Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Classic just classic ;)

The World Clock

The World Clock and Life Expectancy Calculator

Lake Tahoe



Went on Vacation to Lake Tahoe a few weeks back and had the best time. Listened to the Lone Survivor a book on tape, just riveting. Enjoyed the family tremendously, got out on the Lake and I even won the Blackjack tournament, me! The one who doesn't like to gamble! While all the family was joining in, I thought it would be fun and just had the best luck. My brother helped me know how to split my last hand which ended up winning the tournament. While in the casino's, our whole family would be at the roulette table and I kept betting on the number 25, (that's when my divorce was final). It hit several times along with other dates or numbers. We all came away winners, but you have to respect the reality that one could lose everything.
We camped out in tents some in RV's all being together at the campground and it was just great. Pancakes always taste good in camp and the time just went by too quickly. We had a campfire, with marshmallows and of course s'mores, the ritual Miniature golf, although some also went to the real golf course and had a great time as well. Walked through the craft faire that they have there every year, tasted delicious fresh squeezed lemonade, and did the all you can eat buffet more than once being all together. Spent alot of time on the lake, and the swimming pool too.


Crater Lake

After Tahoe, we drove up to Oregon, and I was able to see many friends. It was a last minute decision going to Oregon, but everything worked out. Saw everyone pretty much just except for a few folks. On our way to Oregon we went via Crater Lake, what a beautiful place, it still had snow there.

We only had three days, the first day we walked around Eugene a bit, a really great place, had lunch with John, then out to see Archie and Lila for the best coffee, then later had pizza and beer with John and Kathy and their nephew Bobby Lynn, (Bob and Judy's son). Then went to some of my old haunts with Anne and Dave, Max's and Taylors to name a few. The next day we drove out to Dexter to see Sean and Patrick then had lunch back in Eugene with Marykate at the 5TH Street Market, then out to Veneta to an artsy carnival that Mike and Jenny were in charge of, lots of great live music then we drove back to North Eugene for dinner out with Skip. The next day we went out to the coast and spent alot of time playing on the beach at different places. Stopped at Yachats and had some great sea food there, then drove back to Eugene and spent the night at Barb's house. Leaving the next day we got a late start we stopped in Sisters to see Linda and then started the long haul back to Colorado. We did it in two days though this time. We knew we were getting closer to Denver when we started seeing mostly all Subaru's lol.

What a great trip it was, now back to work. I have to organize all of my photos and that will be alot of work but fun going through the pictures.

I attended the Danny Dietz Dedication on July 4TH. It was really meaningful and wonderful, and I'm glad that I was able to be there. Shook hands with the Secretary of the Navy, and Tom Tancredo, and I was in the presence of high ranking military types and hero's. Saw one of my son's "bosses", and he told me that he couldn't promise to keep him safe, that my son could end up like Danny, but he said he could guarantee that he had the best leadership. Very hard words to hear for me. He went on to say how my son was one of the best pilots. With all of this I told him how I was very proud of him, but how I also hoped that he wouldn't re-enlist again. With that he said, "and that's why it's good that 'mom's' aren't the ones making the decision". Also spoke with several mom's that lost their son's in Iraq, that was really hard. So yes, I'm very glad that I was able to be there. I should have taped the news, as I didn't see any of the coverage, but being there in person was very important for me, and really meant alot.

My family reunion in Ireland was just wonderful. Meeting many cousins for the very first time was awesome. We live so far apart being the reason for not getting together sooner. Some came from Australia, England and here from the United States, along with the ones that live in Ireland. I wish we didn't live so far apart, as my cousins are just terrific and I wish that I could spend more time with them. This is the group shot of most of us that made the trip over to Horse Island where my grandparents home was and still stands behind us.

Had the best time in Ireland, Scotland and England. This trip was the trip of a lifetime for me. I really am very happy that I was able to go. I was sad that my kids weren't able to be with me and meet our relatives, but it'll have to be another time. I don't think I'll ever go back with the high expense and all, but who knows, it would be nice to think I could go back again with my son and daughter.

For me flying into London, and spending 2 days there was fun. Saw Buckingham Palace, missed seeing the queen by 10 minutes and half a block I like to say. My girlfriend who traveled with me, and I were strolling along not far from Buckingham Palace, unaware of the queen honoring the Falkland Island soldiers, but saw the fly overs and all the soldiers decked out in their uniforms with all of the medals dangling from them along with all of the added security. A woman said, oh wasn't the queen just grand?! We could have had we known. Oh well. While in London, we did one of those hop on hop off bus tours that drop you off at all of the sites, so we saw everything there. Big Ben, St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower, Piccadilly, a ride on the Thames, just everything. We also went to a live theater performance of 'The Hounds Of Baskerville' which was a real hoot.

We then flew into Edinburgh Scotland, toured the Castle there, and the royal mile which is incredible as well. I'm still mad at myself for not buying a kilt there. Anyway, Scotland was fabulous. We also took a bus tour up to Loch Ness and it stopped at several castles and other tourist stops. Our tour guide Fiona, said how they don't like to refer to the Loch Ness monster as the monster, rather they refer to her as the Sea Creature. She added that while she's never seen her, her mom has. ;)

We then flew into Dublin. Saw the Dublin Castle and the Cathedral. Saw the Blarney castle kissing the Blarney stone, ran into my brother's family in the gift shoppe there, that was crazy, but with all of our families converging on our family reunion it was probably bound to happen. Seeing the family and the reunion was just fabulous. The family reunion, seeing Horse Island, going over to the Skelligs Island, all were just incredible. My grandparents house on Horse Island (picture above) was still standing, I was told that the structure was around 300 years old. The roof had caved in and no one was living in it obviously, the Island is inhabited with only sheep. The last cousin to leave the house was in 1959. After the reunion, we went up to Cahriciveen and met another cousin Mary at the gift shoppe and she showed us the cathedral where my grandmother, was baptized, confirmed and married there. We continued up towards Galway and saw the Cliffs of Moher, just beautiful, also saw the Burren area. This had 3000 BC stone structures that were just amazing to see. We took a tour and the tour guide was telling us about how the Irishmen were building stone walls and eating beef while the pyramids were being built. Quite the comparison, I didn't realize that folks even lived in Ireland, that part of the world back then.

All of the experiences of the narrow roads and driving on them, driving with the stick shift on the left, no sidewalks with everyone pushing strollers, riding bikes and electric wheelchairs on the twisty turny narrow roads was quite the experience that I will never forget. Especially with the speed limit being 100 KM's! The bed and breakfasts were charming, the breakfasts were great too. One thing that surprised me was that not many accepted VISA, making it necessary to carry alot of cash with you. It seems that Ireland is just now coming into it's own, that it has been pretty depressed economically up until now. I asked someone about if they ever planned on widening the roads, and they said no, that it would only encourage more folks to move there. It was great going to all of these countries and having everyone speaking English. Although the accents even of some of my relatives was hard to understand sometimes. I loved all of the Guinness, the fact that our reunion was held in a pub that obviously many were regulars there.

Grandma

I just got some great news. A friends daughter is pregnant and her due date is February!
She was so excited when she called me, and I am so happy for her.
WOO HOO!
I wish for good health throughout this pregnancy.
;)

Stupidity

Last week I felt I was getting a urinary tract infection, I haven't had one of those in years. Actually I can't remember when the last time I've had one.
Anyway, I was feeling very cold at home thinking it was just because it was cold outside, so I got under the electric blanket and felt better. In hind sight, I had an extremely high fever and was chilling. Not wanting to pay the high copay if I went to the ER, I waited until Tuesday since it was a 3 day weekend, to be seen and get the necessary antibiotics to start taking. Allowing the infection more time to fester and get truly out of hand was horrible and I got extremely sick. I am much better now but man did it knock me for a loop. While I'm feeling better, I'm still feeling very drained and just tired. Next time if I feel I'm coming down with something, I'll bite the bullet and pay the higher copay and go into the ER.

A friend sent me this photo and I really like it so here it is; Today I'm cleaning my fish tank. I also have to get more food, they are ravenous! I'm getting more rocks and plants to change it up a bit.
I have the most interesting fish, it hurt me losing a few fish with the recent power outage we had recently. But it's probably a good thing with how fast they have been growing.

Mother's Day

What a wonderful Mother's Day I had, it's been a fabulous week. Not to sound too sappy here but it still is responsible for my great mood that I'm in ;)

I don't know where quite to start, so I'll start somewhere in the middle just to be different.

My son called me from wherever he was to wish me a Happy Birthday and Happy Mother's Day. I was in heaven for those precious few minutes. I know how hard it is for him to make time with his military work/commitments so this meant the world to me.

My daughter also called me and we will get together in a few weeks to get facials and pedicures together, what fun that will be. My birthday was wonderful as I described earlier.

At work I had these beautiful flowers delivered to me from my kids and everyone at work got to enjoy them with me. They all told me what great kids I had and of course that just made me beam with more pride, as I do have the greatest kids. I had to laugh as they know where I've been living lately, and it's been at work ha ha to have the flowers delivered at work. I moved the flowers around to different places at work to enjoy them throughout the day and now I've brought them home to enjoy.

Just being remembered in such a wonderful way is just the best, and I thank you all for it. A very humbling experience.

Rereading this I noticed that I keep referring to my kids as "kids". I must say they are wonderful young adults in their own right these days. So I shouldn't refer to them as kids. I do believe they will each change the world for the better in their own special way. Actually I feel as if they already have in some ways ;)

Birthday Surprise!

Today has been my birthday, one in which many friends and family remembered me and called, emailed and invited me for a birthday dinner along with cake and ice cream.
I am still whelmed. First to be remembered, as when a person gets older, celebrations seem to fade and dates are forgotten usually. So being remembered with a phone call was wonderful, but then to be given presents along with cake and ice cream was really great.
I have the best family and friends, thank you.

May Day Baby!

Today is my Daughter's birthday! I'm so proud to be her mom.

Smart, talented, gifted, focused, caring, loving, witty, artistic, clever, honest, thoughtful, zany, beautiful, considerate, gentle heart, good friend, loving daughter and sister, supportive, healthy, bursting full of integrity and honor.

Did I mention energy? That too!

Did I leave anything out? I hope not.

You shine every day and in every way.

I love you! Mom

The Circle Of Life

...........Barb, Barb, Me, Linda...........

Or should it be the circle of death. I lost a very good friend of mine the other day. She was taken way too early in this lifetime. The reality of her truly being gone is still hitting me.

Sean . Barb . John . Kip . Barb

I've been remembering all of the fun times that we shared. Telling and retelling the stories over and over again in my head. What a wild bunch we were back in that period of time. She was such a wonderful person, a wonderful mother and wife who brought laughter and comfort to many. One of my best friends.

John Barb me and Skip

All the crazy camping trips, drinking, hot springs, dating, closing down Max's and going to Kip's house staying up all night. Spending time at the ocean, and just being together laughing around the campfire talking about Bigfoot. Good times, Canadian Mist, Charter, and our beloved Home brew. Listening to The McKenzie River Boys, Mike Cross, all the frantic road trips, and just being together will always be wonderful memories that I will cherish. Getting proficient at walking past the dart game to get to the bathrooms ;)

Fennelli . me . Barb . John . Barb

To get together for a funeral, the first in my age group is really hitting me. First not in any particular order, it's the celebration of coming into your own, first car, the milestone birthdays, your own graduation, buying your first home, marriage, kid's birth's and their graduations. Then you have the accomplishments of your children and their celebrations of life. It seems that I've moved right up the hill to funerals. I'm not ready for them yet. Isn't there another step along this trail of life to have happen before funerals?

John Barb and Barb

I'll just have to come up with something. Meanwhile, here's to you Barb, I raise my glass of Guinness Stout in your honor, since I don't have any decent home brew nearby. You already are missed so much. I will make my next home brew batch in your honor and celebrate your memory wake fashion this summer.

Best Friends
A more recent photo;
I'm happy to say that I've lost weight since that picture was taken.


Sean . Barb . me . Barb

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut died today.

link

I loved many of his writings. Time to get them out and reread a few....

I Did It!

I've been feeling pretty upbeat lately, a feeling that I haven't really felt in a long time. (man, why does everything remind me of Star Wars, I'm such a geek) I think it may be due to some of my hard work paying off slowly but surely.
Also today a real sense of accomplishment, I was able to deal with my phone and computer not working properly and I was able to fix it by troubleshooting using only me. I was having trouble going online and I fixed it! Yay!
Also anticipating this big spring storm that's coming in, I've prepared for it and that's also a great feeling.
So there! Not much else, but today has been a very good day. I'm still riding high from last week's April Fools joke too ;)

April Fool's Day In Action

Hawha! I feel so very devious ;) Snidley Whiplash reborn heh.

I got my daughter good with an April Fool's joke this time! WooHoo!

I've been riding high most of the day knowing this. ;)

I was instant messaging with her, I also emailed my son, and got him good too.

I guess it's all in the family..... ;)

What character are you?

Folks have been doing surveys all over, but I really liked this one.
I was Jean Luc Picard

link

Happy Valentine's Day....

Well.....it's that time of year again......I've had friends trying to hook me up, fast forwarding to the 'get a guy' mode......pahleeze don't do me any favors. It'll happen if it's meant to be on my own time, but I'm not ready for any of it yet.

I still question my instincts for judging people, and I need to get more comfortable with myself first before I can even think of being with someone else.

Is this (link below) what I have to look forward to?

lol

Dating Losers

OMG!

The Long And Winding Road....

Well, everything is okay, or my new saying of "it's all good" is appropriate here.
While driving home last night from work, I fell asleep. I awoke when I hit an orange construction barrel driving up the mouth of the canyon.
Pretty scary, I usually pull over to take a nap, but with the snow there was no areas to pull over so I was planning on waiting until after I got through the construction area and then pulling over. I hit two of the barrels before I was able to steer the car back into my lane, meanwhile I must have scared the you know what out of the guy behind me.
My car is okay too thankfully. I don't plan to pick up anymore late night shifts, only day shifts.

Crazy Weather

I still have several feet of snow here at my house, while the snow looks so pretty, the wind however.....isn't as much fun.
Last week there were several ground blizzards that made the drive home interesting. All was good, but a bit scary that other cars may not see me, or me them.
I have wonderful neighbors, my driveway not only has been plowed, but nicely groomed to access my steps and dumpster.
With my southern exposure, my livingroom is toasty warm with the sunshine, and it enables me to enjoy looking out to the beautiful snow, while sitting in a sunny spot drinking a tasty brew.