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dooley's Blog
dooley's day
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 4:29 am I was going to write about my day, but I think my nap is wearing off. I may need to make it an early night. I was really tired when I got home from work last night but my knee was aching so I didn't sleep well. I woke up early and since we were planning on going up the hill for a few things today and I hadn't watered anything yesterday I got up and went and watered everything. Chance usually loves to "help" but when she sees me hooking up the hose she disappears. Water is definitely not her favorite thing unless it's in her water dishes. She has several of these around the yard and house. We went to breakfast while we were waiting for the bank to open. Then, went up the hill. dr had a list of yard sales. But, it heated up early and he decided we would only do one or two. But, it seemed like every time we turned a corner there was another yard sale. We had to stop a couple times for something to drink because like a dolt I didn't take the cooler with water bottles with us. In summer, we almost never leave home without water with us. It gets too hot. Some sales were bummers but we found quite a lot of things. dr found stuff to resell at the flea market. I have to work 8 to 4 tomorrow or I can leave a bit early if it isn't busy. I can't decide if the street fair will make it busier or not. It's a couple of blocks away from the library. It may just make people put their stuff in the drop box. Monday may be twice as busy. Our volunteer for tomorrow isn't coming so we will be short one or two hands. We stopped for pizza for lunch and bought the few things we went up the hill to buy and came home. I bought new pillows for myself and I'm going to cover the old ones to put on a bench out in the little back yard. We have a back yard, a little backyard and a lower backyard. We have the workyard, the driveway yard, the "herb" garden, the upper front yard and the patio front yard and in front of the house. These are all definite, distinct yards or areas. Oh, there's the garden area too. Most are fenced except some run from one to another. Since I hurt my knee a lot of them are in sad shape. Since it's been getting better I've been trying to get things caught up. dr helped last week when he cut the bee plants down. He says he'll run the lawn mower over it this week. But, I'd rather he didn't since he has allergies that kick up and then he loses more of his hearing. Oh, well! It will get done as it gets done. I do have most everything planted now and a lot of it is in pots that don't have to be weeded. Some things need more water now that it is getting hotter. It will be 93 tomorrow, it was 95 today. But it is in the 90's or above, probably until October. With no rain some of the problems will take care of themselves. I just keep watering where I want things to keep growing. I took a nap when we got home. Chance woke me up. I think she was trying to see if I was okay because I don't usually sleep during the day. Dan stopped to pick up the beer glasses we bought him and Laurel at a yard sale today. They were German and really nice glass with a silver rim. Only $2.00 for both of them. Those people were really high for the ordinary stuff but cheap on the better things. It's like they didn't know what it was all about. I only paid a dollar each for those wooden planters. I paid 50 cents each for the garden books. They had a lot of craft books but I don't do crafts so much anymore. After my nap I took a few pictures and then went and made supper. I made battered cod and cole slaw. We decided to eat outside. But, the orioles sat in the grapevines and chattered at us because the feeder was empty. So, in the middle of eating, I got up and went and filled the feeder. Did they appreciate it? No!! They said they couldn't eat with us sitting there. So, I got up and brought my plate inside to finish eating. Geeze, Louise! Now, I'm thinking I will have to go to bed because my nap has worn off and I have to get up at 6 am and that is a lot earlier than I usually get up. Mayer Daze is tomorrow but I won't be here. Dan's library is having a book sale. They have started the new addition to the library. It's going to be a 26 by 40 room. It takes up almost all the lot space they have. Only, the county is buying computers this year so there isn't a budget for furnishing. They are going to put out a donation jar and see if anyone will donate to it. They generally do fairly well. Someone will give them some money to help with it. They were building forms for concrete footing and the floor today. They were hoping to pour the stuff on Monday but he didn't think they would be done by the end of today. I bet that tomorrow a lot of people will stop to see what is happening. The parade goes right past the library and the barbecue is across the street at the recreation center. Well, that's it for this day. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 823 times
I've been thinking?
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:59 am I've been thinking (I do that now and then) that it's been awhile since I wrote a blog. I'm not sure why other than I've been keeping busy with things. I keep finding things to plant and then I have to water them. It's been so dry here that I've been watering a lot. I still haven't figured when to water the plants in containers. Sometimes they are too dry and sometimes I drown them. Some days I'd rather not water but then I think that I bought those plants and someone else would have enjoyed watering them so I'd better get myself out there and do it. Some are growing and some are just sort of sitting there. It's been in the upper 80's and low 90's and no rain. We see lightening and hear thunder but no rain. There was a lightening caused fire about 40 miles from here but it's out now. It wasn't a cause for us to worry. Sometimes things seem close in miles, but there are mountains between us so it isn't a worrisome thing. They are issuing warnings and closing things early this year. Wouldn't you know there are still city people throwing their cigarette butts out along side the roads. That's a sure way to start a fire. The other is stupid people thinking they can prevent a fire by putting their fire in a ring of rocks. They don't even think about the sparks that fly into the air when they THROW another log on the fire or stir it up with something. One of those sparks has to land on a dry piece of grass or bush and it's an instant fire. But, they didn't cause it because their fire was inside a ring of rocks. Stupid people! I've been busy at work. When we get a slow day, I've been re-arranging things and putting the paperback book section in order. When I started things were in order only by author. I worked and got the fiction in order by title and author. Then, I did the large print section and worked on the nonfiction section. It has to be done first by number, then by author and then by title. The paper back section seems always to be out of order. But we had a couple slow days this week so I did a row at a time. I moved the books to a table, put them in order and put them back on the shelf. I only have N thru Z of the mystery section to do. Westerns are done, SciFi's are done and the first half of fiction are done. The last half of fiction is being sorted through and some are being deleted. So, I will do them after so I don't have to waste time on books that are coming off the shelf anyway. Gloria has been working on nonfiction. We both still have our regular shelving and the check in, checkout and regristration work to do. We are getting a three percent cost of living raise the lst of July. I have an evaluation coming up so I'm hoping for a raise there too. My knee is getting better. A couple of days last week it was really painful but Saturday and today it was better. Today, I left the brace off of it. Some days I think it is the brace that is irritating it. When it's hot, it gets sweating up it and rubs the wrong way or something. I guess I will need to wear it to work though. Friday was a busy day. I had a meeting from 9-10, then I had to go get some bloodwork done, then we went to five yardsales. Then, we had lunch and took the truck for a check. Then went and bought potting soil and some blocks dr needed. Then to the grocery store and home so we could go to the bank before it closed. We've been working on the little backyard to make it more livable during the summer months. We bought an "Instant" canopy and put it up. dr tied it so the wind won't blow it away. Chance loves the extra shade during the day. I'm going to make cushions for the bench and put some flowers out there. We found a little round table to use for a plant stand. It doesn't look like much but it's heavy. It should hold plants quite well. We want to get a load of river rock to put down so it won't be dusty. dr is going to build Chance a new deck under the grapevines. Since I cut out dead wood and fastened up the vines they are really growing. I've been watering them with the rinse water off of my dishes. I went out to the other back yard today to water the apple trees and the butterfly bushes and the rose bush. I stopped and watered the long flower bed, too. It has Mexican Primrose in it. They have been blooming for awhile now but I haven't gotten a picture of them. I almost didn't want to go out there. We put some pasture mix out there last year so it wouldn't be just rocky dirt. We didn't get it cut yet and it's about two feet high and blooming yellow flowers. It if just full of bees. But, they didn't pay a bit of attention to me and I got things watered. I put soaker hose along the asparagus bed. The new ones aren't very big and I don't want them to get too dry. I have a few other seeds scattered in there and all those hollyhocks. They aren't growing very big this year because it is too dry. I could put soaker hose through them too I guess. But, I've been trying not to do too much and delay the healing on my knee. As it is, I probably do too much. I bought all those pots and have to fill them and transplant those tomatoes. I had 20 of them but something ate the top off of one so I had 19. Today when I was watering, I saw that it is getting new leaves so I guess I have 20 again. I have ten pots so that will be two to each pot. Maybe tomorrow, but I do have some other things I want to do. When we went to a yard sale on Saturday I got enough material to start on Jacob's dinosaur quilt so I've go to come up with some sort of a design. Darn! I meant to call Andy and I forgot and it's too late now. I'll have to do it on Tuesday. Better go and see if Chance is ready to go out to bed. She must be in the bedroom with dr. She isn't under my chair. Later Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 806 times
Remember the excitement from the other night
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 5:53 am It was in the paper today. The high speed chase that we almost ended up being mixed in was two 15 year boys who stold the car in the morning. A man left his keys in it and went in to buy some mints and cigars. When he came out his car was disappearing down the road. The police soon spotted it and gave chase up to 110 mph until the morning traffic became too thick and they gave it up. In the evening, a DPS squad spotted it coming north on I-17 and gave chase at 100mph. They left the interstate and proceeded north on Hwy 69. We were going south on the way home from work. The paper said they were doing 100 mph when they went through the intersection where we were waiting to see what we should do. At this point there were about 12 to 15 cars chasing them. They went through Prescott Valley on Hwy 69 doing this speed. They made a right turn onto Glassford Hill Road and made a u-turn and started back to the highway and the car ran out of gas. They were immediately surrounded by all types of squad cars. Now, they are sitting in the jailhouse facing all sorts of charges beginning with car theft. What do you bet that man didn't learn anything and will leave his keys in the car again? The boys might never become eligible for a driver's license. They must have been good driver's though or one of them was because he didn't hit anything and he had to weave in and out of traffic and elude those policemen.I'm just very happy that nobody (and that includes us) was killed in either of the chases. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 580 times
More plants and a little excitement!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 5:22 am dr asked me today if we could stop buying plants. I have quite a few more pots I could fill so I'm not sure if I can stop buying plants or not. Yesterday we went to breakfast and then stopped at Home Depot. I bought a pink lemonade honeysuckle bush/vine. I planted it on the fence where morning glories were last year. I was thinking it wouldn't grow so much this year and next year I could move the morning glories. (yeh, right) We bought some tomatoes. Three bigger ones, a yellow pear, an early girl and a green zebra stripe. I've never had a green zebra stripe tomato. It says it's a yellow green tomato with darker green stripes. Very sweet and quite prolific. Okay. Then, we got a six pak of Celebrity tomatoes. Today I planted each big plant in a pot. Tomorrow dr will plant the six little ones in a space in the side yard where I have a few herbs. I also bought two small lemom verbana plants because I had them at another house and the smell sooooo good when you brush against them. These are very small so I put them in pots to get them started before the stray cats lay on them. I bought some snapdragons which I put in pots. That's all for today. I did water the rose bushes and seeds that I planted last week and the new asparagus. I also discovered that I don't need to water the plants in the pots every time I walk past them. I think I drowned some of them. We'll see. Maybe when it gets hotter they'll need more water but for now they need less. It was a very busy night at work. They were short of people on the day shift and there was a backlog when I got there but you know, there were only about two dozen books left when it came time to come home. Having another person to share the load is good. We still all do the various jobs that need to be done but it gets done more quickly. But, one of the full time night people is going on days so we'll see how we miss her. Coming home we almost got caught up in a high speed police chase. Coming down the long hill from Prescott Valley to Dewey a lot of police cars with red/blue flashing lights and sirens passed us going very fast. As we topped a small rise just before the first stop light there were police cars all across the road and a policeman was waving a red light. I couldn't decide what he wanted me to do so I stopped back from the red light several car lengths. No one was in front of me and the light was red. It's a good thing I stopped back from the red light because those police cars were parked across the road because other police cars were chasing someone and they were trying to block him. But he went off the shoulder and up over the curb and cut right in front of me and went on up the highway. Three or four police cars were right behind him and quicker that you could blink the ones that were parked across the road were turned around and following them. The policeman who was waving the red light was in his car and off up the road lights flashing and sirens blaring. In the next few blocks several more police cars passed us going the direction of the person they were chasing. I hope they got him stopped before he got into the city traffic. I'm VERY glad I was confused about why the policeman was waving that red light and what he wanted me to do. It kept me from pulling up to the red light. I know now that he wanted me to turn right and get off the main street but it all happened so quickly that I hadn't figured it out. So much for the nights excitement. Guess I'd better go and see what else I can get into before bedtime. Dooley Last edited: Tue May 01, 2007 5:24 am This blog entry has been viewed 840 times
Another week gone!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:54 am I was sitting here thinking another week is gone and a new one is starting. I realized that another month is gone too. May is going to start on Tuesday. Four months out of a new year are already gone. Did I do anything important or memorable? Not to anyone but myself, I guess. I had another birthday. I think that was good. Not having another one isn't so good. I saw all three of my sons in the last four months. I saw all of my grandchildren in the last four months. Those things were all good to me. Wannabe came to visit and I saw my sister in Phoenix several times. I guess seeing family is important. I'll have a new grandchild before the summer is over. That will be a memorable thing to me. Memories are sort of personal, I guess. They mean something to you but not much to someone else. Glenda has some memories that were made this week with the birth of a new grandchild. We all cheered and were happy for her but down the road will we remember it. What will we remember about this year. I injured my knee and it's been more than a month with some everyday pain. It's getting better, but I guess I will remember hurting it. But, will I remember when I hurt it or how? How? I guess I will remember that part. dr tells everyone I blew it out playing football. I don't remember that part. I've never understood the rules of most sports. Baseball is the only one I could ever follow with ease and I don't follow it since there got to be too many teams to keep track of easily. I liked it when there were eight teams in each league. Anyway, another week has started and it will surely be better than the last one. A friend and coworker died and made for a glum day at work yesterday because at this time last week she was feeling okay.A sudden illness took it's toll very quickly. We will miss her at work. She worked my hours for me when I was off because of my knee injury. She was looking forward to two days in a row off. She will be remembered by many people, I think, as a cheerful person who always smiled. A good person to know. A new person started at work this last week, too. She is young and has three small kids. She is trying to save money for a house. They've outgrown their two bedroom apartment. Her husband watches the kids while she works 20 hours a week. She's always smiling too. She's made my week easier by sharing the load. So the old month has memories good and not so good. I hope the new month has more good memories for each of us. But if we have not so good ones, we will cope with them because we are strong and we are happy. Okay, enough of that. Have a good week! Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 762 times
A cool, windy day!
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:08 am It wasn't very warm today. I wore a sweatshirt and a padded shirt outside. I had some things to do outside today and dr was working on the new flower bed that I started before I hurt my knee. It goes down a slope along side of the wood shed. The metal needs painted on the shed but right now it just looks rustic. You could say rusty but I think rustic sounds better. dr divided it into three sections and terraced it so the water won't all run down hill. Tomorrow he is going to plant the African Daisies in it. I'm not allowed down on my knees yet. He put steer manure in the bottom and five LARGE bags of potting soil in it. We have composted mulch to put on it when the daisies are planted. I'm going to plant some annuals around the daisies this summer to fill in until the daisies take over. I really love daisies and never seem to have any. We bought those half gallon pots of them for three dollars each. dr said at Home Depot they were six dollars. I don't know about this new place. It's just on a corner and there is no building. The pots of plants are just sitting on the ground in rows. They cover them at night with some kind of cover. The workers have a tent set up with cash register and a bench. I would not like to work there in the windy weather or rain. They have built a fence and a parking lot so maybe they will add a building later. Anyway, I got out my MiracleGro and fed all the plants that are in pots and the new rose bushes and the old rose bushes and even put a little on those roots that I planted on Friday. Nothing appears to be coming up yet but it's been cool so I guess it's really stretching it to expect anything. I watered everything with the hose after I fed them. I found a four o'clock coming up in a pot. I think I will leave it grow a bit before I think about moving it. I have 29 glads now. I dug around a little and didn't find anymore. I wonder if that squirrel dug up some of them. I planted 40. Some are getting big and some are just through the ground so the bloom period should last a while. I cut up all the pieces of rose bush and other bits that I had stacked up near the fence. Trash day is tomorrow and the fire department wants everyone to clean up things. I still have some tree trimmings to do at a later time. I cleaned up a pile of grass and dead iris leaves that I have had in a pile for a couple of months. I put those in black bags and stacked them for future use. Chance and I sat in the back yard for a bit so she had someone to show off for. She made a show of barking at everything and chasing off the birds. It made it a bit hard to get a picture of the orioles. I think that is why the black and yellow oriole wouldn't come down. The little hummingbirds had no problem. I was wearing my red hat with flowers and they were buzzing about my head. The other day one of the feeders was empty. A rather large hummingbird was sitting on the grapevine near it when I went to get it. I took the feeder inside, washed it and refilled it. When I took it back out he was still sitting there. I hung it back up and he flew down and started eating before I could fininsh attaching it. There are four other feeders but that must be his personal favorite. I made macaroni and cheese baked in the oven for supper and asparagus stirfried with the rest of Glenda's mushrooms and two pork loinchops. Ice cream for desert. Maybe, because I had ice cream for lunch. I don't know if it's legal to eat ice cream twice in one day even if it has no sugar added. I have to go and clean stuff off of the table so I can pin those quilts together and get them finished. Enough of this anyway. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 1333 times
Friday thru Thursday, long week
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:23 am Last Friday, we went down to Phoenix for the first of a two day family reunion. We toured the science museum, one floor out of four anyway. It was hands on displays and the kids loved it, but grownups went deaf, those who weren't already that way when they arrived anyway. Then we went to The Kiddie Casino, Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and kid fun. On Saturday Andy and I tried to teach Ben how to play Scrabble. He quickly decided that he and I playing against his dad was a bad idea and he wanted to be on his dad's side next time. I very, very seldom win a game against any of my boys anymore. Ben wanted his dad to go easy on us but we still lost 410-267. We went to my sister's in the afternoon for a picnic. We stayed at her house instead of going to a park. Everyone had a great time. Ben and Jacob went home with a mild sunburn to show that they spent their springbreak somewhere other than Wisconsin. On Sunday, I rested most of the day and finished a book by Danielle Steel called, "Sisters." I probably watered the plants that hadn't had any water thru the weekend, too. I went to work on Monday night. It was a busy day and there were many books to put away. I didn't get finished. I can't do the books on the bottom shelves anymore. I discussed this with the circulation person and I'll just leave them on a cart for the volunteer. Tuesday, it wasn't so busy and with the help of the circulation person finished everything and my knee didn't bother me too much. Wednesday was busy but I managed to do most of it with the help of a volunteer. She was younger and her knees aren't bad yet. Thursday, there was a lot to do and I didn't get finished. Today, we went up the hill for breakfast and looked for some yard sales. We didn't find much and I'm not surprised. It was cloudy and windy. Thunderstorms are predicted for tonight and tomorrow morning. But, we did find one or two and dr bought some things. Then, we stopped at one coming home and bought a couple of things. I bought a round tray marked WmRodgers. dr says it's silverplate. But, that's okay because I only paid a dime. We went to Spring Valley which is a town smaller than Mayer down the highway about five miles. They had advertised a town wide yard sale for Saturday but there was a moving sale listed in the paper so we were going to go to it. We never did find the moving sale, but some people jumped the gun on the Saturday only sales and there were perhaps a dozen or so. We did pretty well on those. I'll try to get a picture of my finds on Sunday. I was tired when we got home so didn't go back outside. I got two brass planters, one big and one small and a hanging basket holder, macrame type. I bought a corner shelf that matches the outside color of the house and there was even a corner for it. Except there is a hollyhock growing in front of it so whatever I put there won't show much or get much sun. Maybe only ornamental things will go on it for now. In between work and other things, I managed to get those roots planted in a big pot and trimmed a rose bush that was in a pot and only part of it made it through the winter. I added more potting mix to it and gave it a drink of vitamin B water. I watered the new rose bushes and the new butterfly bushes with Vitamin B water too. I bought 10 African Daisy plants on Thursday when we were on the way to work. They are purple and white and we decided we are going to put them in the new flower bed. dr says he will get that finished on Sunday. We have to put fences around our flower beds because Chance thinks we are digging in the dirt to help her out and digs in it too. She can't go in the lower yard now until dr has time to fix the fence because she broke one end chasing a cat. Darn Cat! Didn't belong in there either. I had two hostas come up out of 10 that I planted. Maybe others will still come up but I found a stray cat laying on top of one of them. I had to put big rocks around it to keep the cat off. It was in the yard when we came home this morning. I don't know who it belongs to. I counted 29 glads up now so yesterday, I raked the area and loosened the soil and watered them good. Maybe some more will come up. I planted 40. I have seven asparagus plants up now out of 10 so maybe the others will come. I need to water those again. Probably on Sunday. I finished my quilt blocks and started working on the backing. I was measuring the material and deciding how to do the backing only it was longer and hung over and Chance laid on the end of it. I told her she wasn't helping things. I'll have to get it done while she is outside. I have the batting so I should be finished with that project by the end of the month. But, I sort of told my daughter-in-law that I would make the boys quilts for Christmas. That may mean that I should make one for my granddaughter, too. I thought I would try to make a Greenbay Packer quilt for Ben and Wendy said Jacob likes dinosaurs. Yikes! So, we shall see what develops there. Tomorrow is my first Saturday to work in four weeks so I hope I make it through the day. My knee hurt last night after only three hours but I think I didn't sit at the checkout enough. There is a volunteer to help tomorrow so it should be better. I hope so anyway. I went on the internet and found a series of exercises to strengthen my knees. I will start those on Sunday and see if they help it. I do have an exercise bike and it said that should help, too. Just a slow start and not to hurry it. Guess I've rambled enough and I should get things ready for morning before I head off to bed. dr bought a Yamaha keyboard today so he's trying it and Chance is singing along with it. dr now has two keyboards. I hope it isn't the start of a collection. I found a small turtle today for a dime. I now have at least 10 turtles. I suppose that's how it starts. Another bear moved in today, too. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 633 times
Another short blog
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:14 am I was going to go to bed but decided to do a short blog first. I went back to work tonight on my regular schedule. Only three hours. The first 45 minutes was sitting on the checkout or reference desk. It was busy. They were checking in stuff all evening. I didn't get everything put away and I found the shelves were a mess. They didn't get fixed either. That will take some time. They had good people working for me, but not all of them care if the books are in the right order or the shelves are messy. I can't do the bottom ones either. I did shelve a couple but I couldn't see if they are in exactly the right place. Large print and non-fiction will be there tomorrow night. Monday's are always busy. We went up a bit early because I had to go to the pharmacy and get some prescriptions and stop at costco and pick up the pictures I ordered online last night. They are pretty cheap that way. Wannabe and Maxine are coming up tomorrow and I wanted one to give them to take home with them. The family picture didn't come out too well. They cut off part of Jacob and he wasn't much in it. I have to find out who else has one. I think Dan has one on his camera. I told him to e-mail me some of his. Wannabe has some but she won't have hers until she gets home and puts them on her computer. I only watered some flowers today because even though they forecast rain it isn't usually enough and it wasn't. The ground isn't even wet if it rained here while we were gone. I think it was more north and east of us. We picked up some stones at WalMart to fix the new flower bed. The kind that you put along the edge of flowerbeds. We have to terrace it because it goes down a slope. When we was in Costco, we bought some Monteray Mushrooms. We know they are going to be good because they are from Glenda's workplace and she inspects each package that goes out the gate. (LOL). We like the baby bela's. I bought these big ripe strawberries and some salad stuff for lunch tomorrow. I think I will make a blueberry coffeecake in the morning. I'd better quit and go to bed or I will oversleep in the morning and still be snoozing when they get here. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 765 times
Another day at the reunion
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 9:43 pm I got us up to Saturday when I blogged last night. Dan and Laural came down on Saturday morning. Andy and I were attempting to teach Ben the fine points of playing scrabble. Ben and I were playing against Andy. Now, I must tell you that I very seldom get close to winning when I play against Andy. But Ben thought we could do it. We didn't. Ben decided that next time he would be on his dad's side. We went to my sister Maxine's about noon. We had decided to meet there and go to a park. It was a beautiful day full of blue sky and sunshine with a temp in 80's. We looked at everyone and all the chairs, tables and food to be transported and decided to stay where we were. We helped set everything up on the patio for eating. We all chipped in and bought chicken already cooked instead of making a lot of work trying to grill. Since no one from California showed up there were only about 30 of us and it made a nice sized group. Ben and Jacob were the only little boys and the girls weren't sure if they should include them. For a while it was boys in the front yard and girls in the back yard. But, Jacob isn't one to be excluded from where he wants to be and soon he and Ryleigh were playing in the back yard. Soon, the other girls sent Jacob to get Ben to come play. There were some children in the yard next door and soon a sort of volleyball game developed over the five foot high fence. They could only see each other by peeking through a knot hole in the fence. They invented lots of other games that included balls and running and Jacob was getting quite red in the face until someone thought to think they might need sunscreen. Sure enough, not all of Jacob's red face was from running. Ben didn't get red like Jacob but he was a bit pink. There were games like scrabble and yachtzee for grownups but all were too busy talking and taking pictures to play games. Food entered into the equation as eating went on from the time we arrived until the time we left. Dan and Laurel had some other plans for the evening, Andy and Wendy had to go back to the hotel and pack and spend a little time with her aunt. They were leaving at 9 am this morning. Back to the cold weather. They left Wisconsin on Tuesday. I'm glad they didn't wait until Wednesday because their airport was closed by seven inches of snow and wind.It was supposed to rain their yesterday and warm up into the 50's so they were hoping it would be gone by the time they got home. We left about 5:30 and got up the hill before dark. Chance was very happy to see us. Our neighbor fed her and talked to her and gave her treats but Chance says he doesn't play squeaky. The first thing she did was bring her squeaky to dr. Today, it is windy, cold and cloudy. Tonight and tomorrow is supposed to be thunderstorms. Then, back into seventies for the rest of the week. I wanted to go out and water but it's so windy that I haven't wanted to go out. The wind is blowing pollen all around and my eyes are itchy and watery. dr's allergies are bad today, too. So, we are staying inside and resting up from our trek to the valley. I do miss the nice weather from yesterday. Wannabe and Maxine are going to try to come up on Tuesday. Wannabe said they would come early and go home when I had to get ready for work. I hope it is better weather than today. Wannabe doesn't go home until the 24th so maybe I will get back down to see her one day, too. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 740 times
Where do I start?
Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:25 am I guess I can start with Wednesday. Anticipating the kids arrival we were up early and getting last minute things done. When they arrived we hugged and all talked at once except the boys. They were a bit shy because they hadn't seen us for two years and Ben was just seven and Jacob was just three. Now, Ben will be nine in August and Jacob will be five in July. Ben is more outgoing than Jacob but he remembered us some and Jacob didn't. We walked around the yard and stopped at the fence to see Chance. We couldn't let the boys into the yard because Chance jumps on people. Just enthusiastic greeting but too much for little boys. Jacob very much likes dogs and enjoyed putting his hand by the gate so Chance could lick it. Ben is afraid of dogs and didn't want to go close. Jacob would like a dog but Ben doesn't want one so they've been putting off getting one for Jacob. Ben told Jacob he could have a dog if it's just a little one. I think he meant one that would stay little, not a puppy who will grow big. We decided to go to the Sharlott Hall Museum in Prescott. Prescott was the Territorial Capital of Arizona. When Arizona became a state, the capital moved down to the valley. Sharlott Hall Museum was started, of course, by Sharlott Hall who was afraid all the early history would be lost in the new statehood. There's the first governer's mansion and several other houses, a school and the gift shop. Jacob was interested in seeing everything but Ben didn't want to see anything. Andy said he had an attitude because they discovered the hotel had a swimming pool and they wanted to go swimming instead of going to grandma's house. We went to lunch and then drove over to Camp Verde to Montezuma's castle. That's a set of cliff dwellings. They are high up in the rocks. Of course, our camera was at home but Andy had his. I hope he's sending us some of his pictures. We picked up a Golden Passport. It only costs ten dollars and is good for any Federal Park or Monument or Sightseeing place. It gets in 4 adults and children are free with it. It is good for lifetime. It's for seniors and disabled people. We came home then because it was getting on toward evening and they had promised the boys they would take the swimming before they went to bed. Thursday, they spent with Wendy's Aunt Mary. They went to the Phoenix zoo and to an amusement place that Mary thought they should visit. They finally got to go swimming in the pool at Mary's Community Pool which is heated. The pool at the hotel was not heated and the boys found it too cold. On Friday morning we got up and drove down to Phoenix. We had to stop at Maxine's to drop off eggs and cookies. Maxine is my next youngest sister. Wannabe(Rosie) is my next oldest sister. They were getting ready to go to get their hair done. Maxine's daughter is a hairdresser with her own business. We got on the freeway and made our way across the city to the hotel. It is called Wingate Inn. Everyone was up and dressed and the boys were busy playing with things Mary bought them on Thursday and things they got at the amusement place. We found that our camera which we had remembered to take needed new batteries. So Andy and Brian went to the shopping center across the way and bought batteries. We all loaded into their rental van and went to the Science Museum. It's hands-on and kids love it. Adults, too. They reserve one Friday a month just for adults. It was instant noise from the minute we walked inside until we left several hours later. It is a place where school children visit in large groups. They rum pell mell from one exhibit to another trying everything. They do it at the top of their voice. Ben and Jacob joined right in with them. Wendy accompanied Jacob and Andy went with Ben. They tried everything, everything that is, that was on the first floor. There are four floors. But, we had to go to the I-Max and see the movie about the human body which was educational. It was a bit strange to say the least but it was mostly loud and in your face. The boys were not thrilled with it. After we wanted to have lunch but didn't know the area so we got on the freeway and went back to the hotel. We had lunch at a place called, "Islanders" Lots of loud surfing music and noise. Then, we went back to the hotel and we checked ourselves in and put our suitcase, etc in the room. By the way, that's where our camera resided all day. We tried to remember what the address was for ChuckE Cheese's was and finally decided it was on the West side and we were on the East side so it was a forty minute drive and of course since we were supposed to be there at four o'clock it was 4:05 when we got started. We found the place but it was not next door to a new Super WalMart which is what we were told to look out for. It was next to a Super KMart which is just called KMart. Everyone had to get a stamp going in the door. It was an invisible stamp. Going out the door, the girl runs an ultra violet light over the stamp. The children's stamp has to match the parent's stamp or the children can't leave with them. That place was another wild place with children running pell mell here and there with tokens for all the game machines and there were play rides and what looked like extra large heat ducts that were painted bright colors running all over up near the ceiling. These were accessible at different areas and would around and up and down. There were down slides and port holes and cargo nets and all sorts of traps for the wary kids. But they loved it. It's the first thing Ben and Jacob wanted to do. The kids put tokens in the game machines and play the game and the machine spits out tickets according to the points they won in the game. At the end of the evening they trade the tickets in for prizes or toys. dr called it training ground for casino's. Wendy's mom calls it the "Kiddie Casino's" What ever it's called it's done with extremely loud noise on the part of the children and the machines. The pizza is mediocre and mostly cold. As we had just had lunch we refrained from eating and just had sodas. Our camera of course was still residing in the hotel room. At o'dark thirty we went back to the motel. Oh, all the niece's and nephews and an odd assortment of kids were there and a lot of other people, too. Back at the hotel Andy and I played Scrabble. Ben was fascinated. He thought he could do that and wanted to be included in the next round. I got beat 365 to 257. Off to bed we went. My knee was hurting pretty bad because I had been on it all day and half the night. Took extra pain medication. So, that brings us to today. More on that tomorrow. It's been a very tiring day. Dooley This blog entry has been viewed 695 times
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