Oh what a Wonderful morning

Do you ever have times when you want to be alone? If the answer is yes, then try one of the state parks. One that is not on the list of must see parks.
Pa, Den, Nise and I spent the weekend at Pickett State Park. It's a small park with trails, water, a few cabins and NO TV or cellphone capabilities. You can call the ranger if there is an emergency, very old fashion.
If you are really hearty you can camp primitive, I'm not, so can't tell you about it.

We had a cabin that had a large living/dining area, 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen and 1 bathroom. Another bath would have been nice, however back when this park was built 1 bathroom was a luxury, especially in the backwoods of Tn. It is all stone, wood and concrete, with a delightful smell of wood burning sunk into the wood. These cabins are pushing 70 some years. They were built by the CCC during the depression and as the saying goes "built to last". I hope our great grands will have the chance to enjoy them.
During our weekend of nothing we checked out a coal mining camp just up the road in Kentucky. We were headed for Stearn's, got lost and ended up at Barthell Coal Mining Camp just down the road from Stearn's. It turned out to be the better of the two. Barthell is being rebuilt just as it was and Stearn's is a interpretive site.
You can go down into the mine if your brave enough or just see the town. We toured the town and looked into the opening of a shaft, that was enough for me.
It is off season right now and we had one of the owners as our guide. He had lots of stories and answered lots of questions. Did you know that snakes don't live in coal mines it's to cold for them. With that knowledge I may just work up enough nerve to go down one someday.
Our second day out we went to Pall Mall, Tn. one of the most beautiful places in the state. That's saying a lot as Tn. is overrun with beautiful places.
We didn't go for the view. We didn't know about it until later. We went to see the home of Alvin C. York. You might have read about him in your history book Sargent York, one of the most decorated soldiers of WWI.
If you don't know anything about him you could rent the movie "Sargent York". It's a old black and white movie. Gary Cooper plays Alvin and the movie stays very close to his real life. This man lead a remarkable life beyond the battlefield, a hero in more then one way.
We walked trails, I am no Daniel Boone I was lost most of the time, played Clue, lounged around and talked. Saturday night came with sadness and anticipation.

After all our next adventure is "Dinosaur World". Now, who wouldn't want to hurry home to get ready for that one.

Hang on loopy

It's not official yet, I have vertigo. Not yet because the doctor that started the whole process has not told me that.
Yesterday I went to the family doctor, because on top of the crazy dizzy, I have a runny nose and ear pain. Since we are going to the mountains I thought I should be sure it wasn't a infection or virus of some sort. You know just so I don't get half way around the world and have to go see a doctor.
We all know how easy that is.

He looked at the letter, he had gotten from the EN&T doctor, ask if I had been back to see EN&T doc. No, not yet,

Why did you go to the EN&T doc ?

Because the neurologist sent me.

Did he order the MRI?

No the neurologist did.

Have you been back to neurologist?
Not yet, next month.

Well I can't do anymore then what they have already done.
What about the pain and.......

Stand up and follow my finger. Follow it some more over here. shake your head this way now move it this way.
NO, I don't do circles of any kind. They make me dizzy and I'm already dizzy enough.

It's all part of it. Did they tell you that you have vertigo? No, Did they do blood work? Well I can do some blood work to see if your anemic or if your thyroid isn't working right.

What about the runny nose?
Does this hurt?
No
I'll run blood work just to make sure your not anemic.
So I don't have a sinus infection or something?
No sinus infection, I put in orders for the blood work, give my regards to Mr. Pa, enjoy the mountains.........said over his shoulder as he walks out.

I may have the something, but at least I don't have to worry about a sinus infection.
I love doctors, I love spending quality time with them. I love being able to call and get a appointment, next month, for the cold, pain or whatever I have right now. I love paying them hard earned money. I love calling in for cough medicine only to be told that the doctor would have to see me, so come in at 1 pm and they would work me in. All that means is your going to sit in the waiting room with all the other people with colds for the next 4 hours and share germs, only to have the doctor tell you that you have a cold and here is the prescription for cough medicine you call in about.

For the record I do love my neurologist. She knows me even outside of her office.

What a Weekend

It all started Friday afternoon. HT and I headed to Berry Hill just south of Nashville, its really part of the big city now. I needed some split rings from the Bead Bungalow. HT saved me a lot of time and money by falling asleep, so there was no time to browse around as I left him in the car.

Don't get excited.

The Bead Bungalow is in little house. The parking is what use to be the front lawn and I parked at the front door. I stood at the door told them what I needed, got it and left. It was that short time while the sales lady was getting my rings that I looked around the room and wished I could look closer and thanked HT for saving me money.
We stopped at the herbal shop, again a little house with front door parking, then Children's Conner. HT had to wake up for that stop, as I wasn't going to just run in and out. We had a wonderful time there and a nice lady was a big help to Grammy. New pattern making material along with advise, HT enjoying the toys and ladies, then we were off.
Next stop Mom's store. Mom had just finishing redressing the mannequin, had to return items to their rightful departments and clock out for the day. I went to pay a bill and HT went with Mom to meet and greet while taking things back. They still weren't done when I got back. A leaky diaper put a end to the meet and greet.
HT and I headed to the shoe shop while mom finished. We were going to wait on her at the shoe shop but we found these cool red sneakers, bought them and had to go try them out. While heading back toward Mom's store HT became the Mall Greeter, He looked and sounded like a politician going from storefront to storefront talking to anyone who would look at him. Then he came across a handyman fixing a BIG glass door and had to help him. Handyman actually gave HT his screwdriver to work with. He was young and probably didn't have any idea what a toddler could do with screwdriver. Grammy took it way and Mom was spotted coming down the hall just in time to keep a hissy fit from happening.

Mom look at this cool shoes, lets show these people in here, no wait there is music lets dance.

Pa was going to meet us, so we headed to the food court to eat and wait. Pa arrived just in time to save us from yet another hissy fit, HT was tired being in the stroller.

Pa look at my new shoes lets give them a walk. Hey, Dad is at work now lets go see him.

That is were we said our goodbye's.

Pa and I went up to Nashville meet some friends at one of those country joints. By 10 PM my ears worn out from the loud live music and it was time to go home. We took the long way out of Nashville and it ended up taking 2 hours to get home instead of 1. By the time I got home tired was really beginning to set in.
Yesterday I woke up bone tired. Pa washed the cars, took a nap while I tried to pay bills and got a shopping list done. We went to town picked up a few things and called it a day because we were both tired.
Today hasn't gone much better. Pa has gone from the couch to the bed and all I have done is look for recipes for next weekend and type this. I'm going to have to start getting ready for church, this being tired is going to cause me to move slower and we need to leave here in about a hour. I'll take a nap on the way.

love those pictures

I got this off someone else. It's southern and I wanted to know what it was about. Oh my! I have spent almost an hour just looking at the pretty pictures.

http://rebekah-southerncharmportraits.blogspot.com/

HT has just gone down for his nap, Not one minute to soon. So far today he has tried to make calls and rearrange the list in my cell phone.
He tore a page out of his book and I almost had a heart attach. Tearing up books is a absolute no no at my house. They can fall apart because you have read them over and over again and you can carry them around and love them apart but you can not just grab a page and tear. We had a bad few minutes then he was on his way again. He had dancing to do and distracting to do just so he could get back to the phone. He is one fast kid.

Now that he is safe a sleep in his playpen I'm going to get to my house work. No forget that I'm going to go sew on something fun. My house work is not going anywhere I know this because I have lived with it for 35 years now and everyday its waiting around for me and not the maid. After this long it can just keep waiting.

I wish I could show you a picture of my apple trees, they look like 2 big bouquets. They make me happy

Grammy lets take a walk

This morning HT was busy playing with his basket of toys. That means dumping them all out. I was paying a bill.
Anyway HT was very busy, then he wasn't. You know the silence that makes you go looking for trouble because you just know that there is something going on that should not be going on. I looked by the toys and beyond then opened the gate and started to forcefully call his name when I looked and he was asleep on the couch. It was only 9:30 way to early for a nap most days but not today. At12:30 I decided it was time to get up. He decided that 1pm and a bottle were more to his liking.
Back to the toys. Hey Grammy here is this thing that I wear and you follow me around. Lets walk around in circles again and again. Hey HT lets go outside Grammy can't walk in circles she gets dizzy.
Outside is nice the grass is so tall it comes half way up my leg and I look like I'm walking in deep snow. Pa will have to cut the grass soon. Lets go this way down the road and back past Grammys then on down to the curve. Grammy I just can't walk anymore so I will let you carry me. Lets go to the back yard and see the wonders.
HT get away from there, come this way, no No NO, OK we are done. NO GRAMMY NOT BACK INTO THE HOUSE.

So you chipped

You know the feeling you get when you come out of the store and go to get in your car only to see a chip in the door. Makes you kind of sick and mad because the person who chipped the paint didn't bother to tell you or leave a note.

Well guess what don't feel bad anymore.

I was a passenger in someones car, opened the door and scratched the paint on the car next to me. I did just what the insurance company tell us to do. The person call Pa, he gives them our information and gets theirs. Next day the insurance company calls me I tell them what happened and as soon as I said I was a passenger in someone else car I was told that my insurance would not do anything until the person who owned the car turned it in on their insurance. Now that person had nothing to do with me hitting the car next to me. So why should they be involved at all? I don't care if I was in their car. I opened the door and made the scratch. I also pay a nice premium every year for insurance just in case something like this happens. What a waste of money.
If this should ever happen again AND I am in my car I will leave my information just like I'm suppose to.
If I am ever in someone elses car I will leave a note, just like the one Pa found on his car after telling the people at work what happened.

"Sorry, I hit your car. I left a note"

Beach Facts

13 people a year die from falling vending machines

20,000 pollution related closings and advisories are posted each year

1 out of 3 beach goers can not swim

It only takes 20 seconds for a child to drown

1 minute for an adult to drown



THANK YOU LORD

For keeping the rapscallions safe while we were at the beach and pool

Going to the beach

I have been to Destin and now to Golf Shores and guess what.

There are 3 things to do in these places, go to the beach, shop or eat.

Now I can honestly say that I like to eat and that there were at least a dozen restaurants that I would have loved to have tried out but that takes money and we were on a tight budget.
Maybe some day Pa and I will go back there for a vacation and we will try two or three of them. Uncle Bubba's will not be one of them, as Art, the rapscallions and I tried Bubba's. We had to crab claws along with the usual good eats. Crab claws in our opinion were just not something that we could get all excited about. They were OK and a must try if you are ever in an area were most every restaurant serves them. I mean why go to a region and not try one of the local favorites. Isn't that one of the reasons you travel?

This time of year is good for going to the beach as there are not a lot of people there. There were spring breakers, Indiana, Louisiana, Illinois and Tennessee had the most license plates seen. Then there the families with young children and of course the snowbirds down from the cold. We enjoyed a lot of beach space, no beach blankets side by side here .
Unfortunately there was sand.
I am not a fan of sand.
I grew up in the sand bowl of northern Indiana. Its like the Dust Bowl out west, you can't keep it out of your house.
What would a beach be without sand? I don't think mud would be as much fun in the sculpting department. Sand doesn't stain like mud does either.
The children had a great time in it and it is a cheap way of exfoliating your hands, feet and face should one of your siblings toss a hand full there.

I can't tell you about shopping as we did little to none. I do know that there were enough shopping centers around to keep you busy all day or week for that matter.

I think the best part of the beach is the color. Varying shades of blue,pink, green and yellow. The houses looked like a candy store full of different sizes, shapes and colors.
We had a brand new 12-15 storeyed condo nest to ours and by the end of the week I wanted to buy one of them just because I liked the architecture of the building.
Wouldn't it be fun to be able to just open your front door and run out to the beach or sit out on the balcony and watch the weaves come in or just open the door and listen to the sounds of the surf. It's all possible if you have 600 thousand to a million dollars just laying around.

Do you think the bank would loan us the money if Pa promised not to retire before he turned 80 so we could make the payments?

things i have learned

Let me tell you some things I know about Alabama.
1. the yellowhammer is the state bird. I'm guessing its a woodpecker as they have lots of pine trees in that state.
2. the camellia is the state flower. I always think of Greta Garbo when people talk about camellia's
3. the fighting tarpon is the state saltwater fish. You have to be just a little nuts to go out in that BIG, really DEEP water to fish.
4. it is a really long state. I like to call interstate 65 the never ending road. It does come to an end in Mobile. We didn't get to see the end of it as we took a short cut at Bay Minette.
5. the best toast in the state is in Wetumpka. It must be the air that makes the toast so very good, as it is just store bought bread and butter. Or its the excitement of getting to eat toast in the hotel lobby. But if you should ever find yourself spending the night in Wetumpka or even Prattvilles be sure to get toast.

poor Dolly

It seems that Dolly Pardon has started down the slippery slope of Nip and Tucks.

I came across a interview for the Broadway show 5 to 9 and there was a picture that wasn't flattering. I just figured it the angle but no when I hit the interview button Mrs. (she is married and down here you write Mrs and say miss) Dolly's face lit up the screen. I immediately had a flash back to the puppet character Madam of Waylon and Madam.

Dolly please don't go near the nip and tuck guys again. you don't want to cross the line and really become a trailer park Barbie.

Then again you could afford a really big trailer and you already have a park and the plastic Barbie body. Guess its to late