The season was the reason I survived 2009.

Hi everyone; welcome back to Mr. Joes World.
A recent piece of mail from a "Secret Santa" has prompted me to look back at the past Christmas season and try to put into words my efforts to give a good holiday to my immediate family (kids and pets), plus continue to pay bills, keep the pantry stocked and cope with unexpected repairs.
Here's how it played out....
Well 2009 was a very rough year for me and was looking to end badly, but you know, I just couldn't let life get in the way of enjoying the season, and making sure the whole crew, here at Camp Run-A-Muk, enjoyed it too was my goal. Of course I needed help and that's where my family and friends came through for me.
  Things were looking bleak in the beginning of December when my computer crashed and ended up being out of service for most of the month. The dollar signs kept going through my mind as I calculated the possible repair costs for that. West Marine was/is cutting hours each week, I had already taken a sizable cut in pay when I moved from one store to the other and now there was the fact that I would be getting less hours each week too. Added to my concern is the fact that my bills don't take a holiday and only increase with any late payments, I still have to keep food on the table, but I also wanted to have some extra snacks for the holidays.
 Hmmm, getting hard to enjoy the holidays.

But; once I started decorating the house for Christmas, realized that my parents were there to help me out with the computer and we stayed busy at work, you can't help but feel optimistic about how things will turn out.
Christmas is all about the children, right?, well in our case, the children turn out to be Daisy, Hobie and Bella, who get much joy out of the decorations and if they get a cat nip toy or a chew bone, are as content as the kid with a new Playstation.

"Christmas is for Cats"

Take a good look at the tree photo to the right. Do you see an ornament that looks amazingly "cat like", that would be Bella the kitten or Lil B as Josh calls her. Bella and Hobie just loved the tree, especially to be underneath the low branches or in Bellas case, up in the tree. Occasional "territorial" squabbles would break out under the tree between Hobie and Bella and that would set the tree to rocking back and forth, but they never lasted long.

  This photo is actually from 2008, but Hobie did the same thing in 2009, look for catnip in her stocking. Bella learned from her sister and I soon had both of them up on the rail, with their paws in the stockings.

Watching the cats get into trouble was Daisys entertainment, especially Bella, who was always into something as I first decorated and then celebrated the holiday.

The season was not without it's drama when you have teenage kids around.

 Josh and Nicoles relationship was strained during the holidays and they broke up shortly afterwards.

I'm sure there were a couple of reasons for the strain, I only know what I can surmise by their day to day interactions. Not like anybody is going to tell me, even when asked. As long as things don't get out of hand, I let life play itself out. Typical teenage love, one day they are two broken hearted kids, the next day they are sitting there playing video games together. They are back together now.

Christopher and Jazmine, seem to be on again and off again as a couple, and I do notice that while Jazmine is able to enjoy being here with our family (and we certainly enjoy her being part of the family), I don't see it going the other way with Chris and her family. I have mentioned my concerns to Chris, but he is like his brother and mother, having a "need to know" attitude and in his mind, I don't need to know, how he feels about that or what the real situation is. Again, I let life play itself out.

We did have a great Christmas dinner at my sister Ginas' house in Bear Delaware. Jazmine joined Josh, Chris and I for a great day and an actual "White Christmas" with snow on the ground.

Here's the scene looking from my kitchen to the snow storm we had in December.

As for Christmas presents; I did what I could with what I had. And everyone was happy with the results. I could only spend the minimum on each boy and also have something for Nicole and Jazmine, but I did put thought into each item and they all appreciated it. I, in turn was rewarded by some great gifts from them. Both boys have limited incomes too, but the gifts they gave me, recognized my likes and tastes and that was appreciated by me.

At this point, I have to say what a great time it is for me, the boys and Nicole or Jazmine whenever we go to Gina and Johns house. For the holidays you just can't beat it. Of course their two boys Jonathan and Matt are much the same in age, likes and dislikes as my two boys. They all love Nicole and Jazmine too. Their home is beautifully decorated (especially for Christmas), warm and inviting. Like me, they have multiple pets, two dogs and two cats, I'm partial to my cats and dog, but her pets are as loving as you can get. There is a spirit of closeness and of family when we get together there.

Christmas came and went; New Years Eve was looking to be a non-event for me.The boys were going to do their own thing with their friends, I didn't have the money to do anything here for them, so it looked like an evening of painting miniatures and watching "The Twilight Zone" marathon. Which isn't a bad thing actually.

But it seems the ungreatful Colonials were stirring up trouble again and I would be needed to head a force of British and Hessian troops to the area and give them a proper thumping.

Okay, okay the real story is, my friend Dick Caldwell invited me over to join he and Les Mansir for a Miniature Wargame, titled "All the Kings Men.

        

The American Patriots, gather for the upcoming battle.

     "Rabble Rouser" spout sayings such as "Give me liberty or Give me death!"

My Hessian gunners say "give them some round shot"

My British Regular give them some "Volley Fire"

Now that's the way to ring in the new year!

I put down the rebellion (for the time being) and it didn't cost me a Kings Schilling.

I thank Dick and his wife Judy for their (Year long) hospitality and giving us a great place to meet and play.

So now, the year 2010 is here and whew, I survived the holidays.

Money is still so very tight, bills are coming in non-stop, an increase in income is still potentially months away, but like Washingtons soldiers at Valley Forge, I know, if I can continue to endure, do the right things and "keep on the sunny side of life" things will turn out good in the end for me, the kids and pets.

Getting a money order from my secret santa, a card expressing best wishes and love, with a Wal-Mart Gift Card thrown in, from Mom and Dad and the many acts of help support and friendship I get from my family and friends bouys my hope and gives me strength.

Adios 2009, it's a new year in Mr. Joes World.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

What's Mr. Joe painting now?

Hi everyone;
A big part of Miniature Wargaming and one of the most enjoyable parts for me is actually painting the miniatures to be used in various games.
I collect rule sets/books, like other people collect novels and each rule set covers a different period in history or combat in a certain element.
The only other item I collect more of, are the actual miniatures, which become the playing pieces of each game or set of rules.
World War 1 or 2, the American Revolution or Civil War,  European wars of the 17, 18 or 19th Century, Brits versus Zulus, Naval warfare from the 19th century to present day or Air Combat from the First World War to present day, I have a set of rules and the miniatures needed to recreate those battles on the table top.
To cover all of these periods, you need miniatures in a variety of scales and of course a way of finding out just what that soldier, aircraft, ship or vehicle looked like.
Thankfully I have a great core of gaming buddies, who know even more about this stuff than I do and as always, I have the World Wide Web at my disposal.
My last paint project dealt with one of my favorite set of rules, named Check Your 6.

As you can see by the cover to my copy of the rule book, this deals with plane to plane combat in WWII.

So far I have painted miniature (1/300 scale) aircraft for Italy, Britan, US and Japan.

My latest group of planes are from the French (Vichy) Airforce of 1940-43.

Check Your 6 offers several scenarios or settings for pitting Vichy French aircraft against the Royal Airforce of Great Britan and the US Navy.

A little history for you. After the German defeat of France in 1940, a pro-German government was allowed to set up and run a small part of France, plus their overseas colonies. It was called the Vichy government, or "Vichy French". Part of these territories were in North Africa and the Middle East, and so eventually brought them into conflict with England and the United States, as we attempted to beat Germany and Italy and Vichy France strove to defend their territory which was in our way.

The French had some sharp looking aircraft and used some flashy colors to distinguish their craft.

trolling the internet and websites like, "Wings Pallette" and "The Miniatures Page", plus the CY6 Yahoo group got me the color and paint scheme information to accurately paint up the French D.520s.

The color scheme consists of a light grey blue for the bottom of the plane and a 3 color cammo scheme of dark blue grey/earth brown/ dark green for the top half. Plus the Vichy French "team colors" of a yellow tail and red stripes.

While I was at it, I also painted two Italian Macchi 202s, as seen below.

These were painted with a combination of Yellow Ochre and green splotches

 

Up next on my paint bench are some WWII British soliders in 28mm scale.

These lads will be used for a different set of rules and actually we have a real plethora of rules sets to go with. Current group favorites are "Rules of Engagement", "Nuts" or "Force on Force".

Here's some I painted about a month ago.

Now, if you are reading this (Thank You) and not one of my wargaming buddies, your probably saying. "Wow, that takes a lot of time and patience" and you would be right.

Time and Patience is what I have plenty of here in Mr. Joes World.

Thanks for visiting.

Joe

benvenuto (Welcome) Bella

Hi everyone;
Thanks for coming back.
Well it seems that the old saying, "There's always room for one more" really does work, at least where Mr. Joes World and Camp Run-A-Muk are involved.
 Back in October, Josh's girlfriend Nicole, was involved in a United Way fund raising campaign, at her work place (Nordstroms). Of course Nicole had to bid on something, cute and furry, in need of a home and so she got Bella the kitten. The next step was where to bring the cat to live and as I'm sure you all see where this is going, Nicole decided to give the kitten to Josh.

Now the last "pets" she gave Josh were fish, two fishbowls full of fish. The fact that you haven't seen any pictures of the fish may tell you how long they survived under Josh's care. And now she wants to give him a kitten...oh boy. Thankfully Nicole picked out a fiesty kitten who will tell Josh when she is hungry and is not confined to a bowl of water. I do also have to give Josh credit, who, with Nicoles coaching and supplying of cat stuff, has done a good job of taking care of Bella.

It's amazing to see how a little animal can grow and adjust so quickly to her new environment.

One day she can't make it up or down 3 steps, the next day she is running laps on the same steps.

Bella has been welcomed warmly by all but one of us here at Camp Run-A-Muk.

The boys and I love her.

Daisy thinks she's the coolest toy in town.

And Hobie???

"Leave me alone kid, you're bugging me"

Yep, Hobie is less than enthused about the new little sister. But that doesn't keep Bella from following Hobie wherever she goes.

We try to limit where Bella can go in the house in order to keep her safe, like out of the laundry room, but like I said this cat is fiesty and determined to say the least.

It will take all of us to keep an eye on the littlest edition to the crew...

even if we are busy begging for treats...

or guarding your turf...

Just remember our motto here at Camp Run-A-Muk; "A place where kids and pets run free"

Thanks for visiting Mr. Joes World

Take care;

Joe

Ciao Pepi

Hi everyone;
Last month my Mom and Dad lost their very much loved dog named Pepi.
While Pepi was not a member of Camp Run-A-Muk down here, he sure would of fit in and as it was he gave my boys much joy when we spent time with him either in Latham, NY or at my sister Ginas house in Bear DE or even the one time he came here.
Pepi was the kind of dog that people were attracted to, especially kids.

The amount of joy he gave Mom and Dad is uncountable and it goes to show that if you do one good thing, you will be repaid, some way, some how, countless times. Pepi was brought home from a shelter by Mom about 12 years ago. She had volunteered to walk dogs at the shelter and thats where she came across this little one year old scruffy looking dog sitting by himself in a cage. Pepi was owned by an elderly woman who could not take good care of him or even get him out for walks regularly, so, unfortunately she sent him to the shelter. Fortune favored Pepi on the day mom saw him and on the one walk, she promised him a new home, if "Grandpa" (Dad) would agree. of course Dad agreed, although I don't know how much say he really did have in this, but the next day, Mom went back to the shelter and brought Pepi home and a match for the ages was made. Pepi grew with the family and has seen all of the grandkids grow over the years.
He had his own personality, as all animals do, which became a frequent topic of discussion whenever I spoke to my parents. Comparisons of his fincky eating habits were always made with his cousins; Daisy, Buster, Madison and Casey, all whom never met a snack or something edible they didn't like. Pepi was stubborn, loyal and knew exactly what he wanted. He was able to thoroughly train my parents to understand what he wanted to do, or more importantly not wanted to do.

Mom would ask him if he waned to go out to the yard...Pepi would let it be known that he would rather not.

Mom would suggest going to the park.....Pepi would practically open the car door himself:-)

The park is named "The Crossings", and is not far from them in Colonie and is a wonderful place for man or beast to walk and take in the fresh air. This was Pepis' home away from home, the place he longed to be with Mom.

Of course when Pepi and Mom weren't at the park, Pepi would always be wherever Mom and Dad were at the time and if at home, then he would be in whatever room they happened to be at that time.

If Dad was sitting in his chair by the picture window, Pepi was lying on the floor right next to him. If Mom was on the couch, Pepi was also on the couch with a part of him butted up against her.

I've noticed that with Dogs, versus Cats here.

Daisy wants to be with you and have some part of her actually touching you.

Hobie wants to be with you, but three feet away is okay with her.

Life goes on and Pepi began to show his age, little by little and then he developed a "mass" in his stomach.

The past few months saw a drop in his activities and liveliness, but never in his affection for Mom, Dad and the park. As any good pet owner would, Dad and Mom kept a watchful eye on Pepi and prepared themselves for the inevitable end. Their goal was to not let him suffer, but to give him as much time as possible to enjoy life. Thankfully for all concerned, Pepi passed on quietly in Dads bedroom, with both my parents at hand. It was an end that we should all be so lucky to have, in a place that you love, surrounded by the ones whom loved you the most.

Pepi now rests in Mom and Dads back yard.

Its a spot which the sun shines on most every day, the grass is green and air is sweet.

And the memory of Pepi lives on, as does all of the other family pets, here in Mr. Joes World.

Next post; "benvenuto Bella"

And another addition to Camp Run-A-Muk and Mr. Joes World

Thanks for reading.

My last Adirondack Adventure

Hi again everyone, welcome back.
This past summer was a tough one, with my hectic work schedule and little money to do anything when I did have time. But I do have memories of summers past, especially when the boys and I would spend a week at Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. I was looking through my collection of photos and came across pictures of one morning  Kayaking on Lake George, during our last trip up (2007).
In Bolton Landing, on the shores of Lake George, is the home of the Lake George Kayak Company.
They have a store located on route 9N in the heart of Bolton Landing, but their boats are on Green Island, next to the beautiful Sagamore Hotel.
I wanted to do some kind of boating on Lake George, kayaking seemed to be the simplest and cheapest way to do that, so one morning I took a ride up there to rent a kayak and get out on the water.
    Now you are probably asking about my boys, Josh and Chris, and where were they.
They had no desire to go with me, having never kayaked and were in fact sound asleep back at the cabin.
Our typical morning was to get up around 8AM, go have breakfest at the breakfest restaurant where we stayed, great breakfests too I might add, and then the boys would go back to the cabin, turn on ESPN Sportscenter and fall back asleep.
I would have loved to have them with me, but I'm not one to push what I want to do on them, so I let them nap, while I experienced the lake:-)

Ready to launch....Here's a view from the boat house

A party of paddlers make their way away from the boathouse.

I would follow the same route as them and cross this channel to go under the bridge and out to the main body of the lake. I have kayaked before, but it was all on the sheltered waters of the Gunpowder River and Dundee Creek here at home. With Lake George, you are talking "Big Water" that's much deeper and larger boats.
           Below here is my view of the boat house from the lake.

As I left the boat house and headed to the channel, I really enjoyed the beautiful green mountains surrounding the lake. The waters were calm and the boat moved easily through the water.
Once I got out past the bridge and into the open waters of the lake, the boat and water came alive with wave action. Now I had to concentrate on keeping the boat balanced, while watching out for the various powerboats coming to and fro.
Kayaks are more stable than a canoe (in my mind), but they still give you the feeling of going over quickly when hit by a wave, and there were lots of waves/rollers coming in on this day.

I paddled around Green Island and the Sagamore Hotel on my left, to the right and in front was the main part of the lake and the western shore of Lake George.
At times I would take a pause in paddling to sip my drink and just take in the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains.
I thought I took photos, while out on the water, but don't see them in my computer:-(
Perhaps I was too busy trying to balance the boat to take shots.
 As I went around the island, I came across one woman, reclining on her kayak, with her dog, while reading a book. I don't think Daisy would go for that.
It took me about an hour to get around the island and back to the boat house, and it was an hour well spent.
Here's a parting shot of the boat house.

When I got back to the cabin at Alpine Village Resort, the boys were out throwing a baseball around, so I was glad to see them out and about. The rest of the day was spent either in the pool or down by the beach and of course the night was left to visiting the Village of Lake George for dinner and Mini Golf.
The next day, I had the urge to get out on the water again, so I grabbed a tube and headed down to our beach and floated around the little cove we are in. 
This time I had my camera ready to get some waters edge photos.
Below is from me in the tube, just off the beach at Alpine Village looking out to the lake and Tea Island.

Here's a photo of the Mini Ha Ha, as she cruised back to the Village of Lake George. I waved but don't think anyone saw me.

A closer view of the Mini Ha Ha. If you ever go to Lake George, take a one hour cruise on this boat. It's a great way to see the lake and the beautiful camps along the shore

While I was out on the water in my float tube, I came across a beautifuly colored dragonfly, that had basically gotten stuck to the water surface. I scooped it up and let it dry out on my tube while I floated around. It's wings looked like spun gold.

After awhile it took back off and then I headed back to the beach and lunch.

In the picture below, you can see the boys playing catch as I made my way back to shore.

Yep, the lazy hazy days of summer by the lake.

It doesn't get better than that.

Now days the boys and I are busier and in some ways not as connected as we were back in 2007.

Life goes on, kids grow up and life changes for all of us.

But we always have our memories of places like Lake George, Alpine Village Resort and the Lake George Kayak Company.

And the memories linger here in Mr. Joes World.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

The Camp Run-A-Muk update

Hi everyone;

I have so many things to write about, just haven't had the time to "put fingers to keyboard" as they say nowadays.

We all know the best way to start a long journey is to put one foot ahead of the other and start walking, so here is the first step.
Camp Run-A-Muk update:

Some notes on what the boys, their girlfriends, the pets and I have been doing of late.

First off; everyone is fine and in good shape.
The place can be like Grand Central Station some times, with each of us coming and going on our own schedules. It's almost gotten to be a rare thing to have all of us at home the same time.

The one we most worried over is of course Hobie, but she seems to be recuperating and growing stronger all the time. the Vets had given her a clean bill of health and she is back to her old familiar ways now. She had us worried a few weeks ago, as you could hear her sneeze and what sounded like a cough, but maybe that was just a cold she picked up, since she isn't doing it now. I still worry about her and am keeping a watchful eye on her health.

Meanwhile her sister from another mother; Daisy is enjoying the hikes and walks we go on at the Gunpowder Falls State Park and Baltimore County Eastern Regional Park. I have to watch her food intake, as she will eat as much as I give her and more. The Vet says Daisy is overweight and so Joan (Chris and Josh's mom) has "advised me" to cut down on her intake. At least with me, Daisy gets exercise, but I know she can get really overweight if we are not careful.

At this time of year, I only have Daisy, and Christopher, on weekends.
During the week she goes home with Christopher to his moms house, where she gets very little exercise. When I do have her with me, I make the most of our time.
Here's Daisy at the Gunpowder State Park, Jerusalem Mill area.

Josh and Nicole are doing well. They have had some "ups and downs" in their relationship, but it all seems to be going well now. They are both working, Josh for a Marketing Company and Nicole for Nordstrom and as such their schedules don't always match up. Josh seems to be pretty much on his own schedule or a "work at your own pace" type of job:-) But he is working and helps me out every month with some cash to help put groceries on the table or pay bills.

Chris and Jazmine are also doing well, both are busy with school, work and sports.

Christopher is in 11th grade at Eastern Tech and Jazmine is in 12th at Mount Carmel. Chris works at Chick-Fil-A, which is a restaurant chain, specializing in southern style Chicken sandwiches. Jazmine works at "Curves" fitness spa. Chris was playing football for his third year of high school ball, but decided to concentrate on work and school instead. I didn't like him quitting but I respect his feelings and football is a sport that if you are not 100% in to it, you can get hurt. At this point in his life (16 years old) he would rather make money to save for a car.

And me?
Well besides being the chief cook and bottle washer here, I have been putting in many hours at West Marine.
This past January, my store manager went out on workmans comp, due to a knee injury suffered at work.
We all expected Tina to have an operation followed by a short recovery period and then come back. I was the Assistant Manager and so became the "Acting Manager" in her absence. Well Winter changed to Spring and the boating season took off. Things got really busy and Tina did not recuperate enough for her to come back. It fell on my shoulders to keep the herd moving north and run the store.

Here is my store during Memorial Day Weekend 2009.
We did well this past year, as a team we worked our way through a lot of challenges and kept Customer Satisfaction high.
But it didn't matter in the long run.
 Things were about to change, for in July they announced that this store (Bowleys) will be closing on September 7th and a new much larger store will open next spring, in another location.

Here is my store the day it closed, September 2009. It took us just a week and a half to completely gut the store.

I am now working at another local West Marine store, just 6 miles away from here.

There is a good crew in place, they are fun to work with, but my salary, hours and "rank" have dropped to match up with their existing staff.

I will be working the upcoming Annapolis Boat Shows for West Marine, looking forward to the change in pace.

I don't know what is to become of me and a long term position at West Marine. I like the company, I love boating, but it's retail and retail is a tough job with low pay besides. The unfortunate fact is that working for West Marine does not pay all of my bills, even when I'm working 40 hours per week. I don't want to keep relying on my parents to send me money in order to help pay bills. Plus there's the fact of being in retail means I work every weekend, which means less time for not only the boys (who usually have their own weekend agendas) but for spending time with Daisy, on the trails.

So decisions will have to be made and options explored on my end.

I do still make time for wargaming and painting miniatures in the evening.

It is a great hobby that stimulates the mind, but is relaxing too. I am very lucky to have a great group of "gaming buddies" that enjoy the simple pleasure of seeing the miniature troops, tanks, ships or planes in action on the table top.

A game of "Brother Against Brother" American Civil War being played at Renaissance Games

Here is a picture of some recently painted British Regulars ready for the field of battle with the rules All The Kings Men. These stapping fellows are 54mm, which is a big difference for me, as I have painted either 10mm, 15mm or 25mm figures all of these years.

Their debut in battle will come sometime this winter.

So life goes on for myself, Josh, Nicole, Chris, Jazmine, Hobie and Daisy.

It's never dull in Mr. Joes World.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

What was lost is now found.

Hi everyone;
We had a minor miracle, here around 10:30 pm on Friday night.
Hobie has been found!
It all started with a phone call at 10:20 pm from a man who lived in a neighborhood across from us and some streets away. He and his wife were out walking, they had seen my sign about Hobie and realized that a cat they had seen that night and the night before looked like Hobie.
He described the cat they saw and it sure sounded like Hobie, but was it really her.
I had to go and find out.
I didn't have much time, as I had to go pick up Christopher from his new job at Chick -fil -a by 11.
A short drive over to the street and I found the house of the caller. I get out and start walking along the side walk and calling Hobie.
No answer.
The man came out (Don Amend) and so I introduced myself and talked to him for a bit. I learned that he and his wife had just seen the cat they called about within the last 15 minutes.
I decided to give it another try and walk back along the sidewalk and towards my car.
A few more calls from me was finally answered by a weak "meow" back from someplace nearby one of the houses.
A few calls from me and a few answering meow cries and a black shadow detached itself from the wall of a house and came towards me and then underneath a truck in the driveway.
It looked and sounded like Hobie, so now I sat down on the driveway and talked to her.
Slowly, tentatively, she came to me and then finally, contact was made with me scratching her had and back and she rubbing against me, purring/meowing.
It was Hobie but good lord was she skinny.
Needing to get her home but not knowing if I could do it by myself I called on Josh and he came over in his car.
More sitting on someones driveway and soon she was up to him and rubbing against him.
Soon Josh had her in his lap and the decision was made for him to get in his car with he holding her while I drove. A short one minute drive and we had her in the house, safe and sound once again.
I then walked back to my car and then over to Chick-Fil-A to get Chris.
Whew; what a night!
Today, (Saturday), Josh took her to a local vets and they checked her out, gave her shots and antibiotics.
Hobie now only weighs 5 pounds and has some scratches on her, but should be good for the long run.We are taking things carefully here with Hobie.
She is still very weak and tired.
I don't think she ate much if anything for the month + 6 days she was gone.
So many things came together to bring her home, I still can't believe it.
To start with; I only put a couple of signs on that street, not really expecting Hobie to be that far in that direction.
The wonderful Amend family, who also have a Beagle, are right next to the telephone pole that has my sign and Hobie ends up practically in their yard.
The call coming to me at the right time and when I was able to react to it in a timely fashion.
My not giving up in calling for her that night and figuring it was a false alarm.
My prayers and the prayers of my family and friends.
All of these circumstances and more, combined to bring Hobie back to that familiar spot in our house.
At 6:20AM this morning, Hobie came into my bedroom and told me it was time to get up and get some breakfest.
Just like she always does.
And life goes on, a little happier now, in Mr. Joes World.
Thanks for reading.
Joe