PDOJ ( Pez Dance Of Joy )

In today's mail we received the Pez we had ordered last week. Among them were the new Disney fairies. Barb and I think these are really nice but think that most of the ones that kids open will have the wings broken off as they look very delicate. These are from Europe but we understand that they will be sold here later this year. It just means that for the crazy collectors you will need to buy another set when they are released here.

We also got the two Wall-E Pez and Gary the Snail from the SpongeBob series. These are also Europe releases but we don't when they might show up here. But since we still have a few on our needs list I guess we might just have to go shopping later this week.

A Pez Day

We finally took some time to get all the Pez that have been collected for the last few months entered into our collection database. Some of these included the Dale Earnhardt Jr #88, Pirates of the Caribbean and the second series of MLB.

Keith now has 1059 PEZ but this will go up soon as we have ordered the Disney Fairies and Gary the Snail which should arrive this week. He also added to his collection today when he was out shopping. He found one of the PEZ for Pets dispensers. These dispense dog treats but it's still a Pez product. There were two of these released so we are still on the lookout for another one. Speaking of looking for PEZ we also need a new Goofy that has large teeth. Of course looking for these is part of the fun of collecting.

Same Old Stuff

There is nothing that we would call exciting going on in our world, just basic household maintenance. Last week the garage door opener quit working so we decided to replace it with one of the quiet belt drives. After getting this installed the spring on the door broke so we had to have a new one made to fit. Needless to say what seemed to be an easy project became one of those homeowners " It Never Fails" moments.

We also decided that the old wooden landing at the bottom of the deck needed to be replaced. They had gotten so bad that we didn't even like to step on them. After shopping around we choose to use blocks and a slate look stone. They went in easier than we anticipated and after a couple evenings we finally had something we were happy with.

Now that Keith has been back in South Carolina for a couple of weeks he has put his name on a list to do another TDY in August. This one is just out west for a week or so but it would still be a nice trip. Since he's been home he has used some of his free time to finish restoring the shotgun that he began work on when he was home on leave. Now I need him to come home again so I get a chance to try it out.

We think we are current on the PEZ collection as we have the new MLB PEZ along with the Pirates of the Caribbean. We are missing Bruce the Shark and Gary the Snail but I'm sure we will come across them sooner or later. After all half the fun is in the hunt.

We are now looking forward to spending some time this weekend with some friends in Danville were we will be celebrating the graduation of their daughter. It's hard to believe that Kris did babysitting for her. We didn't realize Kris had gotten that OLD.

He's Back

After almost two months Keith is back to SC arriving about 10pm last night after almost 13 hours of travel. After spending today resting up he called tonight and we spent over an hour and a half talking about the things he did and saw while in Italy. It would be too much to write about all of it but here are some of the highlights.

While in Rome they spent a lot of time visiting many of the city's churches. Many of these buildings are over 400 years old and have many artifacts out for display. He said these were more interesting than many of the museums. They also enjoyed the many Roman ruins throughout the city. Of course no visit would be complete without seeing the Sistine Chapel which although ah inspiring was packed shoulder to shoulder. The biggest drawback is that everything is very expensive there. It cost about $6 for a bottle of water and diner ran about $45. If we think gas is bad theirs is around $9 per gallon.

Some of the other highlights were a ride on Italy's version of the Autobahn where travel reaches average speeds higher than we would like to think about. And then there is the picture above showing one of the many interesting traffic signs. Being a collector of military firearms he spent time looking at the many collections of weapons and armor from the middle ages. We know that he had a great time and will have memories that will stay with him forever.

Pez From Europe

We received a package from Keith that contained all the PEZ that he collected while in Italy. He sent them home so that he did not have to pack them for the flight home. After all the airlines are now charging for extra weight and baggage. Although some of these are available in the US they are on European cards which are not sold here. So it does add to the collection as a variation of a dispenser. I guess it only matters to a serious collector. Anyway we know some of you enjoy seeing some of the PEZ he collects so here they are.