World Series, Halloween, Management Search

Update - October 27 - November 3

-- World Series Was Exciting

David Price on the mound

It seemed to me that David Price should have been selected as the MVP for the World Series this year. His three wins and his preparedness to come out of the bullpen earned him that recognition.

In fairness, others may have been as good a choice, but my vote would have been for Price. Four championships in 15 years were not something I could have predicted. Now, I’m greedy to win again next year

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READ my Blog "The Books of Richard F Wright" (Books, Bookstores, Writing)

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-- Holiday Fun all Week

Lucy and her Halloween Friends

Halloween dominated a lot of activities this week, especially for Lucy, who had a lot of fun with specialty cupcakes, candy, and a dinosaur costume. She posed in the costume and admired her “growling” practice in the full-length mirror.

Her baby sister had to settle for a “pea pod” outfit, which tended to overheat her. So, the costume didn’t last long. Patti decorated the house for Halloween, including a lot of autumn colors and various vignettes to accent the season.

-- Being Neighborly

Tyrannosaurus Lucy

Our new neighbor stopped by to ask our opinion on how many Trick or Treaters would show up on Halloween. Our experience over the past 10 years has been that between 20 and 30 kids will show up, although some years we have had double that. I offered that if they ran out of candy, they should pop in for some more from us as we were wildly over-supplied this year. 

This year Lucy was a Tyrannosaurus Rex. In the past years, she has mostly been Supergirl. Last year she was a robot. Her Dad had customized the outfit so it had glowing lights attached to make it look like she was "computing" how much candy she collected. This year's costume looks like a simpler online order. It was very effective.

-- Happy Hour at Harvest Grille

Patti's Shipyard Pumpkin Ale

We have discovered that the Happy Hour bar menu and prices at the Harvest Grille make a lot of sense. Each item on the bar menu is $5 and the drink specials are equally well-priced. The Quesadilla, the Calamari, and the Fish Taco combined to $15 and still resulted in leftovers. That’s hard to do nowadays. And Patti’s 12 oz Shipyard Pumpkin Ale, rimmed with cinnamon, was only $4.50. That’s also hard to beat these days.

The Harvest Grille is in the location of the Jefferson House, once a very famous and popular restaurant and pub. Over the past few years, it has changed hands a few times and seems to have not gotten a strong foothold in the neighborhood. The current owner has the place jumping on Friday and Saturday nights, as we have more than once, driven over to the place and found that both parking lots were overflowing with cars. That's a sign we won't find a comfortable table in the pub, so we moved on. But, I'm not complaining. We mostly visit on weekdays, and the crowds are not so intimidating.

-- Sign of the Season and the Harvest Grille

-- Progress on Finding New Management Company

As of today, I have screened a dozen property management companies with the intention of inviting some of them to submit a proposal. Five of the prospects declined to apply. Four have agreed to submit a proposal and a few others are pending. The process is different at each company as some as large and others are small. The smaller ones tend to put the owners on the phone. The larger companies have middle managers and specialists handle the process. As we are a small neighborhood, I tend to favor the smaller companies; but, we’ll have to see how it goes. The goal is to be ready with a new management firm in place by the end of the year. I sent an update email to the Trustees to let them know our progress so far.

-- Flip Flops is Still One of our Favorites

Here's your wine.

On her way home from shopping, Patti called and said, "Let's go to Flip Flops." She got no argument from me on that. It's only a few minutes from the house and always worth the trip.

By the time I pulled in, she had already grabbed a table along the window wall. There is plenty of parking behind the building and now that they have added a bakery to the front of the place, we have another reason to stop in often.

On Friday evening, we both ordered some wine and I had a chance to get some muscles. I love them, but it's one of those things I don't make at home, so I have to wait for a dine-out opportunity to get them. The appetizer order is large enough to satisfy me, so it's also a good bargain.

Flip Flops is a comfortable, fun restaurant, with a bakery in the back.

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Reading Update: This week I had some extra time so I was able to get some extra reading in. As I spent my time in the Air Force just at that moment in time when the SR-71 Blackbird was making it's most significant impact on world affairs, I have continued to be fascinated with anything that helps describe how the aircraft operated and what it accomplished. In 2008, Col. Richard H. Graham, USAF (ret.) wrote "Flying the SR-71 Blackbird."

This is an account of his operation of the aircraft and specifically how his flights were planned, how it operated, how he had to fly it and the types of missions he flew. It provided details that we had only been able to speculate about previously. I am now on the search for copies of his other books: "SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story," and "SR-71 Blackbird: Stories, Tales, and Legends." I'm sure they will be as entertaining and informative as this one.

The other book I read was "Lillian Hellman, An Unfinished Woman," a memoir by Lillian Hellman. Notably, Lillian Hellman was a most prolific playwright and this book allows her to reveal her innermost thoughts about her life-long relationship with Dashiell Hammett, noted author of The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man, and other important celebrities such as Dorothy Parker.

Her life included travel to Spain during the civil war and Moscow and Leningrad during the Second World War. It was fascinating to read about how she came to write her famous plays, The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, The Autumn Garden, and Toys in the Attic. They remain as important and controversial as when first produced. My copy of this book is a First Edition (1969) with an autographed inscription from Lillian.