Update...

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything.  I got my new camera last week and while installing the software my laptop crashed.  OOPS.  Dell tells me I corrupted a library file.  I repaired the operating system enough so I could backup all my data files one last time.  Now, since the system is VERY unstable, I am going to wipe my hard drive and then reinstall EVERYTHING!  Or so Dell tells me.  Hopefully I will see you all on the other side of this nightmare.

I have soooo much to tell you and a lot of pictures to share.  My new camera is REALLY awesome and I got lots of great shots at the Jeep Blessing.  I took over 600 shots of Jeeps, trees, rocks, sand and mud, lots of mud...  Even a few of a very unfortunate little boy who thought it would be nice to jump into the mud pit for a swim before going home!

Friends Arrive

Our friends, Cathy and Ed, arrived today for a week long visit.  It has been so nice to see them again and catch up.  Only 2 more days to go till the Jeep Blessing and we all are furiously working on the Jeeps to be sure everything is in working order.  I can't wait till we get to take them out and trail test them!

This was Ed's retirement present to himself after 24 years in the Navy!  He just got back from his last 7 month cruise and will be "officially" retired in less than 30 days.  He hasn't even put 300 miles on his new toy yet, so the first thing they did was to take a quick ride.  Don't they look neat in their matching helmets, coats and boots?

Revenge on a Tailgater

We took the truck into our favorite shop, Cadillac Truck, this morning and left it for its 6 month DOT inspections.  On the way home, while still maybe 7 miles south of town, a little grey BMW pulls up behind me.  Mind I am driving an Excursion, but I don't drive slow.  Its a diesel too, so hills don't even faze it on cruise control.  It just growls louder and up we go!  I was doing about 6 over the limit and had the cruise set.  I could almost hear the driver behind me gripping the wheel and grinding his teeth.  Tailgaters are a huge pet peace of mine and I am sure there is an especially heinous place in hell, reserved just for them.  Unfortunately for this idiot he decided he just had to get closer the rear of my vehicle.  Like that was going to speed me up.  Not!  Just for him, since I was in a no passing zone for the next 6 miles, I tapped my brake, broke the cruise and slowed down to 5 below the limit!!!!! Na-Na-Na-Na-Na :-P

I could almost see the steam come out of his ears in my rear view mirror O:-D  Randy, who was in the passenger seat wasn't perturbed at all by the irritating tailgater, but almost came unglued by me slowing down.  I guess those tailgaters have to stick together no matter what, huh?

A little R&R

The floors and bookshelves are clean, dishes done, groceries bought and put away... My oh my what am I going to do with all of this spare time.  SPA DAY!!!

I spent 8 hours today at my salon getting polished and tuned up.  It felt absolutely heavenly and I actually feel like a woman again!  After all I have put in my fair share of time in the past 4 months polishing on the truck.  Today it was my turn ! ! !

What you might ask did Randy do all day to unwind.  Well he didn't go to the salon with me.  Instead he went and played with his buddies working on the obstacle course for the upcoming Jeep Blessing next weekend.  They met for an early breakfast at Sparks (absolutely delish local resturant). Then thru rain and wind, worked for 6 hours finishing the obstacles.  Of course they all had to "test" them to be sure they were in proper working order for the eager Jeepers next weekend :-) By the time I got home, he was dry and cozy again. But the smile was still firmly planted on his face as he regailed me with the days follies. 

Bonny - 1 Dust Bunnies - 0

We finally made it home last night. 

The vehicles all started on the first try, no dead batteries.  Amazing after more than 4 months of sitting idle in the barn.  All the locks opened, no ice freezing them solid, and the driveway was clear of snow drifts.  I turned on the hepa filters, swiffered all the floors, dusted all the cabinets and shelves and lugged in all the food from the truck.   The only real problems were a low battery warning on the house alarm system and I had to trash some freezer items that had obviously thawed during a power outage.  Not bad for being absent for so long.

Of course we hit the trails almost immediately with the CJ.  Had to burn the cobwebs out of the engine after all.  After bouncing along for a little over 2 hours we called it a night and headed back to the house.

Back at the house I filled up the jacuzzi tub and we soaked away 4 months of tension.  Man that tub felt great.  Too bad it wont fit in the sleeper!

Serial Farter Attacks

I was in the Book Nook (a used book store I like to frequent) in Cadillac, MI brosing the older cookbooks when I heard it.  It wasn't a soft one either.  It was loud and long. 4 octaves and better than 20 seconds. I glanced toward the noise and to my suprise there was only one person standing there next to me.  A Woman! She didn't even react.  Just stood there, completely dead pan, reading her book like nothing had happened.  It wasn't long after this that the stench drove me from my stack of books.  So I retreated to the cashier to buy my books and leave.  Wouldn't you know it though, she followed me.  Luckily I think the cashier had heard and when this woman asked if she could use the bathroom the cashier gave her directions.  Saying after her as she walked away that this was a private bathroom and not normally open to the public.  Even as I sit here writing this, I still can't believe it.  Randy of course had a laugh spasm when I told him the story.  He promptly dubbed it the Attack of the Serial Farter.  I think it made his week ;-)

Friday Night Truck Stop Social

It started out Friday afternoon as an imprompto get together, but continued all weekend.  We drove down to Elkton, MD Friday afternoon for the weekend.  Yes again. When we got there we noticed another custom bunk we knew was in the shop as we headed for a truck wash.  By the time we got thru the wash and to the back of the lot to our usual parking spot, he was out.  He works for a moving company and there were several other moving company trucks already parked next to us.  It turns out we knew one of them and our friend knew the other one.   I could go on, but I am sure you are already confused as it is.  Short of it is we all got together and decided to park together in a way that would block off our section of the parking lot.  Then out came the grills, chairs, dogs and polish rags.  We had such a great time BSing and working on the trucks I forgot until Sunday night after the sun went down to take any pictures.  Of course they didn't turn out good at all.

It was such a nice weekend and couldn't have come on the heels of a worse week.  Of course, after spending so much time relaxing, I could simply couldn't care less.  I am ready for another week.  Bring it on!

Down Time - RV Style

This is a great RV park in Florida we have frequented.  This spot on the lake is great, except you have such great shade trees the satellite can't get a signal.  But with all of this outside, who needs TV?

Down Time - Discovery Cove

All I can say is, WOW!  This place is so awesome.  We went here several years ago while staying in Florida for a few weeks during the winter.

This is the entrance...

I loved these playful dolphins in the entryway.

Randy surprised me with a private cabana reserved just for the two of us!  It came with a professional photographer who took some really great shots of us that day.  Certainly better than we could have taken as distracted as we were by the main attractions.

My first ever dolphin kiss.

He was just like a dog and wanted his belly rubbed all the time.

See what happens when you don't rub his belly fast enough :-D

Randy wasn't so sure about the idea of kissing a fish and had a hard time not laughing!

Hitching a ride...

We happened to go the week of Valentine's and Randy surprised me yet again with a special delivery from one of my dolphins.  He swam up to me with a buoy that said I Love You Oodles and Oodles. Randy.  I was so surprised.  It had to be one the best and most romantic days we have had so far.





Since we don't drink champagne, so I still have this unopened bottle and glasses.  The chocolates Randy polished off in short order and the crystal frame sits on my dresser with a photo of us from that day.  It is such a lovely reminder of the special time we spent together there.

The day started out beautifully, but by late afternoon some clouds had blown in and it cooled off a little.  Randy was able to search out a cup of steamy hot chocolate for me while I pealed off my wet suit.  I can't think of a better way to end such a lovely day!

He was so happy all of his plans had come together without a hitch.  AND he just loved the private cabana!!!!

Down Time - Sewing Projects

Yes I love to sew.  But obviously I don't get a lot of time to pursue this hobby any more.  I do however do a little each time I am home.  So I thought I would share a few recent and current projects.

This is a quilt I am making for my husband.  When he was in the Navy he bought t-shirts at every port his ship hit around the world.  You could say they were his souvenirs.  Only problem is that he was 2 sizes smaller when he bought them.  I know there are other wives out there with similar issues.  My husband was a skinny teenager, but has grown up to be a well muscled large man.  So the question was always what to do about these t-shirts.  I couldn't throw them away, since they represented a lot of memories for him.  Yet I didn't want to see him wearing them either.  For a while the solution was just to pack them in a vacuum bag.  Then I saw a sitcom on TV one night that was the perfect solution.  She took all of her husband's "favorite" shirts and had them made into a memory quilt.  What a great idea!  I have always wanted to make a quilt so this was a double winner in my book.  

I ran the idea past Randy and he wasn't to sure, but was willing to have me show him the idea.  So I dug out all of t-shirts and folded them to show the graphics I wanted to use.  Then I laid them out on the floor, along with some brown ultra-suede to use for the border.  Randy is a very literal guy and has to actually see stuff like this to be able to "imagine" how it will look.  He loved it and even wanted to help in the designing process.  So we have been working on this for a little over a year now a little bit each time we have been home.

So far we have chosen all the panels, cut them out and ironed on interfacing to give a little more body to the flimsy cotton t-shirt material.  Now I need to either buy an embroidery machine or have someone embroider the front border I want to do.  We decided we are going to put things like the name of his ship, years in the navy, ports of call and medals he received along the outside edge of the quilt.  It should look really neat when all done.  Now all we have to do is get it finished.

Yes, you are seeing yellow rubber duckies.  I get cold easily and so I love footy pajamas.  But they are hard to find in adult sizes.  So I went to the fabric store looking for some nice warm material.  Randy was with me, so when I decided on blanket fleece and was sorting thru the stacks looking for just the right design, he chose this.  He pulled the roll out and said with a big smile, you should get this one. At first I thought he was joking, but then after discussing it for a minute I agreed that they would be really cute.

I ripped apart one of my old pairs and used it as a pattern.  I took care to lay out the pattern so all the little duckies swim across the front and around in a right to left pattern.  I found nonskid on ebay for the feet and an extra long zipper at Wal-Mart. They couldn't have turned out better.  These are the warmest, most comfortable things I have every owned!

We even went back last fall and bought more fleece.  Enough for a another pair for me and even one for Randy.  Not rubber duckies this time though.  I got Randy a dark red fleece with black moose walking across it and mine is a brightly colored geometric jester like pattern.  

NO, I am not going to model them for you...

This is my 6 bone hoop skirt.  I have bought the material for the dress, but haven't started it yet.

  It is going to be a beautiful purple shear over a lavender, mauve color with a huge sweep of somewhere around 200+ inches.

Down Time - Fall Trail Riding

This is the highest point in the county and has a great view.  Very few in the area can get up here to enjoy it though as the trail up is really made for dirt bikes.  But a lot of horse power, 4 wheel drive and white knuckles will do it.

This was another adventure in the Bowl by Randy's buddy, Ed.  He was climbing this run he had climbed several times before that day, when his engine suddenly started over revving and smoking!  He had to shut it down just before he made it to the top of the run.
This picture kinda gives you a little perspective on how steep a climb this really is and in sand too.  LOTS OF FUN!

Finally the guys gave up and rolled it down the hill. 


The theory that flat ground might make a difference didn't hold up. So we hooked a strap to it and towed it  home. It turned out just to be the throttle cable.  From the heavy beating it was taking climbing that hill it had bounced up and back and gotten hooked onto something behind the carb.  This effectively shortened the cable enough so that the throttle was full on all the time.  That is till they found the problem and unhooked it!  Such a simple thing, but they just couldn't see it till they put a trouble light under the hood.

Down Time - Picking Up Randy's New Plow Truck

We were in need of a new plow truck when I found this little gem on Ebay.  Only catch was that we had to go all the way from MI to Rouses Point, NY.  A trip that was over 900 miles one way.  It shouldn't seem like a long trip to driver's like ourselves, and the trip over wasn't bad at all.  It was the trip back that was long.

We didn't realize how heavy the truck was when we headed out to pick it up.  When they tried to drive it onto the trailer forward the first time, it bent both ramps!  So the second time they braced the back end of the trailer with blocks so it wouldn't dip and backed the truck onto the trailer.  This worked, but the weight was all at the back of the trailer.  Effectively lifting the trailer tongue and drive tires on the Excursion.  We have a diesel Excursion and figured that it and the tandem trailer should have been fine to pull our new toy home.  It had the power alright, but was pretty squirrely on the road with all the weight being on the steer axle.  To complicate things further, we had left our Blizex tires on for the trip.  These tires are great for driving in cold icy conditions.  But put them on the road in temperatures over 40F and it feels like you are driving on jello!  When we left for this trip the weather forecast had been for cold and snow.  It turned out to be in the high 50s the whole trip.  So here we are over 900 miles from home and not able to run any faster than 45-50 mph.  Yes, it was a very long trip home.

Totally worth it though.  This thing, being a diesel, is a snow plowing beast.  Nothing you put in front of it even slows it down!  The front blade is 12' and the side blade 8' wide.  So you can plow a 20' wide path in one pass!  Sure cuts down on the time spent plowing.  That is unless you plow all your neighbors out too.

Down Time - On The Road

Columbia River Gorge in Washington

USA side of Niagara Falls at New Years Eve
Aquarium in Atlanta,  GA