Happy Birthday AJ

Today is Alice Jean's, aka AJ, birthday. Like Jack Benny, AJ remained 39 for many years until she discovered she could win free drinks by betting everyone at the bar that she was the oldest woman there. Pleep's pretty sure she is likely Butch McGuire's oldest, regular customer. She can still hold her own with all of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. No one beats her on the dance floor at family weddings or events.

Because she gives up her beloved The Glenlivet for Advent, it's not likely she'll be doing much celebrating until Christmas Eve when she brings the bottle back out of the closet. Though there was an exception to that in 1998 when she turned 70. Unbeknownst to her, the family planned a surprise birthday party for her in Chicago. George was in on it and had insisted they drive to Chicago from Kansas before heading to Florida. Alice protested severely but finally agreed. The night before departure Ed, David Gates and Peggy joined with Alice and George to celebrate. Ed brought in his cask strength, silent distillery, single malt scotch. Alice thought turning 70 might be enough of an excuse to just have a sip, with one ice cube and a splash of water. One sip turned into more sips and ultimately sips with no water or ice. Needless to say, the next morning’s departure was a bit delayed as AJ had a touch of the Irish flu and a wee bit of a headache.

Have a great birthday. Love from the Troops.

Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Pleep Celebrates The Winter Solstice

The winter solstice is one of Pleep's favorite holidays as it marks the shortest day of the year which also means starting tomorrow the days will be getting longer again. It also marks the first day of winter which in Florida we celebrate by spending time on the beach. Today the temperatures will be in the upper 70's and the visitors will be out in force. On yesterday's beach hike, we spotted snowmen made from sand, kids building sand castles and one BMW stuck in the soft sand. It had to be pulled out by a couple of Jeeps.

One year Peggy was visiting Ida, Perry, Beau and Harry for Christmas in London and decided it would be a good idea to visit Stonehenge for the solstice. Needless to say, it was a wacky experience as they all watched fully garbed druids marching around and celebrating the pagan holiday. Beau and Harry were unimpressed by the druids or the standing stones. Instead, they parked themselves on the viewing benches with their back to the stones and watched the passing traffic on the A303. They spent the entire visit counting the trucks and buses.

We are happy to welcome any visitors looking to escape snow, cold and generally bad weather up north.

Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Pleep’s Favorite Classic & Modern Christmas Movies Lists Don’t Include Die Hard

Christmas is a great time to catch up on all our favorite holiday movies. Pleep has two lists. First are the classic movies which pretty much means made before 1960 and most are in black and white; no colorized versions allowed. Then the modern ones which include a few remakes of the classics. While a few from either list might be considered non-traditional, there is no way Die Hard makes the cut even though it is one of Ed's favorite movies, has Alan Rickman in it and does happen on Christmas Eve.

Classic list includes in no particular order: The Bishop's Wife, Christmas In Connecticut, Miracle on 34th Street, The Christmas Carol, We're No Angels, The Apartment, Come To The Stable, Holiday Inn, White Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, The Shop Around The Corner.

Modern list, which is much shorter, includes: The Holiday, Love Actually, George C. Scott's Christmas Carol, Scrooged, A Christmas Story.

Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Pleep Splurges On Ed’s Birthday

Ed’s birthday is today and Pleep spared no expense in acquiring his birthday present.  Ed was holding out for a new Alfa Guila or maybe an Aston Martin.  Pleep thought something a little more practical was in order.  Watching Ed do his morning pt exercises for the past umpteen years, he noticed Ed was missing the bigger ball he has back home in Kansas.  After much searching, he found the perfect one at Walgreens and was very happy see see Ed put it to good use this morning.  

Peggy & Ed will be heading to the Deck Down Under on the intercoastal to celebrate in style later this afternoon.

Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Pleep Supervises Cookie Baking Marathon

Cookie production started out early this morning. Once the rolling area, decorating station and cooling zone were all set up, Ed cut the 3 dough logs into 6 pucks a piece. (Pleep named them pucks as he gets a big laugh every time he hears Ed tells Peggy to get the puck out.). For Ed, the process is really simple, get flour all over, roll out the dough until it's paper thin, cut out the shapes and flip them onto the cookie sheets. Then get on to the next puck.

Peggy claims that she has the stressful work: decorating, timing the baking which takes a total of 5 minutes a sheet. She has to turn the sheet halfway through the baking time. So every 2 1/2 minutes something has to happen. Then the cookies have to come off the sheets and get placed on the table. Thanks to Steve Jobs & her Apple Watch the timing process was much smoother this year. Then of course, there's the call from Ed for another puck. Sometimes Peggy says things that rhyme with puck when she is trying to coordinate decorating & turning the sheet in the oven.

About 7 hours after production started things were wrapped up, boxed up & cleaned up. About 500 cookies were baked and only a handful ended up getting "ALICED". Anyone who ever experienced Alice's cooking knows what that means. For those who have never had that fortunate experience, it means BURNT. If George were around the Aliced cookies who have been promptly gobbled up.

Now that all the baking is done, the bakers can head to the Shores Festhaus, aka surfer bar, for a few well deserved adult beverages and a bite or two to eat.


Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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SpaceX Finally Launches

After rescheduling the launch day several times, the Dragon Falcon 9 rocket launched precisely on time today. Pleep really enjoys watching the launches from our balcony. The sonic booms make for a nice bit of excitement too. The daytime launches are not as visually exciting as the night launches but everyone still turns out on the beach & balconies to view.

Today's launch was carrying supplies, equipment and science experiments to the astronauts in the space station. The booster rocket successfully returned, landing back on the launch pad. It's a very sensible approach for re-using the rockets and a credit to Elon Musk & private space exploration.

There's a few more launches scheduled between now and late January. With any luck, David & Patti Gates will get to see one when they visit. However, David Gates does have a history of jinxing rocket launches, most notably the Apollo 13 mishap.

Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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From Father To Son: The Accountant’s Now In Charge Of The Dough

Stan, Ed's dad, made Christmas cookies every year for more than 65 years. One cookie in particular became known as the Stan Cookie. Stan always just called them AP cookies - all purpose cookies. It's a very basic sugar cookie recipe but the secret is in the rolling. Stan rolled the dough so thin you could almost see through it. After they're baked they are about as thin as a potato chip which is why the Heidkamp family started calling them Stan's potato chip cookies.

From father to son, the tradition continues. As Ed got closer to retirement, he wanted to learn how to make these cookies. Fortunately, we had a few years with Stan to start the learning process. Stan had the ability to just judge the dough and adjust the flour as needed.

The recipe he left us called for 6 large cups of flour. Of course the issue is deciding how large a large cup of flour is. Enter the accountant. Over the past couple of years, having to make them without Stan's help, he's been gradually able to quantify things. So all the ingredients are weighed and we make notes every year. We found using Irish butter gave the best result and that it takes a bit more flour due to the higher butterfat content.

Today we will make the dough. Then it has to go in fridge overnight and the real production starts tomorrow. Stan, we treasure your memory and are certain you get a good chuckle every year as we go through this process.


Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Happy Birthday George!

Happy birthday George.  87 years old and still hanging at Butch McGuires with a Budweiser.  I’m sure you’ll be celebrating in style with that older woman, your first wife, Alice.  

Love ❤️ from all The Troops

Chanukah Without The Yedlins, The Blockchain & Frank Sinatra

This is Pleep's first Chanukah Without Jay and Nancy Yedlin. Their December visit has always been a lot of fun as it involved cooking, drinking, outdoor activities and even a bit of dancing. He dug out the gift bags in hopes that something would materialize but no such luck. He was thinking that the geld that is usually included in traditional Chanukah celebrations would come in handy. Also, he says it's actually real and edible which is more than he could say about bitcoin.

Because Ed watches a good bit of CNBC during the day, Pleep's been following the bitcoin/blockchain phenomena for some time. He also had plenty of opportunity to discuss it with Beau and Perry. As far as he can tell, Peggy's crochet action which involves blocking and chains makes a lot more sense to him.

Today is Frank Sinatra's birthday. He was Alice's favorite performer. In fact she ditched school to hear him in concert. Unfortunately, as she coming off the subway, GOC caught her and grounded her for a few weeks. Thanks to Alice, all her children and grandchildren have a great appreciation for Frank & his music. In honor of Frank, today's Sonos choices will be all the music from his Centennial collection. Cheers Frank.



Peggy Heidkamp
Go Irish! Hotty Toddy! Go Packers!


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Crazy Headlines Keep Pleep Amused

Pleep Insists On Hallmark Cards

December is a big card month because, in addition to the holidays, George, Alice and Ed all have December birthdays. Before we leave home, Pleep always makes certain to hit one of the local Hallmark Goldcrown stores to pick up the Christmas cards, December birthday cards and Chanukah cards. Not only does he like the assortment and the UNICEF cards, he points out that it helps fund Patti Gates' Hallmark retirement.

Watching it snow on family and friends in Chicago, Mississippi and Atlanta, Pleep was especially happy to be writing notes about how nice it was in Florida in all the cards. Ed's blaming him for jinxing things, accusing him of bringing cold temps to Daytona and the rest of the state.

Settling Into Being Back At The Beach

After being back almost a week, we are settling in nicely. High tides that reach to the sea wall comes with the full moon in winter. The result is daily beach hikes take place midday rather than first thing in the morning. The weather has been great with temps in the upper 70s but is turning cold this weekend. It's still far better than back in Kansas where the temps have been running in the teens.

Pleep is very happy to be back at the beach because it means he gets to visit all the local micro-breweries and local hangouts, aka, as dive bars. We've managed two trips up to one of his favorites, Beachside Brewery in Ormand Beach. Dan, the brewer/owner, has released several great new brews including Star 58 Porter, Dan's Colt 45, and the Big Kahuna. Needless to say, we tried them all and sampled a few others.

With the colder temps settling in, Peggy will have some time to work on a few crochet projects.  The ninth great niece/nephew is due to arrive in Idaho in the first months of 2019 and will need to stay warm.

Christmas Decorations On Display

After unpacking and a bit of tidy up activity, Pleep jumped right on decorating the place for Christmas.  The first things out of the box were the crèches - two from visits to Santa Fe and the other a gift from The Collins’ family cruise through Spain and Portugal.

Next up was Santa and his reindeer.  Delete thought he should be hanging out with the reindeer with his Generali red ribbon.  

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It took almost no time for Ed to assemble the small tree.  In fact, he spent more time vacuuming up the “needles” that fell off and figuring out how to set up the timer for the lights than he did putting the tree together.  Most of the ornaments on the tree are handmade from a Heidkamp Thanksgiving in the late ‘70s, spent at the log cabin just north of Green Bay.  A number of them have certainly seen better days but sentiment tops appearance on this tree.  One of Pleep’s favorites is Alice’s hand painted, signed on the back boy which has been broken and glued back together several times.  The yellow taxi cabs (gifts from the Parker boys) bring back many fond memories of NYC Christmas times.

With the decorating complete, Pleep donned his Santa hat and decided the best place to hang out was on top the liquor cabinet.  He knows Alice gives up Glenlivet for Advent and is contemplating doing something similar.  However, he is more inclined towards George’s approach - give up giving up.

Annual Winter Migration

Every December we join other snowbirds in the winter migration.  This year, in an effort to minimize the horrendous traffic in Atlanta, we opted to depart early Friday morning and stop north of Atlanta.  Pleep was very pleased with the plan as it meant we would be driving thru Metropolis, IL.  He is always hopeful that Ed could be convinced to stop and visit Superman’s birthplace.  As we neared the stop, he demonstrated his Superman flying skills but had no luck getting Ed’s attention.  In one last desperate attempt to divert, he grabbed the wheel but by the time he was steering, we were well past the exit.  Thanks to Peggy’s excellent navigation and technical skills, we were able to divert around traffic jams in Nashville and only hit minimal traffic issues in Chattanooga.  Friday’s drive was certainly successful doing 790 miles in just under 12 hours driving time (13 hours clock time with the change to Eastern time).

The Residence Inn in Kennesaw, GA turned out to be an excellent choice for the overnight stay.  It was far enough north of Atlanta to avoid the bad traffic.  Pleep thinks most of the drivers in and around Atlanta must think they are on the NASCAR circuit.  There are certainly a significant number of drivers who weave in and out of lanes at excessive speeds and love to run right up behind each other.  The resulting accidents lead to the greater Atlanta metro area being one of the worst areas we encounter in our travels.  Pleep was grateful for the decision to stop early as it meant he wouldn’t be required to spend his time monkeybutting all the bad drivers.

Saturday morning we headed out around 7:45 am and had absolutely zero issues with traffic.  Sailing thru Atlanta in record time, we were happy that none of the tailgaters from Auburn or Georgia decided to head to the Mercedes Stadium early.  With only a little more than 550 miles left, the drive was uneventful.  Pleep was able to convince Ed to stop at the Florida Welcome Center for a restroom break and free OJ.  He had a great time checking out all the exhibits. And when they pointed out the no pets allowed notice, Pleep explained he was a service animal.  He did think adding a shot of vodka to the free juice would be an improvement.

We got off I-95 around 3:15 and drove straight to the car wash.  This was the first long road trip for the 2018 Audi S5 Sportback and Ed wanted to make sure the car was washed up before we did the final few miles to the beach.  The Superwash fit the bill nicely even with the long lines.  Pleep was impressed by the Lava wash and free vacuum.

After 19 hours driving time, the worst part of the trip was hitting the Daytona Beach Shores Christmas parade.  Because the parade was right on A1A in front of our condo, all the routes were closed.  It took over an hour to navigate a route in and even then Peggy had to get out of the car and move a barricade allowing us to sneak in from the north.

It’s good to be back in our winter home and we’re looking forward to visits from our Northern snowbird friends.