ronnie, is fishing today. Not a big deal to most coastal dwellers you would think. But, this fishing trip has taken him 10 years to put together. When we got together 10 years ago there were hobbies brought to the relationship as well as love, friends and beautiful poetry.

Personally, I love tech. (We’ve bought over 60 computers over those 10 years. We wanted our friends and family, who are scattered all over the U.S. and the U.K., to be able to communicate with us and partake of the world alongside us.) I love the gadgets that come out ever so often, too. The virtual keyboard that projected a keyboard on the desk but you could throw in your purse or briefcase and take along with your PDA or laptop. I had one. The Palm Pilot (thank you Lal), I had more than one. The IPAQ, IPOD, IPHONE….of course. USB keyboards, disk drives, floppy drives, fans, pen drives, CD players and/or burners, DVD players and/or burners, wireless routers, wireless laptops, wireless printers, wireless phones and a car I can plug my IPOD into. I’ve had it all, and more. I LOVE my gadgets. Currently, between the two of us, we have 5 computers. We each have a 17″ laptop, then a netbook on the end table in the living room (it’s been there ever since we unpacked the Woot box), a desktop beside my desk (that I have some unholy attachment to) and a 12″ tablet that I use occasionally and also travel with. I’m crazy about electronics; no way around it. If it runs on batteries, is wireless or rechargeable, I want it, have it or have had it. Crazy is the right word, too. Ronnie, however, knew hot to turn a computer on. That was about the size of it. He had so much to learn back then (and has).

On the other hand, Ronnie loves to go fishing (gag me with a spoon!). He said he used to go all the time because it relaxes him and his family loves to go fishing together. He had wanted a boat since he gave away the ones he had when he got divorced and moved to Dickinson. Like a good little brand-new wife, I said, “Oh, you must have a boat.” So he started shopping.

Do you know how much a boat costs? Do you know how many computers you could buy for what a boat costs? I about had a heart attack!!!!!! Of course, I had to do it as quietly as possible. It was a new marriage and I didn’t want him to know so soon what a harridan he’d married. I clutched my chest and gasped but it didn’t help. He was looking at the boat, not me. So we bought a boat. Thankfully it was a second-hand boat. Less than $4000, then add some life preservers, lights, coolers, bait stuff, fishing poles, a few hooks, etc. I figure less than $5000 and he would fish to his heart’s desire and leave me alone to play with my computers and dogs. (I’ll get to the dogs.) I thought it was an okay deal. So much for thinking.

He spent all this time shopping for supplies; I even tried to help by pointing out all the neat stuff at Academy. But, he couldn’t use that because… or that because…or that…or that….well, you get the picture. So I just shut up and let him shop by himself. I checked the bank account online and cried every time it updated. But he was happy. Now he could start to fish again. He loaded his camera, got his family together, bought gas and bait and whatever else…..and left for the nearest body of water. I had done my duty as a wife. I stood at the door, holding the dog, waving and smiling as he left. Life was good.