Pleep's A Yankee Doodle Dandy

The 4th of July is one of Pleep's favorite holidays. He enjoys the weather, the fireworks, and being able to legally monkeybutt the British. The one downside is he hates that the French were actually allies for the big revolt. Generally speaking, Pleep will always side with the British. The weather in Daytona was perfect - generally sunny and warm. The rain came in the mid-afternoon to cool things off. Now we are all just hoping for a great view of the beach fireworks. The Daytona Beach bandshell is all set for a concert and fireworks display - Red, White & Boom.

After a nice hike on the beach checking out all the tourists, Pleep headed to the grocery store to sort out the required items for the day. Pleep had Ed whip up an early dinner - a curry with fresh shrimp and produce from the farmers' market. Not exactly the typical 4th of July fare but he said it had several of the right colors - red curry & white rice. Peggy's Blueberry cocktail rounded things out nicely to complete the necessary color palette. The key to the cocktail is fresh lime juice. Pleep wanted to make sure that the Ritter heirloom juicer was functioning properly so he purchased a load of limes and came home to squeeze the juice out. No problem, the juicer worked perfectly. Now everything is ready for the visits by the Kapellers and Parkers. Fresh lime juice is also high on the must have list for Ida Parker & her margaritas. As we wind into the evening hours, the beach is perfect & the clouds have all moved off to the west.

With any luck. the fireworks display from our deck will be fabulous and Pleep will be swinging off the balcony singing his favorite 4th of July songs - Yankee Doodle Dandy, God Bless America, the Marine Corps Hymn, and the Star Spangled Banner.

The German Boy Is On Task

We woke up to a nice sunrise but the clouds moved in quickly. The rain held off so a lot of people hit the beach and pool. Pleep and Delete thought they would be joining the crowds but no luck. Ed had other plans for the crew.

With the boxes unloaded and everything put away, Ed was on to the next stage which started with hanging the pictures. He tried to reach Papa Carnicelli for instructions but had no luck. He got out the tape measure, pencil, hammer, picture hooks and level. After carefully measuring everything at least twice, he pounded in the hook and hung the picture. After more measuring and leveling the picture was hung. Then it was on to the next picture. Pleep was just happy to see everything hung up.

When the dust rags, vacuum and Hoovermate Floorscrubber appeared, Pleep & Delete headed for the tv room. Having seen what happened last time all these things appeared, Pleep knew he wanted to be as far away from the activity as possible. Delete found the Chinese Checkers game and suggested a match. After several hours, Ed observed that only three moves had been made. Delete said they were trying for the Guinness Record For World's Longest Chinese Checkers match. If the pace of the game doesn't pick up Kate Kapeller will have to finish it when she arrives later in the week.

Weather permitting the evening plan is to watch the fireworks show on the beach from the comfort of our balcony. No doubt adult beverages will be involved.

Pleep & Delete Achieve International Fame

After a long day in the car, the VW & crew hit Daytona Beach at 20:30. Two trips were required to schlep all the boxes, coolers, luggage and assorted items upstairs. Pleep decided he deserved a little adult refreshment combined with anti-oxidents to replenish his electrolytes after the long drive from KC. Besides, he insisted that it was necessary to practice before Tammy comes next week. Everyone finally hit the rack around midnight to get a good night's rest before the unpacking chores started on Friday.

Before hitting the sack, Pleep decided to check emails. There were several more from Carnicelli and Carvill with conflicting reports on their activities. The common theme was they were both petitioning for a higher slot in the Ritter House rankings. It does appears that regardless of who is telling the story, Carvill did indeed introduce Pleepleus & Deletrious O'Connor to the Executive Forum crowd in Paris. Pleep was very impressed with Carvill's storytelling prowess. That, coupled with their common heritage, is causing Pleep to consider restoring Mel to his former position - 2nd place. His one hesitation is the lack of independent verification of what was actually said. Plus, Carvill was unable to navigate to the blog site to show the audience several of the most popular videos.

Friday was a full court press to unpack, wash up and store all the dishes etc. from Kansas City. There were a lot of boxes, packing materials and bubble wrap to be taken down to the trash room. Delete thought he would lend a hand in the decorating effort. He likes the elevated position and views from the sconce. Pleep thinks this could be a good spot for the moose because it keeps him out of the way.

Pleep Experiences Changes in Latitudes Changes In Attitudes

The loaded up VW pulled out of KC at 18:00 and headed east. Pleep played around a bit with the satellite radio and finally settled on the 60's music channel in hopes of hearing a lot his favorite group, The Monkees. After nearly 8 hours of 60's music and just about 10 minutes before arriving at the stop over, The Monkees finally came on the radio. The highlight of the trip was a series of texts from Carnicelli and Carvill which came through at approximately 01:30. Evidently there was a disagreement about the Carvill shirt posting from several weeks ago. Carvill was insisting there should be a review of the incident and reclassification of the house ranking. Pleep and Delete have been discussing this all day and are leaning to demoting both of them until there is more evidence about the shirt and also what Carvill poured on his cereal at this mornings breakfast.

We are currently south of Macon, Georgia where Pleep has assumed control of Ed's computer in an effort to entertain himself. He enjoyed the trip through Tennessee because a) he could monkey butt Al Gore, b) there are a lot of distilleries, and c) they have giant fireworks stands. After passing the Dickle Distillery without stopping, Pleep contacted John Martini in the hopes that he could convince Ed to stop at the Jack Daniels Distillery. No luck on that effort so Pleep assigned Martini to the cellar in the house rankings. The final blow came just outside Chattanooga where Pleep was hoping to at least disguise a stop for gas at the largest fireworks and BP station in the South. No luck there either the VW just kept chugging along. Ed told Pleep that he had overhead the conversation with Delete about bottle rockets, empty Jack Daniels bottles, and recreating the flying monkey scene from the Wizard Of Oz.

We finally made the first stop of the day after about 400 miles to get gas - no food, no coffee, barely a bathroom break. In addition to controlling the computer, Pleep took over Peggy's mobile and Ed's Blackberry in a continuing effort to solict support for stopping. He's finally given up and decided to go back to the satellite radio where he dialed in Jimmy Buffet's channel. He said it helps get him in the mood for hitting Daytona. Expected arrival is between 20:30 - 21:00.

Pleep Supervises Pack Up

FLASHBACK: A couple of weeks prior to departure, Pleep insisted Ed make a trial run at loading the VW for the drive to Florida. He was concerned that there were too many boxes and that there would not be enough room for Delete and him to be in the car. After noting all the dimensions of the car, Ed assembled the boxes to simulate how things would load into the car. It was like putting a 3-d jigsaw puzzle together but it appeared that everything would fit.

With departure scheduled for Wednesday night, Pleep insisted the car should be packed on Tuesday night. He didn't want to take any chances that something important (like him) would be left behind. After carrying all the boxes into the kitchen, Pleep commented that several of them were quite heavy. Even if everything might fit into the care, he was concerned that the gross vehicular weight (GVW) might be exceeded leaving him with no ride to the beach. Pleep insisted that Ed weigh every box, Peggy record the weight and Ed then calculate the total weight. The total weight of all the boxes was 325 lbs. Pleep was very relieved since the GVW for the VW Jetta Stationwagon TDI is 900 lbs. This meant that none of the actual occupants had to subject themselves to a weigh in before getting in the vehicle. Pleep said he was going to toss Delete if it came down to a close call.

After several hours of sorting out the best way to get everything in the car, Ed managed to load all the boxes plus assorted other small items. The last items to load in before departure are several bottles of Boulevard Smokestack Series Doublewide IPA, Gainey Red Wine, Patak Rogan Gash and Jalfrezzi, the overnight bags, computers, and gadgets. The car is very full but Ed managed to retain full visibility. Departure is scheduled for 18:00 CDT. The targeted stopover is Clarksville, TN. If everything runs smoothly, that means 1 gas stop and an ETA of around 2:00. Expected arrival in Daytona Beach Shores is 15:00 EDT. Pleep is hoping to blog from the road to keep all his fans up to date.

Pleep Celebrates With Laguna Blanca's All Around Most Outstanding Boy

It was a big day at the Parker house. Pleep was very excited to be there to help celebrate Harry's eighth grade graduation. He had heard Ida on the phone discussing the fact that Harry was to receive an award at the ceremony and that it was a surprise. First Pleep had to help Ida and Harry sort out the suiting up process. Harry had never worn french cuffs before and had only limited experience with ties that weren't clipons.

After several attempts, Harry was fully suited up and everyone headed out to the yard to capture the occasion on film. Pleep and Oscar insisted they were part of the family and should be included in the family photo session. Beau also got into the act. Oscar was the star of the photo session as he sat patiently while everyone was grouped in and out of shots with Harry. The group loaded into the car and headed to school. Pleep was excited because several of the owners were in Harry's graduating class, including Brigg's who bested Peggy in the Lincecum trade and Quentin, the owner of this week's opposing team.

The ceremony started promptly with the awards being announced. Harry's friend Tyler (owner of the Gauchos) won the Service award and Pleep started getting nervous because all the awards had been announced except the top awards. The Headmaster then announced the award for All Around Outstanding Boy (aka in England as Head Boy) - Harry Parker! All Around Outstanding Boy was for academics, perseverance in the face of adversity, athletics, service, and many other characteristics. Harry looked very surprised as he headed to the stage to receive the Revere Bowl engraved with his name & the name of the award. The ceremony continued with everyone receiving their moment on stage to pick up their diploma and have an essay about them read to the audience. After the ceremony, Ida found the girl who won the top prize and made Harry take his picture with her. Pleep thought this was a clever idea until he found out he wasn't included. Of course because the Heidkamp's were involved, Harry had to take a bit of abuse about being named "Head Boy".

The whole group of 26 headed to a local Italian restaurant to celebrate the big day. There was a large banquet table set up in the outdoor section right next to the bocce ball courts. Unfortunately for Pleep, Quentin had obviously not neglected his roster so it was another tough night for the MBs.

Trade With Harry Costs Pleep Victory In MLB Monopoly

Things were off to a great start this morning for Pleep. First there was a nice hike on More Mesa with Oscar. Pleep enjoyed watching Oscar trying to catch rabbits and flush out the birds. Then everyone headed to the Parker backyard to enjoy the California sunshine. Oscar really enjoys laying around in the sun after the bunny chase.

The Parker boys suggested that a nice game of MLB Monopoly would be a good idea, especially because it was a very slow day in the California Baseball Nuts League. Pleep, flush from his recent victory over the Commish's team, was feeling lucky. He thought he had hit the big time when he landed on the NY Yankees and acquired them. Then he picked up the Padres, Texas Rangers, and the Giants. Things were looking very good for the Monkeybutters owner until all the properties were acquired and the trading started.

Pleep was very excited about all the trading but he forgot the rule - don't trade with Harry. In what he thought was a brilliant move, he traded the Yankees and the Red Sox (including one luxury box) to Harry. He did end up with a monopoly and cash but none of it lasted very long. Harry & Beau quickly dominated the game and squeezed Hanna out. At that point, Pleep deserted Peggy and joined up with Harry figuring it was the only way to salvage any chance of winning.