Family Get Togethers

We returned to Chambersburg on Friday. Since then we've been doing more visiting and going to family events like T ball games. On Friday night we took in Linda's great nephew's game and we were really surprised what great hitters these little kids are. They don't use the "T" but the coach pitches to them and if they don't hit it after 5 or so hits then they will bring the T out. When my son played they always used the T...this is so much better cause it strengthens the coordination/synchronization that needs to happen between seeing the ball and knowing when to swing. What a great experience for these young men. Jonathan did a great job in the field and up at bat. If he makes the "big leagues" we can say that we saw him here first...

On Saturday Linda went to State College, PA to visit with her youngest son, Todd.
Todd, on the left with older brother Chad

She hadn't had much time with him since coming back to PA so she spent the day with him. Later in the afternoon her oldest son Chad came up from Williamsport to hang out with them. She had a great time with them and they all had a cookout before she drove back to Chambersburg.

While Linda was gone I mowed the lawn where we have our rig parked and got the chainsaw out of the truck to trim up the low limbs that had threatened to impale me as I pushed the mower under them. I haven't had the chainsaw running in quite a few years so I took the spark plug out and cleaned it up with some sandpaper and my "Wild Thing" fired right up. Got the trees trimmed up nicely and limbs hauled away.

Saturday evening we went out to the AM Vet club, in Chambersburg, with Linda's sister Carol. AM Vet is a member only social club in town. Chambersburg has more of these types of clubs than I've ever heard of before. There was a band playing there last night and we had a good time, hanging out with Carol.

Today I think we'll relax around the house for a while and watch the NASCAR race this afternoon. We've had a very busy couple of weeks and we've covered alot of miles. We've enjoyed visiting with family and friends, knowing that we'll hit the road soon when we get jobs lined up.

Memorable Day

The day started out dreary and very cloudy. Linda and I left NJ about 8:15, headed for Darien, CT. We had an appointment with Mary Pugh...hoping to arrive around 11:00 a.m. but due to the excessive traffic, we didn't arrive until 11:20. We went to the town clerk's office and proceeded with our paperwork. Mary got there as we finished up and were waiting in the lobby.

We went to Tilly Pond park, which is gorgeous with several fountains and a pretty stone gazebo. As we had arrived in Darien, it started to rain. Not a downpour but a drizzly kind of rain...just enough to spot up our glasses and be miserable. We went to the gazebo to see how many birds might have taken up residence there. There seemed to be a nest in every crook in the ceiling timbers but they weren't obtrusive..just a group of admirers watching the festivities.

Linda and I went to Connecticut to get married. Being such a short distance from CT, I had asked her the other day if she was interested in making things official and legal. She was and I was so here we are....Mary Pugh officiated and did a wonderful job. She took alot of photos, took a video of us exchanging vows and put together a great package of all of these for us as keepsakes.

I had learned about Mary, from RVing Women magazine....Mary is an RV'er like us and a member of RV'ing Women. Not a full-timer but she has a Class B that she likes to take out when she gets a chance. She's been really busy lately and hasn't had a chance to go out camping. She did a wonderful job today and we would highly recommend her to any couple looking to get married.

After the ceremony, we went out for lunch. Mary recommended that we go to Centro, where they have great salads so off we went. Lunch was wonderful. I had a veggie panini with fresh mozzarella on it and Linda had a pear salad with walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese. Everything was delicious. We also had a special dessert to celebrate our big day ! It was a super rich chocolate cake with a candle in it. Scrumptious ! After lunch we got back on the road and headed back to NJ....we arrived home around 6 p.m. A long day but one where many, many wonderful memories were created and will stay with us for a lifetime.

Still Visiting...

On Monday we got together with a friend of mine to see her new house. It is a cute old house that has been completely restored. It is located in Fairfield and used to be the train station and post office. The rooms are huge and the hardwood floors are awesome. We had breakfast with them, sat on the front porch and caught up on what we've been up to since we last saw each other and then headed out to Pine Grove, PA to check out a campground and drop our applications off there.

On Tuesday we left Chambersburg to go to Linda's brother's place in NJ. Her brother is currently away on business but we are having a great time visiting with his wife Kathie. Each day while Kathie is at work we have been finding things to do and enjoying some quiet down time to catch up on e-mail correspondence, etc. Today we went into New Hope. It has been many years since I've been there and it seems to have changed quite a bit. There were many store fronts that were vacant so it seems that there has been some impact, from the depressed economy, to this quaint little town. It was nice to walk around and see all the little shops that were open. We spent a couple hours there and then came back to Roy and Kathie's place.

Tonight the three of us went out to run an errand and had a great veggie pizza at a local restaurant. It was delicious and loaded with veggies ! We're spending a quiet evening at home tonight, watching an old movie....The Philadelphia Story starring Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart. The weather has been drizzly but tomorrow it's supposed to warm up into the upper 70's. We have an exciting day planned tomorrow. Linda and I are going to Norwalk, CT for the day.

Back Up The Mountain....

We did more visiting today with Linda's family up at the cabin.After spending a little time with her youngest son at the homestead, we headed out. After...

...a few of these....

..and several of these....

We arrived back at the cabin where
Linda's family was hanging out...

We stayed for a while and chatted with everyone. We then left to go visit Linda's LPN buddy who has a camp over on the other mountain. She and her husband, Gene, have a beautiful site in a popular campground called "Saunderosa". They have a permanent site that they have done a great job in fixing up to make it very homey.They were having a get together with their neighbors and relatives so we joined them for a picnic. Linda had a great time catching up with Donna and swinging on her new hanging swing that Gene put up. It was one of those single person, upright hammock type swing that hangs from a hook on the ceiling. This is one of the things that we've missed about our sticks and bricks house...the large deck where we had a porch swing. I'm sure it brought back memories to her of the time we spent on our back porch.
It was a good day of cooler temps and a great time spent with old friends.....Tomorrow we will go to see another friend who now lives in the area and has purchased a house recently.

Just Over the Hill.....

Today was a fun and productive day. This morning was "haircut day" when Linda and I give each other hair cuts. Now we're set for another month...Then we gave our boys a bath, as well as Linda's sister's dog. The dogs stood really still for us..not sure if it was that they were being particularly good for us or if it was because the water was ice cold and they were frozen in their tracks. Anyway, we had three sweet smelling dogs when we got done.

Linda's brothers arrived from Virginia and NJ in the early afternoon. We chatted for a while outside the rig and then we went over to the Marine Corp to grab some lunch. When I spent a lot of time down here, when I first met Linda, this was a place we liked to go for lunch. They have great potato salad and you sure can't beat the food and drink prices....cheap ! Was nice to go there with her brothers and catch up on how they are doing and what we've been doing. After lunch everyone went up to the cabin that Linda's sister and her husband own.....about 30 minutes outside of Chambersburg. I always joke with Linda when we drive around up near my mom's place how everything is "just over the hill". After we've been driving for 45 minutes, Linda would always ask if we're every gonna get there if it's "just over the hill". Well, this place is more than just over the hill....it's through the woods, down the valley, across the bridge, around 4 or 5 hairpin turns and up the side of the mountain...Whew ! It's very cute once you get there....a cabin sitting in the woods, made of chestnut logs. There is a big loft with lots of beds for everyone to stay there. Wish I had taken a picture of the cabin to post here....had my camera but didn't even think of it.
We visited for a couple hours and then came home. Linda is still not feeling real great from this allergy attack she has that has gone into her chest and throat.

Raining now here in Chambersburg....radar looks like there might be a thunderstorm moving through. Nice to hear the rain on the roof and the cool breeze coming in the windows.

Home

Got back from Philly around 12:30 yesterday. A nice drive but took longer than I thought it would. Just chilled out for the day, unpacking and getting used to being "home". Today I washed the rig, from top to bottom. It was in the 80's today so rig dried quickly. It is so nice here at Linda's homestead. Feels like we're on a big RV site like we had in Summerdale, AL at the Escapees park (except for the part where we don't have any hook-ups). Even though we're in the middle of town and close to everything, it is quiet and peaceful. Today I looked out the window and saw two Canadian geese and 5 fuzzy babies trotting across the lawn outside. They were so cute! I guess they have taken up residence in this area although I don't know of any bodies of water near here.

Linda hopes to come home tomorrow from seeing her girls in Virginia Beach but is feeling really lousy with allergy stuff going on so not sure if she will. Will depend how she feels in the morning when she gets up. Five hours of driving can be pretty grueling when you feel like crap.

Not much else going on. Waiting for work stuff to come together so we know where we're headed to next. Until we get it figured out, we'll be hanging our hat here in Chambersburg.

Havin' Fun with the Kids...

Been hanging out with my kids since I got here Sunday night. Having a great time catching up on what's been going on in their lives. Last night we watched an old movie on Hulu website.."The Island of Dr Moreau"...with Michael York and Burt Lancaster. It was very weird and icky. Won't be on my list of movies to watch a second time.

Earlier in the day wewent on the outskirts of the city to a park that was huge. Jay said it's one of the largest in the country. There were statues all over the place as you drove around and as we went up a hill we turned to see this great view of the Philly skyline in the distance so we turned around to take this pic. (Click on the image to enlarge it) Since we were at the top of a hill and near a parking lot, Jay got his roller blades out of the trunk and got some skating in. He and Becky did some synchronized skating and then he skated to the bottom of the hill while we drove the car to pick him up. Jay's birthday is on Saturday so we're going out for his birthday celebration tonight when Becky gets off work. He's my "baby" and will be 22...He and I are going to get some inspection work done on his car today so he can get that out of the way.It's a little overdue....

Yesterday while we were driving around we went to the Italian Market district
Apparently every morning this place is really hopping with street vendors and people shopping. By the time we were there it was pretty empty (around 12:30). We walked by some shops where there were huge things of cheese hanging from hooks on the ceiling....they easily must have weighed 30-40# apiece. Never seen such a huge block of cheese. Becky had taken us to this area to have lunch at Sabrina's Cafe....a small cute place that was packed with people. We decided to eat outside rather than wait for an inside table. Although it was a little nippy yesterday, it wasn't too bad if you were dressed warmly. I had a wonderful veggie burger with the works on it and not only was it huge but it was a home-made veggie patty and it was outstanding. Also had thick, fresh cut sweet potato fries...Everything was great ! A risk you take when dining outdoors is exposure to the "elements"....While talking with the kids, waiting for our orders to arrive, I got a little "gift from heaven". I see this blob on the front of my coat and look up to see a bird flexing on a wire overhead. Ewwwww....thank goodness it was a "small" bird. Such is my luck!
Here's hoping that you all have a wonderful day...filled with little gifts, heaven sent or not.

Tennessee and all points in between...

We left Tenn. Wednesday morning and finished the last leg of our trip to Pennsylvania. We pulled into Chambersburg, PA mid afternoon and got set up. We're parked with the front end on a bit of a slope so it took a cinder block and many boards to get us leveled up. On Thursday we ran around getting errands done...got the oil and fuel filter changed in Bertha. Went to get propane and local place wanted $32 and I told them they could forget that...we'd go elsewhere. Linda ended up getting it at Flying J for under $20....were these other people crazy ?

I had left my Xterra in Chambersburg so late Thursday I took my car and Linda took Bertha and we went north. I took the dogs and went to my moms to stay till Sunday morning. Linda went to her son's place in Williamsport till Sunday morning. I had a great time with my mom, driving her around to different places to run errands and just get her out of the house. The dogs took quite a shine to mom and soon learned where she kept her "cookie" jar and she was very generous in giving them treats.Linda went to watch her grand-daughter's soccer game (She's #20)and do a bunch of activities with the family. On Sunday she and I met up in Williamsport, along with her son and his family, and we went to the Penn College picnic at Knoebels amusement park in Elysburg. This is such a great park for families....no cost to get in or park...only have to buy tickets if you want to ride. Park is totally shaded and has some world class rollercoasters. They used to have several rollercoasters that were listed on the "Top 10" list in the country. Linda and I ate lunch and went into the park for a little while. We got to see some of our Penn College friends while we were there. Originally Linda was coming home to go to her younger son's graduation from PSU but then he decided not to march so we decided to go with her older son to his function, since I would get a chance to see some of my former colleagues. We had a good time! We left there about 3....Linda heading back to Chambersburg with the dogs and me headed to Philly to spend a few days with my kids.

That is where I am now...in Philly. My kids have taken some time off from work and I will be here till Wednesday. Linda is leaving Chambersburg today to go see her daughters in Virginia Beach. I'll return to Chanbersburg on Wednesday and she will return at the end of the week sometime. Whew...it has been a whirlwind week of traveling and visiting. All good stuff !

Bristol,TN

Well these guys just about sum up our trip through the Unclaimed Baggage Center. If there would have been another chair there, I would have joined them.
Reminded me of an overpriced thrift shop. If I wanted to pay $40-50 for a pair of sneakers I'd go to a store and buy ones that someone hasn't walked around in for a while. They had quite a bit of jewelry which I guess is a hot ticket item for people going to the store. If you know anyone in the market for a Rolex watch or one that costs $9000, they've got one of each. And talk about fuggly clothes....no wonder someone left them in their luggage on the plane. I'd leave 'em too when they look like that or send them on a slow boat to china or put 'em on a greyhound bus. Some of them still had the price tags on them....probably the person looked at them and thought "What was I thinking when I bought that"....leave it on the dang plane.
A few things were surprising to see in such great quantities...sleeping bags for one thing. There were a bunch of them. If you went on a camping trip and had to fly to get there, wouldn't you remember that you'd taken something to sleep in. Hmmm.... And fishing poles without any reels on them. Interesting kind of fishing unless they were part of a trade show and the rep thought he'd just tell the boss he sold them all and give some baggage person a thrill by finding a boat load of poles in the baggage area.
We left there and began the journey northward. What a great route this is ! 72 to 24 to 40 to what we're on now...81. Beautiful scenery, great roads, not much traffic even around cities. It is a wonderful route and one that we surely will take note of if we need to get from northeast to Alabama area. We are spending the night just above Bristol, Tennessee....home of Bristol Speedway. Gonna be another great night for sleeping....down in the 50's. (We aren't missing the 90 degree days and high humidity :)

When Linda went in and told them that she had a
"bag" she couldn't find, this was the best they could come up with....

Scottsboro,AL

Last night we spent the night in Scottsboro, AL out back of the Unclaimed Baggage Center. We had a very peaceful evening here...arrived too late to go in the store (they close at 6)so we are waiting for them to open to shop this morning.

Sunday evening was spent just inside the Mississippi border at a rest stop. I had looked at the weather radar and they were calling for severe storms and a hurricane warning was posted so we decided to stop before we got into bad weather. It looked really nasty on the radar and when we did drive up through that area we saw trees down from what appeared to be wind damage. Drove in light rain for part of the way yesterday and arrived here around 7:30 last night. After we look around the store, we'll hit the road again. Just meanderin' up the road...no tellin what we might find to explore ahead.

Great Women..

The other day I did something that I haven't done in years..I read a book. It was one of those projectless days and I had been curious about the book that Linda was reading so I thought..."What the heck". The book is called, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I had read the author's other book, Tuesdays With Morrie and it was a cute book. I found this one intriguing in the way the author counted the minutes till the character died and then who the five people were that he'd meet in heaven. An overall premise of the book is the connectivity that all of us have and how we touch each others lives, whether knowingly or not. We can have a profound impact on someone's life and not even know the person. Without giving any more away about the book, I'll leave it at that.

So on this Mother's Day, this book made me reflect on the impact of two great women in my life. The first is my maternal grandmother. A farmer's wife who worked as hard as my grandfather on their dairy farm, up until his death. My mom has told me that grandma used to drive a horse drawn school bus and later would work in the kitchen at Mansfield University. My mother too drove modern day school buses and apparently her love of cooking stems from her upbringing in my grandmother's household. A consummate gardener, I remember the huge poppy patch that my grandmother had in the front yard, along with countless flower beds around the house and a big garden out back. In my childhood it was common to have a "canning" kitchen and my grandmother had one in the basement. There were always wonderful smells coming from that room as she made sauces, jams and jellies and all sorts of pickles. My fondest memories are the Sundays I would spend at my grandmother's house once she moved into a mobile home over near my mom. I would ride my bike to grandmas and we'd have pickle sandwiches on fresh, home-made bread and watch classic movies on PBS...Fred Astaire, Shirley Temple, Humphrey Bogart, etc. She would show me her latest crocheted quilt or tatted doily and we'd laugh and laugh over the silliest things. She had the greatest cackle and never took herself too seriously. She was a wonderful woman !

So too is my mother who will be 84 this July. She has her own business making jams/jellies and all sorts of candies and wonderfully sweet concoctions. She has more energy than most women a third her age. She mows a huge lawn, still drives and loves to go to the casino once in a while for a day out. She loves to follow our adventures on the road when I call to talk to her and she is our meteorologist to let us know what bad weather lurks in the area. She has always been so supportive and has always been there when I needed her...no questions asked. Happy Mother's Day mom....

Remember those people who have had an impact on your life...tell them what they mean to you. So many times we think about it but we never tell someone. It can make all the difference in the world to someone. Happy Mother's Day to one and all !

Leaving Baton Rouge...

It's 9:45 p.m. and still 75 degrees outside...sheesh !! Tonight as soon as Linda got home from work, we loaded up the boys and went to the dog park. Their last chance to run and play till we get back home. Linda counted 18 dogs there tonight and that was only counting dogs. I felt like I was at a junior high school dance with all the adult chaperones standing around the sides of the dog park, watching their "kid" to make sure no one misbehaved. It was kind of weird and Boomer and Schroeder didn't interact the same as they did when there were only two dogs. Too much butt sniffing to do for a couple of ADD dogs like ours.... it was too much. Boomer did pair up with one golden lab type of dog and do his sprint around the park. This is the only dog that I've seen that could keep up with him and actually beat him at the finish line. It was really cute to watch. Like the Kentucky Derby all over again....

I started getting things packed up for our leaving tomorrow night. Linda has to work 6-6 and will arrive home around 7. She saw a place on her route home where she can fill up with diesel for $1.99 tomorrow so we'll have a full tank to drive on. Tomorrow is her last day of scheduled work so we figured we might as well head out cause we sure would hate to sit here till Thursday and not have her agency call her for any more shifts. That would really make us mad so we figured we'll leave now. We'll drive till we feel like stopping...any distance between us and Baton Rouge will be fine. :) Our first stop is gonna be the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama. This looks like a really fun place so we want to be sure to get there to have enough time to look at everything. Who knows what interesting things we might find ?

Well, that's it for tonight ? Gotta watch the rest of the race. 71 laps to go....

Our Anniversary...

Today is our 5th anniversary together and in usual fashion we re-created our first date. We went to Applebee's and had a great meal. Devin was our waiter and he surprised us at the end of the night by buying our round of drinks. What a nice guy ! In talking to him, he is from Orlando, FL and he isn't crazy about Baton Rouge either.He is planning on moving to Austin, Texas by the end of the year.

While we were having dinner, two sheriff's cars were searching a car they had pulled over in the parking lot next to Applebee's. Must have been a drug search as they were really going through that car. Didn't know we'd have entertainment with our meal. It will make for a memorable anniversary...when we're old and sitting in our rockers we can say, "Remember when we spent our 5th anniversary in Baton Rouge..." will make for a good laugh !

Dog Park

Today we took the boys to the ball field to run only to find that the grounds crew was dong some work on it. So we decided to go to the dog park that we had initially heard about but had been worried about the boys getting some disease or something if it wasn't well kept. This is it...turns out it's a wonderful place ! They have a pool like Boomer used to have at our house and he thoroughly enjoyed laying down in it and then taking off like a maniac and running in figure 8's all over the park. There was a 22 month old German Shepherd there named Levi and he and Boomer had a grand ole time, chasing each other and taking turns in the pool. Schroeder went over to visit the other little dog, who was chasing the ball her owner would throw. He behaved really well around both dogs so we've decided we definitely need to go back again.
We started to pack the truck today. Picked up the patio mat to dry out and got things situated on the back of the truck. We are planning to leave when Linda gets home from work Sunday around 7 p.m. She has to work from 6-6 the next two days so I'll finish up getting things ready to go.

Perkins Rowe...

On Monday night Linda had to work on the 6th floor of this facility, at the Neuro Medical Center. Although she had been scheduled previous times here, her shifts always seemed to get canceled so this was her first time there. She worked the overnight shift so it was dark as she made her rounds of the patients rooms. One guy had a room on the corner with windows that looked out over the surrounding buildings. When she went into his room she saw what a magnificent view he had from his windows. All of the nearby buildings had lights that lit up the roof line and she said it was an awesome view and she stood there for a while and just took it all in. We decided to go check out what these other buildings were in the vicinity. We knew that one was a Barnes and Noble bookstore so that was a good enough reason to go exploring.

What a great place this is ! It's like a little community within the city. Palm tree lined streets and these huge screens hung in front of the town hall and the images were constantly changing. There were shops and a big movie theater inside the town hall. You could tell that the whole thing wasn't completed yet cause there was a "Magnolia Park" at the far end of town that was still under construction. There were many vacant stores but instead of having empty store fronts they had scenes painted on screen material and it made the fronts of these empty buildings very attractive. The shops and boutiques that were open were really cute. Very attractive window displays and neat items in the stores.

A closer look at one of the three screens that hung in front of the town hall

The whole area was so cool. Most of the buildings were three stories tall so the top two floors appeared to be apartments. What a great place to live. At the far end of Perkins Rowe we found the Fresh Market I thought maybe it was a place for a farmers market to be held once a week but we thought we'd go check it out. When we saw a young man coming down the steps with grocery bags in his hands we knew it must be like a regular grocery store but once inside we realized that there's nothing "regular" about it.

What a neat store this was. If you think that Wegman's does a nice job of displaying items, this place is a cut above that. Around the whole perimeter of the room there were wide ledges above the wall cases and they had little scenes or displays set up like this one. The prices weren't bad we thought considering that most stuff was organic or fair trade or specialty products. Everything in there was immaculate. We talked to the man behind the meat counter and he said that there are other Fresh Markets around the country, such as in North Carolina. We told him how beautiful everything was in the store. We walked around and all we could do was ooh and ahh as we looked at displays and food items that were unique. We finished up looking around and headed back to the truck where the boys were waiting. Perkins Rowe was like a little slice of heaven in the middle of a pig sty. There is so much trash along the highways and around houses that it was nice to go to an area where things were well kept and the sights and smells were heavenly. Definitely a place we will go back and visit if we need a night out.

Look at the size of this pot that was
in the town hall building. There were
probably 8 of these in there near
entrances to the shops.


The huge chandelier that hung over where Linda
stood next to the pot. It was gorgeous !

News

Well not only are the temps heating up in this area but so are the tidbits we hear each night on the news. This is the first time I've ever lived in the city that is the capitol of a state. For those of you who don't know who the governor is, it's Bobby Jindal. Perhaps you heard his name shortly after the presidential election in November. He is a Republican "hopeful" for President the next go round. The guy is not afraid of the camera. At least twice daily he is on the local news delivering some tidbit of news that no one else in his administration apparently is qualified to report on. Hopefully he sets aside time in his day to get things done besides just conducting press conferences. Maybe this is typical for "capitol" cities....like I said I've never lived in one till now.

The crime here is horrendous and we can't wait to get out of here. Multiple shootings each day,usually resulting in at least one death a day and all sorts of robberies, etc. The other day a young woman, here from Kansas visiting relatives, came up missing. Yesterday a homeless man found her body washed up on the shore down in the area we were on Saturday. There are two problems in that last sentence....homeless and dead body. This was downtown where we had looked for a parking spot during the festival, within eyesight of the casino. No suspects yet in her murder. In other news, in Sherwood Forest just down the road from us, a man died when someone set his house on fire. Are we having fun yet ?

And late breaking news, here in Louisiana....a porn star is considering running for the senate in the next election. Maybe she and Bobby should team up....they're both no stranger to cameras.

We keep telling ourselves just a little over a week and we will be out of here....zoom..zoom..zoom

Running Away...

Yesterday I wanted to finish trimming up Boomer and give him and Schroeder a bath before someone moved in next door. I figured that concrete slab was the perfect place to hook up the hose and have someplace to wash them, out of the mud and slop. It worked out great too. Got them both bathed, toweled off and walked them around right before a band of storms rolled into the area. The skies were darkening as I was washing them but we got into the house and settled in before the thunder and rain came. My timing was impeccable as in between storms I see a BIG motor home pull up outside and proceed to back onto the slab next to us. Looks like a 40' Winnebago Journey...and he has a big pick-up and mustang with him. If you recall Donna, the park manager here, told me on Saturday that the carnival people were coming here and last year had parked on this site.

Linda had to work till 6 last night so she wasn't here when the new rig arrived. I asked her when she got home if she saw our new neighbor. She said "Yep and if he's with the carnival we're gonna run away and join them too if he can afford a rig like that." Haven't seen Donna yet to ask her about this new neighbor....It's doubtful he's with the carnival but inquiring minds want to know.....Some days our life feels like a three ring circus....

The Underdog...

On Saturday we starting watching the pre-race show for the Kentucky Derby, waiting for the start of the NASCAR race. My, I thought there was a big build-up to the Super Bowl?! Holy Cow, the Kentucky Derby is an all day marathon of chatter about anything horses that culminates with a two minute finale. As the horses were going around the track to get loaded into the gate I had to go to the bathroom but was afraid the whole thing would be done before I could get back to my recliner...

How about "Mine That Bird"...the horse that won ? Was that ever an awesome race? I just love to see an underdog or "horse" in this case, that no one pins any hope on, just blow the doors off the multi-million dollar horses. A horse that cost his owner less than $10,000 and was driven to the track, from New Mexico, in a regular ole horse trailer and truck and he put them all to shame. There's something truly inspiring in that. But that never seems to sit well with the media these days. Tonight on the news they are talking about his fluke of a win and betting he can't do anything in the Preakness. They said there was a "weak" field of horses in this year's Kentucky Derby, making it seem that he just lucked out. Horse Pucky!! People are so busy finding reasons why something "can't" or "shouldn't" happen that they miss the sheer joy that it DID happen. Be a believer.....Root for the 50-1 underdog and know that miracles still do happen.

Saturday...

Tonight our neighbor, Jim, pulled out and is headed to his next job in Missouri. Jim is an industrial electrician and has been here for about a month. He's from Tennessee so will get to go home for a day or two before he heads to Missouri. He will only be there for a couple of weeks and then he's headed to Washington state. He was a nice neighbor and we're sure glad we got to meet him.

Last night Linda got home from work around 12:30. About a half hour later we hear a loud alarm go off and then it kept repeating itself over and over for quite some time. We finally figured out that someone had tripped a security alarm in the Scottish Rite hall next door. Linda was really nervous that we had a criminal running around outside. The automated alarm was saying "You have entered a secure space. The police have been notified....." We finally turned on our meditation tape to drown it out. We asked Donna, the park manager, about it tonight and she said she was glad we heard it as it seems no one else in the park heard it. She said she called the sheriff to report it and they never came to take care of it but it finally shut off about 1:30. We told her that it made us nervous to have a criminal on the loose and she said that probably a rat tripped the sensor and set it off. We weren't sure whether we should feel better about that explanation than the one we had thought it was. Hmmm.... On top of that she tells me tonight that there are "carnival" people moving in the next day or two and guess what.....we have the space open next to us. Yeehaa !!That gave me a warm feeling all over. She said last year, the night they moved in, she found that they had started a huge bonfire outside their rig and there were about 20 cars parked on their site. Sounds like we have a fun time ahead.....

Went downtown today to tour the old capitol building but there was a festival going on and we couldn't get anywhere close to it. We wanted to take in the festival but parking was really tight and finally gave up and went to Sam's Club to get some things we needed. Got home in time to see Jim before he left and then watched the NASCAR race. Good race....my boy is back on top !

Weather is still staying really warm here. Has been in the high 80's all week and the humidity kept climbing through the week. Luckily today there was a good breeze despite the fact that the humidity was in the 70% range. Might get some rain tomorrow and little cooler (low 80's) on Monday.

As far as the swine flu fiasco, there are about 11 suspected cases in Louisiana. The local news is constantly covering it and it gets really monotonous. The whole thing is really overblown and the media, in typical fashion, has found their latest "crisis" to grab a hold of and blow out of proportion. Everyone needs to calm down and act responsibly by practicing good hand washing and just use common sense.