Its two days before Christmas and it’s 65 degrees outside here in Virginia. No white Christmas for us this year…Shucks ! Now that’s what I’m talking about. Up home, in PA, they are still covered in 4-5” of the white, glazed over snow from the last storm. No love lost here of missing that type of weather…Furnace is off, warm breeze blowing outside and Sunday football on the tube…can’t ask for much more than that on a Sunday afternoon.
The next two weeks will be one for birthdays and anniversaries for us. It was last December, the 27th to be exact, that we rolled into St. Louis on a Greyhound bus to pick up our bundle of joy. We felt like proud parents as we laid our eyes on our beautiful, bouncing girl….and Bertha has been part of the journey ever since. For those of you not knowing who Bertha is…..she’s our GMC 5500 truck that we purchased from a dealer in St. Louis. We rode 24 hours on multiple buses, through numerous bus terminals, to go pick her up. Now, almost a year and 10,000 miles later, she is firmly entrenched in our lives.
On January 2nd, we’ll have another occasion when we celebrate the date upon which our 5th wheel arrived. Destiny, as we’ve named her….was delivered to us by the RV dealer in Iowa that we ordered her from. We waited anxiously for her arrival so that we could move out of the itty bitty camper that we’d been renting since the end of October and into our new home and our new way of life. We went through several big snow storms last winter and days of bitter cold temps. Having a day in December here of 65 degree temps is wonderful to us, compared to wind chills, in PA last year, of -16 degrees. Yikes !!
The views out our rear view window aren’t changing like they did just a few months ago and it is harder to get inspiration to write new posts for our blog. The fact that we don’t currently have internet at our site, due to the park being closed and the cable modem being shut off, I try to write entries when I can and save them to post when I get to the public library. Perhaps many of our followers are disappointed that we are not “traveling” like we had been. From my perspective, I think it was fortuitous that I took this job at this point in time. Due to situations that occurred with our families, it was good that we were in the area and not a great distance away. I feel that our lives are made up opportunities, from which we can grow as a person. This job…this “opportunity” was presented to me for a reason. Although I have worked 30 years in the hospitality business, there certainly are many areas of this vast field that I have not been exposed to. One of those being resort management in the RV business. This job offers me the ability to learn so much about that business from a man who has high ideals for his businesses and doesn’t sit still for very long. I love to learn about new things, accept new challenges and I have that here where I know no one and have to start from scratch with making business contacts, search out distributors for products and services and learn about the area and their culinary preferences. It is a big challenge but the kind I enjoy. How long will this job keep us here ? Don’t know…..till it’s no longer challenging and there is no more to learn. For it’s only in learning that we grow as individuals.
To all of our family and friends reading this….thank you for following the first year of our journey. Stay tuned in 2008 for more to come. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, surrounded by the ones you love and hoping that 2008 brings you all the opportunities that you are hoping for ! God Bless !
Linda and Linda
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
George Slept Here….
While traveling up Route 3 last Friday we came upon the national monument of George Washington’s birthplace at Pope’s Creek. Pope’s Creek is a wide creek, feeding into the Potomac River and a beautiful location for any homestead. George Washington, the father of our country, was born here in February 22, 1732. George’s parents were Augustine and Mary. George was 11 and the third son so when his father died, he inherited a modest share of the 10,000 acres that his father had acquired. George steadily added more land to his holdings over the years. George’s birthplace is no longer standing; having burnt to the ground in 1779. George spent the first four years of his childhood in his birthplace home before moving, with his family, 80 miles up the Potomac to Little Hunting Creek (later known as Mount Vernon). He lived there till he was 6 and later inherited Mount Vernon when his brother died.
In thinking about and having studied history in school, I never realized how important farming was to George Washington. He said “No pursuit is more congenial with my nature and gratification, than that of agriculture; nor none I so pant after as again to become a tiller of the Earth.” He felt that it was an honor to serve his country and in 1789 became our country’s first president. He served as President until 1797, at which time he retired. He moved back to his beloved Mount Vernon but his retirement was short-lived as he died in 1799.
Surrounding the visitor center are vast fields, of grazing cattle and sheep, that remind you of colonial days when agriculture was so important to the region. There are old fences as far as the eye can see and a tree lined lane leads to the family burial ground at the back of the property. George’s half-brother, father, grandfather and great grandfather are all buried here under a peaceful tree canopy and surrounded by a brick enclosure. George is buried at Mount Vernon.
In thinking of George Washington, I think of an austere man with colonial language full of “ye” and other old terms. In living here for just a short time, I have met many native Virginians and most of them have quite an accent. This puts a whole new slant on how I’ve come to think of George Washington. This impressive man…father of our country, probably had a heavy Virginian twang when he talked. Mental image doesn’t match the history book version. I think I’ll revert to the image I had of him before moving to this neck of the woods. George, void of any accent, addressing the Constitutional Convention, in Philadelphia with one hand on his lapel and the other raised to address the crowd.
In thinking about and having studied history in school, I never realized how important farming was to George Washington. He said “No pursuit is more congenial with my nature and gratification, than that of agriculture; nor none I so pant after as again to become a tiller of the Earth.” He felt that it was an honor to serve his country and in 1789 became our country’s first president. He served as President until 1797, at which time he retired. He moved back to his beloved Mount Vernon but his retirement was short-lived as he died in 1799.
Surrounding the visitor center are vast fields, of grazing cattle and sheep, that remind you of colonial days when agriculture was so important to the region. There are old fences as far as the eye can see and a tree lined lane leads to the family burial ground at the back of the property. George’s half-brother, father, grandfather and great grandfather are all buried here under a peaceful tree canopy and surrounded by a brick enclosure. George is buried at Mount Vernon.
In thinking of George Washington, I think of an austere man with colonial language full of “ye” and other old terms. In living here for just a short time, I have met many native Virginians and most of them have quite an accent. This puts a whole new slant on how I’ve come to think of George Washington. This impressive man…father of our country, probably had a heavy Virginian twang when he talked. Mental image doesn’t match the history book version. I think I’ll revert to the image I had of him before moving to this neck of the woods. George, void of any accent, addressing the Constitutional Convention, in Philadelphia with one hand on his lapel and the other raised to address the crowd.
What once was, is no longer....
I had off on Friday so we decided to do some exploring so we could become accustomed to area towns in Virginia. We went to the “Northern Neck” of Virginia which is the area of land above us. I never gave any of this much thought nor realized that there were so many distinctions as to how the land is broken up into regions until hearing folks around here refer to the different areas in this manner. If you look on the map, there are land areas, like “fingers” on the coast of Virginia. Urbanna, where we live, is part of what’s known as the Middle Peninsula. The area we decided to check out, to the north of us, starts with White Stone, out on the coastal area of Virginia and we drove as far north as Edge Hill, just below King George (this is where you get your maps out and follow along). What a pretty drive through the countryside ! Quaint little towns sparsely scattered along Route 3 and as we drove there were many sheep and cows to keep Boomer entertained. Through White Stone, Kilmarnock, Warsaw….on we drove. We went to the Belle Isle State Park, which was desolate for this time of year but pretty nevertheless. Just before we turned off the highway to follow the signs to this park, we saw one of those historical markers along the road and I pulled off so we could read it. The marker told of a town, called Queenstown, that existed long ago in the area but is no more. It got me to thinking…..how does a town, vibrant with occupants, businesses, etc. come to the point of not existing any longer ? A friend of ours back home has studied the ghost towns in Pennsylvania and hopes to someday write a book about them so it was interesting to come across this marker. Do people who carried on with their day to day lives, like you and I, one day decide to move to another town ? Did a sweeping disease take the lives of the inhabitants and wipe out the town ? Seems odd that something that seems to have such permanence, like a town, would just disappear one day.
Perhaps it is like the town where I grew up…..Bungy..(pronounced “Bung-ee”). I have never seen proof of its true existence. No town structure, no post office, no court house. Have just always been told, as we pass through a specific area, that this is Bungy. We lived on Bungy Road so surely it must have existed. Our Grange Hall and church were in Bungy or were they ? Perhaps Bungy was just a self proclaimed “town” or a figment of someone’s imagination. There wasn’t the presence of some sought after mineral, like gold, to bring folks to this area to set up a town and inhabit it. The name itself, Bungy…doesn’t even give some clue as to the origin of this “town”. What was it…the town from which Bung originated ? Doesn’t seem likely since bung is a verb and means to “stop”. Maybe someone had the grandiose vision of there being a town there someday and wanted everyone to “stop” and live there. I don’t think that the presence of a grange hall, church, and about four houses constitutes a town. In someone’s mind it must have.
Someday, a hundred years from now, will a historical marker be placed nearby telling of the demise of “Bungy”….a place I know of but cannot attest to ?
Perhaps it is like the town where I grew up…..Bungy..(pronounced “Bung-ee”). I have never seen proof of its true existence. No town structure, no post office, no court house. Have just always been told, as we pass through a specific area, that this is Bungy. We lived on Bungy Road so surely it must have existed. Our Grange Hall and church were in Bungy or were they ? Perhaps Bungy was just a self proclaimed “town” or a figment of someone’s imagination. There wasn’t the presence of some sought after mineral, like gold, to bring folks to this area to set up a town and inhabit it. The name itself, Bungy…doesn’t even give some clue as to the origin of this “town”. What was it…the town from which Bung originated ? Doesn’t seem likely since bung is a verb and means to “stop”. Maybe someone had the grandiose vision of there being a town there someday and wanted everyone to “stop” and live there. I don’t think that the presence of a grange hall, church, and about four houses constitutes a town. In someone’s mind it must have.
Someday, a hundred years from now, will a historical marker be placed nearby telling of the demise of “Bungy”….a place I know of but cannot attest to ?
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Quick Note
Is a crisp day in Urbanna, VA and I thought I'd drop a quick note to let everyone know we got here and are settled in. We didn't find out until we got here but the campground shuts off the cable, cable modem and laundry rooms from November till end of March. In order to get internet service we go to the public library (a service which has come in handy in many towns across the country). Laundry services are farther away....about a half hour. So we think that our grocery/laundry...get misc things day will be either Saturday or Sundays for a while since we have to travel a half hour for the local Walmart supercenter too. Isn't rural life fun ?
We have been very busy with new town, new job, family stuff and new routines. I can walk to work every morning and evening and also for lunch.....gives me a 40 minute walking workout each day which I love. We live at the far end of the resort so it takes me about 10 minutes to get to work. There are only a few year round employees that live at the resort so it is really quiet.
The weather has been good....seems to be breezy most days but temps have been in the 50's most days. The other day it was in the low 60's so I could walk home in just a short sleeve t-shirt....yippee !! A couple evenings it has gotten into the 30's or high 20's but doesn't seem cold like it is in Pa. I see on the national weather forecast where a storm is brewing in the midwest that may make it's way to Pennsylvania and drop some snow....not missing that one bit !
We have been very busy with new town, new job, family stuff and new routines. I can walk to work every morning and evening and also for lunch.....gives me a 40 minute walking workout each day which I love. We live at the far end of the resort so it takes me about 10 minutes to get to work. There are only a few year round employees that live at the resort so it is really quiet.
The weather has been good....seems to be breezy most days but temps have been in the 50's most days. The other day it was in the low 60's so I could walk home in just a short sleeve t-shirt....yippee !! A couple evenings it has gotten into the 30's or high 20's but doesn't seem cold like it is in Pa. I see on the national weather forecast where a storm is brewing in the midwest that may make it's way to Pennsylvania and drop some snow....not missing that one bit !
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Back in PA....
On our trip north we went to Urbanna, VA for a couple days so I could meet with the owner of Beth Page and Grey's Point about a management job. He and I talked for several hours on Sunday and then I met with his General Manager and other management staff on Monday. Tuesday, he offered me the position and I've accepted. I will be working with him on new concepts and ideas he has for food venues and will work to increase their conference and rally business. I start the Monday after Thanksgiving so will work at my former job from November 5 till the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then we'll pack up and head to VA to get settled in there. I am really excited to work with him on his businesses. He has some great ideas and has alot of undeveloped land that he can expand the resort to with all sorts of new projects. He is excited to brainstorm with me on ideas and has alot of RV shows coming up, on the east coast, where we will have a booth and can talk to companies about coming to Beth Page. The resort if huge with 500 seasonal sites and 500 transient sites that CAN convert to 1000 transient sites if the need arises. This weekend is the big oyster festival in Urbanna (5oth anniversary for it)and they were expecting over 700 campers at Beth Page for it. Wow !
After we left Urbanna, we went to Chambersburg to see Linda's family and spend some with them. We boondocked on some land that Carol's boss owns and it worked out great for us. Stayed there from Tuesday night to Thursday morning.
We arrived in Montgomery Thursday afternoon and got set up. They have made some changes to the campground in the two months we've been gone. The area where we were parked last time has been redone to include more 50 amp sites but the sites are now closer together. Pretty tight squeeze when there are multiple slideouts on a rig. There is a motor home on one side of us and a fifth wheel on the other....pretty cozy.
I'm not liking these chilly temps back here in PA....I miss my days of swimming and 80 degree days in Texas but....I must say that the fall foliage is spectacular and nothing compares to it. Seems the colors are a little muted this year...perhaps the dry summer didn't produce the vivid colors like we've had in years past. We are sitting in the college library as I write this posting for our blog and Linda is sitting in front of a big wall of windows and there is a gorgeous backdrop of mountains out the windows.They are a brilliant blaze of orange and golden tones. Looks like we made it back to see them while they are at their peak and not yet knocked down by wind or rain.Today it is supposed to get into the 50's but the nights will be pretty chilly in the low 30's. We are making good use of our electric mattress cover !
Boomer and Schroeder were very happy to see the ball field where we used to take them almost daily to run. I took them over as soon as we got settled and they ran and ran around inside the fence and had a grand ole time. Now that we will be off the road for a couple weeks, we'll have to get them calmed down so they aren't standing at the door every morning, waiting to get their seat belts on for "riding". While we were at Beth Page, they gave me a golf cart to use to get around the park in so we took Boomer and Schroeder for a ride in it. They loved it ! Schroeder sat on the two seats facing the rear and Boomer sat on the floor between Linda and I in the front seat. We secured them to the cart just in case a rogue squirrel might jump out in front of us but they both did really well. We might have hit on a new pastime for them once we get to our new place...
After we left Urbanna, we went to Chambersburg to see Linda's family and spend some with them. We boondocked on some land that Carol's boss owns and it worked out great for us. Stayed there from Tuesday night to Thursday morning.
We arrived in Montgomery Thursday afternoon and got set up. They have made some changes to the campground in the two months we've been gone. The area where we were parked last time has been redone to include more 50 amp sites but the sites are now closer together. Pretty tight squeeze when there are multiple slideouts on a rig. There is a motor home on one side of us and a fifth wheel on the other....pretty cozy.
I'm not liking these chilly temps back here in PA....I miss my days of swimming and 80 degree days in Texas but....I must say that the fall foliage is spectacular and nothing compares to it. Seems the colors are a little muted this year...perhaps the dry summer didn't produce the vivid colors like we've had in years past. We are sitting in the college library as I write this posting for our blog and Linda is sitting in front of a big wall of windows and there is a gorgeous backdrop of mountains out the windows.They are a brilliant blaze of orange and golden tones. Looks like we made it back to see them while they are at their peak and not yet knocked down by wind or rain.Today it is supposed to get into the 50's but the nights will be pretty chilly in the low 30's. We are making good use of our electric mattress cover !
Boomer and Schroeder were very happy to see the ball field where we used to take them almost daily to run. I took them over as soon as we got settled and they ran and ran around inside the fence and had a grand ole time. Now that we will be off the road for a couple weeks, we'll have to get them calmed down so they aren't standing at the door every morning, waiting to get their seat belts on for "riding". While we were at Beth Page, they gave me a golf cart to use to get around the park in so we took Boomer and Schroeder for a ride in it. They loved it ! Schroeder sat on the two seats facing the rear and Boomer sat on the floor between Linda and I in the front seat. We secured them to the cart just in case a rogue squirrel might jump out in front of us but they both did really well. We might have hit on a new pastime for them once we get to our new place...
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Leaving Livingston...
We left Livingston at 5:15 a.m. on Thursday. Thursday was our day off before our regularly scheduled departure day of Friday but we figured since we were all packed up and ready we might as well leave. We spent Thursday night near Meridian, Mississippi after driving north out of Texas and across Louisiana. On Friday morning we didn’t get up as early so I guess we got on the road around 9. We decided that we wanted to cover more ground on Friday so that we could get to Durham, by Saturday evening, where our friends Cindy and Wendy will meet us. We had originally planned on meeting them Sunday morning but since Linda wants to get some time in with her daughters and grandson in Virginia Beach (while I am in Urbanna), we decided to step things up a bit. We put in 12 hours of driving and stopped for the night just short of the North Carolina border, in South Carolina.
Our first day, just as we crossed over into Louisiana and pulled onto 20 east….a pickup truck with two guys in it pulled up along side of us and said that the straps on our motorcycle were coming undone so we pulled over. They also stopped and while the bike hadn’t loosened, what they were seeing was the bounce and give in the straps when we would go over bumps. We snugged it up a bit and got ready to pull back on the highway. Just as we did a brake warning light, on the control panel came on with a loud, constant beeping. We checked our hand brake and it wasn’t on….nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Linda got the GMC manual out and looked it up but the causes didn’t seem to fit. Next she flipped to the part of the manual where it lists all the dealers nationwide who can do service on it. She found one in Shreveport, LA….a town we were just a few minutes shy of reaching. She called them and they said to bring it on by and they would take care of it. Seems there has been a problem with the relays on the brake alarm so the mechanic had to reset something and it was as good as new. In 30 minutes or less we were back on the road.
The terrain has been flat up until we reached the eastern side of Georgia and then we started seeing some rolling hills. Once in North Carolina, we started seeing changes to foliage like we would see this time of year in Pa…just not as dramatic. Funny how much attention some states give to their rest stops while others are pretty disgusting. In Texas, a common site is to see cracked windshields on the cars. We were told that this is due to people rolling the windows up too tight and on the hot days it makes the windshields crack. You would think that after this happened to you once that you’d remember to leave them down a tiny bit but from the number of vehicles we saw on the roads with cracked windshields, it doesn’t seem to sink in.
We arrived in the Durham area around 12:20 p.m. and pulled off in a Petro truck stop. The parking lot is huge, with room for over 100 trucks. We pulled to the far left side, off the asphalt on the berm area, under a lamp post. Here we can put all the slides out so our friends can see the rig. Proper RV’ing etiquette is that you shouldn’t look like you are camping when you “blacktop boondock”. You shouldn’t put out the awning, get out the grill (probably would have a hundred hungry truckers show up at your doorstep if you did) or get the patio furniture out. We will put our slides back in once we’ve shown the rig to the girls. We put the slide out where the dog crates are so they have room to sleep at night but we always position the truck so that the slide is not in the way of any traffic (put it over the berm side of parking lot).
Tomorrow it’s on to Urbanna, Virginia. Should only take us about 4 hours to get there.
Our first day, just as we crossed over into Louisiana and pulled onto 20 east….a pickup truck with two guys in it pulled up along side of us and said that the straps on our motorcycle were coming undone so we pulled over. They also stopped and while the bike hadn’t loosened, what they were seeing was the bounce and give in the straps when we would go over bumps. We snugged it up a bit and got ready to pull back on the highway. Just as we did a brake warning light, on the control panel came on with a loud, constant beeping. We checked our hand brake and it wasn’t on….nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Linda got the GMC manual out and looked it up but the causes didn’t seem to fit. Next she flipped to the part of the manual where it lists all the dealers nationwide who can do service on it. She found one in Shreveport, LA….a town we were just a few minutes shy of reaching. She called them and they said to bring it on by and they would take care of it. Seems there has been a problem with the relays on the brake alarm so the mechanic had to reset something and it was as good as new. In 30 minutes or less we were back on the road.
The terrain has been flat up until we reached the eastern side of Georgia and then we started seeing some rolling hills. Once in North Carolina, we started seeing changes to foliage like we would see this time of year in Pa…just not as dramatic. Funny how much attention some states give to their rest stops while others are pretty disgusting. In Texas, a common site is to see cracked windshields on the cars. We were told that this is due to people rolling the windows up too tight and on the hot days it makes the windshields crack. You would think that after this happened to you once that you’d remember to leave them down a tiny bit but from the number of vehicles we saw on the roads with cracked windshields, it doesn’t seem to sink in.
We arrived in the Durham area around 12:20 p.m. and pulled off in a Petro truck stop. The parking lot is huge, with room for over 100 trucks. We pulled to the far left side, off the asphalt on the berm area, under a lamp post. Here we can put all the slides out so our friends can see the rig. Proper RV’ing etiquette is that you shouldn’t look like you are camping when you “blacktop boondock”. You shouldn’t put out the awning, get out the grill (probably would have a hundred hungry truckers show up at your doorstep if you did) or get the patio furniture out. We will put our slides back in once we’ve shown the rig to the girls. We put the slide out where the dog crates are so they have room to sleep at night but we always position the truck so that the slide is not in the way of any traffic (put it over the berm side of parking lot).
Tomorrow it’s on to Urbanna, Virginia. Should only take us about 4 hours to get there.
For Dad..
It’s 8:35, on Friday, and we’re still driving. There’s a full moon overhead and we’re on our way through South Carolina, trying to make our way to the North Carolina border before we stop for the night. We had a long delay (that we hadn’t counted on) getting around Atlanta. It took 1.75 hours to get through the city and beyond. Ugh !! On top of that, we had stopped at 2:30 for some lunch and I had drank a 32 oz. beverage. My teeth were floating by the time we got to the other side of Atlanta at 6:00 p.m. and I had carefully calculated, from our “Next Exit” book that we only had to go 9 miles out of town to hit the first rest stop. Alas, when we got there it was closed and the next one was 49 MORE miles. Those were the longest 49 miles I’ve had to endure in a really long time !
Well, tomorrow will be October 27th. Always a pensive day for me and maybe a little more so this year. It will be 20 years tomorrow that dad died so I thought I’d write a blog entry for him. He’d like that or actually he’d probably say something like “What’d you go and do a thing like that for ?”Dad loved to travel….didn’t do much of it and would have probably done way more but such is not the life of a farmer. He did have the honor of traveling to Europe in 1968 to represent US farmers in meeting with their farmers on how we do things over here. He became lifelong friends with the small group that he traveled with and they would have “reunions” every so often and I’m sure there was a lot of reminiscing that went on at those functions. He was such a hard working guy…milking cows early each morning, then bathing and going work at his “regular job” as a carpet installer…then getting home at supper time and milking the cows again. Along with that came all the farm chores of putting hay up in the summer, planting crops, etc. When I purchased the building for my bakery business dad was right there to remodel and get it set up for my business. He was so talented too whether it be in carpentry (built all of his own hay wagons) or in fixing his farm machinery.
Memories of dad….the maddest I ever got him was when I sassed mom about something and he cut a “switch” from a bush near the house. Today that would be grounds for calling child services but I’m sure I deserved whatever I had coming cause my dad never got mad like that. I imagine it would have hurt to, IF he had caught me. But my feet must have sprouted wings as we went round and round the car in the driveway, always staying out of arms reach of him. Whew ! That was a really close call and one where I must have learned my lesson cause it never happened again.
More pleasant memories are of being carried up to bed, as a child, after going to Elmira for dinner out. Seems when my brother and I were little the big thing was for my mom, dad and us to go out to eat on the weekends and back then the choices were either Red Barn or Curly’s, in Elmira, NY. It was fun except that I would get horribly car sick in those days and when you’re traveling 25 miles, in the dark….in the back seat….AFTER having had a carton of milk with your meal….well, the trip home was NOT a pleasant one for me. Sometimes I’d be lucky and fall asleep. When we’d arrive home my dad wouldn’t disturb me but would scoop me up in his arms and carry me upstairs to my bed…Sometimes I’d wake up a little while he was carrying me but I would fake being a sleep so I would get the ride.
It’s World Series time….a favorite one for dad. He loved to watch the World Series…can’t remember who his favorite team was but remember mom hollering at him to go to bed, since he usually fell asleep in his chair watching the games. He put in really long days and who wouldn’t sleep once you got to sit down in a nice comfy chair.
Dad also had a great relationship with our farm dogs. I always remember us having collies, while I was growing up, and dad had at least one of them trained to round up the cows. The dog spent the night sleeping on the back porch and when dad would come outside, he’d clap his hands together, point to the field and the dog was off like a shot. Our barn sat on the opposite side of the road from the house so the dog crossed the road, went out in the pasture behind the barn and would circle the cows and bring them to the back door. With whistles and hand pointing, the dog knew precisely what dad wanted it to do and by nipping at the cows heels, he would make them mosey along a little faster than they might otherwise come. It was great fun to watch as a youngster as dog and man worked in unison.
These are just a few of my memories of my dad….he was the strong, quiet type. Never a bad thing to say about anyone. Loved to whistle, clog, polka, sing (not all simultaneously mind you) and was just an all around GREAT guy ! Here’s to you dad….looks like the Red Sox are gonna take the World Series this year.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Getting Ready to Leave....
Today was sunny, temps in the 60's but very windy. This worked in our favor since we needed to dry out our outside patio mat from the torrential rains we had on Sunday and the drizzle on Monday.The items, I ordered from Camping World, arrived so I flushed out the hot water tank today and installed an anode rod to attract mineral deposits and protect the inside of the hot water tank. We packed up most of our outside items and have just a few things to do yet before we head out early Thursday morning. Tomorrow will be our last day of work at the Care Center...This morning Leroy and Bonnie, another volunteer couple, headed out. Over the course of the next week to ten days more volunteers will be leaving.
Our next stop, once we leave on Thursday, will be to head towards Virginia. We need to arrive there on Sunday. On our way up through North Carolina we'll stop and see some friends of ours, in Durham, that we met at the Life on Wheels conference in Bethlehem, PA.
Tomorrow we'll go get some groceries and finish packing for our early morning departure. It might be a week or so before I get to post anything new to our blog but once we get to Virginia I'll try to put a new entry put on. See you next week !
Our next stop, once we leave on Thursday, will be to head towards Virginia. We need to arrive there on Sunday. On our way up through North Carolina we'll stop and see some friends of ours, in Durham, that we met at the Life on Wheels conference in Bethlehem, PA.
Tomorrow we'll go get some groceries and finish packing for our early morning departure. It might be a week or so before I get to post anything new to our blog but once we get to Virginia I'll try to put a new entry put on. See you next week !
Can We Imagine a World without problems?
I picked up an interesting book on Saturday, from the Care Center library and read it over the weekend. The book is “What God Wants” by Neale Donald Walsch. It was very interesting reading and here is some of what was discussed.
Robert Fulghum says in one of his books “ If we look both ways before crossing, if we learn to share, if we hold hands and keep track of each other, if we walk and don’t run, if we quit pushing and say we’re sorry when we do, if we clean up our messes, and if we stop fighting with our brothers and sisters” – we’ll get to grow up. But we haven’t done so. In all the millions of years of evolution, we are still in our infancy and haven’t grown up.
“Did you notice that the theology represented by our traditional teachings is a theology of separation ? Theology produces sociology. A theology of separation produces sociology of separation. Now it’s true that in spite of our sociology of separation, we have made some remarkable achievements. Human beings can split the atom, create a cure for disease, send a man to the moon and crack the genetic code of life itself. Yet sadly, many people – perhaps the largest number – cannot do the simplest thing…… Get along.”
“Violence exists at all levels. Allowing people to go hungry is a form of violence. Placing life saving drugs and the finest medical care out of reach of millions is a form of violence. Underpaying laborers while taking huge front office profits is a form of violence. Mistreating, underpaying, denying promotions to and mutilating females is a form of violence. Racial prejudice is a form of violence. Child abuse, child labor, child slavery, child prostitution, child trafficking and child soldiering is a form of violence. Denying civil rights because of someone’s sexual preference or their religion or their ethnicity is a form of violence”. You get the point.
“Only such a culture of separation could justify a world in which the income of the richest 225 people is equal to the income of three billion poor people. Three billion ! That is half the world’s population.” And we wonder why there is so much unrest in the world today. We don’t see that we are all in this together…we don’t see that we ARE ALL ONE. We “separate” ourselves from our fellow man and don’t recognize that the world’s problems belong to each and every one of us. We feel that OUR religion is the “correct” religion and that our God is the “correct” one…..we force a huge wall of separation between ourselves. And today’s society feeds these beliefs of separation and thus the unrest grows. We kill in the name of God…We invade other countries in the name of God…But is that what God wants ?…of course not.
“When it comes to its most sacred beliefs, our society will not tolerate new ideas that violate doctrine – or even question it. Thus we are trying to build a twenty-first century reality with first-century moral, ethical and spiritual tools. This would be akin to a surgeon stepping into a modern day operating room with a very sharp stone”.
“In May of 2004, a scientific study was done by Harris Interactive and the results showed that 69% of adult Americans believe religious differences are the biggest hurdle to achieving global peace.” According to these survey results, the majority of Americans know that a problem exists and that our beliefs need to change….We can no longer separate ourselves from everyone else. We are all one and there is one God….When we start to understand and apply that belief, then an amazing transformation will occur. Until that happens the chasm will widen and the problems will grow. If we do not stop the division, our civilization is doomed. We need to do as we were taught as a child, and look out for one another and then perhaps we will grow up.
“Evolution is an upward journey, not a downward spiral.”
www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
Robert Fulghum says in one of his books “ If we look both ways before crossing, if we learn to share, if we hold hands and keep track of each other, if we walk and don’t run, if we quit pushing and say we’re sorry when we do, if we clean up our messes, and if we stop fighting with our brothers and sisters” – we’ll get to grow up. But we haven’t done so. In all the millions of years of evolution, we are still in our infancy and haven’t grown up.
“Did you notice that the theology represented by our traditional teachings is a theology of separation ? Theology produces sociology. A theology of separation produces sociology of separation. Now it’s true that in spite of our sociology of separation, we have made some remarkable achievements. Human beings can split the atom, create a cure for disease, send a man to the moon and crack the genetic code of life itself. Yet sadly, many people – perhaps the largest number – cannot do the simplest thing…… Get along.”
“Violence exists at all levels. Allowing people to go hungry is a form of violence. Placing life saving drugs and the finest medical care out of reach of millions is a form of violence. Underpaying laborers while taking huge front office profits is a form of violence. Mistreating, underpaying, denying promotions to and mutilating females is a form of violence. Racial prejudice is a form of violence. Child abuse, child labor, child slavery, child prostitution, child trafficking and child soldiering is a form of violence. Denying civil rights because of someone’s sexual preference or their religion or their ethnicity is a form of violence”. You get the point.
“Only such a culture of separation could justify a world in which the income of the richest 225 people is equal to the income of three billion poor people. Three billion ! That is half the world’s population.” And we wonder why there is so much unrest in the world today. We don’t see that we are all in this together…we don’t see that we ARE ALL ONE. We “separate” ourselves from our fellow man and don’t recognize that the world’s problems belong to each and every one of us. We feel that OUR religion is the “correct” religion and that our God is the “correct” one…..we force a huge wall of separation between ourselves. And today’s society feeds these beliefs of separation and thus the unrest grows. We kill in the name of God…We invade other countries in the name of God…But is that what God wants ?…of course not.
“When it comes to its most sacred beliefs, our society will not tolerate new ideas that violate doctrine – or even question it. Thus we are trying to build a twenty-first century reality with first-century moral, ethical and spiritual tools. This would be akin to a surgeon stepping into a modern day operating room with a very sharp stone”.
“In May of 2004, a scientific study was done by Harris Interactive and the results showed that 69% of adult Americans believe religious differences are the biggest hurdle to achieving global peace.” According to these survey results, the majority of Americans know that a problem exists and that our beliefs need to change….We can no longer separate ourselves from everyone else. We are all one and there is one God….When we start to understand and apply that belief, then an amazing transformation will occur. Until that happens the chasm will widen and the problems will grow. If we do not stop the division, our civilization is doomed. We need to do as we were taught as a child, and look out for one another and then perhaps we will grow up.
“Evolution is an upward journey, not a downward spiral.”
www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Bizarre
This news story comes from RV travel:
Last week we reported on an accident involved a "fly-away" RV awning that killed a passing motorist. Now comes word of another bizarre incident, and again it comes from a website by personal injury lawyers seeking creative ways about how to drum up business.
This time, the report is about a flying refrigerator -- sent airborne from a motorhome after it veered off a Washington state freeway, down an embankment and into a tree. Upon impact, the portable refrigerator was ejected from the RV and hit a 58-year old bicyclist who was picking mushrooms.
A woman who was walking inside the RV at the time of the crash was critically injured. She, the driver and the mushroom-picking bicyclist were all rushed to the hospital.
The lawyer writing about incident advises his peers that "both the man who was hit by the refrigerator and the passenger in the RV likely have claims against the driver. Just like failing to wear a seatbelt doesn't preclude a person from making a personal injury claim, the fact that the passenger was reportedly walking around inside the RV while it was in motion does not prevent her from bringing a claim."
Last week we reported on an accident involved a "fly-away" RV awning that killed a passing motorist. Now comes word of another bizarre incident, and again it comes from a website by personal injury lawyers seeking creative ways about how to drum up business.
This time, the report is about a flying refrigerator -- sent airborne from a motorhome after it veered off a Washington state freeway, down an embankment and into a tree. Upon impact, the portable refrigerator was ejected from the RV and hit a 58-year old bicyclist who was picking mushrooms.
A woman who was walking inside the RV at the time of the crash was critically injured. She, the driver and the mushroom-picking bicyclist were all rushed to the hospital.
The lawyer writing about incident advises his peers that "both the man who was hit by the refrigerator and the passenger in the RV likely have claims against the driver. Just like failing to wear a seatbelt doesn't preclude a person from making a personal injury claim, the fact that the passenger was reportedly walking around inside the RV while it was in motion does not prevent her from bringing a claim."
What I've learned...
We only have four days to go until we leave Livingston. It has been a long two months in some regards but we’ve met many wonderful people here that have made an impact on us that we’ll carry with us for the rest of our lives. Since this was our first volunteer assignment of what we hope will be many more (whether right away or years from now), here are the things I’ve learned.
I’ve learned:
• That two months is too long to stay in one spot if we work only part time hours and our “work” doesn’t keep us busy
• That life and our health are precious and not to be taken for granted for one minute
• That you meet the nicest people, while on the road, and you hope you meet up with them again “down the road”
• That caregivers go through so much, emotionally and physically, and it’s important for them to have someone to talk to for support.
• That for some people, retirement and volunteer work are an opportunity to “play boss” (something perhaps they never got to do) and it’s annoying as hell to the rest of us.
• That there are various styles of management but ultimately you need to take care of the “customer” or you won’t be successful.
• That it’s fascinating to sit and listen to retired folks talk about their lives and sometimes you’ll hear the story more than once.
• That Texas is really unbearable in the summer months and that is why everyone who’s a resident…leaves
• That there are a lot of volunteers out here with really big hearts who enjoy this life
• That I really take issue with food service personnel who don’t follow proper food safety procedures for the health of their customers
• That all the money in the world can’t buy you happiness or good health when you need it
• That after 25 years of supervising others, that it isn’t difficult to take direction from others and I don’t mind that I’m not the “Chief” and can be an “Indian”
• That Linda and I both hate fire ants and wouldn’t ever care to see another one (yes, she got into them too)
I’ve learned:
• That two months is too long to stay in one spot if we work only part time hours and our “work” doesn’t keep us busy
• That life and our health are precious and not to be taken for granted for one minute
• That you meet the nicest people, while on the road, and you hope you meet up with them again “down the road”
• That caregivers go through so much, emotionally and physically, and it’s important for them to have someone to talk to for support.
• That for some people, retirement and volunteer work are an opportunity to “play boss” (something perhaps they never got to do) and it’s annoying as hell to the rest of us.
• That there are various styles of management but ultimately you need to take care of the “customer” or you won’t be successful.
• That it’s fascinating to sit and listen to retired folks talk about their lives and sometimes you’ll hear the story more than once.
• That Texas is really unbearable in the summer months and that is why everyone who’s a resident…leaves
• That there are a lot of volunteers out here with really big hearts who enjoy this life
• That I really take issue with food service personnel who don’t follow proper food safety procedures for the health of their customers
• That all the money in the world can’t buy you happiness or good health when you need it
• That after 25 years of supervising others, that it isn’t difficult to take direction from others and I don’t mind that I’m not the “Chief” and can be an “Indian”
• That Linda and I both hate fire ants and wouldn’t ever care to see another one (yes, she got into them too)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The wrong direction....
I had to tell you about the energy bill that Congress is about to pass. Most of it is great--gets us more solar and wind energy and even makes cars more fuel efficient. But there's one line in there that was added at the last minute that gives up to $50 billion for the nuclear industry. Enough money to launch a whole new generation of plants.
If you thought we had beat back nuclear power in the 70's, you're not alone. A bunch of musicians who fought nukes back then have picked up their instruments and started fighting again.
Click here to check out the music video and sign the petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/nukefree
Nukes present a real security threat and environmental hazard. We've got to get Congress to strip this money before they pass the energy bill.
Contact your congressmen and women and tell them that nuclear is not the way to go....
If you thought we had beat back nuclear power in the 70's, you're not alone. A bunch of musicians who fought nukes back then have picked up their instruments and started fighting again.
Click here to check out the music video and sign the petition:
http://pol.moveon.org/nukefree
Nukes present a real security threat and environmental hazard. We've got to get Congress to strip this money before they pass the energy bill.
Contact your congressmen and women and tell them that nuclear is not the way to go....
White Bronco Chase...
Yesterday we went into Livingston to get some groceries and pick up our mail. We stopped at Lowes to pick up a couple of items that I needed to incorporate some of the ideas that I learned from the RV tech during one of the Octoberfest seminars. As we approached the traffic light we saw and heard numerous police cars. The traffic light was red so as we sat there we could see up on the left, at the next intersection up the road, that there were several police cars attempting to block the road. Our traffic light turned green so as we crept out into our lane, we could hear another approaching siren. Approaching the intersection, from the right, was another police car so we stopped at the edge of the lane. About that time we saw all the police cars, that had been part of the barricade, break loose and start towards us....in hot pursuit of a white car. No, it wasn't a Bronco....more like a Buick or Chevy. The car came up the right side of the road, against opposing traffic, and veered out around us on our left. As the car went by us, I looked down into the car and saw a young woman gripping the steering wheel and driving intently.
As we learned in today's local newspaper, the driver was a 17 year old woman named Leticia Ortega. She was finally caught after a lengthy chase through downtown Livingston, with speeds at times approaching 95 miles an hour...She said that she fled the police because she did not have a drivers license and didn't want to go to jail. HELLO....what did she think that driving at a high rate of speed up the wrong side of the road was gonna get her?...She was apprehended when the officer used a "tactical vehicle intervention maneuver"...in other words he pulled in front of her and rammed her. Who would have thought that a trip to Wally world could be so exciting?
As we learned in today's local newspaper, the driver was a 17 year old woman named Leticia Ortega. She was finally caught after a lengthy chase through downtown Livingston, with speeds at times approaching 95 miles an hour...She said that she fled the police because she did not have a drivers license and didn't want to go to jail. HELLO....what did she think that driving at a high rate of speed up the wrong side of the road was gonna get her?...She was apprehended when the officer used a "tactical vehicle intervention maneuver"...in other words he pulled in front of her and rammed her. Who would have thought that a trip to Wally world could be so exciting?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Octoberfest
This week is Octoberfest at the Escapee Park in Livingston. As I've been told by the participants, this event hearkens folks back to the park for the winter season or some just come for the activities and fellowship during this week. Yesterday and today I attended RV seminars on maintenance type issues and the information was outstanding. Lots of great tips to help prolong the life of RV batteries, easy way to deter pests from making nests in your burner tubes, etc. The speakers, leading the sessions, were experienced in the subject matter and gave great presentations.
As I was walking up to the Activity Center this morning for the first session, I wondered why there was chalk lines painted across the gravel road. It became apparent to me when it was announced that the morning's activity, at the same time as my seminar, was a cow patty toss and a marshmallow hitting contest. While I did not see the cow patties, I did see watermelons, cut in half, with the fleshy red part placed downward and golf tees placed on the topside in the green rind....hmmmm...Interesting…....During my seminar we could hear the hoots and hollers of eager participants outside for each of these events. Tonight at the social hour they announced the winners of each. In the women's division, the winner slung her cow patty for 68 feet....Holy Crap ! Now, mind you this was a senior citizen woman doing this. Little did I know, as a child growing up on a dairy farm, that I could have been perfecting this skill in preparation for THIS VERY DAY. Instead of dodging these "bovine biscuits", in my bare feet on my way to the nearby swimming hole, I could have been hurling them across the pasture in my quest for distance. Unbeknownst to me, my feet always seemed to be heat seeking devices, finding the smoldering ones as I'd jump over the clumps of grass or weeds. While a soft landing, not a desirable one. Made it even more pleasant to get INTO the water to rinse off any remaining souvenirs.
I don't remember the distance achieved by the golfers but they say that the golf club "connecting" with the marshmallow made a unique sound. What kind of sound do you suppose that would be ? Squish ? Thud ? Whissssh ? They DID say that those NOT connecting with the marshmallow and whacking the watermelon tee looked like someone at a Gallagher (http://gallaghersmash.com)show. Spectators and competitors alike bore the brunt of that failed attempt...ICK ! I did attend a Gallagher show once (the last show held in the old Capitol Theatre before it became the Community Arts Center and the first ten rows needed a tarp to protect themselves from Gallagher's onslaught on a boatload of watermelons. Not a pretty sight !
So anyway, today's Octoberfest covered everything from the serious to the sublime...and there are more events to come....stay tuned.
As I was walking up to the Activity Center this morning for the first session, I wondered why there was chalk lines painted across the gravel road. It became apparent to me when it was announced that the morning's activity, at the same time as my seminar, was a cow patty toss and a marshmallow hitting contest. While I did not see the cow patties, I did see watermelons, cut in half, with the fleshy red part placed downward and golf tees placed on the topside in the green rind....hmmmm...Interesting…....During my seminar we could hear the hoots and hollers of eager participants outside for each of these events. Tonight at the social hour they announced the winners of each. In the women's division, the winner slung her cow patty for 68 feet....Holy Crap ! Now, mind you this was a senior citizen woman doing this. Little did I know, as a child growing up on a dairy farm, that I could have been perfecting this skill in preparation for THIS VERY DAY. Instead of dodging these "bovine biscuits", in my bare feet on my way to the nearby swimming hole, I could have been hurling them across the pasture in my quest for distance. Unbeknownst to me, my feet always seemed to be heat seeking devices, finding the smoldering ones as I'd jump over the clumps of grass or weeds. While a soft landing, not a desirable one. Made it even more pleasant to get INTO the water to rinse off any remaining souvenirs.
I don't remember the distance achieved by the golfers but they say that the golf club "connecting" with the marshmallow made a unique sound. What kind of sound do you suppose that would be ? Squish ? Thud ? Whissssh ? They DID say that those NOT connecting with the marshmallow and whacking the watermelon tee looked like someone at a Gallagher (http://gallaghersmash.com)show. Spectators and competitors alike bore the brunt of that failed attempt...ICK ! I did attend a Gallagher show once (the last show held in the old Capitol Theatre before it became the Community Arts Center and the first ten rows needed a tarp to protect themselves from Gallagher's onslaught on a boatload of watermelons. Not a pretty sight !
So anyway, today's Octoberfest covered everything from the serious to the sublime...and there are more events to come....stay tuned.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Had enough ?
Well it’s been many, many years since I’ve donned the activist hat but I think it’s time to do it once again. Even as a youngster in the fifth grade I remember how upset I was when I learned that a rural area, in my hometown, was being looked at, as a possibility for a dump site for radioactive waste. I spent a lot of time writing my congressmen, circulating petitions and talking to students in my school about the hazards of such an idea. I researched information on the topic and read as much as I could find (this was way before the days of the internet). Luckily it never happened and I had a collection of responses from my congressmen, artifacts, etc left as my reward for “stopping the evil foe that threatened my town”.
Then I grew up and like many individuals assumed the responsibilities of having a family, a job and all the other stuff that goes with it. I think the problem is that we’ve all gotten so bogged down in being “grownups” that we’ve forgotten about the things that have made this nation strong and the things that have made us a respected leader in the world AND we’ve forgotten the part that we all play in making sure that we stay on track. Remember the part in the constitution where it says, “We the People….” Hey folks, that’s us !!
I don’t know about you but I’ve gone way beyond disillusionment to being pissed off. Our country is going to hell in a hand basket and neither our President nor our governmental representatives (ironic title since they DON’T represent their constituents in the sense of carrying out their will) will change the course of what we’re doing and get our country back into shape. We’ve gone from a position of economic strength six years ago to one of economic despair, one that will shape our foreseeable future. We are plagued with a runaway drug problem, insecure borders where illegal aliens are streaming in on a daily basis, a failed foreign policy where we have few allies and are a laughing stock to the rest of the world, a tax system that benefits the top 1% of wealthiest Americans and not the working middle class, imports that far exceed the products we are exporting to other nations, jobs that are going overseas and leaving our workers out of work, an educational system that doesn’t give our teachers or institutions the resources or funding they need, lack of decent healthcare for all Americans, governmental agencies who are clueless about how to carry out the tasks for which they were created and the list goes on and on.
So you ask, “What can I, as a lone individual do to make a difference when there is so much to be done ?” Glad you asked…….Alot of the revolutionary change that our country experienced began with a single voice. It’s when the single voice joins another…and another….and another….and then the chorus of discontent becomes a deafening roar that draws the attention of everyone.
Knowledge is power so let’s get educated…..Do you know how your congressmen and women have voted on recent issues and what they’ve accomplished ? Here’s where you can find out.
http://www.vote-smart.org
Here’s an excerpt from their web site on what they are about:
“Here at Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort that, if successful, will provide their fellow citizens with the tools for a reemergence of political power not known for half a century. Their idea is one you may have thought of yourself. It is a deceptively simple concept but enormously difficult to achieve and would not be possible without the collaboration of citizens willing to lay their partisan differences aside for this one crucial task.”
Let the Truth be known….
Would you like to know how much truth there is to the statistics or information that candidates throw around in campaign ads on TV or in debates ?
http://www.factcheck.org/
Let’s hold politicians accountable for what they say. When they think they can cite statistics and pull the wool over our eyes, think again. Get the truth from an unbiased source so you can make an informed decision when it comes time to vote or when you need to contact your legislators about an issue that is of importance to you.
The old saying, “Ignorance is Bliss” comes at a price. Politicians are counting on us to be ignorant of the facts, their voting records and the state of our government. Let’s take back the right, that we as citizens of this great nation, have a say in the way our politicians should govern and legislate. Watch and read what is going on in our government and arm yourself with information. I figure if you and I can access correct statistics and information on topics of interest, so can the candidates. If they are “choosing” to distort these FACTS or present inaccurate information, what will they do when they are in a position of authority? How can we trust them to do what is in the best interest of our nation if they’ve lied to our faces to get the job?
Then I grew up and like many individuals assumed the responsibilities of having a family, a job and all the other stuff that goes with it. I think the problem is that we’ve all gotten so bogged down in being “grownups” that we’ve forgotten about the things that have made this nation strong and the things that have made us a respected leader in the world AND we’ve forgotten the part that we all play in making sure that we stay on track. Remember the part in the constitution where it says, “We the People….” Hey folks, that’s us !!
I don’t know about you but I’ve gone way beyond disillusionment to being pissed off. Our country is going to hell in a hand basket and neither our President nor our governmental representatives (ironic title since they DON’T represent their constituents in the sense of carrying out their will) will change the course of what we’re doing and get our country back into shape. We’ve gone from a position of economic strength six years ago to one of economic despair, one that will shape our foreseeable future. We are plagued with a runaway drug problem, insecure borders where illegal aliens are streaming in on a daily basis, a failed foreign policy where we have few allies and are a laughing stock to the rest of the world, a tax system that benefits the top 1% of wealthiest Americans and not the working middle class, imports that far exceed the products we are exporting to other nations, jobs that are going overseas and leaving our workers out of work, an educational system that doesn’t give our teachers or institutions the resources or funding they need, lack of decent healthcare for all Americans, governmental agencies who are clueless about how to carry out the tasks for which they were created and the list goes on and on.
So you ask, “What can I, as a lone individual do to make a difference when there is so much to be done ?” Glad you asked…….Alot of the revolutionary change that our country experienced began with a single voice. It’s when the single voice joins another…and another….and another….and then the chorus of discontent becomes a deafening roar that draws the attention of everyone.
Knowledge is power so let’s get educated…..Do you know how your congressmen and women have voted on recent issues and what they’ve accomplished ? Here’s where you can find out.
http://www.vote-smart.org
Here’s an excerpt from their web site on what they are about:
“Here at Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort that, if successful, will provide their fellow citizens with the tools for a reemergence of political power not known for half a century. Their idea is one you may have thought of yourself. It is a deceptively simple concept but enormously difficult to achieve and would not be possible without the collaboration of citizens willing to lay their partisan differences aside for this one crucial task.”
Let the Truth be known….
Would you like to know how much truth there is to the statistics or information that candidates throw around in campaign ads on TV or in debates ?
http://www.factcheck.org/
Let’s hold politicians accountable for what they say. When they think they can cite statistics and pull the wool over our eyes, think again. Get the truth from an unbiased source so you can make an informed decision when it comes time to vote or when you need to contact your legislators about an issue that is of importance to you.
The old saying, “Ignorance is Bliss” comes at a price. Politicians are counting on us to be ignorant of the facts, their voting records and the state of our government. Let’s take back the right, that we as citizens of this great nation, have a say in the way our politicians should govern and legislate. Watch and read what is going on in our government and arm yourself with information. I figure if you and I can access correct statistics and information on topics of interest, so can the candidates. If they are “choosing” to distort these FACTS or present inaccurate information, what will they do when they are in a position of authority? How can we trust them to do what is in the best interest of our nation if they’ve lied to our faces to get the job?
Hide and Seek
I was just trying to find something in our cupboards. Not a thing for the faint of heart…....and the place where you FOUND the item last time ISN’T the place where you’ll find it this time. Each time is like a scavenger hunt through the world of Tupperware, Ziploc bags, totes, tubs…any item that was ever invented to hold multiple items in one container. And let’s not forget electrical ties…These are the ties that NOT ONLY bind…but the ties that hold, sort, collate, gather, bundle and keep something held tightly. What did we ever do before all these things were invented ? Were our cupboards just haphazard messes of “stuff”, with no semblance of order and when you opened a cupboard door, things just fell out ? I don’t think so…………. But these were P.W. times….pre-Wal-Mart……….….before our obsession with needing lots of “things” that we thought we couldn't live without. A time of simplicity….…Wal-Mart displayed all these material possessions in such wonderful ways that we wondered how we’d made it this far in our lives without owning at least one of them. So after you gather multiple things, from the same closely related family (how many bottles of hand cream do you have in your cupboards ?), you need something to put them in. Because you know they do have a tendency to jump out of the cupboard when you open the door so you need to corral them with a plastic tub or a Ziploc bag. Plastic tubs come in a multitude of sizes….some have handles, some have perforated sides (perfect for areas where you need good drainage or ventilation), some have lids and they all come in a rainbow of colors. You can accessorize your cupboards and color coordinate, with your surrounding decor, at the same time. With Ziploc bags and tubs you have the added bonus of writing on it, in case, by looking through it you can’t tell what all those items are that are swimming around in there.
So…I lost at the scavenger hunt in our rig…I thought we owned what I was looking for….apparently it took up residence in another part of the RV or it was never there to begin with. Maybe it used to be in a Ziploc bag and now it’s in a plastic box…and I’m totally thrown off.
So…I lost at the scavenger hunt in our rig…I thought we owned what I was looking for….apparently it took up residence in another part of the RV or it was never there to begin with. Maybe it used to be in a Ziploc bag and now it’s in a plastic box…and I’m totally thrown off.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
This and that...
Just wanted to catch everyone up on some odds and ends.
Two weeks from tomorrow (Oct 26)we will be pulling out and leaving Livingston. We are heading to Urbanna, Virginia and then back to PA. We will swing through Chambersburg to visit Linda's family before returning to Williamsport.It's hard to believe that our first two months of being on the road are almost up. We've decided that two months, at a volunteer assignment, is too long. We are getting anxious to get going. The pooches are too....everytime we go out the door, they head for the truck, wanting to go for a ride. With only one day off, they haven't had many "traveling days".
My fire ant bites are finally clearing up, after over a week of dealing with them. I can't recall ever having anything so itchy. There have been many nights this past week of waking up at 3:00 a.m. and wanting to get my chainsaw out and cut my legs off...they itched so bad !! Although they are clearing up, I've read that the scars will take several months to disappear. A friend sent me a web site with "remedies" and after trying vick's vapor rub, tiger balm, rubbing alcohol, finger nail polish, baking soda, vinegar, biofreeze, zilactin and ice, the best treatment seemed to be rubbing them with alcohol (to the point of breaking them open) and keep applying that to dry them out. It makes them sting a little bit but the alcohol keeps them sterilized and helps to keep infection from setting in (a danger from breaking them open).Ice freezes and numbs them when they flare up. Taking benedryl, at bedtime, gives me a chance to fall asleep before they can get stirred up again and start driving me crazy. Not the kind of souvenir I wanted to take home from Texas.
Today there was a "jam session" at the Care Center...no, not the sweet delicacy you put on toast. This was 8 or 9 talented folks from the Care Center and Escapees park that gather every Thursday to play all types of music. They take turns at the microphone, singing whatever they want to sing...gospel, country, bluegrass and the others join in on their instruments. Most are on guitar but there are a variety of other instruments too....what great talent. Some even play music that they have written themselves.
Weather is starting to cool down...Was 83 today, down from being in the high 80's to low 90's. Was very comfortable and this evening it feels really cool outside (as was last night too) and a very comfortable night for sleeping. We turn the fantastic fans on (one in bedroom and one in living room) and it draws the cool air into the RV. The weather feels like it would be back home at this time of year. I wonder if the trees are starting to turn colors in the northeast ?
Two weeks from tomorrow (Oct 26)we will be pulling out and leaving Livingston. We are heading to Urbanna, Virginia and then back to PA. We will swing through Chambersburg to visit Linda's family before returning to Williamsport.It's hard to believe that our first two months of being on the road are almost up. We've decided that two months, at a volunteer assignment, is too long. We are getting anxious to get going. The pooches are too....everytime we go out the door, they head for the truck, wanting to go for a ride. With only one day off, they haven't had many "traveling days".
My fire ant bites are finally clearing up, after over a week of dealing with them. I can't recall ever having anything so itchy. There have been many nights this past week of waking up at 3:00 a.m. and wanting to get my chainsaw out and cut my legs off...they itched so bad !! Although they are clearing up, I've read that the scars will take several months to disappear. A friend sent me a web site with "remedies" and after trying vick's vapor rub, tiger balm, rubbing alcohol, finger nail polish, baking soda, vinegar, biofreeze, zilactin and ice, the best treatment seemed to be rubbing them with alcohol (to the point of breaking them open) and keep applying that to dry them out. It makes them sting a little bit but the alcohol keeps them sterilized and helps to keep infection from setting in (a danger from breaking them open).Ice freezes and numbs them when they flare up. Taking benedryl, at bedtime, gives me a chance to fall asleep before they can get stirred up again and start driving me crazy. Not the kind of souvenir I wanted to take home from Texas.
Today there was a "jam session" at the Care Center...no, not the sweet delicacy you put on toast. This was 8 or 9 talented folks from the Care Center and Escapees park that gather every Thursday to play all types of music. They take turns at the microphone, singing whatever they want to sing...gospel, country, bluegrass and the others join in on their instruments. Most are on guitar but there are a variety of other instruments too....what great talent. Some even play music that they have written themselves.
Weather is starting to cool down...Was 83 today, down from being in the high 80's to low 90's. Was very comfortable and this evening it feels really cool outside (as was last night too) and a very comfortable night for sleeping. We turn the fantastic fans on (one in bedroom and one in living room) and it draws the cool air into the RV. The weather feels like it would be back home at this time of year. I wonder if the trees are starting to turn colors in the northeast ?
Americana
This morning I got to go to Miller's barber shop with one of the participants so they could get a haircut. What a treat to see an old fashioned barbershop. The barber is a woman who has had her shop in this same location for many years. From the looks of her picture on her license it looks like she has been a beautician for many, many years. The shop is small...seven mismatched chairs line the outside wall directly across from the six mounted deer horns on the opposite wall (always a reminder we're in deer country). Over the course of seeing four people get their haircut, she never once swept the hair up off the floor. She beat the chair with her towel before the next person sat down and she was ready to start the next customer.
These are the places where Hillary, Mitt, Obama and Fred need to hang out to get a sense of what the concerns are in our country. In the course of just a few customers, you will hear all sorts of topics from immigration (illegal and otherwise), county, state and federal politics, the goings on in the local school districts and what your neighbors are up to. This is the lifeblood of every small town in America....the places where births and deaths are shared.
Haircuts are $5 unless you want a flat-top and then they're $6. Locals gather to have Ms. Miller cut, trim,talk and more importantly listen to whatever topic the customer wants to discuss. While her scissors snip and her clippers buzz away the hair of her customers, she is nodding and listening intently. I'm sure to many of these men it is a delight to have her listening and hanging onto their every word, that to them, the $5 is a bargain...
One of the topics I heard discussed was the student population at one of the area schools...Big Sandy. Yes, that's the name of the school...not the name of Bubba's girlfriend. This year's graduating class is expected to be 30 students...I heard that a local school, just up the road from the Care Center, which has grades K - 12 has an entire school population of 124 students. Wow...Can you imagine the close knit bond that those students must share, with their classmates, by the time they graduate ? You've cultivated a lifelong friendship in the span of your school days. That is if you graduate from school and don't drop out....(there seemed to be a joke at the barbershop that Ms.Miller HAD graduated from the third grade so perhaps staying in school is a problem in these parts. One of the participants told me once that Texans fall into one of three categories....1/3 drive pick-up trucks, 1/3 don't have all their teeth and 1/3 live in shacks for houses. I'm not sure what it means if you hit all three categories...
So this morning was like a trip back in time....where the men gather at the local barber shop to talk politics and solve the world's problems and the women listen, nod and trim the hair out of their ears.
These are the places where Hillary, Mitt, Obama and Fred need to hang out to get a sense of what the concerns are in our country. In the course of just a few customers, you will hear all sorts of topics from immigration (illegal and otherwise), county, state and federal politics, the goings on in the local school districts and what your neighbors are up to. This is the lifeblood of every small town in America....the places where births and deaths are shared.
Haircuts are $5 unless you want a flat-top and then they're $6. Locals gather to have Ms. Miller cut, trim,talk and more importantly listen to whatever topic the customer wants to discuss. While her scissors snip and her clippers buzz away the hair of her customers, she is nodding and listening intently. I'm sure to many of these men it is a delight to have her listening and hanging onto their every word, that to them, the $5 is a bargain...
One of the topics I heard discussed was the student population at one of the area schools...Big Sandy. Yes, that's the name of the school...not the name of Bubba's girlfriend. This year's graduating class is expected to be 30 students...I heard that a local school, just up the road from the Care Center, which has grades K - 12 has an entire school population of 124 students. Wow...Can you imagine the close knit bond that those students must share, with their classmates, by the time they graduate ? You've cultivated a lifelong friendship in the span of your school days. That is if you graduate from school and don't drop out....(there seemed to be a joke at the barbershop that Ms.Miller HAD graduated from the third grade so perhaps staying in school is a problem in these parts. One of the participants told me once that Texans fall into one of three categories....1/3 drive pick-up trucks, 1/3 don't have all their teeth and 1/3 live in shacks for houses. I'm not sure what it means if you hit all three categories...
So this morning was like a trip back in time....where the men gather at the local barber shop to talk politics and solve the world's problems and the women listen, nod and trim the hair out of their ears.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Hi, I'm Henry...
My name is Henry and I'm the guide dog for Jo. I have a birthday coming up and I’ll be 4 years old. I came from a place in Utica, NY where they gave me special training to help people who can’t see. I am their eyes for them.
Jo needs my help getting around and I make sure she stays safe and out of harm's way. When I go to a new place it takes me a while to get used to where she wants to go but I catch on pretty well. And because I have special talents, I cost lots of money to train and get ready to help a new owner, but thanks to donations from other generous people, I didn't cost anything for Jo to get me. I'm not really sure what money is but I think it's something that would buy lots of special treats for me.
During meal time, my job is to make sure the carpet stays clean under her table so I'm always very vigilant in case someone should drop some of their food on the floor. I wouldn't want it getting in her way so I make sure I clear it up right away. When there isn't any food dropping, sometimes I sneak in a nap, but don't tell Jo. She thinks I'm always on the ball and ready to go. I'm really big so when I want Jo to stop and not go any further, I just turn my body in front of her to stop her. She knows that this means to stop.
I like it when people pet me but Jo has a sign on me that says that "I’m working" so they shouldn't do that. When I'm out of my harness though, I love to play. Well, gotta go...Jo needs me to take her back to the rig.
Friday, October 5, 2007
This is no place for sissies......
We have a new volunteer here. Rosie arrived a couple days ago and she's from Minnesota. On my way home from my night shift the other night I saw her setting up and Jim, my neighbor and another volunteer, was over there helping her with something. It was getting fairly dark but it wasn't pitch black yet. I went over to see if they needed a hand. Seems she couldn't get her slide out so I suggested that she manually crank it out and so we went to the other side of her rig, in search of the area where she would do this. As she inspected the area of her rig where she thought it should be, I stood and watched. I thought the mosquitoes were being unusually pesky as I swatted at the biting culprits, on my legs, but it didn't stop and got worse...I looked down and could faintly make out that the ground under my feet was lighter in color and there were were small, dark objects climbing up my socks and biting my legs just above my socks.....fire ants...I politely excused myself and ran into the house, pulling my socks and sneakers off...killing all the ones I could see...but not before getting about a dozen bites on my ankles.
So, here I sit...baking soda plaster applied to both ankles...two days after the fact and they still itch like mad. When these critters bite, they leave a big welt, then it starts to itch and if you break it open, then it starts to ooze like a blister. Reminds me of the time, as a kid, while out watching my dad build fences, that I discovered that I had been standing on a red ant hill. My brother picked me up over his shoulder and ran to the house with me....screaming for my mom while running. Once we got to the house, my mom ripped my clothes off of me and put me in the bathtub. My brother was stomping on stray ants, in the house, as they fell off my legs. My skin was crawling for many hours afterwards but I don't remember the bites being as bad as what these guys inflict. Must be karma coming back to "bite me"...for my brother killing all their cousins years ago.
If anyone has any special poultice or concoction that will help with the itching, feel free to let me know. These things may be small but they pack a mighty punch.
So, here I sit...baking soda plaster applied to both ankles...two days after the fact and they still itch like mad. When these critters bite, they leave a big welt, then it starts to itch and if you break it open, then it starts to ooze like a blister. Reminds me of the time, as a kid, while out watching my dad build fences, that I discovered that I had been standing on a red ant hill. My brother picked me up over his shoulder and ran to the house with me....screaming for my mom while running. Once we got to the house, my mom ripped my clothes off of me and put me in the bathtub. My brother was stomping on stray ants, in the house, as they fell off my legs. My skin was crawling for many hours afterwards but I don't remember the bites being as bad as what these guys inflict. Must be karma coming back to "bite me"...for my brother killing all their cousins years ago.
If anyone has any special poultice or concoction that will help with the itching, feel free to let me know. These things may be small but they pack a mighty punch.
Holy Catfish, Batman !
Thursday was our day off once again so this time we decided to go to Kemah Boardwalk, just outside of Galveston. Our friend Jan had suggested it to us so we thought it would make for a great motorcycle trip for the day. We left at 10:15 and had a great ride. I wore long pants to ride in,on account that the roads around Livingston are so gritty that it almost makes it unbearable to get hit with the stones and grit while riding. I've never seen roads where there is so much grit on them.
Kemah is a pretty area with a boardwalk area that is part of Landry enterprises. There are many rides, restaurants, games, etc. like you would typically find on a boardwalk. Being that we were there in the middle of the week, many of the games and novelty shops were closed. I'm not sure when their "tourist" season would be but I guess October isn't it.
There was one area under the pier area where you could feed the fish. There were thousands of catfish in there. At one point, when someone threw a handful of food and a duck was swimming through there, he just walked across their backs...there were so many of them !
Yesterday was another scorcher of a day and after walking around all day in the sun, the trip home was a little overwhelming from the heat. We stopped several times to cool down. We'd go in a gas station rest room and get our shirts good and wet and that would keep us cool for about 30 minutes while we rode (then they would dry out). We got home about 6:00 p.m. and went for a swim to cool off. It was a great trip and a chance to see the coastal area of Texas.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Amazing Food at Jerry's
Today our neighbors, who are also volunteers here at the Care Center, asked if we’d like to go out for lunch with them. We said “sure”… we had hoped to get out at least once again to have some fresh seafood. We wound up in Onalaska, after going near Lake Livingston to see where Leroy’s brother has a piece of property. Leroy remembered that there was a small café where they had stopped when they came through this way and that they served really good food. We set out to look for this place. We told him that we had eaten at a place called Jerry’s, at the recommendation of a local person we asked when looking for some place to eat. As it turned out, we were both talking about the same place and Jerry’s is the place to go if near Onalaska (or within any driving distance) if you want fresh, home cooked food.
Bonnie and Leroy chose the daily special. It was a choice of Baked Chicken or Roast Beef with a choice of three vegetables from the following: Green Beans w/new potatoes, squash, purple hull beans (Leroy said these are like black eyed beans except gasier), dressing, baby carrots or mashed potatoes. Linda chose fresh catfish filets w/fries and I picked fried shrimp and fries. The food was awesome ! The roast beef and chicken was super tender. Everything was home-made, including the rolls and cornbread muffins. The daily special was $6.95 and included a peach cobbler for dessert ! Our catfish and shrimp were likewise as delicious…I’ve never had seafood that was this good. Gulf shrimp are so huge and with the cornbread type coating they put on them, it makes them so light and not loaded with breading like they are back east. Linda’s catfish was coated in the same type breading and was so tender it just fell apart in your mouth. We finished off the whole meal with a home-made piece of Coconut Cream pie. Yum ! Jerry’s gets two thumbs up so if you’re ever coming down route 190, through Onalaska, be sure to stop for the best meal around !
Bonnie and Leroy chose the daily special. It was a choice of Baked Chicken or Roast Beef with a choice of three vegetables from the following: Green Beans w/new potatoes, squash, purple hull beans (Leroy said these are like black eyed beans except gasier), dressing, baby carrots or mashed potatoes. Linda chose fresh catfish filets w/fries and I picked fried shrimp and fries. The food was awesome ! The roast beef and chicken was super tender. Everything was home-made, including the rolls and cornbread muffins. The daily special was $6.95 and included a peach cobbler for dessert ! Our catfish and shrimp were likewise as delicious…I’ve never had seafood that was this good. Gulf shrimp are so huge and with the cornbread type coating they put on them, it makes them so light and not loaded with breading like they are back east. Linda’s catfish was coated in the same type breading and was so tender it just fell apart in your mouth. We finished off the whole meal with a home-made piece of Coconut Cream pie. Yum ! Jerry’s gets two thumbs up so if you’re ever coming down route 190, through Onalaska, be sure to stop for the best meal around !
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Escapee Park and Care Center
Here are some pics of the Escapee campground and the Care Center. First picture is looking from Care Center up towards the Activity Center in the Escapee park.Second picture is example of a "house" which many of the permanent RV'ers have in the park. Third picture is the Activity Center and pool. There are many events held here. There is also a club house just a little ways away (just a short walk) that houses a video lending library, reading library, social hall for potlucks and dinners and a TV room, where a couple of people can gather to watch TV. The last picture is a close up picture of the pool where Linda and I like to go to cool off.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Cajun Capers….
Thursday was our day off. The day began with me working till 10:30 on the rig, touching up areas where the paint had been chipped on the undercarriage of the RV. Since the heat index was up to steam by 10:30, it was then time to go for a swim and cool off after working on the rig. We walked up to the pool and swam for a while then came back to the Center for lunch. Lunch was King Ranch Chicken. Ever heard of it ? I hadn’t but everyone seemed to like it.
After lunch we decided to explore the area so after checking the map we decided that the Louisiana border couldn’t be too far away so we decided to drive from Livingston to DeRidder, LA…up to Leesville and then back to Livingston. At first we thought we’d take the motorcycle but then decided we probably should take the dogs since they only get out for any lengthy period of time on our one day off each week. At 12:45 we were on the road. We took route 190 east. Let me tell you there is not a whole lot to see on that route from Texas to Louisiana except pine trees, shacks, a few long horn cattle and a whole lot more pine trees. The pine trees around here are not like the ones back east. Tall, small in diameter and they have big, fluffy type needles. I want to say they are Loblolly pine trees but not sure if that is correct or not. They must grow rapidly as we saw many areas with new trees growing as well as a lot of mature timber. You see a lot of trucks on the road hauling the fallen timber and they look like stacked toothpicks because they are so small in diameter. Not sure what all they are used for but we did go by a plywood factory, paper mill and there is a landscape timber place near the Care Center. Guess that might be our answer.
An interesting thing about those Louisiana folk….they are about as ingenious as the mid-westerners with their reuse of household items. These folks must have a problem with critters getting in to their garbage cans when they set them out at the road for pick-up. Many houses had little roadside enclosures, for garbage cans, but one house had an old crib they were using….kids are grown so they figured what the heck….the right size and height to hold those garbage cans and no raccoons will get into their trash. Clever, eh?
They’re not quite as clever when it comes to naming streams. I wonder whose job it is to go around and name bodies of water…even small little streams. We went across Big Cow creek, Little Cow creek (back home we call them calves, not little cows but what do I know), Cat Creek…..the “creek namer” was on an animal kick during that stretch of roadway….Clear Creek, Sandy Creek, etc.
The trip wasn’t a total bust. We did come across a dollar store where we needed to pick up a few things. I found a turkey baster so I could replenish my bat trees….no, not bat trees…batteries…..Good Lord, now I’m starting to sound like a Texan ! To remind me that I truly was in Louisiana….As I rounded the corner into the toy aisle a woman was rummaging through a bin of stuffed animals when she exclaimed, “They ain’t got no dogs”….oh my…if my daughter was here she’d either have had a coronary or would have spent the next 15 minutes explaining to the woman what she REALLY should have said. Yep, we can say that we traveled to Louisiana and saw the best that they had to offer. I figure by the time we amortize the $45 we spent in gas, to make the trip, over the nine items we got at the DOLLAR store…..that made for a pretty expensive turkey baster!
After lunch we decided to explore the area so after checking the map we decided that the Louisiana border couldn’t be too far away so we decided to drive from Livingston to DeRidder, LA…up to Leesville and then back to Livingston. At first we thought we’d take the motorcycle but then decided we probably should take the dogs since they only get out for any lengthy period of time on our one day off each week. At 12:45 we were on the road. We took route 190 east. Let me tell you there is not a whole lot to see on that route from Texas to Louisiana except pine trees, shacks, a few long horn cattle and a whole lot more pine trees. The pine trees around here are not like the ones back east. Tall, small in diameter and they have big, fluffy type needles. I want to say they are Loblolly pine trees but not sure if that is correct or not. They must grow rapidly as we saw many areas with new trees growing as well as a lot of mature timber. You see a lot of trucks on the road hauling the fallen timber and they look like stacked toothpicks because they are so small in diameter. Not sure what all they are used for but we did go by a plywood factory, paper mill and there is a landscape timber place near the Care Center. Guess that might be our answer.
An interesting thing about those Louisiana folk….they are about as ingenious as the mid-westerners with their reuse of household items. These folks must have a problem with critters getting in to their garbage cans when they set them out at the road for pick-up. Many houses had little roadside enclosures, for garbage cans, but one house had an old crib they were using….kids are grown so they figured what the heck….the right size and height to hold those garbage cans and no raccoons will get into their trash. Clever, eh?
They’re not quite as clever when it comes to naming streams. I wonder whose job it is to go around and name bodies of water…even small little streams. We went across Big Cow creek, Little Cow creek (back home we call them calves, not little cows but what do I know), Cat Creek…..the “creek namer” was on an animal kick during that stretch of roadway….Clear Creek, Sandy Creek, etc.
The trip wasn’t a total bust. We did come across a dollar store where we needed to pick up a few things. I found a turkey baster so I could replenish my bat trees….no, not bat trees…batteries…..Good Lord, now I’m starting to sound like a Texan ! To remind me that I truly was in Louisiana….As I rounded the corner into the toy aisle a woman was rummaging through a bin of stuffed animals when she exclaimed, “They ain’t got no dogs”….oh my…if my daughter was here she’d either have had a coronary or would have spent the next 15 minutes explaining to the woman what she REALLY should have said. Yep, we can say that we traveled to Louisiana and saw the best that they had to offer. I figure by the time we amortize the $45 we spent in gas, to make the trip, over the nine items we got at the DOLLAR store…..that made for a pretty expensive turkey baster!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Houston Aquarium
Today, Aug 26th, we went with some of the participants to the Houston Aquarium. Took us 1 hour, 23 minutes to get there and I didn't think the traffic was bad. Nice place..don't know as I'd go again..it pales in comparison to the aquarium in Baltimore...but we had a good lunch and returned home. Here are some pics...Linda was just dying to swim with the sharks so she jumped in this suit and went for a swim. For me, after petting the stingrays on their backs, I figured I wanted to see them from below so I went down under and smooched one of them on the belly. Very soft....
The best thing at the aquarium was the white tiger. They started with four tiny cubs and now they are getting ready to celebrate their third birthday...oh so pretty ! I liked this exhibit the best of everything there. The aquarium is right in downtown Houston so it gave us a chance to see the city. It was nice...Metro runs right down the center of the street and right to the front door of Univ of Houston - downtown campus. How convenient for the students. Well, tomorrow is our day off this week so we're trying to figure out where we might go and what we'll do. We have our volunteer meeting in the morning but then are done for the day.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Volunteer row
Here are pics of our site at the Care Center and the area where the participants put their rigs.
So different…
I’ve been thinking lately about how so very different this “job” is from any other that I’ve ever had. Yes, I’ve worked in the service industry for 30 years but here the volunteers are so critical to helping these people in their daily lives. I’m sure that Linda can relate to the similarities it has with her days of working in the nursing home but for me it is very different. It will be 20 years ago next month that my father passed away and although I and my siblings were “around” during the final months when mom’s caregiver tasks were enormous, we still had our own lives that we returned to. Here you can become such an important part of these people’s day to day lives in all sorts of ways. Discussions with the participants can run the gamut from talking about the professions from which they retired, their children, their spouses (living or deceased), money and health concerns. We take them to the doctor’s offices or hospital for appointments or tests and return to pick them up after procedures or if they have to stay in the hospital, we might be the one to pick them up when they are discharged.
Yesterday, I told one of the participants sitting with me at lunch, that I had just spoken to my mom and she told me that last week she produced 100 jars of jelly, 6 apple pies that she froze and various other things. I told him that she is 82 and never stops. He said, “That’s great…that is what should happen. When you stop, you get lazy and just sit and don’t get up again.” He is preparing to leave with his rig and will travel from October till January. You could hear the excitement in his voice as he spoke of the places he’d go to and what he’d do.
You also see, from interacting so closely with the residents here, whether they are in a contented place in their lives or like for some, they seem bitter that their spouses are gone and they are left alone. Many here have had to contend with losing their sight or hearing, which must be a horrible thing to come to terms with. Losing one of our senses is such a drain on the rest of us and our human psyche that sometimes it becomes too big of an adjustment this late in life. There is a huge impact to quality of life and their emotional well being. For several of the participants here, their spouses are in nearby nursing homes suffering from Alzheimer’s. They go weekly to visit them (depending on the distance some may go more often) and we drive them there. As one participant, who has a spouse with Alzheimer’s, commented…”It has an impact on both people…your life is on hold as you watch the other one deteriorate.”
We are coming to a close on our first month here at the Care Center….this first month has been one filled with wonderful experiences and people. We’re hoping our last month will be as richly blessed.
Yesterday, I told one of the participants sitting with me at lunch, that I had just spoken to my mom and she told me that last week she produced 100 jars of jelly, 6 apple pies that she froze and various other things. I told him that she is 82 and never stops. He said, “That’s great…that is what should happen. When you stop, you get lazy and just sit and don’t get up again.” He is preparing to leave with his rig and will travel from October till January. You could hear the excitement in his voice as he spoke of the places he’d go to and what he’d do.
You also see, from interacting so closely with the residents here, whether they are in a contented place in their lives or like for some, they seem bitter that their spouses are gone and they are left alone. Many here have had to contend with losing their sight or hearing, which must be a horrible thing to come to terms with. Losing one of our senses is such a drain on the rest of us and our human psyche that sometimes it becomes too big of an adjustment this late in life. There is a huge impact to quality of life and their emotional well being. For several of the participants here, their spouses are in nearby nursing homes suffering from Alzheimer’s. They go weekly to visit them (depending on the distance some may go more often) and we drive them there. As one participant, who has a spouse with Alzheimer’s, commented…”It has an impact on both people…your life is on hold as you watch the other one deteriorate.”
We are coming to a close on our first month here at the Care Center….this first month has been one filled with wonderful experiences and people. We’re hoping our last month will be as richly blessed.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Texas Trivia
There have numerous things that have intriqued me while we've been traveling or since we've arrived in Texas and I thought I'd share them with you. Some are odd simply because they are not what I'm accustomed to....
Work Zones - While back home in PA the speed limit for traveling through a work zone is normally anywhere from 30-45 m.p.h. here the lowest we've ever seen is 60 m.p.h. This is based on speed limits from 70-75....you are barely slowing down but this is acceptable for going through a construction zone. Hope those workers have their hard hats on !
Fire Ants - Oh boy can these little things bite ! While setting up the Rv at the park in Texas, I got what I think was a fire ant between two of my fingers and man, did it hurt. It stung for an hour afterwards too. They are not to be reckoned with !
Armadillos - I'm dying to see one but as of yet I haven't ( not even a squished one on the highway).
Washaterias - What do you think these are ? I originally thought a car wash but no....they are what we call "laundromats"
Hunting - Yes, it's universal....wherever men shall exist there shall be hunting. It must be coming up on hunting season here as we see Deer corn, deer stands and ever other hunting paraphenalia in stores or at roadside stands. We even saw bags of deer corn today in the dog food aisle at Wal-Mart (maybe someone should tell them that deer aren't pets).
BBQ - When you're in Texas, you're in BBQ country. Right alongside the tree stands that you'll find at the roadside stands, you'll find home-made BBQ pits made out of barrels and drums or any canister that will hold hot coals. Maybe they have spits to turn the deer on and that is why they sell them together. Up and down the restaurant strip, you'll find an assortment of BBQ shacks. They are about as plentiful as catfish places...I must say that the handbreaded catfish is mighty tasty though...Yum !! And the handbreaded shrimp is different than the commercially prepared and frozen shrimp that you get in restaurants up home....has a great breading on it and the shrimp are very flavorful. Had a great shrimp and catfish platter at Jerry's in Onalaska last Monday. Had my heart set on the seafood platter until the waitress told me there was a set or two of frog's legs on it...my appetite took two giant leaps backward...(no pun intended). Yes, I used to shoot frogs in the creek as a child but that was a long time ago and I know longer have a craving for them on my dinner plate so the catfish and shrimp platter won out....it was great.
Texas toothpicks - To keep things rolling on the topic of food, do you know what Texas toothpicks are ? Strips of jalepeno peppers and onions breaded and deep fried. They are mighty tasty.
Well, that is all for today on your lesson on Texas trivia....stay tuned, I'm sure there will be more before we leave here...
Work Zones - While back home in PA the speed limit for traveling through a work zone is normally anywhere from 30-45 m.p.h. here the lowest we've ever seen is 60 m.p.h. This is based on speed limits from 70-75....you are barely slowing down but this is acceptable for going through a construction zone. Hope those workers have their hard hats on !
Fire Ants - Oh boy can these little things bite ! While setting up the Rv at the park in Texas, I got what I think was a fire ant between two of my fingers and man, did it hurt. It stung for an hour afterwards too. They are not to be reckoned with !
Armadillos - I'm dying to see one but as of yet I haven't ( not even a squished one on the highway).
Washaterias - What do you think these are ? I originally thought a car wash but no....they are what we call "laundromats"
Hunting - Yes, it's universal....wherever men shall exist there shall be hunting. It must be coming up on hunting season here as we see Deer corn, deer stands and ever other hunting paraphenalia in stores or at roadside stands. We even saw bags of deer corn today in the dog food aisle at Wal-Mart (maybe someone should tell them that deer aren't pets).
BBQ - When you're in Texas, you're in BBQ country. Right alongside the tree stands that you'll find at the roadside stands, you'll find home-made BBQ pits made out of barrels and drums or any canister that will hold hot coals. Maybe they have spits to turn the deer on and that is why they sell them together. Up and down the restaurant strip, you'll find an assortment of BBQ shacks. They are about as plentiful as catfish places...I must say that the handbreaded catfish is mighty tasty though...Yum !! And the handbreaded shrimp is different than the commercially prepared and frozen shrimp that you get in restaurants up home....has a great breading on it and the shrimp are very flavorful. Had a great shrimp and catfish platter at Jerry's in Onalaska last Monday. Had my heart set on the seafood platter until the waitress told me there was a set or two of frog's legs on it...my appetite took two giant leaps backward...(no pun intended). Yes, I used to shoot frogs in the creek as a child but that was a long time ago and I know longer have a craving for them on my dinner plate so the catfish and shrimp platter won out....it was great.
Texas toothpicks - To keep things rolling on the topic of food, do you know what Texas toothpicks are ? Strips of jalepeno peppers and onions breaded and deep fried. They are mighty tasty.
Well, that is all for today on your lesson on Texas trivia....stay tuned, I'm sure there will be more before we leave here...
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A Day off...
Monday was our first day off since arriving at the Care Center. We went to Lufkin to do some shopping, which is an hour away and then we came back to Livingston and went to Lake Livinston State Park. It's only about 10-12 miles from the Care Center. We didn't stay long as it was at the end of the day and we were pretty tired by this point. Here are some pics of the lake.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
How to Catch A Hummingbird
Saturday morning, the 15th of September, turned out to be an interesting morning. We are on call all weekend, being responsible for the residents checking in each morning to make sure they are all OK. Last evening, while on call, the hospital called to say that one of our residents who has been there for almost two weeks, had passed away. We had not had the opportunity to meet this gentleman since he went into the hospital the evening after we started work at the Care Center.
Linda let me sleep in a little longer and she went to the center to open up this morning, one of the duties you do if you’re on call. I went over about 8:30 to get some breakfast and help her with the check-in. Upon entering the front hallway, I noticed the doors midway to the front, were closed and the lights were out. Odd, Linda knew that we needed to open these and turn the lights on. As I came further up the hallway, I also noticed that the lights in the dining room were out. Perhaps they were having a memorial service already for the resident….would seem too early in the day and most don’t come to breakfast. When I entered the dining room, I saw what the center of their attention was. Flying around the dining room was a hummingbird. Linda said she wasn’t sure how it got in but nothing they had tried had been successful at getting it to leave.
For the next hour we tried everything from holding up full size sheet trays to try and shoo it to an open doorway to “herding it” by groups of people waving their arms. It flitted along, just below the ceiling tiles, and never seemed interested in going towards the outside daylight in the doorways. I came to our rig and got a fitted sheet and two of us put it over broom handles and held it close to the ceiling to make a net of sorts to try and give us more coverage for “escorting” this little, but oh too fast bird out of the room. With the obstruction of residents sitting around in a 40’ x 52’ room, watching grown people chase after this hummingbird, it must have been quite an attraction. At one point, Judy (another volunteer), gathered everything red she could find and sat perfectly still holding these “red” objects. She had a flower in one hand, a hummingbird feeder in her other hand, an open jar of maraschino cherries on a table next to her, an open “red” umbrella at her feet and a red pillow also on the table. She looked like the sitting Statute of Liberty, adorned in red. “Give me your tired and flitting birds….” But that hummingbird would have nothing to do with any of it. After all the humans in the room were worn out by chasing from one end of the room to the other after this scared little bird, we stopped. And guess what….that little hummingbird went to one of the ceiling vents and came to rest. He sat there…..and probably due to pure exhaustion, he stayed there long enough for us to take a dust mop and trap him in it. I was afraid that we had killed him but when we took him outside and shook that dust mop, out he flew.
I wonder….did our resident’s spirit, who passed away the evening before, return on the back of that hummingbird for one last goodbye…To fly around amongst his friends before going home….
Linda let me sleep in a little longer and she went to the center to open up this morning, one of the duties you do if you’re on call. I went over about 8:30 to get some breakfast and help her with the check-in. Upon entering the front hallway, I noticed the doors midway to the front, were closed and the lights were out. Odd, Linda knew that we needed to open these and turn the lights on. As I came further up the hallway, I also noticed that the lights in the dining room were out. Perhaps they were having a memorial service already for the resident….would seem too early in the day and most don’t come to breakfast. When I entered the dining room, I saw what the center of their attention was. Flying around the dining room was a hummingbird. Linda said she wasn’t sure how it got in but nothing they had tried had been successful at getting it to leave.
For the next hour we tried everything from holding up full size sheet trays to try and shoo it to an open doorway to “herding it” by groups of people waving their arms. It flitted along, just below the ceiling tiles, and never seemed interested in going towards the outside daylight in the doorways. I came to our rig and got a fitted sheet and two of us put it over broom handles and held it close to the ceiling to make a net of sorts to try and give us more coverage for “escorting” this little, but oh too fast bird out of the room. With the obstruction of residents sitting around in a 40’ x 52’ room, watching grown people chase after this hummingbird, it must have been quite an attraction. At one point, Judy (another volunteer), gathered everything red she could find and sat perfectly still holding these “red” objects. She had a flower in one hand, a hummingbird feeder in her other hand, an open jar of maraschino cherries on a table next to her, an open “red” umbrella at her feet and a red pillow also on the table. She looked like the sitting Statute of Liberty, adorned in red. “Give me your tired and flitting birds….” But that hummingbird would have nothing to do with any of it. After all the humans in the room were worn out by chasing from one end of the room to the other after this scared little bird, we stopped. And guess what….that little hummingbird went to one of the ceiling vents and came to rest. He sat there…..and probably due to pure exhaustion, he stayed there long enough for us to take a dust mop and trap him in it. I was afraid that we had killed him but when we took him outside and shook that dust mop, out he flew.
I wonder….did our resident’s spirit, who passed away the evening before, return on the back of that hummingbird for one last goodbye…To fly around amongst his friends before going home….
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Safe and Sound
On Wednesday, the 12th, all the residents were nervous about whether the tropical depression would come this way. As accustomed to hurricanes as many of these residents are, some lost everything in Katrina and came here after that occurred so rightfully they get nervous with an impending storm. Emergency shelter is limited to bringing folks to the Care Center facility and having everyone huddle in the center corridor between two doors at opposing ends of the hallway. Not a great place to be in a real bad storm but is the best they can do. Luckily, the storm went towards Louisianna and didn't come to north Texas. We are located 64 miles north of Houston, near Lake Livingston (in the town of Livingston).
As I mentioned in the my last entry, the residents here are awesome. Some are grumpy in that contankerous grandparent way that people can get but most are very sweet. I had a chance to chat with another gentleman the other evening. He worked for 35 years for NASA as an engineer and is most proud of the lunar experiments that happened during the Apollo space mission. He was in charge of telemettry and instrumentation. A fascinating guy !!
I will take some pictures today of the Care Center and facilities and upload them so you all can see where we are and what the facilities are like.
As I mentioned in the my last entry, the residents here are awesome. Some are grumpy in that contankerous grandparent way that people can get but most are very sweet. I had a chance to chat with another gentleman the other evening. He worked for 35 years for NASA as an engineer and is most proud of the lunar experiments that happened during the Apollo space mission. He was in charge of telemettry and instrumentation. A fascinating guy !!
I will take some pictures today of the Care Center and facilities and upload them so you all can see where we are and what the facilities are like.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Amazing People..
The best part of being here are the residents who live here. People from all walks of life who are here because they are in their senior years and need a helping hand. One of the ladies that I have wanted to meet (because I saw her write up in the Care newsletter before we left home) asked me yesterday to read to her from a paper someone had written. She is legally blind but is able to write in really big print and is creating bios on the residents for the upcoming newletters. We talked at length about her life. She grew up in the south in poverty. One of many children in the family she didn't ever think she would go to college although she wanted to go. She worked at a job and set aside .40 a week and put it into an account so that she could save for college. When she had $50 set aside (an amount of money unheard of for any of her family members to ever accumulate)she let it slip to her mother that she had the money and her mother told her she would never go to college. She withdrew the money and spent it on clothes.It wasn't until she had been out of school 14 years (she went to school in a one room school house with her two brothers and two cousins) that she got the opportunity to go to college. She married a man who also desired an education and was given a chance to get his degree...he then helped her get hers. She went on to get two masters degrees and her doctorate. She is an amazing woman who has three books which have been published and three more awaiting publication. Her book, "Growing up Aint Easy" is the one that I think I want to buy to read about her life growing up in the south and how she overcame poverty to get her education. Years ago she was also an avid hiker and backpacker and hiked the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The gentleman who wrote the paper that I read to this woman (for her to write down and edit for the newsletter) is also highly educated. He has a PHD in geology and has been around the world twice lecturing and studying rocks. I have not had the opportunity to meet him yet but hope to do so. All of the residents have a story to tell and they love to talk about what they have done in their lives...they just want someone to listen.They have all lived such full lives and seen many things, while traveling in their RV's. What an adventure !Sunday is Grandparents Day...have you told a senior person, whom you admire, how much they mean to you ?
Today is Linda's (Baldassari) birthday but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone here as they would sing to her and she'd kill me. It is also my daughter's birthday...two of my most favorite women share the same birthday...
The gentleman who wrote the paper that I read to this woman (for her to write down and edit for the newsletter) is also highly educated. He has a PHD in geology and has been around the world twice lecturing and studying rocks. I have not had the opportunity to meet him yet but hope to do so. All of the residents have a story to tell and they love to talk about what they have done in their lives...they just want someone to listen.They have all lived such full lives and seen many things, while traveling in their RV's. What an adventure !Sunday is Grandparents Day...have you told a senior person, whom you admire, how much they mean to you ?
Today is Linda's (Baldassari) birthday but I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone here as they would sing to her and she'd kill me. It is also my daughter's birthday...two of my most favorite women share the same birthday...
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
We're here at the Care Center
We arrived to Livingston on Saturday and got a site in the park. On Monday we moved over to the Care part of the facility and got set up on our site. It is so humid and hot here ! It takes your breath away and you get so beat from it very quickly. People here tell us we'll get used to it and our blood will thin the longer we stay. Well either my blood needs to get thin real soon or fall temps need to set in cause it's REALLY uncomfortable. You stay inside all the time because you sweat to death if you go outside.
We've gone through our orientation, TB test and on-call training. Tuesday were our first shifts. Linda B had supper dish duty and I had pot and pan sink detail. It brought back memories for me since that is the very first job I had, 30 years ago, for $1 an hour. Was fun and got to serve dinner to the residents...whom are so very sweet. We love chatting with them and hearing their stories of living on the road. Today I have to take some people to appts so I've tried to get familiar with the Livingston area (in a hurry) so I can find my way around. We will leave a little early since I'm still not sure where I'm going...lol...will be interesting. Then I come back and have to sweep, mop and clean the dining area after dinner. Linda is on cook detail this morning and can't remember her job tonight. They are very short handed right now so we will have 2-3 shifts each day to help out. There are only 3 volunteers right now and usually there are 10-12. Friday night we will be on-call so we have been given a phone to have in our RV in case a resident needs help in the middle of the night...they can call us for help. Alot to learn but we are having fun.
We have had a thunder storm the last two days in late afternoon...gets real black out and then pours for 20 minutes or so and then stops. No break in humidity during that time though...
Well, that is all for now...If anyone has questions for us, post them in the comments and we'll do our best to answer them..
We've gone through our orientation, TB test and on-call training. Tuesday were our first shifts. Linda B had supper dish duty and I had pot and pan sink detail. It brought back memories for me since that is the very first job I had, 30 years ago, for $1 an hour. Was fun and got to serve dinner to the residents...whom are so very sweet. We love chatting with them and hearing their stories of living on the road. Today I have to take some people to appts so I've tried to get familiar with the Livingston area (in a hurry) so I can find my way around. We will leave a little early since I'm still not sure where I'm going...lol...will be interesting. Then I come back and have to sweep, mop and clean the dining area after dinner. Linda is on cook detail this morning and can't remember her job tonight. They are very short handed right now so we will have 2-3 shifts each day to help out. There are only 3 volunteers right now and usually there are 10-12. Friday night we will be on-call so we have been given a phone to have in our RV in case a resident needs help in the middle of the night...they can call us for help. Alot to learn but we are having fun.
We have had a thunder storm the last two days in late afternoon...gets real black out and then pours for 20 minutes or so and then stops. No break in humidity during that time though...
Well, that is all for now...If anyone has questions for us, post them in the comments and we'll do our best to answer them..
More about Friday
In addition to going to the Oklahoma Memorial, we also went on to see the National Softball Hall of Fame which is also in Oklahoma City. It was a great place, with footage of the Olympic Women's team with great pitching and fielding. I got to see pics of Dr. Dot Richardson, whom I remember watching in the '96 Olympics and the first time that the US took gold. The women's team has captured gold every Olympics since then. There is so much to softball, with various styles such as windmill, fast pitch and slow pitch. There was also a picture of the 2006 Williamsport girls team who captured the national title this year...that was exciting to see the home town girls pictures up on the wall.
We left Oklahoma and started making our way south. We stayed just inside the Texas border Friday night.
We left Oklahoma and started making our way south. We stayed just inside the Texas border Friday night.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
An emotionally draining day….
It’s Friday, August 31 and we went to the Oklahoma City Memorial this morning. The memorial is located in center city so it was a little tricky navigating through downtown Oklahoma City to get to it and then parking was a little bothersome to find. We learned that we take up 3 meters worth of space with our rig and we were fortunate to find curbside parking just a short distance from the memorial.
The museum is in a building that stood next door to the Federal building and withstood the blast. You start the tour with the sounds of a normal working day, as you walk down a corridor ….radio station reporting the morning’s news, traffic sounds, etc. and then you go into a room where you listen to the only known recording of the blast. The Water Board, whose offices were located in the Federal building, started a hearing proceeding at 9:00 a.m. You hear the opening statements and then several minutes into it you hear the blast that changed life as Oklahoma City knew it and as our nation knew it. You leave this room to walk through an area that shows the devastation that the blast caused….news reports of the building are playing on overhead TV’s and there are many, many display cases of personal affects that were uncovered from the living and the dead in the building. Video clips of the survivors and rescuers are very powerful and emotional to hear. The human carnage that these folks must have seen and will never forget is etched in their minds. The woman who was a tour leader for a group of young people ahead of us was one of the counselors who worked with the rescuers and she gave a lot of first hand information about what took place and what she saw. The museum is a very moving and powerful reminder of the toll that violence has on our society. Whether it be one big event such as this, with the use of 4000# of explosives, or one senseless act of violence that takes a person’s life, the museum finishes the tour with the thought that WE have the power to change how we act and react to things around us. How will we, as individuals respond to others around us to escalate the violence that occurs in our lives?
Outside, on the site where the Federal building once stood, is the silent memorial for the 168 people who were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. There are 168 chairs, crafted of bronze and stone; the glass base etched with the victim’s name. The symbolic chairs are in two sizes, the smaller size represents the 19 children who were killed. The chairs are laid out in nine rows, representing the nine floors of the building. The chairs are placed according to the floor on which those killed worked or were visiting. At night the chair bases are illuminated, giving a beacon of hope.
On each end of the reflecting pool, which is directly in front of the chairs, are the gates of time. These gates frame the moment of destruction…9:01 was a moment of innocence before the attack and 9:03 marks the moment that we were changed forever.
There are so many things to see as part of the museum and memorial that I would encourage anyone that has considered going to see it, to do so. It is a very detailed accounting of the most heinous terrorist act to occur on American soil, prior to 9/11.
The museum is in a building that stood next door to the Federal building and withstood the blast. You start the tour with the sounds of a normal working day, as you walk down a corridor ….radio station reporting the morning’s news, traffic sounds, etc. and then you go into a room where you listen to the only known recording of the blast. The Water Board, whose offices were located in the Federal building, started a hearing proceeding at 9:00 a.m. You hear the opening statements and then several minutes into it you hear the blast that changed life as Oklahoma City knew it and as our nation knew it. You leave this room to walk through an area that shows the devastation that the blast caused….news reports of the building are playing on overhead TV’s and there are many, many display cases of personal affects that were uncovered from the living and the dead in the building. Video clips of the survivors and rescuers are very powerful and emotional to hear. The human carnage that these folks must have seen and will never forget is etched in their minds. The woman who was a tour leader for a group of young people ahead of us was one of the counselors who worked with the rescuers and she gave a lot of first hand information about what took place and what she saw. The museum is a very moving and powerful reminder of the toll that violence has on our society. Whether it be one big event such as this, with the use of 4000# of explosives, or one senseless act of violence that takes a person’s life, the museum finishes the tour with the thought that WE have the power to change how we act and react to things around us. How will we, as individuals respond to others around us to escalate the violence that occurs in our lives?
Outside, on the site where the Federal building once stood, is the silent memorial for the 168 people who were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. There are 168 chairs, crafted of bronze and stone; the glass base etched with the victim’s name. The symbolic chairs are in two sizes, the smaller size represents the 19 children who were killed. The chairs are laid out in nine rows, representing the nine floors of the building. The chairs are placed according to the floor on which those killed worked or were visiting. At night the chair bases are illuminated, giving a beacon of hope.
On each end of the reflecting pool, which is directly in front of the chairs, are the gates of time. These gates frame the moment of destruction…9:01 was a moment of innocence before the attack and 9:03 marks the moment that we were changed forever.
There are so many things to see as part of the museum and memorial that I would encourage anyone that has considered going to see it, to do so. It is a very detailed accounting of the most heinous terrorist act to occur on American soil, prior to 9/11.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain….
Yep, we’re in Oklahoma today. We came through Wichita, Kansas south to Oklahoma City. There was a noticeable difference in the landscape…more trees and lots of gas derricks (that pumping thing that extracts something from the ground…they look like the bobbing birds that dip their heads in a glass of water). Around mid-day, we came through Ponca City, Oklahoma; this is where the Pioneer Woman museum was. We stopped there and there were lots of neat exhibits about Oklahoma women who were pioneers in a variety of professions….civil rights, aviation, legislation, etc. There was also an oil refinery in Ponca City by Conoco and it was huge. I had never seen one but it was a mass of pipes and large storage silos that covered a considerable amount of land.
We arrived to Oklahoma City around 5:00 p.m. and we went to the large Camping World store here. Bought a couple things and then migrated down the street about a block to a Wal-Mart Supercenter and that is where we will stay for the night. Was another very hot day here….odd because yesterday in Kansas it was very comfortable…around 78 degrees and today it must have been in the low 90’s.
Another noticeable difference that struck me was that something must happen once you cross that border into Oklahoma because folks here have an accent. Not sure what happens in just the span of a few hundred miles to the speech patterns but it is very interesting.
Tomorrow we will go to the Oklahoma Memorial and the National Softball Hall of Fame…
We arrived to Oklahoma City around 5:00 p.m. and we went to the large Camping World store here. Bought a couple things and then migrated down the street about a block to a Wal-Mart Supercenter and that is where we will stay for the night. Was another very hot day here….odd because yesterday in Kansas it was very comfortable…around 78 degrees and today it must have been in the low 90’s.
Another noticeable difference that struck me was that something must happen once you cross that border into Oklahoma because folks here have an accent. Not sure what happens in just the span of a few hundred miles to the speech patterns but it is very interesting.
Tomorrow we will go to the Oklahoma Memorial and the National Softball Hall of Fame…
Leaving Smith Center…
Darren and Curtis finished up working on the rig about 11:30 and we hit the road. Our plan now is to meander to Livingston, Texas and we need to get there next Tuesday. Can’t get there earlier Monday as that is the holiday and no one will be there to orient us for our new positions and our site, during our stay is reserved from Tuesday on. Linda looked at points of interest, on Co-Plot (our GPS system) for areas around our route south and we planned some stops; otherwise we will just drive a little each day to break up the next five days till we get there. Tonight we are in McPherson, Kansas where we will go to the Motorcycle Museum in the morning. Then from here we’ll go to Oklahoma City to see the Memorial from the Oklahoma bombing at the Federal building. This is something that I really want to see. I think it will be even harder to comprehend, once I see it, then it was to hear about it on the news; at the time it took place. When you travel through this vastness out here, it is hard to imagine how such a heinous act could have happened in middle America. I will write more tomorrow about that. In Oklahoma City there is also a Camping World store that we will stop at. Kind of a Wal-Mart for campers.
Speaking of Wal-Mart, that is where we have stopped for the night. Bought some groceries, will play some cards and will go to sleep with a Kansas breeze blowing through the RV….it will be a wonderful night for sleeping.
Speaking of Wal-Mart, that is where we have stopped for the night. Bought some groceries, will play some cards and will go to sleep with a Kansas breeze blowing through the RV….it will be a wonderful night for sleeping.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Going Home…..
No, we’re not on our way home yet silly. Our RV was manufactured in Smith Center, Kansas and we went back to the manufacturer to get some warranty work done. While leaving Nebraska this morning we thought we’d try calling a GMC dealer in the Smith Center area to see if they would look at the running lights on the front of the cab, where the water seems to leak in during hard rain storms. I called Melton GMC in Belleville, Kansas..and spoke to Josh the service manager. He said “No problem…bring it in when we come through the area”. We arrived at 2:00 p.m. and we were out of there 30 minutes later…no appt…just a couple hours of forewarning. And what a nice guy Josh was ! That is customer service !
We’re back in corn country. Was a very hot day…in the 90’s and every cow pasture we passed that had a watering hole had bovine in it, basking in the coolness of the water. Up to their bellies, standing there, flinging water up over their backs with their tails.
We arrived at Smith Center about 4:00 p.m. and Darron got us all set up, outside a service bay. He hooked us up to electricity (first since last Tuesday) so we could run the AC and microwave….put the four slideouts out…and showed us the customer lounge where we could watch TV, do laundry, shower, make coffee, etc. What a wonderful lounge for folks who are temporarily displaced from their “homes” while getting service done. They also had a computer and a wireless network but with our recent luck of not being able to get onto a wireless network, of course it didn’t work for us. Tomorrow we can rely on the competent employees of the service center to get us into the computer (we’re hoping.) We are very backed up with about five days worth of stories to tell you and lots of pictures to share that we want to get them uploaded. With any luck this entry might actually get posted the morning after I write it…wow ! Kind of ironic since all day we’ve passed markers for the Pony Express as it used to go through this territory. With all the technology of today I could probably have gotten it to you quicker by Pony Express than I can trying to find a wireless connection. Sheesh…technology
We’re back in corn country. Was a very hot day…in the 90’s and every cow pasture we passed that had a watering hole had bovine in it, basking in the coolness of the water. Up to their bellies, standing there, flinging water up over their backs with their tails.
We arrived at Smith Center about 4:00 p.m. and Darron got us all set up, outside a service bay. He hooked us up to electricity (first since last Tuesday) so we could run the AC and microwave….put the four slideouts out…and showed us the customer lounge where we could watch TV, do laundry, shower, make coffee, etc. What a wonderful lounge for folks who are temporarily displaced from their “homes” while getting service done. They also had a computer and a wireless network but with our recent luck of not being able to get onto a wireless network, of course it didn’t work for us. Tomorrow we can rely on the competent employees of the service center to get us into the computer (we’re hoping.) We are very backed up with about five days worth of stories to tell you and lots of pictures to share that we want to get them uploaded. With any luck this entry might actually get posted the morning after I write it…wow ! Kind of ironic since all day we’ve passed markers for the Pony Express as it used to go through this territory. With all the technology of today I could probably have gotten it to you quicker by Pony Express than I can trying to find a wireless connection. Sheesh…technology
And on the 6th day we rested….
It’s Sunday and we only have a short distance to cover to get to Smith Center, Kansas; which we need to be at by Tuesday morning. We drove about 2 hours this morning (after a leisurely wake-up) and stopped at a Wal-mart Supercenter to pick up some items that we needed. We searched for a store that had Wi-Fi but to no avail. We drove a ways further and stopped for the night at a rest area.
It is blasted hot here today…around 90 degrees..and uncomfortable. There have been extreme changes in temps from each area we visit and we never know if it’s going to be a sweatshirt day (a Penn College one no less) or a tank top and short kind of day. We’re hoping for a quick cool down once the sun goes down today.
These ingenious Midwesterners…they have found a way to make use of those pesky used tires that no one seems to be able to get rid of. Driving down the highway you’ll see them adorning fenceposts with sayings like, “No Hunting” (no need to buy those cheap signs that deteriorate in the weather) or one area of the countryside had reminders that “Jesus is Coming”. Cute, huh ? and what lasting signs they make. Take a lesson from the mid-west….if you can’t dispose of it, hang it up and display it proudly!
While at the rest stop this morning, a woman stopped me and asked if we had been on the Alaska excursion with the other Excel RV owners. I said that we hadn’t been and we began talking about this and that…Penn State..Penn College (I had a PCT t-shirt on)…traveling…Alaska….Turns out she is from Dushore and left home in early May for a 48 day trip to Alaska and is making her way back to PA. Small world…
It is blasted hot here today…around 90 degrees..and uncomfortable. There have been extreme changes in temps from each area we visit and we never know if it’s going to be a sweatshirt day (a Penn College one no less) or a tank top and short kind of day. We’re hoping for a quick cool down once the sun goes down today.
These ingenious Midwesterners…they have found a way to make use of those pesky used tires that no one seems to be able to get rid of. Driving down the highway you’ll see them adorning fenceposts with sayings like, “No Hunting” (no need to buy those cheap signs that deteriorate in the weather) or one area of the countryside had reminders that “Jesus is Coming”. Cute, huh ? and what lasting signs they make. Take a lesson from the mid-west….if you can’t dispose of it, hang it up and display it proudly!
While at the rest stop this morning, a woman stopped me and asked if we had been on the Alaska excursion with the other Excel RV owners. I said that we hadn’t been and we began talking about this and that…Penn State..Penn College (I had a PCT t-shirt on)…traveling…Alaska….Turns out she is from Dushore and left home in early May for a 48 day trip to Alaska and is making her way back to PA. Small world…
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