Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Just Having Fun...

I've been thinking about a way to decorate the door to our apartment...something that would be fun and interesting. Our door opens on the dining room so it's like a ready-made billboard. We went to the Dollar Tree the other day to get some things and I found a bunch of inspirational and fun sayings that can be stuck to something but then easily peeled off. Although I could have put them directly on the door, I didn't want to get something started where people are sticking things to their doors (these doors are really expensive to re-skin or replace). I bought some foam board and cut it into strips and stuck the sayings on the board. Using an over-the-door wreath holder, I cut a slit and slide it on. The finishing touch was to take the Pillsbury Doughboy and give him an observation platform on the hook part of the hangar. Since he giggles, he'll be a fun "doorbell" whenever someone pushes his belly.

Monday, June 28, 2010

We Can't Wait...

Since learning that the newly opened NASCAR Hall of Fame is only an hour away, we've been wanting to go. Linda did some more investigating and found this....the ultimate fan experience so we've decided to do it. The first chance we can go will be on July 12 but we've got our reservations in and are really looking forward to it. Here's what it includes:

Tour participants begin their day with early admittance to the NASCAR Hall of Fame followed by an an afternoon of behind-the-scenes touring of a variety of local race attractions such as Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sam Bass Gallery, Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Curb Motorsports Museum, PIT (a private pit crew training facility) and Michael Waltrip Racing.
Ultimate Fan Experience Tour: NASCAR Hall of Fame highlights include:

* Early admittance to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
* A commemorative NASCAR Hall of Fame lunch bag

Ultimate Fan Experience Tour: Local race attraction highlights include:

* Tours of race shops including shop areas not generally viewed by the public
* Access to personal work spaces,
* Opportunities to view collections of selected celebrities
* Live pit stops
* Exclusive discounts on race merchandise.

We will drive to the Concord Mall where they will pick us up at 8:45...We'll return at 4:30. Sounds like it will be a great day. They only take around 20 people per day, since the areas inside the garages is a little tight for any more people than that. The tours only take place Monday - Thursday cause on Fridays the teams are at the tracks, getting ready for that weekends' race. We should have lots to write about when we get back....Can't wait till the 12th rolls around ! We'll let you know if the $99 per person was worth it..

Sunday, June 27, 2010

What a Day !


We headed out this morning to go check out a campground, about two hours from here. The campground sits in the valley, between the Blue Ridge mountains and their website spelled out a very specific route to take, when coming in with your camper. Since we were driving the car, we didn't give it a thought and just punched in the address of the campground and off we went. On the way, we drove through Boone....which is a cute little town. It was getting close to lunchtime so we pulled into the parking lot of a store called Earth Fare and I went inside, searching for lunch. What a neat store that was ! They had a cafe area with prepared paninis and salads on display so I bought a veggie panini and some cranberry broccoli salad. Oh my, was it yummy !

From there we continued on our GPS course towards Blowing Rock. Somewhere near there we were told to make a right hand turn and it was like jumping down a rabbit hole. I should have been a little leery when the highway sign said...Unpaved Road Next 5.8 miles. It was like a goat path..no guard rail...spiraling down...down...down. Have I ever mentioned before how I hate roads with sheer cliffs on either side of the road that make you feel like you're going to plummet into an abyss where no one would find you for weeks ? Well, that is how this road seemed and I was gripping the steering wheel for all I was worth. Every muscle in my body was tensed...On top of the steep and winding part, there were wash board ruts in the road that made the car shudder sideways when we'd hit them....causing more sheer panic. Do you know how long it takes to cover 5.8 miles when you're only going 15 m.p.h. ? A VERY LONG TIME !!

When we finally did make it to the bottom and to the campground, it was nice but not all that. As we were leaving it started to rain....Linda checked the directions she had written down for getting to the campground (if coming with the rig) and knowing that there was no way in you know what we were going BACK the way we came, we proceeded out the correct way EXCEPT Linda told me to go right when I should have gone left. During a few of the "flat" miles we did drive, we saw that there are huge tree farms here. We saw large, mature magnolias growing in rows and arborvitae, etc. It was like Valley of the Trees....kind of cool until we discovered that we had gone the wrong way and not only was the road worse than the other one (now we're going UP the mountain) but now we have 10 miles to go instead of 5.8 miles. Eeekkk!! I was about ready for several valium at this point. After the first couple of miles I had told Linda to refrain from saying, "Oh geeze that's a really long way down and there aren't any guard rails." Yeah, it was nerve wracking.
At one point we came up to a place that appeared to be a small store so we stopped. On the front porch sat two women and one man....When the guy asked me if he could help me, I asked him if there were any black top roads or civilization nearby. He chuckled and proceeded to tell us how to get back to I-40....only 15 or so miles away. Somewhere in the discussion he asked where we were from and I told him Pennsylvania. He asked where and I told him. Turns out he spent some time living in Gettysburg and said it was a wonderful time in his life. Small world....After Linda wrote all of the directions down, we were getting ready to leave them there on the porch. I think it was when the one woman said "when you get to the area where the gorge is, stay way over on the left", I thought it as good a time as any to let Linda drive. Let the circulation back into my knuckles and butt cheeks....

Yep, there was a gorge....White Creek gorge. Seems to be the happenin' place on the weekends, especially if it's 90 degrees out.
All along a 2-3 mile stretch of road, there were cars parked everywhere and you see people swimming in the water and jumping off the rocks. We stopped at one of the few pull off areas and took Boomer to the water so he could go swimming. It was amazing how many people were there. There were coolers sitting on the rocks, dogs running around jumping in, canopies set up for shade on shore...all kinds of ways people were trying to cool off.

We made it to I-40 and I grabbed the laptop to see what might be in the vicinity of Hickory...seeing how we were headed that way. Found info on Bunker Hill Covered Bridge. It's the only remaining Haupt (the engineer)truss covered bridge in the world.
We had to walk a ways, out into the woods, to get to it but it was neat when we saw it.
Given its location, it made you wonder how much different the road system must have been over 100 years ago. Sadly, the bridge has become a blackboard for people's graffiti. It's too bad that this is the only way that people feel they can "leave their mark" on something. There are more constructive ways to do it, rather than desecrating a historical landmark.

As we were driving down Rt.70, to get to the site of the covered bridge, we had passed an ice cream place called "Udderly Delicious". Their sign said that their ice cream was home made. We retraced our path the five miles it took to get to the ice cream place and got a banana split. It was a fitting end to a full day of adventure...As advertised it was "Udderly Delicious" !!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

On The Mend...


Thanks to everyone for keeping my mom in their thoughts and prayers ! Your collective good wishes and her tenacity has gotten her through the worst of this. She was released from the hospital yesterday and is back home.

I was really worried when we arrived at the hospital Sunday around 3:30, after the ten hour trip up there. She was very frail and was having a hard time getting enough breath to "get under" the junk in her lungs that was making her cough. Her puny little coughs would continue until she could hardly catch her breath, which made us hold our breath as if to help give her more oxygen in the room with which to cough. She was also running a fever, as high as 104 degree at times, that would have her sweating big time. She said she was "fine" but she didn't look it.

When we arrived Monday morning, she looked totally different. They had put her on oxygen all night and that must have helped immensely because she looked like her old self. She was sitting on the side of the bed and although she still didn't have a big cough, they were coming much less frequently. We left there feeling much better about her making a full recovery. They also did a CT scan of her chest and everything looked fine...no cancer. There is still some infection in her lung but nothing else to be concerned about.

Here is the hospital where mom was....and yes, it's a hospital. Linda flatly refuted that when we pulled in the parking lot. "This isn't a hospital !" I said "It sure is...this is where Becky was born". It's Troy Community Hospital and was started by the man who was my doctor while growing up and delivered my daughter. Back when small town hospitals were failing, the government created Critical Care facilities in small towns where people would die before they could get to a city hospital. There are certain criteria that they have to meet but that is what this hospital became.

This hospital is across the street from where I had my bakery in the town of Troy, PA. We also lived up over the bakery, in downtown Troy. The delivery area and nursery for newborns used to be in the basement of the hospital. In the early morning hours of September 8th, I walked out the front door of the bakery as we were opening at 6 a.m. Told them I'd be back in a couple of days and then walked across the street to the hospital and Becky was born a little after 8 a.m. A couple days later we walked back home...Becky was one of the last babies born in the hospitals obstetrics area. I remember that they had a lot of the new mother gift packs there (diapers, wipes, etc.) and we got quite a few of them since they were closing the area. It was a nice starter kit.

The last time I had been to this hospital was to say goodbye to my dad in October of 1987. All of these good, bad and ugly memories were rolling through my head as we drove the ten hours to get there.

On Sunday evening we spent the night at my mom's house. On the drive there, we got to see the windmills and gas wells. All of the windmills were turning and the pipeline for the gas wells, near my mom's house, is being laid in trenches. All of the truck traffic over her road has completely pulverized the blacktop. It is now a dirt road until all of the construction is done and then, I presume, they will rebuild the roads. Wow, what a big project.

Called my mom this afternoon to see how she's feeling and she said good...."I cleaned the refrigerator and did some other odd jobs". I told her that she better take it easy and rest. She told me " They said I could resume my normal activities" and I told her "Well your normal activities would rival that of most 20 year olds". You can't keep a good Woman down....

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Quick Post.....

I know...I know...It's been a while since I posted anything. This week has been really crazy. Tonight is our last work day of the week and the 14 hour day just wipes us out. We have Sunday and Monday off and will be leaving as soon as we get off to drive to PA. My mom was admitted to the hospital last night with pneumonia.

She has had bronchitis since May 15 and hasn't been able to shake it. For the past couple of weeks I have sensed something really different in the way mom would talk about things and how she sounded. Yeah, she's coughing and such but it was something else. The other night she went to climb in bed and didn't make it...fell on the floor. She had knee replacement surgery years ago and can't roll over and get up from a kneeling position so she spent the next two hours crawling on her back, inch by inch, hoping to get out to her chair where she could pull herself up. She got out there eventually but didn't have the strength to get into her chair. My brother found her asleep on the floor there. He got her up...kept an eye on her for the next day and thought she would be ok. Last night his wife went down to help mom wash her hair and found she was running a fever and wasn't quite right. They took her to the ER and the x-ray showed pneumonia in the bottom left lobe of her lung. She's on antibiotics, oxygen and also potassium (that was low too). I talked to her today and she is sore (holy crap I'd be sore to if I crawled on the floor for 2 hours)and weak.

It should take us about 9.5 hours to get there....In typical mother fashion she told me, "It's not necessary for you to come all the way up here...I'll be fine". In typical Linda fashion..."I want to see for myself"...

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hot Day in Winston Salem

Holy smokes, it was hot today. At one point, the online weather site said that it was 91 here but it felt like 97. And talk about humid ?!?!? We slept in till around 9 this morning...both of us were exhausted from not sleeping well the last couple of nights. We didn't even have any phone calls come in this morning to wake us up...that was nice. Around 11 we went out to get some breakfast. We went to Billy Bob's Silver Diner, just a couple miles away.
I love the look of stainless steel diners....all shiny and sleek and a reminder of the type of diners that many of us grew up with. The inside was likewise as nice. Red vinyl booths with lots of pink neon around the perimeter of the room. Loads of memorabilia on the walls...above our table, on the wall, was a gold plated record of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap's "Young Girl". I loved listening to that song as a kid growing up.

For breakfast, Linda and I had the cinnamon swirl french toast which included a dish of fresh fruit (cut up melon, pineapple, etc). The french toast was ok...we prefer ours to be more moist, soaked in more batter, and not the dry type of french toast. It was a fun place to eat and perhaps we'll go back at another time to try some other dishes.

We did some other errands, which took us to the Hanes Mall, only about two miles from us. Since we had frozen food in the car (and it was so beastly hot out) we just ran in and got what we wanted and didn't linger but it looks like a really neat mall to go back and investigate. It's two levels and you go in on the upper floor. It's a good place to go window shopping on a hot and humid day :)

Tonight we went out to the rig, in the parking lot out back, and we turned the rig around so we can get out with it in the morning. I called the RV garage, about 22 miles from here, and made an appointment to get our problem areas worked on. This garage is accustomed to working with service contracts so hopefully a couple of things might be covered under our contract. They said the air conditioner might still be under warranty. We'll see how it all works out. It will be nice to get everything fixed so we can go camping. Once we drop the rig off, we really don't have anything else scheduled for tomorrow so who knows what mischief we'll get into.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Long Haul....

We came off duty yesterday around 4 p.m. and today we go in at 11:30. We then begin our long haul till our days off. We'll be on call, 24/7 and work 12 hour days on Friday and Saturday. The early part of the week just flies by but as we get to the end of the week, this is the hardest part.

Linda went out this morning and joined the managers for breakfast while I slept. She found out that one of our residents passed away last night, at the hospital. He had gone into the hospital last week....was 97 years old and his body was just worn out. His daughter arrived, from Michigan, to see him and he died soon after. This is the first resident to die since we've started here. I'm sure the other residents will be affected for the next few days with the news of his death.

Linda called this morning and made an appointment for Boomer to get a haircut and get his nails trimmed. I know the haircut will go fine....not so sure about the nail trim. He has become very temperamental about getting them cut so am hoping this new place has some magic powers to make it happen. Maybe they will hypnotize him or something....

We also made an appointment to get our rig worked on before we take it out camping. Just before we left New Jersey the air conditioning died and we still have the situation with the grey valve letting water past it when closed and the black tank leaking around the top. We're hoping this place can get all of those things resolved. With 90 degree temps here, we can't go camping without having a working AC unit...no way...no how...would make it too sticky for sleeping. The humidity has returned....Monday and Tuesday were awesome days of low humidity and temps in the high 70's but we are now back up to the 90 degree mark and the humidity is back. Thank goodness that there is a little bit of a breeze today.

Well time to get ready for work....

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Bunch of Miles

On Monday, our second day off, we went within an hour's drive of Winston-Salem to check out campgrounds. We'd like to find one where we can head out, as soon as we get up on our day off (Sunday) and go to a campground with the rig to hang out for our two days off. We checked out four different campgrounds, ranging from 16 miles away to the furthest being an hour away. We liked CrossWinds campground, which was the closest, but due to the early arrival time and it being on a Sunday it would be a little tricky to make it work. We'd have to call on a Saturday and see if there is a spot open; otherwise with the late check out they allow on Sundays, there's no telling when we could get in. CrossWinds is a small campground but easy to get there and they have about eight large pull throughs up front (near the pool)that would work for us. We spoke with Glenda, the owner of the campground and she was very willing to work with us on our needs.

We drove to a couple others...High Rock Marina and Campground (an older campground with tight sites)and Oak Hollow Campground. We liked "B" section of Oak Hollow. It sat next to a large lake and although the sites were back ins, most of them were very long so it wouldn't be too tough to get into. It actually was a large gravel parking lot type of area with spray painted lines designating the separation between sites. Full hook ups but this is a first come, first serve campground. We'd have to wait till 8 a.m., when the office opens, to call and see it there's a spot open and then head out.

The place that seemed to be the best option for us is a campground that our friend, Tom told us about. It's an hour from here and is called Mayberry Campground. It is a large open campground that overlooks the mountains and surrounding area. Full hook-ups at all of the sites but the neat thing is that once we take our rig there, for $30 we can store it there and anytime we want to go up, we just call them and they take it to our site and it's all ready for us to set up once we arrive. There isn't a pool there but we've only swam a couple of times that we've ever been somewhere where they've had one. Not a big deal to us. There was a nice breeze blowing so not sure if that is typical as yesterday was gorgeous and perfect all the way around. It was in the high 70's, low humidity and beautiful blue skies. We drove all day long with all of our windows down and the cool breeze blowing through the car. Boomer was lovin' it !

Anyway back to Mayberry Campground....you may be wondering why it's called that. Mount Airy, where this campground is located is home to Andy Griffith. From what we understand, in downtown Mount Airy are many of the types of places that were part of the Andy Griffith show...Floyd;s barber shop, etc. We didn't make it to downtown...we'll save that adventure for when we go up there on our first camping trip. We think it important that the rig "Stay in use" to keep the systems operating correctly. I imagine it's like a house...the longer it sits without occupants the sooner it goes downhill. This would be our getaway and Sundays and Mondays should be quiet days in the park since many people camp on the weekends. With the exception of just a handful of sites, all of them were fine so I don't think we'd have a problem getting a site on our days off.

The campground itself is the former homestead of the descendants of the Siamese twins, Eng and Chang Bunker. The home still stands and has been maintained. It overlooks the campground. the Bunker's life is a very interesting one. Follow the link to learn more about them.

So...Monday was a busy day for us but we had a good time exploring nearby campgrounds and finding a getaway place for us. Now we just have to look at our schedule and figure out when we'll get the ball rolling.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Sunday...

I was hoping to sleep in just a wee bit this morning but noooo.....the phone rang at 7:37. Apparently our chef forgot to change the phones over (again)when he came in at 6 a.m. so they would ring in the manager's apartment and not ours. After Linda tried to explain that it was 7:30 and not 8:30, as the resident thought it was, she told her that her breakfast would be delivered in just a few minutes. At that point sleeping in was out of the question because we needed to go check the phones so we wouldn't get calls the rest of the day....The day began.

A few days ago I had searched, on the internet, for Universalist churches in the area. I found one 4 miles from us so we decided to go today. I have never been to one but Linda has. It was very interesting and thought provoking. The mission statement of this church is as follows: The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem is an inclusive, supportive community of spiritual freedom, evolving wisdom and ethical action. Today's talk was on "How Do You Like Yourself Best, in Solitude or with Companions" It was very interesting. There were readings from Henry David Thoreau and Lennon/McCartney (With a little help from my friends) although it turned into a great songfest with the entire group singing. Today's guest speaker was the Reverend Dick Weston-Jones, a retired minister from Ventura, California. He reminded me of the minister at my church, growing up. He was an older man with a pony tail in a suit and tie although my childhood minister wore the traditional black robe....which concealed his blue jeans and cowboy boots. He spoke of his time with monks in Greece and the solitude he felt being there. Mediation five times a day...a world of silence and reflection. It was a life altering experience for him that expanded his consciousness. It became even more rewarding to him when he returned to his hectic life of schedules and commitments.

It was refreshing to go to a service that was respectful of everyone's beliefs (or absence of any), their gender, ethnicity, sexuality and to see people free to express their views freely and without judgment. During the time for "Joys and Concerns" there were many people who lined up, at the microphone, to share information with the congregation. Many of them had stories related to "D" day....Linda and I forgetting that today is the anniversary of that important date during WWII. There were many moving stories that people spoke of.

The other thing that struck me was the simplicity of this "church". Folding chairs in a large room with a podium of sorts at the front. No stained glass...well, there was the small sun catcher piece that hug in the window. No ornate, over the top elevated pulpit or gilded fixtures. The place was packed with people in their "come as you are" attire. Jeans, shorts, some dressed up.....anything was a possibility. Prior to the service at 10:30, they hold a Sunday morning forum from 9 until 10. Although we didn't go to that, they sound very interesting. Today's discussion was on Steven Feldman's book, "Compartments". Steven Feldman is a professor of medicine at nearby Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

After we left there, Linda and I returned to Creekside and had lunch with the residents. We ate with Flo..she is from Brooklyn, NY and her deceased husband was in the Marines for 30+ years. He passed away four years ago. She is a spunky woman, having raised two boys on her own while her husband traveled the world in the service. She said that they typically were transferred, to a new base, every 18 months. It was very interesting to get to know Flo....lunch was great too. Home made coconut creme pie for dessert. Yum !!

Tomorrow we are going to go our and drive around to check out campgrounds in the area. We'd like to find some, within a reasonable distance, that we can take our rig to on our days off and relax. We'll let you know what we find.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Short Night.....

Last night we were on-call. I don't recall any of this specifically but Linda said that at 3:20 a.m. I sat bolt upright when the alarm went off in our room. The alarm is a piercing sound....kind of like the pulsating sound your alarm clock makes but amplify it times ten. It continues until you get up, go to the office where the electronic board shows which room number is lit up, then we proceed to the room on either the 1st - 3rd floor. Once you get to the room, you locate which of the three e-call cords were pulled and SHUT IT OFF....whew....For a fly on the wall of our apartment it was probably quite the symphony of activity with earplugs flying out, mouth guard thrown to the night stand, decent attire being put on, glasses being put on so we can actually see where we're going...jumping into slippers or flip flops, fumbling for office keys and half running to the office all the while thinking....I really wish I had peed before I left the room.

Until we could get the ambulance there and finish up with the e-call (why did last night have to be when the rookie ambulance drivers come out on OUR call)over an hour had passed. So back to bed at 4:30...of course we can't sleep...thinking, hoping for the best for our resident, etc. Then finally la la land is within our grasp....first call off came in at 6 and then the other shortly thereafter...Aw hell, might as well just get up as we had to open.....Short Night...

Had an amazing thunder/lightening/hail storm earlier tonight....this picture shows how hard it was raining at one point. Gutter couldn't take it fast enough....ran out over the top and looked like a waterfall off the edge of our patio...Our cup was running over....