Tonight a dollar could buy a lot of pleasure...Linda and I went down to Baskin-Robbins for the scoop night promo. It was busy but not as busy as I thought it would be. They were only allowing 10 people in the store at a time and there were another 10 probably ahead of us in line so we only had to wait just a few minutes before we got inside the store. When I looked through the windows at the kids scooping inside, I only saw two of them and thought "Oh my, why didn't they schedule more people to work on a night like this". But when we got up to the counter another young lady appeared from out back (must have been on break) and waited on us. I got a waffle bowl in a cup with Raspberry chip, pralines and cream and some sort of coffee flavored ice cream with nuts in it for my three scoops. There were signs on the doors that you were limited to just 3 scoops per customer(like we could eat any more than that). Linda picked out 3 flavors of some sort and we paid $2.03 for the whole shooting match. Such a deal!
The fact that it only cost around .99 for each of us reminded me of something that happened to me many years ago when I was traveling in Canada. We had stopped at a motel to check their room rate and after looking at the room, we asked about the free breakfast they advertised. The clerk was an Asian man and proceeded to give us a lecture on "cheap breakfasts". He said, "You no fill em up on 99 cent breakfast....not like my breakfast. Not 99 cent where you no fill em up". Apparently a competitor was giving him a run for his money with a .99 breakfast and he didn't like that. He got a little worked up over it...
But for our 99 cent it sure did "fill em up"....I was stuffed. They weren't tiny scoops of ice cream like I had envisioned but good sized ones. We let the boys lick the bowls when we were done. They were grateful for the little bit that they got. Based on the turnout at this store I bet that a lot of money was raised for the firemen tonight. What a fun time ! Who will be next ? We've had the free breakfast at Denny's and the cheap ice cream at Baskin-Robbins....maybe free donuts at Krispy Kreme... :)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Help out a Good Cause...
Remember that today is the day when you can go to your local Baskin-Robbins store for .31 scoops. Help Baskin-Robbins honor America’s firefighters with a $100,000
donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
National Junior Firefighter Program.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream
scoops to 31 cents*. At some locations, you may also have
an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.
We've got a store just down the street from us so when Linda gets off work at 6 tonight, you know where we're headin'....
donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
National Junior Firefighter Program.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream
scoops to 31 cents*. At some locations, you may also have
an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.
We've got a store just down the street from us so when Linda gets off work at 6 tonight, you know where we're headin'....
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Hot Stuff...
Last night Linda decided that today we'd go to Avery Island....home of the Tabasco bottling plant. After some puttering around the house this morning, we headed out.
Tugboat hard at work...
As we crossed a bridge that passed over a swamp and then a lake, it seemed that it all ran together. Not sure if it's supposed to look this way or if it has flooded recently...
I saw on the news tonight where Texas had some hard rains yesterday and caused some flooding and I know there was a line of storms to the west of us yesterday so perhaps that is what caused all this water.
As we pulled up to the little toll shack, at the entrance to Avery Island, we got a good laugh out of this guy when he stretched this pole up to the truck window to get our money. Was a long pole with a clothespin on the end to clip your dollar bill to. Too cute !
We got to the visitor center and the parking lot was really full of cars and two buses along the side. Two bus loads of grade school kids had just gotten there and we could hear their chatter as we entered the lobby of the Tabasco building. We had a little bit of a wait before we could start our tour.
We were struck by what seemed to be a vinegary smell as we entered the building. Good reason for that....Once the peppers are ground into pepper mash, they are then placed in oak barrels that the company acquires from Jack Daniels (the distillery can only use them once and then they must be discarded). What a great way to recycle them. The pepper mash is placed in the barrels and sealed and a thick coating of salt (mined from the salt mines at Avery Island) is placed across the lid. The lids have holes in them so the gases from the fermenting peppers can escape. The salt prevents impurities from entering the barrels. The pepper mash cures in the barrels for three years and then it's opened up and mixed with vinegar and prepared into the famous Tabasco concoction. It mixes for up to 28 days in a vat before it is strained and bottled. These Tabasco folks are great at finding uses for leftover items. The seeds that are strained out of the sauce are sold to various companies that make gum and toothpaste...guess it gives them a little "zip". The barrels are reused and have a life of 22 - 100 years. Once they start to fall apart, the barrels are busted up and sold to be used in smokers (what an intense flavor that must be after having pepper mash in them for up to 100 years). After touring the plant we went over to the country store...
There we sampled many of the different flavors of sauce that Tabasco makes...I liked the sweet and spicy one the best. The others were too hot for me. We also tried the sweet and spicy ice cream....that was yummy ! It was sneaky ice cream....you'd take a bite and about a minute later you'd feel that "bite" in the back of your throat....very sneaky. By the time we got to the store all of the little kids had made it over there and were trying to find things to spend their money on...it was a zoo ! We looked around briefly and then got out of there.
On the way down I had seen this place and we decided to eat there on the way home...
They boasted the "world's best biscuits" so I thought we needed to check them out since I know my mom makes the world's best biscuits. They had three "blue plate specials" for $5.50 so Linda decided to try one. 
Evidently Linda's taste of chicken the other day made her cross over to the "dark side" as she selected Liver and Onions. She got all of this plus dessert for $5.50. I had a salad with shrimp and fresh sauteed mushrooms on it and it was very good. I had peach cobbler for dessert (asked for something that had their biscuits in it but they didn't have anything like shortcake, etc.)The cobbler was very good though. As we both climbed in the truck, stuffed from the great meal we'd just had, I reminded Linda of the long, bumpy ride back to Baton Rouge ahead of us. For any of you who have traveled I-10 west in Louisiana, the concrete seams are horrendous and we were pounded every mile that we covered. My thought is that there is no way that any of that dessert we ate had any chance of forming into fat cells with all that jiggling on the ride home..... That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Tugboat hard at work...
As we crossed a bridge that passed over a swamp and then a lake, it seemed that it all ran together. Not sure if it's supposed to look this way or if it has flooded recently...
I saw on the news tonight where Texas had some hard rains yesterday and caused some flooding and I know there was a line of storms to the west of us yesterday so perhaps that is what caused all this water.
As we pulled up to the little toll shack, at the entrance to Avery Island, we got a good laugh out of this guy when he stretched this pole up to the truck window to get our money. Was a long pole with a clothespin on the end to clip your dollar bill to. Too cute !We got to the visitor center and the parking lot was really full of cars and two buses along the side. Two bus loads of grade school kids had just gotten there and we could hear their chatter as we entered the lobby of the Tabasco building. We had a little bit of a wait before we could start our tour.
We were struck by what seemed to be a vinegary smell as we entered the building. Good reason for that....Once the peppers are ground into pepper mash, they are then placed in oak barrels that the company acquires from Jack Daniels (the distillery can only use them once and then they must be discarded). What a great way to recycle them. The pepper mash is placed in the barrels and sealed and a thick coating of salt (mined from the salt mines at Avery Island) is placed across the lid. The lids have holes in them so the gases from the fermenting peppers can escape. The salt prevents impurities from entering the barrels. The pepper mash cures in the barrels for three years and then it's opened up and mixed with vinegar and prepared into the famous Tabasco concoction. It mixes for up to 28 days in a vat before it is strained and bottled. These Tabasco folks are great at finding uses for leftover items. The seeds that are strained out of the sauce are sold to various companies that make gum and toothpaste...guess it gives them a little "zip". The barrels are reused and have a life of 22 - 100 years. Once they start to fall apart, the barrels are busted up and sold to be used in smokers (what an intense flavor that must be after having pepper mash in them for up to 100 years). After touring the plant we went over to the country store...
There we sampled many of the different flavors of sauce that Tabasco makes...I liked the sweet and spicy one the best. The others were too hot for me. We also tried the sweet and spicy ice cream....that was yummy ! It was sneaky ice cream....you'd take a bite and about a minute later you'd feel that "bite" in the back of your throat....very sneaky. By the time we got to the store all of the little kids had made it over there and were trying to find things to spend their money on...it was a zoo ! We looked around briefly and then got out of there.
On the way down I had seen this place and we decided to eat there on the way home...
They boasted the "world's best biscuits" so I thought we needed to check them out since I know my mom makes the world's best biscuits. They had three "blue plate specials" for $5.50 so Linda decided to try one. 
Evidently Linda's taste of chicken the other day made her cross over to the "dark side" as she selected Liver and Onions. She got all of this plus dessert for $5.50. I had a salad with shrimp and fresh sauteed mushrooms on it and it was very good. I had peach cobbler for dessert (asked for something that had their biscuits in it but they didn't have anything like shortcake, etc.)The cobbler was very good though. As we both climbed in the truck, stuffed from the great meal we'd just had, I reminded Linda of the long, bumpy ride back to Baton Rouge ahead of us. For any of you who have traveled I-10 west in Louisiana, the concrete seams are horrendous and we were pounded every mile that we covered. My thought is that there is no way that any of that dessert we ate had any chance of forming into fat cells with all that jiggling on the ride home..... That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Other Side of Town..
Linda had today off from work so we went for a ride and took the dogs with us. She wanted to show me a couple of places that she drives by when she works on the west side of town. We went to a farmer's market type of place and saw lots of fresh mustard greens, sweet potatoes and a variety of other veggies. We had to cross this bridge that has a railroad track running right through the middle of it. It's the oddest arrangement. From there we drove to the west side of Baton Rouge to a little restaurant where Linda always sees so many cars in the parking lot. For some reason they were closed...although the sign on the door said they should have been open at 12:30 on a Saturday. From there we drove back towards home and I suggested that we grab some lunch from a fast food place that originated in Baton Rouge.
Now typically we are vegetarians but sometimes in the interest of "food research" I deviate and want to check out something that someone has suggested to us. This place touts fresh chicken fingers (never frozen) and served with alot of love....Hmmm...so I punch up the address on the GPS and as luck would have it we were just a short distance from one of the locations. We follow the directions and were pleasantly taken past Lakeshore Drive to an area near LSU...There was a tiny little parking lot outside of "Cane's" so Linda stayed with the truck while I ran in and got some food. I got the "Caniac combo"...6 fingers, 2 things of a unique dipping sauce,coleslaw, bread, krinkle cut fries and a drink. We drove back towards the water we had seen and found a cute park where we could have a picnic.
It was wonderful ! A great breeze was blowing to break the humidity from the 85 degree day and there were kids and dogs playing on the little beach in front of the truck...the food was really tasty too. The chicken fingers were very moist and there was a great coating on them that made them crunchy. After lunch we decided to let Boomer go for a swim since it's been so long since he's had the opportunity.
Oh my, he had so much fun ! We hooked him to a long lead and then I held on to him as he dove into the water...chased the ducks and just had a grand ole time. Doesn't he look so happy ? Was good to see him playing. Schroeder on the other hand always runs the opposite direction of water....when Boomer got all frisky and wanted to come out of the water and play with him, Schroeder would have none of that. It was so much fun to get out and enjoy the outdoors plus we got to see some gorgeous houses along the water. I was beginning to think that there weren't any in Baton Rouge...am so tired of looking at slums and run down areas but it seems that right around the university that there are some really nice areas. Not sure how big a perimeter that encompasses but at least we saw SOME nice ones before returning to the other side of town. We did see another RV park that was way worse than this one....I told Linda to remind me the next time I start bellyaching about how bad this one is to remind me of that one....might cheer me up.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Pork At Its' Best...
Did you guys see the ABC news last night and the story about the airport John Murtha got government funding for in Johnstown, PA ? Here's an excerpt:
"The John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport has an impressive $18 million runway made of reinforced concrete that's big enough to land any airplane in North America. The airport also has a $7 million air traffic control tower, a $14 million hanger and $8 million radar. Most of the time, the only thing the airport doesn't have is airplanes."
Only three flights (no, you read it right..no numerals are missing from that number) a day go out of there and guess where they all go....Washington. Hmmm, wonder who that benefits ? Twenty passengers on average use this high tech, beautiful facility each DAY. Isn't that ludicrous ? Our tax money at work...And the great thing is there are more stimulus funds set aside ($800,000 dollars to be exact) to pave an alternate runway. What a joke...they barely use the main one and they want to spend more money to pave an alternate one. In addition to all of this, the cost of every ticket out of there is subsidized by the govt with even MORE tax payer dollars. $100 per airline ticket.....
I always thought of John Murtha as a pompous blow hard....this absurd use of U.S. tax dollars for a Pennsylvania project makes me embarrassed to admit that I'm a "Pennsylvanian" by birth. Another fine example of poor representation in Washington by a sitting house member who isn't in touch with our country's financial concerns but is only looking to get his face on the bronze plaque near the door. He needs to be shown to the door.
"The John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport has an impressive $18 million runway made of reinforced concrete that's big enough to land any airplane in North America. The airport also has a $7 million air traffic control tower, a $14 million hanger and $8 million radar. Most of the time, the only thing the airport doesn't have is airplanes."
Only three flights (no, you read it right..no numerals are missing from that number) a day go out of there and guess where they all go....Washington. Hmmm, wonder who that benefits ? Twenty passengers on average use this high tech, beautiful facility each DAY. Isn't that ludicrous ? Our tax money at work...And the great thing is there are more stimulus funds set aside ($800,000 dollars to be exact) to pave an alternate runway. What a joke...they barely use the main one and they want to spend more money to pave an alternate one. In addition to all of this, the cost of every ticket out of there is subsidized by the govt with even MORE tax payer dollars. $100 per airline ticket.....
I always thought of John Murtha as a pompous blow hard....this absurd use of U.S. tax dollars for a Pennsylvania project makes me embarrassed to admit that I'm a "Pennsylvanian" by birth. Another fine example of poor representation in Washington by a sitting house member who isn't in touch with our country's financial concerns but is only looking to get his face on the bronze plaque near the door. He needs to be shown to the door.
Get The Scoop - Mark Your Calendars !
Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins®
and help us honor America’s firefighters with a $100,000
donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
National Junior Firefighter Program.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream
scoops to 31 cents*. At some locations, you may also have
an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.
and help us honor America’s firefighters with a $100,000
donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
National Junior Firefighter Program.
Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream
scoops to 31 cents*. At some locations, you may also have
an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Waste Stream
On today's Oprah episode the whole show was on Earth Day and there were tips to save money while being conscious of the environment. There was also a lot of information on the sheer volume of waste that we create that was mind boggling.
Did you know that there is a line of garbage off the coast of California that extends all the way to Japan. They estimate that there is 3.5 million tons of garbage in the ocean. This "swirl" of waste is twice the size of Texas and in some places it is 90 feet deep. Marine life often mistake the plastic bags and floating debris for food and consume it, causing certain death to many animals. I wondered as I first saw this video footage how there could be so much garbage in the ocean but as was explained anything that we throw along the side of road or blows off a landfill site eventually makes its way to the ocean. Everything flows to the ocean. An item tossed along the road, goes in the ditch, gets picked up by rain water and taken to a larger stream, until eventually all streams wind up in the ocean. Now you might think that cruise ships, who we've heard horror stories of dumping their waste in the ocean, are the culprits. Only 20%, of this garbage, can be attributed to any type of ships that are out there and throw their garage overboard. The rest comes from us on land. Plastic is the biggest problem....100 billion plastic bags(or 300 per person each year) are used in our country each year. We've all seen them along the highways, caught in trees and underbrush, etc. Several countries have banned their use but they are heavily used in the U.S. If there is one thing that each of us could pledge to do to help our environment, it would be to reduce (or eliminate) the amount of plastic we use in our daily lives. Everything from zip-loc bags (we are big offenders of this), plastic shopping bags, etc. Anything that has a one time use and then winds up in a landfill or in our ocean. Use washable, re-usable containers...don't buy the individual bottled water...Buy a water filter and make your own filtered water and put it in a reusable container.
There was so much more information given today and if you want to learn more, go to oprah's site. Let's make smarter choices for our planet. It's the only one we have. The next time you have something plastic in your hand, think about the giant stream of garbage flowing from California to Japan. Not the kind of legacy we want to leave for our children, eh ?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Jolly "Green" Giants
Fortune 500 Challenge
The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations — from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.
These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Purchase amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.
Purchase figures are based on annualized Partner contract amounts (kilowatt-hours), not calendar year totals. These rankings are updated on a quarterly schedule. Find out how your organization can partner with EPA today! To view a top partner list, go here:
See how some companies are going to great lengths to reduce their giant "footprint" on our planet....Support these companies in their efforts to do the right thing !
The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations — from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.
These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Purchase amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.
Purchase figures are based on annualized Partner contract amounts (kilowatt-hours), not calendar year totals. These rankings are updated on a quarterly schedule. Find out how your organization can partner with EPA today! To view a top partner list, go here:
See how some companies are going to great lengths to reduce their giant "footprint" on our planet....Support these companies in their efforts to do the right thing !
Be Lean and Green
Happy Earth Day !
Why Reducing Your Carbon Footprint is Important
What exactly is a carbon footprint? Every human being impacts the environment through simple practices that you may or may not realize are harmful. Though the effects themselves may seem minute or insignificant, the cumulative effects of wasteful habits add up to a significant factor in global warming.
Ten Simple Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
1. Change at least three light bulbs in your home with Energy Star® approved bulbs. Help the environment by reducing your energy consumption by as much as 90 percent, which in turn helps reduce the consumption of fossil fuel and carbon emissions. It doesn't hurt that it saves money on your energy bill as well.
2. Properly insulate and weatherize the interior and exterior of your home.
3. Walk, ride a bike or use public transportation whenever possible.
4. Buy renewable energy.
5. Reuse containers, paper and other conservable items, and participate in your local recycling program. Consider donating unwanted items to local agencies rather than adding to your local landfill.
6. Purchase Energy Star® appliances. Efficient appliances will help conserve both water and electricity in your home.
7. Start a paper recycling program at work.
8. Before purchasing a vehicle, research emission standards and gas mileage. The number of clean and fuel-efficient vehicles currently available is growing by leaps and bounds.
9. Hang your clothes to dry rather than using your dryer.
10. Educate others about the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and try to encourage friends, co-workers, family and students to adopt a few green practices. One person telling a few friends and family members could spread the power of green like wildfire.
Catching Up...
Our computer is once again acting up so consequently I haven't posted recently. Right at this moment it is behaving so I figured I'd get a quick post on here.
Weather is great this week. In the high 70's to low 80's. Linda's work seems to be thinning out a little. The one place she had been working at quite a bit has now hired more nurses so she has had two cancellations of shifts this week. Today was one of those days so we ran out to Lowes and at 1:30 her agency called and needed her at a new location so we hurried back as it will take her 45 min. to get there. She is still waiting to here on the job in Virginia that she applied for. It's a govt. job and they hope to submit her paperwork, along with two others by Friday and then it will take about another week to hear anything back on it. So that one is still on hold....She got a call from her other agency, wanting her to go to Alaska for a travel nursing assignment. While this might sound ideal, this town has no roads in or out so would have to fly in...work for 13 weeks...go to work by taxi and there's still snow on the ground there. Is in the town of Bethel...which is near Bering Strait....the summer high would probably be around 60. Everything you need to buy (groceries included) would need to be ordered in and are very expensive. So after working the numbers, she decided to pass on that job. Although I could go I would probably not be able to find work there due to small size and the cost would outweigh the benefits and then we'd have to figure out something with the rig and dogs. While we would like to go to Alaska at some point (perhaps to work) this isn't the time or place to do that.
In other news we did get to try crawfish....everyone has been telling us to make sure we try it before we leave LA. Bought a package of it that was already cooked, deveined, etc. and made stuffed portabella mushroom caps out of it. Was amazing !! Diced some onion, mushroom stem, fresh garlic and sauteed...added some wine and then the crawfish to warm through. Few breadcrumbs to absorb the liquid and put on top of the caps which I had cooked slightly in a pan....Packed the mushrooms with the filling and topped with parmesan cheese. It was yummy !! The crawfish remind me of langostinos...would probably have been a little sweeter if they had been fresh but we figured it was a safe way to try them to see if we liked them. Not sure I'd have the patience to pluck and dig that little bit of meat out of them but we can say we've had them.
On the FEMA/disaster side of things....PB is on stand-by (although I haven't had a call) for four states now. Florida, Georgia,Indiana and Alabama are the states for stand-by. FEMA has required even more "stuff" for inspectors....extensive background check,etc. Not sure if that will slow down getting people ready to deploy (like me)or not. We'll see what happens.
Guess that is the latest scoop....computer starting to get jittery..more later..
Weather is great this week. In the high 70's to low 80's. Linda's work seems to be thinning out a little. The one place she had been working at quite a bit has now hired more nurses so she has had two cancellations of shifts this week. Today was one of those days so we ran out to Lowes and at 1:30 her agency called and needed her at a new location so we hurried back as it will take her 45 min. to get there. She is still waiting to here on the job in Virginia that she applied for. It's a govt. job and they hope to submit her paperwork, along with two others by Friday and then it will take about another week to hear anything back on it. So that one is still on hold....She got a call from her other agency, wanting her to go to Alaska for a travel nursing assignment. While this might sound ideal, this town has no roads in or out so would have to fly in...work for 13 weeks...go to work by taxi and there's still snow on the ground there. Is in the town of Bethel...which is near Bering Strait....the summer high would probably be around 60. Everything you need to buy (groceries included) would need to be ordered in and are very expensive. So after working the numbers, she decided to pass on that job. Although I could go I would probably not be able to find work there due to small size and the cost would outweigh the benefits and then we'd have to figure out something with the rig and dogs. While we would like to go to Alaska at some point (perhaps to work) this isn't the time or place to do that.
In other news we did get to try crawfish....everyone has been telling us to make sure we try it before we leave LA. Bought a package of it that was already cooked, deveined, etc. and made stuffed portabella mushroom caps out of it. Was amazing !! Diced some onion, mushroom stem, fresh garlic and sauteed...added some wine and then the crawfish to warm through. Few breadcrumbs to absorb the liquid and put on top of the caps which I had cooked slightly in a pan....Packed the mushrooms with the filling and topped with parmesan cheese. It was yummy !! The crawfish remind me of langostinos...would probably have been a little sweeter if they had been fresh but we figured it was a safe way to try them to see if we liked them. Not sure I'd have the patience to pluck and dig that little bit of meat out of them but we can say we've had them.
On the FEMA/disaster side of things....PB is on stand-by (although I haven't had a call) for four states now. Florida, Georgia,Indiana and Alabama are the states for stand-by. FEMA has required even more "stuff" for inspectors....extensive background check,etc. Not sure if that will slow down getting people ready to deploy (like me)or not. We'll see what happens.
Guess that is the latest scoop....computer starting to get jittery..more later..
Saturday, April 18, 2009
More cleaning...
So Linda worked 3-11 last night and then had to work 6 - 6 today, which means getting up at 4:30 (since it takes an hour to get there). Instead of getting that last 30 minutes of precious sleep (seeing as she didn't get to bed till 1:30), her agency called at 4 a.m. to give her a "reminder" that she was working today. How sweet of them....So running on fumes for sleep, she worked all day and is now trying to keep her eyes open to watch the NASCAR race with me. Is a tall order I know....
Today I figured I might as well defrost the freezer and complete the cleaning trifecta of projects for the week. Got that done....walked the pooches...then noticed as we were walking back into the park that it looked like a tree had come down in the rear of the park. Went to investigate. Yep, sure enough a tall tree came down across 3 RV sites...Luckily 2 of the sites were vacant. One guy told me the guy who had the RV closest to where the tree came down JUST pulled out very recently. Talk about good timing for him! That tree would have done some wicked damage to his rig cause it came right across where his rig sat. Took them most of the day to get the tree cut up and the area cleaned up. The tree fell across a bunch of wires and they are still hanging pretty low but not sure if they are power lines or TV cable lines. I know we have a TV cable line hanging real low behind our rig that I have to climb over as I go up the roof ladder so hoping it's the same thing that is down up there. The storm last night didn't seem that bad but many of the trees seem to be pretty beaten up from the hurricane that went through here. Many are twisted like pretzels so you know they are already really stressed from a structural stand point. Wouldn't take much to bring them the rest of the way down. Getting more rain and thunderstorms tonight but nothing bad so far.
Linda has off tomorrow so we'll go out and get some errands done.
Today I figured I might as well defrost the freezer and complete the cleaning trifecta of projects for the week. Got that done....walked the pooches...then noticed as we were walking back into the park that it looked like a tree had come down in the rear of the park. Went to investigate. Yep, sure enough a tall tree came down across 3 RV sites...Luckily 2 of the sites were vacant. One guy told me the guy who had the RV closest to where the tree came down JUST pulled out very recently. Talk about good timing for him! That tree would have done some wicked damage to his rig cause it came right across where his rig sat. Took them most of the day to get the tree cut up and the area cleaned up. The tree fell across a bunch of wires and they are still hanging pretty low but not sure if they are power lines or TV cable lines. I know we have a TV cable line hanging real low behind our rig that I have to climb over as I go up the roof ladder so hoping it's the same thing that is down up there. The storm last night didn't seem that bad but many of the trees seem to be pretty beaten up from the hurricane that went through here. Many are twisted like pretzels so you know they are already really stressed from a structural stand point. Wouldn't take much to bring them the rest of the way down. Getting more rain and thunderstorms tonight but nothing bad so far.
Linda has off tomorrow so we'll go out and get some errands done.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Spring Cleaning
Yesterday and today we've been busy with doing a couple of much needed tasks around the RV. Yesterday I scrubbed the roof of the the rig. Man, was it nasty ! Remind me again why we want to be under trees ? Don't like sap, leaf stains, twigs and gunk from being under the trees. And with all the wind we get around here from these storms, it knocks all kinds of crap out of the trees and onto OUR roof. The rig next to ours, which isn't under a tree, has a pearly white roof...case in point.
Linda was scheduled off today so we figured we'd shampoo the carpets since that is something we've wanted to get done for a while now. There is a Big Lots store just down the street from us and we noticed the other day that they carry the rental rug shampooers that we like so we went there this morning and signed one out. Took about 2 hours but round about 12:30 Linda got a call from her agency asking her if she could work tonight. Since she works 6 a.m.- 6 p.m.tomorrow we needed to get the machine back before she left for work at 2.... so we hurried up and finished. Got it done, looks great and is a relief to cross that off the "to do" list.
Yesterday Linda needed to drive out to Plaquemine to the one nursing home where she works. Plaquemine is about 30 miles from here so we got to cross the river and see all the tugboats in action, pushing the barges around on the river. Here you can also see the LSU stadium in the background. It is very busy around the Baton Rouge port area.
The town of Plaquemine is a small, nondescript town but there was this beautiful park on the edge of town. Pretty pavilions and a boardwalk type of area around a stream...very cute ! It was a nice ride out there and gave me a chance to see one of the places where Linda has been working. The nursing home sits right in the middle of a residential area and is a single story building that sort of blends in with all the other buildings around it.
Tonight I'm just relaxing...hoping there is something decent on TV other than re-runs to watch. I looked at the weather radar a short time ago and out of nowhere some storms have started popping up along the LA coast and look like they might be headed this way. I went out and put the awning in just in case. Weather has been really nice, temperature wise....unlike some friends of ours in Colorado who are getting snow (Bobbie and Jim...you can keep it - yuck !). Hope everyone has a great weekend !
Linda was scheduled off today so we figured we'd shampoo the carpets since that is something we've wanted to get done for a while now. There is a Big Lots store just down the street from us and we noticed the other day that they carry the rental rug shampooers that we like so we went there this morning and signed one out. Took about 2 hours but round about 12:30 Linda got a call from her agency asking her if she could work tonight. Since she works 6 a.m.- 6 p.m.tomorrow we needed to get the machine back before she left for work at 2.... so we hurried up and finished. Got it done, looks great and is a relief to cross that off the "to do" list.
Yesterday Linda needed to drive out to Plaquemine to the one nursing home where she works. Plaquemine is about 30 miles from here so we got to cross the river and see all the tugboats in action, pushing the barges around on the river. Here you can also see the LSU stadium in the background. It is very busy around the Baton Rouge port area.
The town of Plaquemine is a small, nondescript town but there was this beautiful park on the edge of town. Pretty pavilions and a boardwalk type of area around a stream...very cute ! It was a nice ride out there and gave me a chance to see one of the places where Linda has been working. The nursing home sits right in the middle of a residential area and is a single story building that sort of blends in with all the other buildings around it. Tonight I'm just relaxing...hoping there is something decent on TV other than re-runs to watch. I looked at the weather radar a short time ago and out of nowhere some storms have started popping up along the LA coast and look like they might be headed this way. I went out and put the awning in just in case. Weather has been really nice, temperature wise....unlike some friends of ours in Colorado who are getting snow (Bobbie and Jim...you can keep it - yuck !). Hope everyone has a great weekend !
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
For The Children....
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was passed on July 25, 2006—20 years after Adam Walsh's abduction. The act established a National Sex Offender Registry law, but recent news reports reveal most states will not be in compliance with the law by the upcoming July 2009 deadline. If senators and state representatives don't comply with and fully fund the act, it will expire.
This is critical legislation for the health and safety of children everywhere. I know you will act, as I have, to contact our legislative representatives to stress the importance of funding this legislation. Oprah's web site has created an easy way to respond to your representatives. Clicking HERE will take you to a sample letter that you can cut and paste or you can write your own letter. There are also links to find your senators and house representative so that you can send them a letter. It only takes a couple of minutes...she has made it so easy. Please take the time to act on this.....our children are counting on us!
This is critical legislation for the health and safety of children everywhere. I know you will act, as I have, to contact our legislative representatives to stress the importance of funding this legislation. Oprah's web site has created an easy way to respond to your representatives. Clicking HERE will take you to a sample letter that you can cut and paste or you can write your own letter. There are also links to find your senators and house representative so that you can send them a letter. It only takes a couple of minutes...she has made it so easy. Please take the time to act on this.....our children are counting on us!
Tea, Anyone ?
Remember this picture of the capitol steps that we posted the other day ? Well, today these steps were the site of Baton Rouge's tea party. Similar protests took place all over the country. Some say that the whole movement was started by the Republican party...sour grapes over having lost the election. Thousands of people gathered to protest the excessive spending that govt. has authorized recently for bailouts, etc. Others say that this wasn't a protest that centered around political affiliation at all but a concern that the debt that we are incurring is one that our grandchildren will have to deal with. There is a concern that even though we have "taxation WITH representation" that our needs fall on deaf ears. Pork barrel spending continues....and people are just fed up. This was a grassroots movement that I don't think we've seen or heard the last of. No matter what side of the debate you fall on, I think the important thing is that people are getting fired up and participating in THEIR government. Thinking about what is going on...how it will impact them or future generations...and getting passionate enough to GET INVOLVED. Isn't that what government should be ? Active participation by all to bring about change on a global scale. Let's keep it going !
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Junk in the Trunk....
Last week I had started a "to do" list, of projects around the rig, and one of those was to clean out and organize the tool boxes on the truck. Since Linda didn't need to go into work until six, we decided that today was the day to cross that item off our list. One by one Linda and I took everything out of each, threw away the junk and organized the remaining items. After coming to the last toolbox(there are 4 total) we thought about the way everything seems to bounce and move around more in the rear boxes than they do in the front ones. So, back we went and reversed the items that we had in the boxes. Put the heaviest items in the tool boxes closest to the cab to see if that jingling, we hear every time we go over a bump, would decrease.
I also decided to remount in the basement of the RV an under cupboard style AM/FM CD player that also has a weather radio. It had been hanging in there using a sling type of device I rigged up but every time I need to get in the basement to work, I seem to hit my head on it. Having found my roll of pipe strapping in one of the truck tool boxes I figured I would hang it up next to the ceiling, using the pipe strap. This is one of those DIY projects that goes well if you have 3 hands but since that isn't the case I needed Linda's assistance. Being bifocal impaired, for me it's impossible to look up at something like a screw head and have it in focus well enough to line up a screwdriver to it. I decided the best tool for the job was my cordless drill, with phillips bit, instead of a handheld screwdriver. Lying on my back in the basement of the rig, I had the screw in one hand and the drill in the other. I needed Linda to hold the radio up so I could fasten the pipe strap on each side of it. It was a rather space constricting predicament which was resolved by me putting my legs up over Linda's shoulders so she could get close enough, to the rig, to reach in and hold the radio. Looking like a set of circus performers, there I was trying to look up and get the screw aligned with the existing holes....Linda struggling to hold the weight of the radio out horizontally and then I kept dropping the screws. For those bi-focally challenged RV'ers out there, you can appreciate how challenging this small task was. After I dropped the screws about five times we both got to laughing so hard at the way the whole thing must have looked, that it was all I could do to get those screws anywhere close to where they needed to go. I told Linda that it looked like something from America's Funniest videos....Finally, after multiple attempts and Linda retrieving all the dropped screws, we got it installed. Now that's teamwork....
Linda was scheduled to go in at six tonight but got a call at four and they said they didn't need her. She is supposed to work there Wed and Thursday also so we'll see what happens. Great weather day....started out cool (50's) but then was in low 70's with a light breeze. Calling for a few more nice days before the threat of rain again over the weekend.
I also decided to remount in the basement of the RV an under cupboard style AM/FM CD player that also has a weather radio. It had been hanging in there using a sling type of device I rigged up but every time I need to get in the basement to work, I seem to hit my head on it. Having found my roll of pipe strapping in one of the truck tool boxes I figured I would hang it up next to the ceiling, using the pipe strap. This is one of those DIY projects that goes well if you have 3 hands but since that isn't the case I needed Linda's assistance. Being bifocal impaired, for me it's impossible to look up at something like a screw head and have it in focus well enough to line up a screwdriver to it. I decided the best tool for the job was my cordless drill, with phillips bit, instead of a handheld screwdriver. Lying on my back in the basement of the rig, I had the screw in one hand and the drill in the other. I needed Linda to hold the radio up so I could fasten the pipe strap on each side of it. It was a rather space constricting predicament which was resolved by me putting my legs up over Linda's shoulders so she could get close enough, to the rig, to reach in and hold the radio. Looking like a set of circus performers, there I was trying to look up and get the screw aligned with the existing holes....Linda struggling to hold the weight of the radio out horizontally and then I kept dropping the screws. For those bi-focally challenged RV'ers out there, you can appreciate how challenging this small task was. After I dropped the screws about five times we both got to laughing so hard at the way the whole thing must have looked, that it was all I could do to get those screws anywhere close to where they needed to go. I told Linda that it looked like something from America's Funniest videos....Finally, after multiple attempts and Linda retrieving all the dropped screws, we got it installed. Now that's teamwork....
Linda was scheduled to go in at six tonight but got a call at four and they said they didn't need her. She is supposed to work there Wed and Thursday also so we'll see what happens. Great weather day....started out cool (50's) but then was in low 70's with a light breeze. Calling for a few more nice days before the threat of rain again over the weekend.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Ready to Rumble...
It's 3:38 p.m. and it's getting really dark outside....We are under a tornado watch and the line of severe weather is almost on top of Baton Rouge. It's starting to rumble outside but the darkness is really eerie. Don't remember it getting this black during the other severe storms we had.
Stuffed a bone for the boys to try and distract them. Ya think that maybe all these storms coming through so often would cure Boomer of his fear of thunderstorms ? If it doesn't cure him it will surely make him a real basket case during these storms. So far the boys are doing OK.. Boomer's not living up to his name....maybe "boom-less" is more like it. When we meet mid-westerners they like his name....they reference the "Sooner" and "Boomer" thing...I didn't know what they were talking about until someone explained it to me but no, he's not named after the rush to get land in the mid-west. It just suited him so that is the name we gave him.
I've wondered, with the frequency of so many severe storms down here, where the safest place would be in the rig if I did have to take cover. Interior room....no such place in an RV. Maybe between the bed and closet with pillows over me ? Probably but doubt it would be of much use if a twister truly did hit us. Although our rig is heavy I don't think it would be heavy enough to withstand the likes of a tornado. Hmm...let's hope we never have to find out. Linda is at work and hopefully she doesn't have a nursing home full of scared people to deal with. This too shall pass....
Stuffed a bone for the boys to try and distract them. Ya think that maybe all these storms coming through so often would cure Boomer of his fear of thunderstorms ? If it doesn't cure him it will surely make him a real basket case during these storms. So far the boys are doing OK.. Boomer's not living up to his name....maybe "boom-less" is more like it. When we meet mid-westerners they like his name....they reference the "Sooner" and "Boomer" thing...I didn't know what they were talking about until someone explained it to me but no, he's not named after the rush to get land in the mid-west. It just suited him so that is the name we gave him.
I've wondered, with the frequency of so many severe storms down here, where the safest place would be in the rig if I did have to take cover. Interior room....no such place in an RV. Maybe between the bed and closet with pillows over me ? Probably but doubt it would be of much use if a twister truly did hit us. Although our rig is heavy I don't think it would be heavy enough to withstand the likes of a tornado. Hmm...let's hope we never have to find out. Linda is at work and hopefully she doesn't have a nursing home full of scared people to deal with. This too shall pass....
Saturday, April 11, 2009
News and Car Salesmen
One of the most annoying things around here is the frequency of news broadcasts and the TV ads. Seems like there is local news on TV here every couple of hours....and it's not fresh news but the same stories rehashed each time. Never been in a region where they've had SO MUCH news.
Seems like all the car lot owners think that the way to sell cars is to yell while doing their ads and to also call all of us watching...."dahling"...I guess they think that southern charm is a great gimmick to sell cars but it is annoying as hell. Yelling, waving their arms and calling us "dahling" ...they'd be the last car dealer on earth I'd buy from if I was in the market for a car. And they run their ads in between all the times when the news is on (and that is constantly) so it makes for a really great TV viewing experience. Oh great,here's one on TV now. Let me throw my shoe at him!
Seems like all the car lot owners think that the way to sell cars is to yell while doing their ads and to also call all of us watching...."dahling"...I guess they think that southern charm is a great gimmick to sell cars but it is annoying as hell. Yelling, waving their arms and calling us "dahling" ...they'd be the last car dealer on earth I'd buy from if I was in the market for a car. And they run their ads in between all the times when the news is on (and that is constantly) so it makes for a really great TV viewing experience. Oh great,here's one on TV now. Let me throw my shoe at him!
Downtown Baton Rouge
Today we decided to explore downtown Baton Rouge before Linda had to leave for work. We drove straight down Florida Blvd.,which is right out our front door, and it took us all the way down to the edge of the Mississippi River. We saw the Capitol Building off on a side street so we decided to go check it out. What an impressive building !
It is the tallest capitol building in the country. The building was the dream of Huey P. Long who convinced the public and legislature that a new State Capitol would eventually save the state money because of its efficient modern structure. It also became the site of Huey Long's assassination in 1935 and he is buried out in the middle of the garden and a statue was erected to honor him.
The building is so ornate....a 50' entrance into the building with carvings all around it. The interior is no less impressive.
Two large wall murals, huge chandeliers, lots of marble, bronze and exotic woods. The senate chambers are located on the west side of the hall and the house chamber is on the east side. The doors into these areas weigh one ton each but move effortlessly on their hinges.
After exploring the first floor we took the elevators (had to take two different ones)to the 27th floor, where the observation level is. There 350 feet above Baton Rouge we got a wonderful view of the nearby area. The mighty Mississippi on one side...
Chemical corridor on another side and downtown Baton Rouge on the other.
It was wonderful to get this bird's eye view of the area but we did find ourselves holding on to each other as our stomach's got a bit queasy when we got near the railing.
Here are the gardens, just outside the capitol building. If you look in the center of the circle, you'll see a statue. That is where Huey Long is buried and his statue faces towards the capitol.
We went back home, glad for our little adventure out and about in the city. You can tell that the city is still trying to recover from past hurricanes as some buildings are torn up, signs mangled and shingles missing. The downtown area isn't as pretty as some others we've seen but there are some historical landmarks that we want to check out before we leave the area.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Shrimp
Today it was 83 degrees and quite humid....the first day where we ran the air conditioning pretty much all day. It's only now, at 8:30 p.m., that we could open the windows and it's cool enough to let the night air in.
For supper we defrosted some of the gulf coast shrimp that we had purchased with our friends, down in Bon Secor, Alabama at Billy's Seafood and cooked it for supper. We had some chipotle shrimp in the freezer so we combined the two and put it over some noodles. It was yumlicious !!
Went back to the ball field today and let the boys run. They weren't quite as anxious to run as long since it was so warm outside. Yesterday when we got to the intersection, right near the ball field, Linda thought there was an unusual amount of smoke coming from the exhaust of the TigerBait Grille (a restaurant right there on the corner). We proceeded to the ballpark and it was only a few minutes later that we heard the sirens and realized that the restaurant had been on fire and the fire companies were responding to it. When we came back by there, after leaving the park, there were a lot of fire trucks all over the place but the building seemed to be intact. Today it looked like business as usual as there were cars parked outside and they appeared to be open for business. It's good that it wasn't as bad as it appeared yesterday.
We are so happy for friends of ours who hope to RV full-time as soon as both have retired. They put their house on the market and in one day had gotten an acceptable offer on it. They have been working, step by step, on getting to the point where they could retire, sell the house and get their RV. Step by step they are making their dreams come true. We met these gals while at the Life on Wheels workshop, in Allentown some years ago and have been good friends ever since. We make our paths cross as we travel throughout the country. We wish them as much success finding their perfect RV as they've had so far with every other phase of the process.
For supper we defrosted some of the gulf coast shrimp that we had purchased with our friends, down in Bon Secor, Alabama at Billy's Seafood and cooked it for supper. We had some chipotle shrimp in the freezer so we combined the two and put it over some noodles. It was yumlicious !!
Went back to the ball field today and let the boys run. They weren't quite as anxious to run as long since it was so warm outside. Yesterday when we got to the intersection, right near the ball field, Linda thought there was an unusual amount of smoke coming from the exhaust of the TigerBait Grille (a restaurant right there on the corner). We proceeded to the ballpark and it was only a few minutes later that we heard the sirens and realized that the restaurant had been on fire and the fire companies were responding to it. When we came back by there, after leaving the park, there were a lot of fire trucks all over the place but the building seemed to be intact. Today it looked like business as usual as there were cars parked outside and they appeared to be open for business. It's good that it wasn't as bad as it appeared yesterday.
We are so happy for friends of ours who hope to RV full-time as soon as both have retired. They put their house on the market and in one day had gotten an acceptable offer on it. They have been working, step by step, on getting to the point where they could retire, sell the house and get their RV. Step by step they are making their dreams come true. We met these gals while at the Life on Wheels workshop, in Allentown some years ago and have been good friends ever since. We make our paths cross as we travel throughout the country. We wish them as much success finding their perfect RV as they've had so far with every other phase of the process.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Dog Day Afternoon
It was a beautiful day so we took the boys to the ballfield to get some exercise.
"Waiter...there's a ball in my soup"
Weather was beautiful after having two days in the 60's...got back into the low 70's today. Bright and sunny with low humidity...The boys ran and ran till their tongues were hanging out. We took the chuck-it..ball thrower..for Boomer. Schroeder could care less about chasing a ball. His thing is to nip your heels as you're walking, trying to herd you somewhere.
When the boys would get hot and tired they'd head for the only patches of shade to be found...in the shadow of the scoreboard or in the dugout. Their momma didn't raise no fool...
Linda had to work 3-11 yesterday, today and will tomorrow too. We were hoping to go to Avery Island to tour the Tabasco plant but they don't bottle on Fridays (her day off) so we'll wait till another day. Will have to search out other touristy options for Friday.
"Waiter...there's a ball in my soup"
Weather was beautiful after having two days in the 60's...got back into the low 70's today. Bright and sunny with low humidity...The boys ran and ran till their tongues were hanging out. We took the chuck-it..ball thrower..for Boomer. Schroeder could care less about chasing a ball. His thing is to nip your heels as you're walking, trying to herd you somewhere.
When the boys would get hot and tired they'd head for the only patches of shade to be found...in the shadow of the scoreboard or in the dugout. Their momma didn't raise no fool...
Linda had to work 3-11 yesterday, today and will tomorrow too. We were hoping to go to Avery Island to tour the Tabasco plant but they don't bottle on Fridays (her day off) so we'll wait till another day. Will have to search out other touristy options for Friday.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Cure...
One of my favorite quotes is "The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."
I used it as my signature line, for a long time, when I worked at the college. It sort of reminds me of something a friend of mine said years ago.....in response to describing what a person was like that they had met, they said that they were "salt of the earth". In other words, steadfast...down to earth..the kind of friends we all like to have.
The quote was written by Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen, who
was the most famous of all Danish writers. She wrote gothic tales (Seven Gothic Tales, her first book) and African memoirs in English (Out of Africa.) Her last book was Shadows on the Grass. She had quite an interesting life....but also filled with alot of loss. You can click on her name to read more about this interesting woman.
Funny how some things can affect us and stay with us to make a difference in our lives. Other great quotes from this woman include:
"I think it will be truly glorious when women become real people and have the whole world open to them."
"God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road."
"Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever."
“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.”
Seems like all the adversity that this woman faced in her life gave her great insight and wisdom. So, when you're having a bad day remember "the cure"....
I used it as my signature line, for a long time, when I worked at the college. It sort of reminds me of something a friend of mine said years ago.....in response to describing what a person was like that they had met, they said that they were "salt of the earth". In other words, steadfast...down to earth..the kind of friends we all like to have.
The quote was written by Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen, who
was the most famous of all Danish writers. She wrote gothic tales (Seven Gothic Tales, her first book) and African memoirs in English (Out of Africa.) Her last book was Shadows on the Grass. She had quite an interesting life....but also filled with alot of loss. You can click on her name to read more about this interesting woman.
Funny how some things can affect us and stay with us to make a difference in our lives. Other great quotes from this woman include:
"I think it will be truly glorious when women become real people and have the whole world open to them."
"God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road."
"Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever."
“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.”
Seems like all the adversity that this woman faced in her life gave her great insight and wisdom. So, when you're having a bad day remember "the cure"....
Sunday, April 5, 2009
KIVA
For Christmas my daughter had given me a Kiva gift certificate. If you're like me, I had never heard of Kiva. Here is some info from their website on how it works:
Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.
,
The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.
Isn't that cool ? I think our government and lending institutions could take notes from KIVA on "transparency of lending". After looking at many profiles, here is who I chose to support with my gift certificate:
Beatrice Etrue is the 40-year-old divorced mother of four children, two currently in senior high school, one in junior high and one in primary school. She lives with her children in a rented apartment in the fishing community of Elmina, one of the country’s tourist attraction centres, near Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. For the past ten years, Beatrice has worked hard as a trader to earn some income to support the family. She deals in all kinds of drinks – malt, fan milk, fan ice, etc., procuring them from wholesale dealers in the regional capital, Cape Coast, and selling in the community market. Beatrice also distributes to other retailers in her community and nearby communities. She is now requesting a loan to procure the products in bulk.
When Beatrice repays my loan, I can then loan it out again to someone else. It is such a neat organization with 100% of the loans going to the loan recipients. People helping people....the way it should be. I was so touched when my daughter gave me this...I have always emphasized with my kids that Christmas is not about presents and monetary things. I feel most holidays have gotten way too commercialized but if we want it to change, it has to begin with us.
Since my 83 yr. old mom has her own candy and jelly making business, my daughter loaned a woman bakery entrepreneur money, in my mom's name, through the KIVA organization. What a wonderful legacy ......to fulfill someone's dreams of owning a business. ...the same kind of business we have been fortunate to own.
I encourage you to check out their web site and see what a positive impact you can make on someone's life....http://www.kiva.org
Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.
,
The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.
Isn't that cool ? I think our government and lending institutions could take notes from KIVA on "transparency of lending". After looking at many profiles, here is who I chose to support with my gift certificate:
Beatrice Etrue is the 40-year-old divorced mother of four children, two currently in senior high school, one in junior high and one in primary school. She lives with her children in a rented apartment in the fishing community of Elmina, one of the country’s tourist attraction centres, near Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana. For the past ten years, Beatrice has worked hard as a trader to earn some income to support the family. She deals in all kinds of drinks – malt, fan milk, fan ice, etc., procuring them from wholesale dealers in the regional capital, Cape Coast, and selling in the community market. Beatrice also distributes to other retailers in her community and nearby communities. She is now requesting a loan to procure the products in bulk.
When Beatrice repays my loan, I can then loan it out again to someone else. It is such a neat organization with 100% of the loans going to the loan recipients. People helping people....the way it should be. I was so touched when my daughter gave me this...I have always emphasized with my kids that Christmas is not about presents and monetary things. I feel most holidays have gotten way too commercialized but if we want it to change, it has to begin with us.
Since my 83 yr. old mom has her own candy and jelly making business, my daughter loaned a woman bakery entrepreneur money, in my mom's name, through the KIVA organization. What a wonderful legacy ......to fulfill someone's dreams of owning a business. ...the same kind of business we have been fortunate to own.
I encourage you to check out their web site and see what a positive impact you can make on someone's life....http://www.kiva.org
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Light at the End of the Tunnel...
Linda was off yesterday and today so it was nice to be able to get out of the house and explore the area a bit. She was supposed to work yesterday evening but the nursing agency called just as she got dressed for work and told her she wouldn't be needed. So today we went to a Sam's Club we had seen the other day on the way to the vet. Picked up a few things. Then we took the boys in search of a doggie park that the park manager told us about. We didn't find the park but found a fenced in ball field where the boys could run and play. Boomer's bandage, on his foot, didn't slow him down at all. They had a great time.
A few days ago I started calling some campgrounds, on the east coast, that had advertised Workamper positions. It is not appearing that Linda's assignments here will consistently bring her full-time hours each week and we aren't really crazy about the area. It is far nicer in areas within just a short driving distance from here but she is having to drive up to an hour to many of her assignments and when you work a 12 hour shift, the extra hour on each end of that day makes for a really long day. Today we got a call from a camp ground in North Carolina, offering us a position. We have not made a commitment until I have a chance to check with one other place. By next week I'll know which one we'll be going to. It will mean leaving here as soon as Linda finishes on the 29th (she has that day scheduled to work at one of the facilities).
In local news, a rare pink dolphin has been spotted off the Louisiana coast. They had pictures on the local TV station...it was really something. Apparently it's an albino dolphin with strange pigmentation that gives it the pink coloring.
Weather was great today but a cold front is coming in that will only put daytime temps in the 60's and overnight temps in the 40's. That is about 20 degrees lower than what it has been running here. So far the humidity hasn't been bad...it's actually been very enjoyable. Gonna work on cleaning the rig tomorrow while the NASCAR race is on. Linda has to work 6 a.m - 6 p.m. and has that long drive to boot.
A few days ago I started calling some campgrounds, on the east coast, that had advertised Workamper positions. It is not appearing that Linda's assignments here will consistently bring her full-time hours each week and we aren't really crazy about the area. It is far nicer in areas within just a short driving distance from here but she is having to drive up to an hour to many of her assignments and when you work a 12 hour shift, the extra hour on each end of that day makes for a really long day. Today we got a call from a camp ground in North Carolina, offering us a position. We have not made a commitment until I have a chance to check with one other place. By next week I'll know which one we'll be going to. It will mean leaving here as soon as Linda finishes on the 29th (she has that day scheduled to work at one of the facilities).
In local news, a rare pink dolphin has been spotted off the Louisiana coast. They had pictures on the local TV station...it was really something. Apparently it's an albino dolphin with strange pigmentation that gives it the pink coloring.
Weather was great today but a cold front is coming in that will only put daytime temps in the 60's and overnight temps in the 40's. That is about 20 degrees lower than what it has been running here. So far the humidity hasn't been bad...it's actually been very enjoyable. Gonna work on cleaning the rig tomorrow while the NASCAR race is on. Linda has to work 6 a.m - 6 p.m. and has that long drive to boot.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Since last time...
Linda has been picking up shifts since we arrived here Monday...each day at a different facility. Yesterday we had to take Boomer to the vet. Somehow he tore his toenail, on his back paw, and it gets to bleeding and is a mess. Linda got the name of a vet clinic from her agency so we headed there yesterday morning. We wanted to get him in before Linda had to be to work at 1:00. Was only a little ways from here and when we arrived, the waiting room was pretty full. Waited an hour and then we got in. Boy, did the vet and her helper get a workout with Boomer. We aren't able to trim his nails because he fights like crazy. Well, when the vet went to work on his foot, it elicited the same reaction from him. They gave him a mild sedative but it didn't faze him. The assistant got him in a stronghold and held him down. Got him all fixed up and took him home. As a result of all of his fighting, he was extremely fatigued and spent the afternoon sleeping. Today he seems to be pretty much back to normal. His bandage will stay on a couple days and then we'll take it off. So far he's left it alone and hasn't chewed on it.
Weather was a little wild today. Had a tornado warning at lunchtime which created a nice wind storm that brought down little branches here in the park. I was running back and forth doing laundry at the time so I had to watch for opportune times in between sheets of rain. Eventually it all passed but not without doing damage around the Baton Rouge area. Wonder if this is typical springtime weather for around here....I tend to think that may be the case.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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