The Great Outdoors

When I was about 8 years old I was allowed to go camping with my Aunt Gertrude. It was my first experience in the camping world. We went to Versailles State Park in Indiana. Looking back I give Aunt Gert credit. She took 5 boys, ages 9-17, and me tent camping. I actually didn't sleep in the tent. She had a Dodge Rambler, and the seats folded down flat. She and I slept in the car, while my brother and cousins slept in two tents. I think it was just for one night, but I really don't remember. What I do remember is being at the grocery store and there was a dispute over a broken pickle jar. The boys were involved in that one. When we got to the park, we set up camp and went for a hike. The older boys went rock climbing. I thought the cliff where they were climbing looked like the side of a mountain. There are no mountains in Indiana. My cousin Perry and I waded in the creek looking for critters under rocks and watching out for water snakes. We spent the afternoon swimming at the lake. The older boys again took off out in the water, leaving Perry, Aunt Gertrude and my self in the shallower waters. Over time we became brave and started moving away from Aunt Gert. All of a sudden Aunt Gert was yelling for Perry who was no where to be seen. She panicked, and had the life guard pull everyone out of the water. Now that I am an Aunt, I can only imagine the fear she felt. She found Perry on the edge of the water, playing, not paying any attention to the fact that he was the subject of the search. He was spanked on the spot! That evening, we sat around the camp fire and roasted marshmallows. Mine caught fire and I waved my stick back and forth to put it out. When I looked at the end of my stick my marshmallow was gone! I had waved it away. We looked everywhere to see what had happened to my marshmallow, but we couldn't find it. At morning breakfast we were allowed to cook our own over the fire. Aunt Gertrude said if you're old enough to go camping, you were old enough to make your own breakfast. We loved it! As we were breaking down the tents, we found my lost marshmallow. It was stuck in the hair of my Aunt. Apparently, while I was waving my stick of flaming marshmallow, it took flight and landed in the back of my Aunts head. We had a great time that weekend. When Aunt Gertrude dropped Perry off at his house, he ran to his Mom as fast as he could. Aunt Gert thought that he was going to tell on her for spanking him. Instead, he announced with pride that if you are old enough to go camping, you were old enough to cook your own breakfast! I hope that you have some adventures with the great outdoors. Take Care!

The Queen and Her Court

It all started in 2007. Mom and Dad wintered in Arcadia, Florida. One of Moms friends was going to enter the Senior Ms. Arcadia pageant and wanted someone else to enter also. At first Mom said no, then decided it might be fun. She had never done anything like this before.  Once she did, she received all kinds of advice.  There was an 80 year old who was a pageant pro. She wanted to know what Moms talent was? Talent? No one mentioned a talent part of the program. This lady’ s talent was to do the waltz with her walker. Mom was a bit dismayed by that, but soon was relieved to find out there wouldn’t be time to have a talent show. There was a lot of being escorted back and forth across the stage. The judge was a beauty Queen from Florida. Mom was shocked when she was crowned. That’s when it started, the beginning of the crown collecting. My nieces soon followed in royal style.  Gwen, won homecoming Princess that same year, in 2008, Courtney won and in 2009 Meredith won. Now that we are out of girls to win, they needed to find a different venue. Gwen took the Snowball crown and Courtney took the Farmers Fair. I’m not at all surprised by this. When the girls were little, I bought them all the Disney Princess halloween costumes. Gwen was Cinderella, Courtney was Ariel and Meredith was Snow White. They did indeed look like Princesses, as well as acted like it. We decided this year to do a crown picture. I wanted to capture this moment with Grandmother and Granddaughters. It was fun, there were goofy pictures and comparing who has the biggest crown. By the way, Mom does. I resisted putting a crown on Jake just for fun. He felt that might come back to haunt him. My own family royalty. You never know when the Princess will grow up to be Queen. Take care!

Dogs and Cats

A few years before Jake was born I read an article on raising children. It was very interesting and the main part of the article has stuck with me over all these years. It compares having children to having dogs and cats. Now, I have had cats and dogs, and I have a child. I now understand what the author of the article was trying to say. You see, when you get a puppy, they depend on you for everything. When you have a child it is the same. When you walk in a room your child lights up and runs to you, so does your puppy. When you leave, or put the baby to bed, it cries. You need to feed it at the right time, make sure the bathroom needs are taken care of and play and cuddle with your child/puppy to make sure they are happy and socialized. As your child/puppy grows, it becomes more independent. When little, you understood every look and sound that your child/puppy made. You just knew what to do at every moment. When your child turns into a teenager, your puppy turns into a cat. Yes, a cat. No longer will your teen/cat care if you are home or at work. The only thing that matters is that you have food and drinks available whenever they need. They no longer want to hang with the family, they have friends to meet and mice to catch. They no longer need you to entertain them, they can do that all by themselves. They come and go as they please, you never know when they will allow you to engage them in anything. Their response could be a good one, a smile or a purr, or not so good, a slamming door and a hiss. The article assured me that as the teenager/cat grows into a young adult, they slowly return to being a dog. Once they have experienced life as an adult, with the responsibilities and relationships that come with it, they will return to you with a smile and a hug. Wether you have a cat or dog, enjoy your time. Take care!

Designer Dogs

When I was growing up there were two kinds of dogs, purebred and mutt. That was your choice. Now things are different. There are still mutts and purebreds, but the popular thing to have is a designer dog. A designer dog is a hybrid, two purebreds mixed to make a new breed. What brought this to my attention was the fact that Jake and I want to get a dog, Lee not so much. He has dog allergies. The neighbor has two standard Poodles. Poodles are known to be low shed, smart and allergy friendly. Belle was in the yard and I wanted Lee to take the Poodle test. We went over to Belle and I had Lee rub on her, then sniff his hand. I wanted to see what his reaction to her was. The only down side to standing too close to Belle is she gets excited and usually tries to pee on you. Lee positioned himself in front of her and rubbed away. He didn't react at all. He passed the poodle test. I had a green light.  I decided to look into hypoallergenic breeds. This picture is that of a Chinese Crested pure bred. I'm sure that there are tons of people that would love this, but I just can't get into it. I want a dog with fur. Not one that looks like it has some sort of hair disease. Allergies are very prevalent now. People want a cute, low maintenance, smart dog.  This is what began the designer dog craze. A Poodle is very smart, and a bit high strung. When you take a poodle and add another dog personality you can get all kinds of things. There are Labradoodles, Schnoodles, Goldendoodles, Snickerdoodles, no wait, that's a cookie. Anyway, the rage of mixing purebreds brings out all kinds of dogs. Take the Beagle. A cute little hunting dog. I've had Beagles and they are great dogs, but they smell. Mix that with a Poodle and you have a Poogle, or a Pug and get a Puggle. My favorite name was the Brat, Boston Terrier and Rat Terrier. The possibilities are endless. The surprising thing is that these designer dogs cost more than the purebreds! Plus you can never be sure which traits a dog will get. If you mixed a Beagle and a Chihuahua, you could get a jumping, yappy, smelly dog that runs in circles.  My puppy search will continue. I don't want to get a dog until spring. I am leaning towards a Goldendoodle because they are just so darn cute! Take care!

A New Beginning!

Welcome to 2011! The first day of the New Year. We have already said good bye to a decade in this new century. Is it what you thought it would be? Did you think we would have flying cars and live on the moon by now? When you think back, we have come along way baby! How much further can we go? I have no really big plans for 2011. I don't make resolutions because I think they are silly. I do try and evaluate what changes I would like to make, and what I need to make. Hopefully some of those will be accomplished. I can be sure that in this New Year, I will wish that Jake would stop growing, I will wish that we did more family things and I will wish that I can make my shape something other than round. Two out of those three things could be accomplished. They may or may not actually be accomplished, but it is possible. Why do we look at the New Year as a new beginning? It's not like a giant clock is reset and we start over. It happens right in the middle of the school year, so that doesn't really do anything for us. The only thing that is certain to happen is the kids will scream See ya next year! on the last day before break. It doesn't even fall at the beginning of a season! We have these big plans for the New Year. We can plan celebrations, vacations and retirements.  We can look forward to birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. The calendar starts anew then. It makes us look at ourselves and see what we like, or not. This year will be better than last. Was last year so bad? I think a year should be extended to 24 months. Think of what we could get done in that period of time! Maybe have a choice, you could take a year, or an extension, like on our taxes. If you don't want the year to end in 12 months, extend it. If you are having a bad year, then it's over at mid-night on the last day of the twelfth month. It could be that easy. Who made up these rules anyway? Maybe we should move New Years to a warmer month, like May, or to September when school starts. Jake would go to school in one year. None of this 2010-1011 school year. You would graduate in the same year that you started. It seems easier to me. Alas, I am not in charge. I will make the most of my next twelve months the best way I can. May your next twelve months be grand! Take Care!

A look back at 2010

New Years Eve already? It seems that the years are flying by faster and faster. I thought we just closed the pool and school started. We've had snow and really cold weather and I must admit I am having thoughts of when the pool will open again and the weather will warm up. It will be here in no time. New Years Eve is usually spent hanging out, playing games and trying to stay awake until mid night to watch the ball drop. I have no idea why watching the ball drop is such a big thing. I usually get a kick out of Dick Clark. For as long as I can remember Dick Clark hosted New Years Eve. I have no idea how old he is, but he has got to be up there in age. Tonight Lees sisters and their families will be here to spend the night. There will be 12 of us. It's a combination party. We're doing the gift giving tonight as well as saying good-bye to 2010 and celebrating that we've made it into 2011. It will be a fun evening. 2010 was a pretty good year for us. Nothing drastic happened. Nobody died, or was sick for a long period or was diagnosed with a horrible disease. Mom and Dad hit a few mile stones this year. They have been married for 60 years and Dad hit the big 80! We took a great vacation to Alaska via a cruise ship and spent a week in Seattle. That was truly a highlight. We finished out our backyard and we really enjoyed it. The one who has seen the most changes is Jake. He not only changed physically but emotionally as well. I can honestly say my little boy is turning into a young man. I am having mixed emotions on that one. It had to happen. I also see my parents age as well. Another fact of life. We will be celebrating tonight. I am thankful for all our family and the time we've spent together. The memories that we have created this past year.  We will laugh and play games and ring in the New Year with Dick Clark. We will watch the ball drop in New York, then I will go to bed! I hope as you look back over 2010 you have wonderful memories. Take Care and Happy New Year!

Neighborhood Watch

It's been a busy last two weeks, with all the bustle surrounding the holidays. People come and go without much notice.  Then a neighbor up the street called to ask about the neighbor between us. It seems that the other day a flower truck made a delivery. Since the next door neighbors weren't home, the delivery person went up the street and left the flowers. Then, a few hours later they came back, informed my up the street neighbor that the next door neighbors were in Florida for the week and they wanted the flowers back. Today there was a blue van with a ladder on top parked in my next door neighbors drive. That prompted my up the street neighbor to call and ask what she should do. She knew my next door neighbors weren't there. She seen a guy get out of the van and walk to the front out of her sight. He never came back. She wondered if she should call the police. I said that might be a good idea, but I understood her not wanting to make a call when it was nothing. As I was talking to her, I decided to ask Dad what he would do. What else was there to do, we needed to check it out! I wasn't so sure that was a good idea. I mean, I looked out the window and didn't see anyone, but there was a big blue van in the driveway. I could only imagine that there was someone just lining up the furniture in the foyer ready to start moving it all out, or maybe just take all the small stuff. While I was talking with my neighbor about how wise it would be to send an 80 year old over to check out a possible crime scene, Dad was "taking the dog for a walk". One small problem, we don't have a dog. Up the street he went wandering along, down the side walk and up to the front door. My up the street neighbor was standing in the window, so I decided I needed to be back up and went to the garage.  That put me at a great advantage since that put me in full view of the neighbors front door. I found Dad on the front porch talking to a guy named Bill. Bill the painter. Apparently the job he had started before Christmas went over and he was just finishing up. I walked over and introduced myself, told him we were sorry if we offended him, but I couldn't imagine someone having work done when they were out of town. He just smiled and said it was ok, although he did say he was trying to think of who he could call to bail him out if we had called the police. My next door neighbor called about an hour later. My up the street neighbor had left him five voice mail messages and he wanted to make sure that we knew it was ok for Bill to be there. He said Bill was a great painter and very reasonable. I decided to go back over and talk to Bill again. When he answered the door, he just smiled and looked at me. I think he thought I was a bit nuts. I told him that he got a glowing review from my next door neighbor and I wanted to get his card to have the house painted in the spring. He had given a great price to my neighbor, I wonder if I'll get that same deal in the spring? After all, I didn't call the police on him! Isn't it nice knowing that you have someone watching over your stuff when you're not home? Take Care!