11/29/14

I have decided I need to start dating these blogs.  Now that we are retired, I am losing track of the days.  We have no routine right now.   Nothing bad about that…All is good.

 

Well yesterday we got on the road from Choke Canyon and headed on down Interstate 37.  We passed Corpus Cristi and arrived at Eastgate around 2 pm.  Debbie the manager had called us earlier in the week and had changed our lot #.  She wanted to know our ETA and that she had company and we wouldn’t be starting anything till Monday earliest.  So we have several days to get settled.   We found our lot and backed in.  Then we found our water hose and sewer hose were to short.  So off to Walmart we went.   OMG.   Forgot it was BLACK FRIDAY.   Horrible.   Finally got out of their, came back to the campground.  We got the electric and sewer hooked up but having trouble with the water.   It was winterized and had to drain it all.   Can’t seen to find all the shutoffs to get the water flowing again.  Oh well wait till tomorrow….No Rush….Their is Wi Fi and Dish all through the park but have to find out passwords and things to use it.   I’m on my hotspot for now.  Today will be a laundry day.  Lots of laundry to catch up on……We even took a load of dirty clothes from home cause we didn’t have time to do it all.   My washer at home was on the verge of dying and the drier did, so we were in a sad state of affairs.  Also today and tomorrow will have to vacuum and straighten out this RV.  At the last minute we just threw stuff in.   Hahaha….Ran out of room and I new at that time I had put some stuff in wrong places……We got the big TV hooked up last nite.   We brought it from home, but I think we forgot the Remote….OH What a Pain….I just hope we run across it somewhere, but I think not……

So the next 2 days will be busy, trying to get everything set for living….lol…We met the people across from us, and several others.  The weather is beautiful.   It was so hot going to Walmart yesterday, I wanted my shorts on.  When the sun went down it cooled off fast.  So we will see what today brings……Hopefully Water hook ups…..lol

 

PS….Kitty is doing wonderful….He is happy and is back to normal…..He has learned to sleep with the RV running down the road.  Life is Good for Him…….Altough I lost him again last nite……..I heard a distant……… MEOW……MEOW…..I got up and found him locked in the bathroom….Now how does one not see him in a 3 ft. square room when you shut the door….lol…Poor Kitty…..He has a lot to learn……..So this morning he ate and ate and played and pottyed and soon he will be ready for his day nap….ANOTHER 10 hours….lol…

 

Finally,….It has come…The time we have been planning for over 2 years for….DAY 1…..We left yesterday just in front of a cold front heading to Illinois.  It still doesn’t seem real that after all this planning and last minute chaos, that were in the Motorhome with most of your everyday needs (and more)…I think we probably packed away much more that we should have.  Probably should have weighted in at the elevator on the way out of town, but then we would know how overloaded we were.   Ignorance is Bliss…..LOL….But first………Thanksgiving at Scott and Brandy………

We had our family Thanksgiving at Scott and Brandys this year.  Our house sure did not need that much activity.  They have a huge bar room down basement, complete with bar, pool table, fooz ball table, tv, and many other toys for adults….lol…Now he is building a small stage area, because he just ordered a karaoke machine.   Everyone showed up this year.  It was so nice. Tammy and the kids came to our house first …She made scalloped corn and went through some more stuff to take home.  Then we all went to Scotts…Everybody came, Rich’s Sister Pat and Charlie, sister Connie and Brian and their daughter Ashley and Mat, and Rich’s  brother John.  Also their was Staci, Brandys daughter.  She came home from college just to have dinner with all of us, and also Ed’s sister Beth.  She has become a very special person in our lives as well as Tina and Eds.  Aunt Beth is GREAT…… Also a very good friend Pam came to say goodbye.  Pam,  and her family have been in our life since we were newly married and with out kids.  We met Pam and her brother Bobby, and  her parents Carol and Bob, way back in the 70s when we first started camping.  Bob was sheriff of the hill at the campground….lol….We took Pam and Bobby to Chicago just to have fun when they were just kids.  Also Rich and I and Bob and Carol even did the Demo car Derby together.  We all 4 had our own cars…..Later when Scott was born, Pam went with us to the hospital and watched Scott be born.   Lessons in life to be learned…..haha….So it was so nice that she came by to see us.  Carol was home sick.  So sad Carol….Hope your feeling better by Thanksgiving.

I think we had food for another 50 people after we were done.  So so much food.  We made ham and green bean cassorle, deviled eggs, pea salad, and jello.  Scott and the guys deep fried a turkey.  Connie brought some friend chicken.  Pat brought a crock of little weinies.  Everyone loves them.  and that is only the beginning.  Much more food.  For drinks, we always have punch in the punch bowl.   Its just sherbet and 7 UP.   But so easy and the kids love it.  Of course the Adults had something a little stronger.  The bar is always stocked.  We all left stuffed and with bowls of food to take home….Isn’t that they way it always is.   So now our frig is packed with left overs….Actually, were going to have leftovers for breakfast this morning…..cake and deviled eggs….lol…We went home after the dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, knowing the Sunday was going to be a BIG Day…

We got up by 7 in the morning and started in.  So much yet to do.  Last minute clothes to put in.  Fridge to clean out.  Cabinets to take out last minute stuff.  Bathroom to clean out.  Just to name a few things…..lol….Well guess who showed up….Tina and Ed and the kids.   Now those of you who know Tina, will understand.  She is an organized work horse sometimes.   She can give orders and expect to work right along side of you while ordering you around.   And so it began.  She would question me on what to take and she carried it.   We would put it away in the RV and return again.  The worst part was the carrying.   Out the kitchen down 2 sets of steps,  to the Motorhome and back up steps.   Then here came Connie and Brian.  Connie stepped right in and continued the packing and carrying.   And so by Noon we were almost ready to go…. The guys loaded the scooter on the pick up, and did all the guy things.  haha….And LAST OF ALL KITTY……He was not happy.   He seen his bed get ripped apart.  His bedspread disappear.  then his sheets leave.   And finally his pillows left the bed.  Then I came for HIM…..lol….He sunk his claws into the mattress….HE KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP….He fought me all the way out.

So finally time to say GOODBYES…..Connie and Brian left to go to Breakfast…..You know it was almost 1 pm and he hadn’t had breakfast yet….OMG….and Tina and Ed and the kids stayed to lock up and take the LAST PICS…

 

We left finally around 1;30….fully expecting to eat leftovers….Well we decided to eat at one of our favorite resturants…..BONANZA in Lincoln….love the Sirloin tips and salad bar….and of course we get Senior discout now….Being old does have its PERKS…..then headed down St. Louis….That’s were we have spent the nite.  Kitty did well.  He finally took a nap on the sofa and last nite slept in bed like normal.  So going to have breakfast soon.  Deviled eggs, cake and maybe a little pea salad.  lol….and on down the road we go…..Soon no more rain…Maybe sunshine by tonite?

 

 

This weather is soooooooo so cold.   We didn’t plan on this. It is 19 degrees right now and going down to 12 tonight.  This feels like the middle of January.  Even in Harlingen Texas, it is 48.   I bet those snowbirds are freezing.   lol.  Here it is Monday evening and where leaving  Sunday.  6 days and counting.   Almost here…..Yea……Gotta pack the winter coats even for Texas….brrrrrrrrr…..

This weekend we went to a Gymnastics meet for Miley, my 6 year old granddaughter.  She is so tiny and cute.  Miley has been attending Tumbling for 3 years.  Tina entered her in Competition the first year.  She has won many medals and trophy’s and has competed in State and in the Nationals.

 

These are Pics of Miley back in 2012.  She looks so tiny.  The girl is Emily Hansen, her favorite coach, and little Austin still had his paci….lol…

We decided to leave for Rock Island on Saturday.  We have friends their that use to live down the street from us.  John use to work at Coca Cola with Rich.  John transferred back the Quad Cities were he was from,  2 years ago.  They became good friends of our family while they lived here.  The Meet was just a half a block from John and Jessie’s.   Tina decided that her and Miley and Austin would stay with John and Jessie, and we parked the Motorhome at the high school where the meet was to take place the next day.  Cameron came with us also.  You’ll never believe what happened.  It snowed 2″…..HOW HORRIBLE….Its suppose to wait till we leave.  We decided to go out to eat.  Rock Island is built on a hill.  Fortunately they live on the high side.   We headed down the street, and the cars coming up were at a stand still.  Well they tried,….lol…….They kept slipping sideways….slipping right into the curbs…….lol….Out came the wreckers…..the fire trucks…..What a mess.   We ate at a Mexican Rest.  and then came home.  Fortunately by the time we went back up the hill, the salt trucks were out.   Easy trip back home.  The next morning , breakfast at Johns and on to the meet at the high school…..

Miley competed in 3 categories.  Floor tumbling, Trampoline, and Double Mini Trampoline.  Her first was Tumbling at 9:30.   Next was Trampoline at 11:30 and finally Double Mini at 2:30.  By the time they got to the last one, they were running late.  It was a long long day.  But she did fabulous.  She did wonderful especially on the Double Mini.  The top 3 girls were only a difference of 7/10 in score…So by the time the day was over, Miley won a 2nd, 3rd. and a 5th

….CONGRATULATIONS MILEY…..GREAT JOB……

 

Finally It was time to go home……………Stopped at McDonalds…..Miley wanted a chocolate shake….Every Champion deserves a treat…..Right…..So Homeward bound finally…..Another late nite……School for the kids the next day….but now US?……Retirement is great…Just sleep in another morning…..lol….     6 DAYS AND COUNTING            LOL LOL LOL   GOTTA ESCAPE THIS SNOW AND COOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDD

 

Here it is at 6am in the morning and the temperature is 28 degrees……..brrrrrrrrrr………We are just 9 days away from leaving.  This cold snap horrible.  It is even chilly in Harlingen.   58 degrees….lol….but we can handle that.  Were just hoping the snow doesn’t fly before we leave.   lol.  Were having our family Thanksgiving at Scott and Brandys, on the 22.  It will be our last family gathering till next summer.  Then we plan on leaving on Sunday 23.  That gives us a week to get to Harlingen Texas.  We can take out time and enjoy the trip.  But if it is bad weather and snowing….OH NO….we will head straight south.  To the Sunshine and warmer weather and then turn west.

We’ve made a few more trips to Goodwill and Lily Pads.  Sold more stuff on Facebook Garage Sale sights.  Gave more stuff away.  Yesterday, I went through the cabinets in the kitchen.  All those bowls and lids.  I seen on Facebook recently, a funny post.   “Did you know that all those socks that go missing in the dryer, turn into Tupperware Lids”?  ……Hahahaah…….That’s why I found all those lids in the cabinet.   Now I know where they come from.  I guess I am never to old to gain more knowledge.  But still have lots of stuff……Will it never end?….

When I was a little girl, I lived with my Grandma for 2 years when my parents split up.  I was in 4th and 5th grade.   I have so many memories.  She lived in an old 2 story house.  I loved it.  It seemed so big but I bet it wasn’t.  Seems like when your a little kid everything is so HUGE!!!….When you grow up everything becomes much smaller.

I have so many memories of this house.   Waking up in the morning, (of course had to tryout every bedroom in the house, up stairs or down) smelling fresh percolated coffee filtering the air.  Sitting on the front porch whether, I was swinging or just sitting on the wooden steps.  I would love to watch the cars go by.  She lived on Main St. in Kewanee.  I can still see her cutting her grass with the push mower, hanging her laundry on Monday, wash day.  The whole back yard was full of sheets and clothes hanging with the poles holding the lines up.  She did her laundry down basement in the wringer washer and the old washtubs.  She had a sistern with a hand pump for water and huge crocks of water.  She also had a coal bin down basement.  In the winter she would have to get up in the middle of the nite to stoke the furnace with coal and corn cobs.

These are 2 pics that I found quickly to add.   The first one is in 1960.  It was probably a Sunday.  We always dressed up to walk to church on Sunday.  She didn’t have a car, so we walked everywhere.  The second is taken in the back yard facing the back porch.  I must have been around 2 or 3.  I spent many hours playing on the back porch and the sidewalk with my neighbor friend Sue Ann.  We would play jacks, hopscotch and roller skate with those old dangerous skates that clipped on the shoes…You would be skating along and they would come off the shoe and dangle from the ankles.   Well you know what that would mean…..CRASH….OUCHHHH…..Cryyyy…..Bandaids…..I’m dying…………lol…

She had a beautiful garden in the backyard.  It was full of fruit trees, bushes, flowers, and vegetables.  She grew all kinds of veggies in her garden and canned them.  She also had cherry trees, apple trees, and peach trees.  Raspberry bushes, red and black, and currant bushes.  She even had a grape arbor.  Flowers were everywhere.  I remember her beautiful red poppies that came back every year.  I would come home from playing and I would go to the back yard behind the garage and find her picking the berries.  Of course they were all sticker bushes, so she had long sleeves and a net on her hair.  She canned everything she grew.  Ohhh How she could cook.  She had around 11 brothers and sisters, so when they came to visit, everyone had to go see the garden, and what wonderful aromas and food came from her kitchen.  Ohhhh the jams and Jellies she could make.  Grandma had the old stove with the cast iron lids on the top.  On the left side was the area to put in coal or wood to fuel the stove and on the right was the oven.  Extending up on the back was the warming area and a shelve for salt and pepper.  the cast iron lids had a removable handle that you interchanged from lid to lid to open the stove area.  This is where she would brew her coffee.   (So what happened to me? lol  I love the smell of coffee…..Brings back these memories….But can’t stand to drink it.)  But the one thing I remember most is her ……OLD FASHIONED ROSE BUSH…..

It was planted against the back of the old garage.  It bloomed only once a year at the end of May.  It was just covered with beautiful Pink flowers.  It would get so big that she would tie it up.  The branches would grown long and arch out and bend to the ground from the weight of the flowers .   This picture is from the 1940s.  I also have a picture of my Grandfather standing beside it.  He died in 1949 before I was even born.  When my mom was married, she took a piece of the rose bush everywhere she moved.  Burlington, little town of Cameron, country house in Cameron, and finally Toluca.  All the bushes I believe are now gone.  When Rich and I were married and moved here to this house, I took a piece from my childhood house in Toluca.   It just flourished on the north side of the house.  When we added on to the back I had to replant it again on the west side of the front porch.   Their it is today.  Growing like crazy.

My sister from Albuquerque came for a visit, a number of years ago and took a piece home with her.  Then she gave a piece to her son in Santa Fe New Mexico.   It is still growing at both homes.  Now in the spring,  when we return, I will be starting more pieces of it at both the girls homes and my sister in law, Connie is anxiously waiting for a piece also.   Connie has a beautiful yard.  She has put so much time and energy into it.  She has a green thumb.  Connie and Brian bought her dads home, and I know she spends her time sitting on the back porch and reminiscing also.  Leo put a lot of time into his garden.  So a Rose bush in her yard will make a Beautiful addition.  So this little Rose Bush is still growing and flourishing in Albuquerque and Santa Fe New Mexico and McNabb Ill.  Next spring it will also be growing in Spring Valley, Granville and little Mt. Palatine.  All since the 1940s.   What a history.  It may be much older as my Grandma moved to her home in the early 1920s after she was married.   The picture that I have of my Grandpa is how I am giving the Rose Bush its age.   My Grandpa died the year before I was born, 1949.  Hopefully the Bush will live on and the kids will all follow tradition and keeping passing a little piece of this bush on………What a Great Legacy…..

Some more pics of the Rose Bush and some other flowers in my yard.

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Of Course , I have to end this blog with a pic of Kitty in the window…..Hes been around for a long time….

Ps…….The sun is up……….will not really…its just daylight…….OMG…Their is a Dusting of SNOW ON THE GROUND…………..

 

At Last…..Rich drove his last mail truck yesterday.  He drives / or did  lol  / a shuttle run from Wisconsin to St. Louis Missouri.  He picks up his leg of the route in Oglesby, Illinois and drives to St. Louis and switches trailers and comes back to Oglesby.  So yesterday was his last run…….Finally……..He has been so looking forward to this all week.  He was on the count down just like I was.  He came home last night and had cleaned all the stuff out of his truck.   He was a good boy, unlike me.  I left my locker untidy.  lol.  I will say one thing about his job and he agrees with me.  It is the best job he ever had.

Rich started working for Ursa Trucking Company around 5 years ago.  He has done many routes during his years their.  He drove shuttles to Iowa, Wisc. and Mo.  They always treated him well.  They would put him up in motels when needed so he wouldn’t have to make the long drive home.  They even provide shuttle cars when necessary and they can take them home.   They always compensated him well and checks were always on time.  They also drive good equipment and keep them repaired.  But one thing we can’t understand, in this day and age when people supposedly need jobs, where are they?   The People?  They have been short on drivers all summer.  He has been doing more that his share of miles, almost bordering on illegal.  Sometimes he was illegal .  Finally they have found 2 drives they hired to take both ends of the run.  He has been training them all week.   Here is some of the questions they ask.   What do you do when the roads get icy and snowy?   OMG…..They don’t want to drive in bad weather.   Did they not ever hear the saying about the US Mail,  Nothing stops it….Neither Rain, nor sleet, nor snow….The Mail must Go….Next Question……….Do I get all Holidays Off?…..Oh Gees, Did you not ask that question during orientation?   It would have been answered then.   Your holiday is the next day following the holiday.  That way the mail is their for the next day delivery.   Then another observation.   How does one get lost coming straight south coming from Wisc. to Oglesby…..Ugggggggg…..Rich doesn’t hold out much hope for some of these new drivers they hired.   But at Last He IS……….FREE……..

 

He already had his first evening planned.  lol.  Scott and Brandy were going to a Halloween Party at a bar with some other friends.  So they all went out together.  Of course several bars later, he came home at 3 AM.  lol   How do you think he is feeling this morning?   haha….Not to good.   He just went back to bed.   Or should I say just NOW went to bed.   He was sleeping in his recliner.  So glad the MH has a recliner.  He would be lost without it.  So today begins our first day of our New Life…..

NO MORE ALARMS will go off…..My alarm by the bed was set for 4 AM.  His phone was set also for 4 AM.  It was also set for all his other runs and all his rest stops, in case he took a short nap.  It seems at times it was always going off.   I even called the phone company and had the house phone shut off.  So only active phones now are the cell phones.  Well, mine doesn’t work good here at home.   Good ole  AT&T………service at its best…..Now I can only text or FB….That’s ok……Now we are approaching Crunch time.   So much to do.   Were having Thanksgiving early this Year.  Saturday November 22 at Scott and Brandys.  Then we would like to leave the next day.   That will give us the whole week to slowly make our way down to Harlingen Texas.   Our ETA is Dec. 1 .   Its a long trip so were going to take our time, providing the weather isn’t to bad.  Until then we have lots to do around the house to get ready for our Journey.

I would like to add a link…

My Movie—-My Retirement Last Day at Work

This is my Slideshow/video that I made.   I wanted to add music…Thriller from Michael Jackson….haha….they only way I could was to publish it on Youtube…..hahaha….so all my friends at work….Your now on YOUTUBE….lol….Hope you watch….it was fun to make….so many memories…

Halloween was not very nice weather this year.   So so cold.  Hardly any kids out.   We usually have close to 80.  This year, maybe 40.   They came in some bigger groups so, the streets were dead this year.   Only 1 or 2  hayracks pulled by 4 wheelers.  I decided to add some of my favorite pics .  The first group is the grandkids this year.

 

This next group is some of my favorites in the past…

Now this group is so cool…..I added little friends with them to make them SPOOKY……lol

Our House………