This shot of Crater Lake was taken from the Cloud Cap overlook. 

Finally, a picture of the ever-growing Patches, who has once again worn herself out being a kitten. 

Do you need your ego stroked?

If so, try this site called Google Blogoscoped I saw on Ol' Hoss' blog.  My blog comes up as:

Review of RV Vagabonds

"I
just saw <www.rvvagabonds.blogspot.com>. Yes, I expected the
creator to do this well. It makes sense to me
<iamnorman.blogspot.com> put up a link to this page. It must have
taken many years to finalize the page. The HTML is very structured.
(...)

Seeing RV Vagabonds,
I'm simply stunned, completely stunned. The page contains 123 links, a
well-calculated amount. The color scheme is neoclassicist. Wow! What a
fantastic page! There are 48,910 characters in the document, which is
an awesome length for the Firefox browser. If only IBM would have a
swell page like that. A masterpiece. The URL has 35 characters. Not too
long, or too small. The page has style written all over it."
-- Bill Johnson, How to Design for the Web

 

Whew, I feel better about myself already!

Happy Trails!

Anticipation

Denny and I met with Don and Vicki again on Sunday for one last visit before they returned to Georgia.  They wanted a chance to pick our brains a bit more about the full timing lifestyle since they are hoping to be on the road by this fall after their house sells.

The two of them are doing all the right things; reading all the rving forums online, asking questions, checking out private membership campgrounds, watching RVtoday on the OLN channel, researching legal technicalities and making some dry runs in their new Glendale Titanium toy hauler (example, not theirs).  I think when their house sells they will be more than ready to hit the road and be successful at dealing with the full time rver lifestyle.

While Denny and I love our life and will "talk it up" to anyone who will listen, we also understand that the lifestyle is not for everyone.  We've met people who tried traveling by rv as a full time lifestyle who gave it up after a year; some because they felt they had seen it all, some who couldn't deal with being away from grandchildren, or their garden/work shop/craft room/friends-family/"stuff", and those who simply could not handle the day to day close proximity to their spouse/partner/friend.  And that's fine, because hey, campgrounds are getting crowded with all the boomers that are starting to retire and young couples with kids who are finding camping cheaper than trips to Disneyworld. 

But sitting at Frickers talking with Don and Vicki only reinforced all the reasons we love to travel.  We envy them that sense of anticipation of a whole new world opening up upon their retirement and we so look forward to being back on the road ourselves once I get this knee back in shape.  Because



Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth



Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same



And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back



I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference
         ---The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

I'm Up, She's Down

Monday Bwaaahaaahaaa Billy unlocked the knee joint portion of my brace so I can now walk with less of a Chester walk (for those of you too young to remember Gunsmoke, Chester was a character with a decided limp) and more of a pause-gimp walk. Yeah, that's it.

The tendon attachment won't be healed for another two weeks so we're just working on stretching it, but five weeks of immobility has made that puppy tight as a drum so it's going to take a lot of work. Of course, Denny sits there and barks,"pull that leg up more!" This from the man who tells the story of waiting to do his PT until late at night (after ligament surgery back in the dark ages) and then immediately getting his nightly shot of morphine from the nurse to be able to sleep. Pull that leg up, indeed!

Unfortunately, yesterday my daughter-in-law, the Token Wife (do you check Darb's blog?) was hospitalized in severe pain where the doctors discovered a 10mm kidney stone. That's huge! She spent the night there, had a stent (not sure if that's the proper term for the thingy) put in to stretch things but the stone is still there until the doctors can figure out its chemical makeup at which point they can decide whether to use medication to dissolve it or to zap it with a laser or ultra-sound. She's home now, loaded up with anti-this and anti-that drugs to make her as comfortable as possible. But the next few days won't be fun for her.

Wow! That's probably a lot more information than you wanted to know! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Denny Tries to Take a Picture

Patches was asleep on the rocker yesterday and Denny attempted to take a picture of her. Somehow he managed to switch the setting from automatic in picture mode to video mode and this is what he ended up with. Which is why I took the camcorder away from him years ago.

Sharing on a Lazy Sunday

At our get-together at Marion's Pizza on Friday, friend Vicki whipped out a packet of pictures of the family and their Harleys and their new fifth wheel. She then chastized me for not bringing pictures of our kids. Sigh. When I'm out and about I carry a money clip and my ID 95% of the time and when I do carry a purse, no, it doesn't have pictures. My pictures are in my computer at the rig and on the disks the the stupid HP laptop computer won't recognize.

So to appease Vicki, in case she has access to a computer while she and Don are here in town visiting friends and family for the holiday weekend, here are some of the pictures of our family that the SHP laptop deigns to read. Meaning some are a couple of years old, but the cute baby pictures won't show up and we're still searching for the missing 2006 disk that has disappeared. I want my life back.

Trying to pose this motley crew for a family photo can be a bit of a challenge, especially pre-Christmas gift opening. 

Steve, Marissa, Zachary, Angela and Kara before opening presents. 

Our son Darby (aka The Token Liberal) and his wife, 'Net. Darb no longer has to attend "raves" as research for his job, so the hair is now longer. But he still has the shitty grin. It runs in the family. 

Our granddaughters Marissa and Kara, courtesy of our son Steve and his wife Angela. 

My mother, who is smiling because she doesn't know she's going to be housing me and Denny for the summer due to my injury yet and my niece, Elaine. She's my brother Don's daughter. 

Notice the rapt expressions. Is it someone telling a great story or showing them a neat magic trick? Nooooooo, it's the obligatory watching of the world's most stupid movie, "The Christmas Story". You know, where the goofy blonde kid shoots himself in the eye with a BB gun. Sigh. From left to right, my niece, Tammy, my brother-in-law Jerry, seated is my niece Jessica, laying down is my brother Don, in the blue rocker is my sister, Cheri and below her is Jess's twin sister, Jenn.  

Old Friends

Old friends, old friends,
Sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blown through the grass
Falls on the round toes
of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today,
Sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years,
Silently sharing the same fears
---Lyrics to "Old Friends" by Simon and Garfunkle

When we first met, Vicki (the top picture with her husband, Don)and I were in our early teens; when Phyl (the second picture with new man, Pat) and I met we weren't yet twenty. Now we're all over fifty (not that we look it-heh!) and meeting up yesterday, the years fell away. The years have changed us; a couple of us have changed partners, changed lifestyles, changed states. But it didn't matter as we fell into the easy banter that comes from years of familiarity. Oh sure, there was tons of catching up to do, but sitting there while catching up it felt like we had seen each just a few weeks ago instead of what? Fifteen year for Vic and I?

So we're already making plans to try to get together for a girl's night out when Don and Vicki get back up to town in a couple of weeks. Then we can really talk--you know, all that witchy, gossipy, raunchy stuff you can't say in front of the men-grin! I can't wait.

Blue Jacket, the outdoor drama

One of the most entertaining evenings we have ever spent was watching the outdoor drama, "Blue Jacket". 

Located on the outskirts of Xenia, Ohio, "Blue Jacket" is performed in an outdoor amphitheater by a cast of over 40 people.  The play details the life of the Shawnee chief, Blue Jacket, and the Shawnee's struggles against the ever-increasing flood of settlers moving west and taking over the Ohio Valley and the Shawnee people's land.  It has long been held that Blue Jacket was a white man who was captured as a teenager and who eventually became a warrior with the tribe, but that legend has since been disproved.

Set in the late 1800s, the play explores the Shawnee's love of the land, their lifestyle and their attempts to repel the influx of white settlers.  The Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware and Miami tribes defeated American troops led by General Arthur St. Clair at Fort Recovery, Ohio but were later defeated themselves by General "Mad Anthony" Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers near Greenville, Ohio.

This year "Blue Jacket" celebrates its 25th year of existence.  It is a well-written and well-performed play with lots of action and excitement for both young and old.  They also have a pavilion where they serve a family style meal before the show for a very reasonable price.  We highly recommend seeing this drama if you're anywhere close to the Xenia area while visiting Ohio. 

Click here for a link to the Blue Jacket website for pricing and driving directions and more information.

Sigh.

Dang me, dang me
They oughta take a rope and hang me
High from the highest tree
Woman would you weep for me.
----"Dang Me" by Roger Miller

Okay, apparently I misunderstood Dr. M at my last appointment two weeks ago. The word today is that the brace stays on for at least 3 more weeks; one more week in the locked knee position and two weeks with it unhinged so my knee can bend. So to say I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement.

I'm going to call my physcial therapist, Billy, Bwaahaaahaaa Billy. Sadist. My good knee bends at a 140 degree angle (better than average)--the left one at 40 degrees. Since Dr. M was able to flex the bad knee to 90 degrees after the operation (while I was still under the anesthesia) old Bwaahaaahaaa Billy thinks I ought to be able to bend it that much now without undue stress on the tendon repair. Rrriiiggghhhttttt. (Bill Cosby comedy album flashback for those who remember his "Noah building the Ark" routine) For the moment, we'll agree to disagree on that one.

So I have my sheet of exercises to do until B.B. or one of his minions unlocks the brace next Monday morning and ups the ante on the p.t. routine. I'm thinking Denny better lay in a supply of shiraz for me and make himself some golf play dates for the next three weeks. It's not going to be pretty around here.

Yippee!

The brace comes off today, the brace comes off today, heigh-ho the derry-o, the brace comes off today. (Sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell").

If all goes according to plan I lose the 10 pound black monstrosity that encapsulates my leg this afternoon. I'm SO ready to begin physical therapy! I'm sure Denny is more than ready to give up the cooking and cleaning, too. Of course, that means he's free to start washing down and then painting the walls here so he might prefer the other chores. Poor guy-out of the frying pan into the fire.

The Last Lazy Sunday in June

We're back in flat-lander country so today's Lazy Sunday photographs will be of mountains. Ohio does have some "mountains" as you head towards the southeast corner of the state and reach the Appalachian plateau which are hills that have been rounded off by glacier activity. For us Buckeyes, them are mountains. Silly us.

This photograph of Mt. Rainier was taken while driving across the floating bridge in Seattle, Washington. 

Basalt cliffs surrounding Lake Lenore in Washington.