Wed December 20, 2006

Belize City, Belize

We had breakfast with grandpa and another passenger Mark from LA about 9 a.m. After breakfast, grandpa said he wanted to go to his cabin and rest, and Paul and I decide to go into Belize City. I am taking my scooter this time…forget walking. I even called to make sure I could take the scooter on the tender…we are docked quite a ways out since the coral reefs here prevent ships from entering the port. I told Paul we could do a tour anyways…they can just put the scooter in the back of the van. That is if we go on a professional tour in a van and not a bus. On the tender going into the city, we are given some shore excursion info by one of the crew members. Paul and I decide that we would like to do the city tour and the Zoo tour. The guy promises us the scooter would not be a problem it would fit into the back of the van. Don’t worry…be happy. We arrive at the pier and follow our crew member through the market area. He has told me that we are the only two from the tender that want to go on a tour so it will be in a smaller vehicle…but that the scooter was still no problemo. OK. We follow this kid thru the mall, up the back alley and into the street. Me tooling in my scooter, Paulie bringing up the rear. We turn into another street and there is a little Datsun car and a driver. We are introduced to Yolanda, our tour operator. Yolanda is the tender crew member’s mother. OK, I get it…this guy is using the tour company name to get dumb ass foreigners like us to go on private tours with this mother! It seems ok, and she speaks good English. Several young men materialize out of nowhere and help to get the scooter into the trunk. OK. We get in the car and Yolanda takes us through the city. What a poor place this is. We get on a two lane highway supposedly to the Zoo first. It seems as if we are driving forever! I have no clue where the hell we are going, and Paul is merrily chatting with Yolanda. It is surreal.

The drive continues…finally I see a sign, Guatemala 100 KM. GUATEMALA! Crap. I have this overwhelming feeling that we are being kidnapped. I imagine us getting our throats cut and our bodies stripped of vital organs. Our organ-less, lifeless bodies will be dumped in the jungles of Guatemala only to be eaten by crocodiles and insects. Zack will never be able to collect the insurance money because there are no bodies and the local corrupt officials will not issue death certificates…no certificates, no benefits. This is how I think. Finally, a sign that says Zoo! We are there! We are not being kidnapped.

Once at the zoo, Paul puts my scooter together and off we go. We are in the only zoo in Belize. We have to pay 8 bucks per person to get in. Only Belize natives get in free. OK. We pay the money and see quite a few tourists. This must be a good zoo. Oh. My. It is a jungle. We see toucans, pumas, otters and even white tail deer. A beautiful ocelot paces in her cage. Parrots and parakeets are everywhere. Crocodiles and wild snapping turtles share a lagoon. As I tool around on my scooter I am amazed to think I am in Central America, touring a poor little zoo that was built by hand by the natives. Each rock along the path was placed by hand. The animal habitats made by natives. Nothing like what I had imagined…remember I am a Chicago girl...a zoo in my head is Brookfield, yanno? Suddenly, my legs are itching. I look down and I am covered in some type of gnat insect. When I brush them away, they leave a drop of blood. OH MY GOD! Blood suckers. The area they bite turns pink with a hot red center and itches like crazy. I am doomed. Deadly Tsi files... my dad told me all about them once. I won’t make it thru the night. Then my heart stops, I have been bitten by a mosquito! Damm the Tsi flies…this is serious! I could get all kinds of deadly diseases from a misquito bite! Remember bird flu? I tell Paul I am getting the hell outta this jungle paradise. I must have 150 bites on my legs. I look like I have pink pooka dot stockings on my legs. Oh gosh. We get a coke and a bag of popcorn at the little shop and once again we are heading down the highway, Yolanda putting the pedal to the medal. I can’t imagine blowing a tire. They will never find all our pieces. Hear that Yolanda?

We stopped at Old Belize City which is a neat tourist area with a beautiful beach, a great looking bar/restaurant and beautiful boats at anchor. We take a few pictures and then its back to Belize City for our city part of the tour. My gosh, I have never seen such poverty. This makes Cancun look like a model community. Such a pitiful place this is. Yolanda proceeds to take us past the US embassy, a private college, some Catholic schools, the Prime Ministers house, the court buildings and some huge banks. You know…the offshore Belize banks where millionaires stash their money so they don’t have to pay taxes? Finally we are back where we started. We weren’t murdered for our vital organs after all. Paul pays Yolanda and we are off to the dock to catch our tender back to the ship. We didn’t have any lunch (and I wouldn’t have eaten anything here anyways) so we went up to the pizza buffet. They had a meat sauce for pasta that was out of this world good. So much for dinner!

Later…

dee

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Cozumel, Mexico

Grandpa met us for breakfast in the Four Seasons. We decide to go into Cozumel and look for a tour like the one the boys took yesterday in Progresso. Both guys convince me I cannot do a tour on a bus and take my scooter. I guess I will not take my scooter into Cozumel. The walk from the ship to the end of the pier almost did me in. I hate that I cannot walk at all anymore. I am just too young for this. My hip is ok, but the knees are bothering me. I think once I am back home, I will go see Dr. Borowicki and have some X-rays done. I think my walking gait has changed since the hip and it is affecting my knees. This really sucks. I need pain meds, NOW. I will eventually run out of the stash of pain pills I have. I can’t take vicodin forever…We stop at a little shop that is selling soft drinks and water. After we get the water and I take the meds, we continue to walk to find a tour place. Paul thinks that he may have paid $21 for that bottle of water…he had two new twenties and thought he had given one to the clerk for the water…but now all he has is $19.00. Good grief. If I confessed that, I‘d never hear the end of it….from Paul or grandpa. He was so concerned about making both me and grandpa sit down to rest, he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. I know he means well and wants to look out for us, but sometimes his controlling goes over the top…but will he admit it? Oh pishaw.

We are approached by a guy selling vacation packages. Promises us free lunch and a tour of the Island for only 20 bucks for the three of us. Wow, a challenge for Paulie! He loves dicking with salesmen. Mexico is no exception right? OK. Off we go in a taxi to a beautiful new resort in Cozumel. The International something or other. We do the obligatory questions and answers, and tour the suites. Very nice. Very VERY nice. No lunch just yet. We go to the sales office where our rep, Margarita gives us level one sales pitch. Nope. Not interested. Tina arrives to give us sales pitch….level two. She is a cute little Brit and orders diet coke for me and a coke for Paul, with water for grandpa. Paul sips his drink and announces this is rum and coke. Ok. Grandpa grabs it and is happy. The waiter brings another drink. Same thing…rum and coke. Hmmmm. Something’s fishy here. Gosh, maybe they will slip us a roofie and we will buy the whole place? This time Tina instructs the waiter NO BOOZE! He brings Paul a plain coke.

After about 15 minutes of hard sell, Paulie says not interested. This brings on Jorge, pressure sales pitch level three. Hmmmm. They said no pressure. Sure. He only lasts five minutes with Paulie before he gets really peeved. They don’t know Paulie. He is a master at this sales game. They are pikers next to him. OK, here comes STEVE… the big gun from Las Vegas, the ultimate closer… you can tell by his air of bravado and swagger….he gives us the fourth level sales pitch…he’s got the best offer all afternoon. An offer I just can't understand how he can even make. Its plain stupid...or he thinks we are....Paul says….NOT INTERESTED and says this is the last time. The guy tries again…nada. He has met his match in this polish prince. The guy makes some crack about coming back to the resort for $3000 bucks per week the next time we are in Cozumel…I tell him nicely…”Not in THIS lifetime”. The original sales rep comes back to escort us back to the taxi area. Still no lunch. And we won’t be getting any lunch either…that’s for folks who have bought into this scheme….a 30 year commitment to vacation all over the world at certain luxury resorts, or cruise all over the world for a mere $75,000. Easy payments with only 11.99% interest. Yeah, right. We do however get our tour of the island. A very nice taxi guy gives us the costal tour, stopping at a few local spots for pictures. I am starving at this point and will be having the shakes soon if I don’t eat now. We stop at a little roadside cantina and Paulie and I split a club sandwich. We all have the local brew, Sol beer. Grandpa won’t eat…hmmmm. Two rum and cokes, now a beer? Ok.

We finally arrive back at the pier and make the long walk back to the ship. I am pooped so I go up to the cabin to take a nap. Later, we dressed and went to meet grandpa and Zack for the show. It was a country themed song and dance show, nicely done again. After the show, we went to the Terraces for dinner…Zack had other plans so he took off. We had the most wonderful prime rib with a delicious rosemary glaze. Oh my. After dinner, Paul and grandpa went off the casino and as my usual habit I went back to the cabin, took my meds and drifted off into never never land. That’s my life…one party after another.

Later

dee

Monday Dec 18th

…somewhere in the Yucatan…oh yeah, Progresso….

It is soooooo foggy you can’t see your hands in front of your face. We are up and out by 8 am…this time we get grandpa outta bed and make sure he has breakfast with us. Old fart. The party boy is passed out on his bed. Why am I not surprised? Grandpa seems to be ok after his bouts last night and no more worse for wear. We head down to the Four Seasons for breakfast off the menu. Yummmm, eggs benedict! Paul and grandpa got omelets while I scarfed down just one egg benedict…why waste food and why be sick? I also had fresh fruit which was really not in season and tasteless IMNSHO.

After breakfast we head back to wake up the party boy. He won another dance contest last night. The life of the party so I am told. Everyone knows his name as they see him on the TV all the time…the video of the previous evening’s activities is shown on the in-room TV’s. One of these nights I am going to have to stay up and catch his act, yanno?

We decide to go into Progresso. I am going to use my scooter. I have yet to use it for more than a few minutes or so and I still am not 100% in control of the thing. Of course, I have not one but THREE critics telling me how to drive the damm thing. Shut up everyone! It is 85 and hot in town. We proceed to go to the little shopping area. I was thinking it would be like Costa Maya with the beaches and shops all along the waterfront. Wrong. A couple of shops and a bar…not much to see or do. You hafta take a bus into town and I am on the scooter…not gonna work. So. I head back to the ship and the boys decide to check out Progresso. They wind up doing a city tour that was very entertaining and informative. They all had a great time. Of course, the cheapskates won’t buy lunch, they come back to the ship to eat lunch at 3:30.

The ship was deserted as everyone was ashore in Progresso. I go to the cabin, and put on my swimsuit and cover-up, thinking I will buy some sun screen and sit up on deck 12. I stopped off at the library to browse for a book. Up on the uppermost deck, I get myself settled into a deck chair and start the baking process. Oops, I forgot the sunblock. It is so hot, I don’t stay out there very long. I meander into the sports bar and get some fruit, again it was terrible. Just not ripe. I go to deck nine and check out tonight’s dinner menus. I stop at the coffee bar and get myself a Mexican coffee(Kahlua, express and cream). Oh. So. Good. After drinking this, I need to take a nap! I head back to the cabin to nap. Paul got back to the cabin about 3:30. I went with him and grandpa up to 11 so they could eat. Somewhere they had lost Zack when getting back on the ship. Prolly went to get a beer. The big Texas hold'em tournament is today at 4:30, once we sail out from Progresso. All three of the Ziaja’s will be playing in this…hey only 60 bucks each entry. And they all scolded me because they said I didn’t need that $2.00 hat in Progresso! Pffft!

While the guys played poker, I went to a shopping seminar about Cozumel. Diamonds International. I need say no more. After the seminar, I walked over to the casino and both Paul and Zack had been bounced from the tourney. Grandpa was still in. I tell Paul to let me know what’s going on so we can make plans for dinner. I headed up to the room to shower and take my afternoon siesta. It is about 5 p.m. I really didn’t sleep at all. By now it is 7 pm and I am getting just a little bit pissy. No one is around. I get dressed for dinner, leave a nasty note for Paul and go down to the coffee bar. It is formal night(if you care to participate this being a free style cruise) and all these folks have lined up for photos before they have dinner. Finally about 7:45 Paul shows up in the coffee bar. He is so very surprised I am not in a happy mood. But, But, But…grandpa came in THIRD in the Texas tournament! Like I know this!?! Did anyone call the room…did anyone come up and tell me this? NO. Paul had put our name in for dinner and Zack and grandpa appeared. Paul went up to change, and by the time he got back, two of Zack’s new friends, Paul and Cindy had arrived. They joined us for dinner. Steak was on the menu, so that’s what we all ordered, except for Cindy having chicken. I actually experimented with the appetizers. Lamb sausage with grilled peppers and feta cheese rolled up in spinach leaves was the appetizer. I followed up with a vinaigrette salad of pita, peppers, onions and cucumbers. Oh my goodness, it was soooooo good. I donated most of my steak to Zack who had not eaten all day or so he said.

After dinner, we parted…our guests to shower and get ready for the late night activities, which was a sock hop, me to the cabin to go to bed and only God knows where Paul and the old fart would be. I was kinda bummed out…I would have gone to the sock hop to see the dance contest, but I can only do so much.

Later…..

Sunday December 17, 2006

At Sea

Paul rolled in at 3 am. Foolish man. He just thinks he’s 21 again. Like Zack. We are awakened by the poor little steward at nine am. He stammers out that we need to put out the do not disturb sign. Poor kid. Paul goes out in the hall and puts the sign in Zack’s door. We figure that grandpa was out til 2 or 3 so he may need some sleep…who knows when Zack rolled in. Paul and I get dressed and head out to find some breakfast. This NCL cruise is called freestyle cruising…you don’t have set times to eat like for dinner the first seating is usually around 6 and second at 8. This means you get a reservation for when you want to eat. Also, there are two specialty places…one Italian and one French which has a $15 surcharge (can you guess which one I won’t be eating at?). On 11 there is the Trattoria which is the Italian place which has continental breakfast only. There is a waffle station and an omelet station out on deck 11, and in the pizza/pasta buffet they have fresh fruit, salad, cheese and stuff like oatmeal, eggs, grits, etc. The sports bar has a breakfast buffet also, and the Four Seasons has the traditional sit down off the menu breakfast. We settle into a table at the Trattoria with some fruit and juice. Paul goes off to find me some oatmeal and then he gets an omelet. After we finish, we start to explore the rest of the ship. At around 10:45 we head back to the cabin only to find a very upset grandpa. He is all pissed off cause “there was no breakfast anywhere, anywhere on this ship, I’ve been on every deck of this boat”. Baloney. If he had been on 9 he’d have seen the main dining room open. If he was on 11 he’d have seen the waffle guy and the omelet guy and the line into the Pizza buffet. If he had gone up to 12 he would have found the sports bar breakfast buffet. He claims he was looking all over the ship for us since 9:30 and he could not only not find us but he was terribly upset he didn’t get breakfast. Hmmmm….I think he is mixed up or has his times goofed up. Sometimes I wonder about his mental clarity. I should be so sharp at 90. But it’s not all the time…he has his moments where he looks totally confused. Like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.

Zack joined us and we headed up to the deck 12. The sun was shinning, it was warm and everyone was out and about. They were setting up the lunch BBQ so Zack and grandpa could get some lunch soon. We found some lounge chairs, grabbing the last 4 on the entire deck. Soon we see folks carrying plates of food so Zack and the old man go searching for lunch. The Caribbean band is playing a jaunty tune and the sun was hot…there was a nice fresh breeze off the gulf which kept everyone nice and comfortable. Now THIS is a vacation. I doze off in my deck chair, like a big ‘ol dog laying in the sun…suddenly, some fool is kicking my chair. It is the only old fool I know, back with his food and for some reason he can’t sit down without kicking the shit outta my chair. I guess he just didn’t realize what he was doing(ok, so he’s now a doddering old fool, lol). He finally sits down and begins to eat. He doesn’t like this…the steak is too tough the ribs inedible…blah blah blah... Meanwhile Zack has scarfed down a huge plate and is heading back in line for more. Zack says his steak was perfect so I don’t know why grandpa’s is so tough. Maybe it’s the choppers. No, I think somebody has a HANGOVER! Yep,the old fart has one hell of a hangover. After about an hour, I can feel my skin starting to burn so I decide to go back to the cabin and put on my swim suit and get the sun block. I didn’t bring sun block. OK, so I won’t sit in the sun too long. On my way back to the deck, I stopped and got some French fries from the pizza bar. Oh they are so delish. Paul and I share a plate of fries for lunch. Some healthy stuff eh? After a while, the sun is getting to me, and my skin is starting to tingle…enough sun for moi. Just as I am readying to leave, they announce an ice sculpting demo so I wander over to where Paul and Zack are sitting at the pool bar…and we watch the demo. I don’t see the fish he carved but everyone clapped when he was done, so who am I to criticize? I get my stuff and go back to the room. I leave Paul and Zack to take care of ol’ cranky man.

Our dinner reservations are for 8 at the Italian place Trattoria. We plan on going to the 6:45 show which is a singing and dancing show. We all meet up in the show lounge. We are being entertained by a Canadian torch singer until showtime. It is a cabaret style show that showcases the singers, two guys, two gals (typical cruise ship entertainment) the dancers and this troupe features a couple from like Transylvania or Romania or some such place that do ballet. She is so thin you can almost see the veins in her body, ick. The show was ok, and both grandpa and Zack had to pop the eyes back into their heads.

After the show we went to dinner. It was excellent. Service was a bit slow, but the food was superb. Paul thought he was going to share my veal parm, he he he, I ate it all! Grandpa was still as cranky as all get out so he just left after the main course. Me and the boys had dessert. After dinner we sat in the lounge and listened to the duo from Russia perform in the piano bar. She had a nice voice. Finally, I went up to our cabin while Paul went to check on grandpa. He reports to me that grandpa is sick with the squirts and upchucking. Great. Paul puts him to bed and then heads out to find Zack the party boy. Once again I take my meds and hit the sack early. I can’t really “do” the nightlife anymore.

Later…

dee

Saturday December 16, 2006

The ship

Paul was up, showered and out to the free breakfast b7 7:30. Fool made so much noise he woke me up several times. He, grandpa and Zack ate breakfast buffet. I was just getting up when Paul came in with some breakfast for me…a cherry Danish, a sausage patty on toast and some coffee. I ate a little bit and then showered. By the time I got dressed it was only ten am and we still have time to kill before boarding time. We loaded the car and headed towards Kemel which is a little town on the gulf that has an old fashioned board walk with amusement rides, carnival games and a ton of neat shops and restaurants. We walked around for a while; saw some local school kids singing Christmas carols in reindeer hats. By the time we had walked the entire boardwalk, my legs were achy and I was getting just a bit cranky. Finally we loaded up the car once more and headed to the pier. It was literally jumping at the pier…buses, cars; taxi’s all trying to get folks unloaded at the entrance. We pulled up and unloaded the car and Paul set up the scooter for me. Thank goodness for my scooter. Paul takes the car to park it while we wait near the entry way. At the entrance to the parking lot, the Polish prince observes that it is gonna cost him 50 bucks to park the car for the week. He says to the attendant, that other cruise lines we have traveled with provided free parking for the handicapped. (I don’t have a clue WHAT those other lines are, yanno?) The gal sees the handicapped hanger in the window and says’ “Are you a veteran?” Paulie says yep, look at my plates….they are Purple Heart plates. She gives him a free pass ticket and Paulie just saves himself 50 bucks. Jeesh. Shister. We meet up and a NCL rep is there to meet us…we were allowed to move past the crowd and get special services to help us. We had our pictures taken for ID, then we went thru security quite quickly. It is nice to get ahead of the long lines, but I would much much rather be able to stand and walk and be in line than have to use a scooter because I CAN’T walk or I am in terrible pain. The cruise porter had given us some new tags for our luggage as we didn’t get any in the cruise packet. The ramp to the ship is huge, I guess for the ease of boarding the handicapped. The Norwegian Dream is the smallest ship I have been on. I think. We get to the room…right off the hall directly across from the elevators. Great. No hiking to the room. The rooms are small but clean and nicely decorated. We don’t have a fridge, darn. I wanted to keep some water in there for the evenings. We get rid of our bags and the four of us take a tour…we first go up to the 11th floor as it is the top floor this elevator goes to. We are on the pool deck where there is a buffet set up with Pizza, Pasta and burgers…nice salad bar too. We grab a bite to eat and then head back to the room. We pick up our flotation devices and head down to deck 7 for the 3:30 emergency drill. We are muster station M with a trillion other folks. We hear from the crew that we won’t start the damm drill until 4…grrrr…why do I havfta stand in this huge crowd of people with this stupid life jacket on for another half hour! The ship is supposed to SAIL at 4. Are they holding the boat for somebody? Nope. Waiting for fuel. Guess we can’t sail if we have no fuel. Finally the crew lines everyone up…we are seven deep from the front to the very back and guess where I am? Yep very back row, my butt plastered to the ship wall. I never was claustrophobic until this very moment. My face was in Zack’s armpit (I wonder if he put deodorant on, it didn’t seem that he did….). FINALLY drill is over and off we go to dump the floatation devices and head to the sail away party. Decks 11 and 12 were JAMMED. There are tons of kids…cripes if I wanted to be on a cruise with kids I would have gone Disney for heaven’s sakes. Ugh. Lots of kids and teens. Why aren’t these children in school for cripes sakes. There is a whole WEEK before Christmas…what ever happened to mid year exams and stuff like that? Do these kids MISS this stuff or are they out on vacation already. Who cares, all I know is there are too many freaking kids for ME. Of course, the congo line is starting and our little wallflower Zack jumps right in. The noise and the crowd is a bit much for me at this time of day, so I head back to our cabin to take a shower and do my nails. Paul gets back to the room around 6 and tells me Zack won the first dance contest with some girl who asked him to dance. Then he proceeds to tell me that they have been eating all afternoon as the sail away party was a BBQ. Great. No dinner for me I guess. I can wait until after the show. The show lounge is having a kinda preview of the entertainment. The show was very good, a very funny magician (and you all know how I hate magic acts) and a comedian I know I have seen before as he looks familiar. After the show Paul and I head up to 12 to the sports bar where there is a buffet. We had missed the main dinner which really honked me off. I love to have dinner on the cruise…the best meal of the day….appetizer, salad, soup, main entry, dessert and yes, an after dinner drink. Darn it anyways.
In the sports bar, there was a little gal making fresh Caesar salad. Wow. I took some halibut off the buffet. Ick it was as dry as cardboard. Not too impressed so far with the food from NCL. The hotdog I had earlier was only so so but the French fries were really good! The Caesar salad was WONDERFUL, best I have had in a long time (maybe since the last cruise?). I sure hope it gets better, but then again, this is ONLY a three star ship right, LOL!

Paul went to find Zack and grandpa. No one had seen the old man for a while. Not good…a missing grandpa. Our bags had arrived at the cabins so I unpacked while Paul went grandpa hunting. I decided that I would turn in for the night, but Paul said he was meeting Zack up on 12 in the disco. Have fun.

Later

dee

Friday, December 15, 2006

Off to Houston….We were up and around by 7 am. We completed all of our breaking camp tasks and packed up the stuff we would need on the cruise. Paul drove the rig to the storage area, with me and grandpa following up with the toad. We were out of the park around 9 am. We stopped at Randies Donuts for coffee and something to hold off the hunger pains. Next stop was the vet to drop off the fur kids. We were on Hwy 59 headed to Houston by 9:30. We rolled into town about 11 but it took forever to find the hotel in Baytown.

I gotta tell ‘ya, to me Houston is kinda dreary looking. Especially so when the sun is missing. Oil storage containers as far as the eye can see…refineries and chemical plants everywhere and the sky is totally filled with electrical towers and thousands of miles of electric lines. Pretty fugly if you ask me. Along the highway, the typical big box stores and restaurants as far as one can see. All the same everywhere you go…the same franchise places that have overtaken the country. We finally got to Baytown and promptly got lost again. A GPS in definitely in our immediate future. After finally finding the damm place, we got a room (it was too early for check in time after all…) we dumped some of our gear to make room in the car for Zack and his stuff. We got back in the car, pulled out the mapquest directions for Hobby airport and took off to pick up Zack. About ten minutes later, Zack is on the phone, his plane has landed on time and he is on his way to the baggage pickup. I instruct him to get his stuff and just step outside the lower level at arrivals and we would just pick him up there. We find him right away, and we get him and his stuff loaded. After a bit of discussion, we decide that we have a free afternoon so we decide to go to Galveston and have lunch on the waterfront. We find Hwy 45 and off we go the island. Just as we hit Galveston, the fog has rolled in again. We do find the beachfront, but all that is visible is a few whitecaps coming in. By this time we are all starving and start to look for a place to eat. We find a gourmet burger place right on the waterfront that looks like it is a kewl place and tromped on in. Paul and I split a burger, grandpa had sausage and shrimp gumbo and Zack had a huge cheeseburger. The hand made onion rings are superb, but even ½ of the hamburger is way too much for me. I sure hope this lasts on the ship…I hope I don’t eat too much.

After we had eaten and sat around and kinda rested, we drove along the waterfront hoping the fog would lift a bit. Unfortunately, it just got worse so we decided to head back to the mainland and the hotel. Like any tourist area there are a lot of places for rent. Too bad we couldn’t see the water and the beautiful resorts that are here…it looks like a great place to vacation. We needed to get some last minute stuff from WalMart so we stopped at the one right on the island. While Zack and I waited in the car, we witnessed the police bust two apparent shoplifters in the parking lot. I see white guys running past the car with GUNS…oh sh*t! They may have also been doing drugs because they started tearing into the couple’s van. Such excitement! We took route 146 back traveling along the gulf coast which was a lot better than the highway back towards Houston. Traffic heading out of town was horrible, but we had no real problems getting back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, we got the other room and settled in. Zack immediately feel asleep…he had been up since 5 getting to St. Louis for his flight. I read the paper, Paulie did a dry run to the cruise dock and did some pre-trip stuff with the car and the suitcases. It is amazing what we have to get into this little car…my scooter, all of our suitcases and carry on stuff plus the camera and video stuff. Hmmm…hope it all fits! Paul came back bearing pizza and beer so we had some and then we all decided to get to bed. We don’t have to board the ship until 1 so we have the whole morning to kill. I think the guys will go have breakfast here at the hotel as it is FREE but I don’t need to eat all that junk stuff. I will sleep in I hope.

later....
dee

Thursday December 14, 2006

Ok, you know its coming. A spout off. All the stuff I have put up with over the last three weeks or so is just brimming and I am gonna explode. All the stupid little irritants that I just let go over the course of a day are screaming to be addressed. The load of grey beard hairs I find in the sink each and every morning...constantly having to deal with flatulance, from not one but two males...., bags of cough drops laying around, medicine bottles everywhere, and jackets that never get hung up...shoes...slippers (who wears slippers? Guess).The list goes on and on. I suppose the weather has had a lot to do with it. Since the sun has arrived with some warmer temperatures we are not in the rig as much, so I don't see the clutter so it obviously doesn't bother me. Why do I get irrated when I see bags of cough drops laying around? Because instead of one or two bags, there are TEN. Its like the store will never GET cough drops again, so they had to buy everyone the store had. This rig is just too small to let clutter get out of control so everything has to have a place and be IN it's place after it's been used. *sigh* Thats all I am gonna say. Things may get written that can't be erased and then I will be in the dog house, again. I surely do things that irritate them. Well, I can't imagine anything off the top of my head. Someone hasn't taken a shower in over a week. This same someone spent an hour putting his pills in the travel bag then had to take them all out this morning to take the damm things. This someone can't understand why we don't have luggage tags for the suitcases...because we didn't GET any NCL tags from the cruise line OK? We will get them when we arrive at the dock OK? Drop it already. OK 'nough said.

We will clean the rig this afternoon, double check out luggage for the cruise and dump the food that is leftover. I hate coming home to a dirty house and its the same with my house on wheels. I am excited about the cruise...looking forward to Paul and I having some alone time as grandpa and Zack will be bunking together. Paul is doing laundry, and once everything is in the dryer, I will go back with him and help fold the clean clothes. The guys will prolly play poker again tonight so I guess I will go with and watch tv at the care center...at least they have cable and I may be able to catch up on my soaps on Soapnet.

Later

dee

Wednesday December 13, 2006

Grandpa had a doc's appointment to have his blood drawn, so we were up and showering earlier than normal. We are expecting another beautiful day here in Livingston Texas.

By the time grandpa was done at the doc's it was lunch time. We headed off to find the dentist's office. Paul had made an appointment with a local dentist...he broke a molar chewing on ice last night. Foolish man. The number two tooth breaker is chewing ice...the number one for breaking teeth is eating popcorn...yep, that buttery delicious treat eaten in the darkness of the movie theater is responsible for the most broken teeth according to the ADA. It's those unseen maryjanes that get ya. There you are enjoying that fake butter covered delight and you crunch down on an unpopped kernal. So....there's at least $900 for for the fix, usually a crown to fix the tooth and maybe even a root canal thrown in for spite. I keep telling Paulie to wait until we get to the Rio Grande Valley, he can go down to Mexico and have it done really cheap. I wonder why he just ignores me sometimes....think he's afraid to see a Mexican dentist?

We stopped for lunch at Whataburger...everyone on the Grads list I belong to (the gastric bypass grads list) rave about this place. Well...I for one remain in the dark as to the appeal. Ick. I'd rather eat cottage cheese and saltines. We did have a chance to talk to some other SKiPs who happened to be eating lunch there, and even our neighbors (Gibby and his wife) showed up. They have been getting stuff done to become Texans and had to have both their 5th wheel and truck inspected before getting plates and such. I can't wait until it's our turn to do this! I am still having issues with becoming a resident of Texas...I just get sick and tired of Texans acting like the world revolves around this state. Hmmm, better change my attitude or I'll get my butt kicked by some old Texas mamasita who has an attitude about beautiful blondes....heh, heh, heh.

After lunch Paulie takes grandpa and me back to the rig and off he goes to the dentist and to take back the Radio Shack thingy we purchased to fine tune the satellite signal. No need for that now. It is warm and not a cloud in the sky this afternoon. The breeze is still cool, but wow, it's beautiful for December.

I fall asleep in the chair and wake up with a crick in my neck. Grandpa is off walking the dog so I go lay down in the rig. The crick turns into a headache so before I laid down I took some tylenol.

Paul gets back from the SKiPs announcements and we start making dinner. We will be getting rid of what's left in the fridge tomorrow as the rig will be in storage for a whole week without eletricity. One of the ladies I met this afternoon, Roma, offered some freezer space as they have a home here in Rainbow's End. I would have hate to throw out the two pounds of butter we had salvaged from the freezer at home. I hate wasting good food stuff. We cleaned out the garage fridge and the freezer and turned them both off. When Zack gets home after Christmas he can dump the rest of the fridge in our kitchen and turn it off also. No use trying to salvage anything since we don't have a clue how long the electric was off. If we don't get home until March most of the stuff we did manage to keep will be out of date anyways.

Tomorrow, Paulie and I will do laundry, and clean the rig really well. We need to find a room for Zack...gee, even in this little town it will run $67 a night. Well, we just have to bite the bullet...he doesn't fit in our rig's shower and he will need to bathe.

Well, the tv reception still sucks where we are so TV tonight will be terrible. Not much but reruns on now anyways so we won't miss too much. I finally pulled out my knitting...I have two pairs of socks and a baby hat on the needles, not to mention the purple sweater I had started over the summer for Red Hats. I don't know why but its been quite a while since I got involved in anything harder than a dishcloth.

Later

dee

Tuesday continued...

Grandpa and I went to have lunch around noon. Paulie was serving up the Spanish rice. There seemed to be a nice crowd for the meal. The casserole was ok, the salad was good, the rice so-s0 and the dessert was ick. After lunch we went back to the rig, pulled out some chairs and sat in the sunshine. It was warm and beautiful. Finally folks were emerging from their homes on wheels to greet the sun and catch up on chores. It has been raining for a few days and quite nasty so this is a great relief. About ten til one we headed back to see if Paul was done with his serving chores, but he was still working so grandpa and I went to see the grammer school kids at the activity center without him. The kids would be singing for us and showing us their parade "floats". I didn't hear if these were special ed kids when they were announced, but they were anxious to get started. They sang about 10 Christmas carols and then each child talked about the parade "float" they had made and then walked it in front of the audience. Here are a few
pictures....








































The kids were really sweet...there was a red-neck float...a singing Mr. & Mrs. Claus, some singing teddy bears and one kid did the baby Jesus in the manger. Very nice kids and great ideas for third graders I thought.

We went back to the rig, and Paulie was on the phone with Dish...more aggravation it seems.
I sat outside with the guys for a while, but a headache was coming on so I went and laid down. I hated to do that as it was such a great day. Paul and grandpa were off to play poker, and I stayed with the furkids and watched White Christmas with Bing and Danny Kaye. Gotta get in the Christmas spirit somehow!

later.

dee

Tuesday December 12, 2006

Paul is heading over to the clubhouse to help serve lunch. Enchillada casserole. Then the kids from the grammer school will be over to show us their Christmas Parade floats. Should be fun. I forgot to take the stupid camera last night, so I will take it with me today and get some pix of Rainbow's end and the kids.

I will catch up with y'all later...see what being in Texas does to ya?

later

dee

Monday continued... December 11, 2006

Paul and I ventured out into the monsoons to get a bag of flour. I am going to make Scottish shortbread cookies...flour, sugar and butter. I have three pounds of butter that we took from the house...it will just go to waste when we have to store the RV during the cruise. I will use one pound for the cookies and then I will most likely give the other two to out neighbors before we leave for Houston on Friday. We stopped at CVS and I found a nice small Christmas tree for the rig. You should have heard Paul the Scrooge bitch about how much it cost...$10. Jeesh. We also stopped at the post office to check to see the the part for the scooter is there. It arrived at Tom's house the day we left New Orleans. Yep, Tom being a good guy sent it priority mail and it was there. Back at the rig, I made the cookies and Paulie fixed the scooter. Yeah, I will have my scooter so I won't miss out on any shore trips that require a lot of walking. I am very happy. We willl just have left over pasta for supper. We need to get the fridge empty before Friday.

Then after dinner we were off to dessert and coffee, to be followed by a Christmas concert at the activity center. A very nice crowd showed up and there were plenty of goodies to go with coffee. I didn't have anything...I was still stuffed from dinner and I don't need the extra calories. Plus, I don't need to have a dumping episode. At seven, the Livingston Community Orchestra began a wonderfully entertaining concert. They played for almost an hour and did a variety of Christmas arrangements. They were certainly a lot better than we had anticipated as Livingston is quite a small town. Looking at the program and seeing all the names listed, we could see that a lot of folks were from the surrounding areas and there were several who drove over an hour from Houston. They were quite good. The SKiPs collected $400 in contributions to thank them which they can use for music and instruments.

After the concert, we took grandpa back to the rig and then headed to the club house to go watch the Bears. Since we learned that our satellite is a no-go, we had to find a place to watch the game. They have cable and two tv's. By the time we got there, the Rams had scored a TD but blew the extra point. The Bears defense looked pretty lame. There were three other gentlement watching...none of us have a dish. Two guys left fairly early and it was just me, Paulie and another very interesting gentleman who was also born in St. Louis and then moved to Chicago. Poor guy...should have kept up his Cardinal fan status...like me he is a lost Cubbie soul, destined to have his heart broken very stinking year. *Sigh*.

Well, the real Rex Grossman showed up and the Bears had quite an offense going. The defense didn't have a stellar effort but were good enough to win the game. Devon Hester(strange name for a football player, no? ) is such fun to watch. He is absolutely amazing...so fast. Two kickoff returns and 14 points...it doesn't get better than that!

later...

dee

Monday December 11, 2006

Well, today I have had an epiphany…Saturday afternoon, we went to the Downtown Hometown Christmas in Livingston. This appears to be a very, very poor kinda town. The band was playing Christmas carols and someone was singing way off key. The craft booths were pitiful…at least compared to the stuff we saw at the Muskegon Celebration. There seemed to be only one crafter with any talent at all….she made wreaths and they were quite attractive. I wouldn’t pay $40 bucks for one, but then again I am pretty cheap. After visiting the booths, we were off to find a restaurant and have an early dinner/late lunch. I was thinking a hot bowl of soup would be good. While out, we decided to find the Vet place where the furkids will be boarded and look for a place to eat. We found the Vet but there didn’t seem to be anywhere to eat out there that appealed to grandpa. Don’t get me started. So I suggested the Texas Pepper, advertised as a “family” restaurant…figured we could get soup, salad and maybe a blt or something simple. Well, it turns out it has highly priced Tex-Mex dishes…a few steaks and of course the ever present chicken fried steak. Paul and I split a burger and fries, grandpa ordered a burger and onion rings. The hamburger was just so-so and the fries and onion rings were cooked along with the burritos, charos and taco chips…ick. They tasted like greasy tortilla chips. Like I said, …ICK.

Today, we are kept in by torrential rains. This weather has sucked since we got here last week. At least it is gonna be warm today. I volunteered to make cookies for the Livingston Municipal Band concert here tonight. Paul and I will drop off the plate then go over to the clubhouse and watch the Bears on the big screen. Today we stopped at a local dish network place and it has been determined we will NEVER get in the satellite service…the box and the dish itself are incompatible. Crap. I get so irritated with this stuff. Everyone in the park has a dish and we are the only ones who can’t get it to work. Grrr…

Well, grandpa is still sleeping….he did go out with Paul for a ride this afternoon, but he has only been awake for perhaps 4 hours at the most in the last three days. He does have a doctor appointment to have his psa checked on Thursday so maybe the doctor can tell us if there is something wrong with him or he’s turned into Rumplestilsken.

Let’s hope the real Rex Grossman shows up for the Bears game tonight. All over the Houston paper was the story of Vince somebody who was a local kid a star at Texas, the Texans football team passed him over in the draft and he went to New Orleans and is now according to these people, the second coming of Christ….I am NOT making this up. Apparently he will lead NO to the next 10 superbowls he is so wonderful. Yeah. Right.

Whatever…

Later

Dee

Sunday December 10, 2006

We all slept late and then just sat in our jammies while we read the paper.

We went to the show and saw Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick. It was really bad. Thank goodness we paid matinee prices. Grandpa slept through the whole movie. Then back at the rig, he fell asleep on the couch. Paul made pork steaks on the grill, some Mexican corn casserole and bbq beans. Very good dinner, Paul. After dinner, grandpa lay down again and slept. All evening. On the couch. Finally at 10:30 we woke him up, and made up the bed so he could GO to bed. Our TV reception is still sucky. We can't get more than one station and that is a religious one. Argh. Such a pain in the butt.

later

Dee

Saturday December 9, 2006

I am having a fibrofog moment...I don't remember what we did Saturday during the day, LOL!
Saturday night Paul and grandpa went to play poker. Since we are still having such a terrible time getting the satellite dish to work at all, I stopped by the clubhouse here at Rainbow's End and picked up a video from the library. I watched the good version of Scrooge...the Alistar Sim version and a movie I had always wanted to rent, Beloved with Oprah Winfrey. Well, Beloved ran 172 minutes and was still on when they boys got home from poker. It was the strangest movie I have ever seen. The boys made a stink about having to watch the end. That's just tough. They can sit and watch the end...I am going to see this to the end. Boy, it really is a strange one. I looked it up on the internet just so I could understand what I had just seen. Thank goodness for the internet and study guides on line, lol!

We think we may go to the movies tomorrow.

later

dee

Friday December 8, 2006

Today was not a good day for the Ziaja marriage. I had purchased a large tin Texas star for my secret pal and we were trying hard to get it packed and mailed. We needed a box about 30" X30"...not too difficult a task. Wrong. We dumpster dived, checked every store we could think of to buy one and wound up at the UPS store. They wanted 11 bucks for a box and packing. Right. Then it would have been THIRTY bucks to ship. I don't think so. Paul and I had words about the stupid thing and he wound up taking it back to where we bought it. I was really pissed. We got a small star from one of the local stores that also had the word Texas on it...and I bought a skein of sock yarn for her. Big deal. I didn't even wrap it as I was so mad at Paul I wouldn't stop anywhere to get paper and tape. Back at the rig, grandpa was asleep in the lounge chair. I laid on the sofa and we watched TV until dinner time. We had left overs. Just like being at home, LOL! At four, Paul and I went to the announcements. Not a lot going on...it's been cold and dreary here.

Perhaps we will have a more exciting day tomorrow?

hugs

dee

Thursday December 7, 2006

Well...I was up for once at 7 a.m. Wanted to go shopping after sampling the infamous $3.00 breakfast at RanDee's which is only available until 9 a.m. Took a shower, woke up Paul so he could take a shower, and go in to rouse grandpa. He is famous for getting up five minutes before us and then asking us if we were going to sleep "all day". So I say...."Grandpa, are you gonna sleep all day?" to which he replies...."I need to go to the doctor, I think my stomach hurts." So I go tell Paulie and we hustle out the door. The Care Center nurse gave us the name of a local doctor and called us in ahead of time. After filling out all the paperwork, they finally call him and its been an hour since we arrived. They had a full waiting room, and I guess they could just about get him in. I sit for another hour. Finally Paulie comes out and says its gonna be another half hour. They had given him an IV for fluids and to shoot him up with antibiotics. He also needs to get an X-ray. Finally, I go sit in the car so I don't catch something from all these germy sick people in the waiting room. After all this time, they finally get out...its 11:15 and we have not eaten anything yet. I did have a protein shake, but I am on the verge of a hypoglycemic problem. I do have peanut butter crackers in the glove box, but just as I reach for them, Paulie and grandpa get in the car. We are off to see if we can find a place to eat other than crappy fast food. We find a neat little cafe called the Whistle Stop Cafe. The boys got soup and chicken salad sandwiches and I had a Ruben. Pretty good for a Texan Ruben.

We head over to WalMart, to drop off the prescriptions and pick up a few things. I purchased a secret pal gift for my poor knitting guild secret pal. I am trying to find a box to ship it in. I have to listen to naggy PIA Paulie telling me its gonna cost a fortune to ship. Cripes, I missed the girl's birthday, the least I can do is get her a NICE Christmas gift. Jeesh. Men. Why don't they understand these things. I lose Paul at WalMart. He calls me FOUR times to check where I am. Good Lord....I'm running away with the checkout kid for chrissakes. I find a pair of jeans. I am down a pair that fit great when I had to go to the ER in Peoria...they cut the pants off. Plus, I am wearing old short miss's 14's and they are too big. I also buy a Santa hat for myself and some shower gel. As my legs are killing me, I call Paul and tell him I am checking out and would meet him at the door. I find grandpa and we wait for the big guy to finish shopping. From Walmart we go to the hospital for the X-ray. An hour of sitting in the car for me. Jeesh. From the hospital we go back to Walmart to pick up the prescriptions. While in line, the scooter store guy calls and we give him directions to our campsite. Back to Rainbow's end to unload and wait for the scooter fixer guy. We pull up to the rig and he is right there. Of course, we KNOW he doesn't have the part...he confirms...he will have to order and get back with us. Crap. This is getting old. A wasted trip as far as I am concerned. Oh well. Just after the scooter fixer guy leaves, a truck pulls up and a guy asks us if we still want to move into another spot. OK. Yep...so we hurry up and unhook, pack in the slides and off we go. We are now in the main in and out area...we were at the Care facility lot and it was pretty empty and quiet. We finally get settled again...we will stay here until we pull out to go on the cruise next week. I like being around people. Plus, now I can access the internet legally. Yesterday I guess I was hacking into someone else's wifi system and I have a guilty conscience. Tangonet is the wifi service used here so I signed up just for one week, then we'll be off to Mexico. Well, so much for today. Paulie and grandpa are going to play poker tonight so I get the whole place to myself. I can watch what I want which is quite a treat for me.

I promise to take some pictures of the campground and facilities tomorrow.

later....dee

Wednesday, December 6th

Jeesh, a lost day. The front is coming in hard and fast and I was in bed the entire day. I just hate that.

I have added some photos...not many good ones, from New Orleans and from the Tabasco plant. We must be picture impared...we don't take any or the ones we do take suck. Gotta practice this a bit. oh, here is the addy....


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rocketmom1985/album?.dir=/5c23re2&.src=ph&.tok=phrej7FBBOgrGa.o


later...

dee

OK, I finally have wifi again....we are at the Isle Of Capri having brunch. What a waste for me....six bucks and I had 1/2 pancake, two spoons of grits and some fruit. Next time I pass.
Remember to scroll down to where you left off and read UP! I know, its goofy, but that's the pia having no direct net access for days. *sigh*.

I will be updated sooner, hopefully when we get to Livingston. They have wifi I think.

hugs

dee

Monday December 4, 2006

We left the city of New Orleans around 9 a.m. We had a great time visiting with Tom and Sue, and I loved the French Quarter and of course Uptown. I would love to live there for 6 months or so…not summertime of course. The weather is again very odd for this time of year…it was freezing overnight and that rarely happens here.

We headed west on I10 then swing south to go to Avery Island, home of the Tabasco sauce plant. We stopped for lunch in a grocery store parking lot in New Iberia. Grandpa ate the leftover shrimp poboy, I ate the remaining chunk of the mufuletta sandwich and I made Paulie my special roast beef on white. It is very slow going on state road 90. This is the future I49 corridor, which should make the trip a lot easier. I thought Chicagoans drove nuts, these Cajun peoples are far, far worse! I think they drive like their music…fast and choppy and gets on one’s nerves. When we arrive at Avery, we paid our $1 entrance fee at the guards post across the bridge onto the island. We park and go in for the two cent tour. We actually got to see them bottling Japanese label Tabasco. It was interesting, but Paul and I wondered later if it was really worth the extra two hours of driving. We now know a whole bunch of useless facts about Tabasco sauce. We bought a jar of Tabasco Chili mix, a bottle of Tabasco A1 Steak Sauce for Zack and I finally broke down and bought myself a t-shirt. We took state route 14 heading west again to get to Lake Charles. This was a terrible road, very bumpy and congested for quite a few miles. Then it was turns and more turns. I made a few phone calls, first to set up an appointment with the fools at the Scooter store and then to the cruise line. I have called several times to see if my bringing the scooter would pose a problem. NCL told me that they couldn’t help, since we had booked with Vacations to Go, so I had to call them. Thank goodness it is all taken care of. Details. It’s always the details that kill ya. We decided to pass on the state park as it was 12 miles out of town so we called the Isle of Capri casino and got a spot in their RV parking area for ten bucks. Just electric but that’s all we really need. By the time we roll in it’s after five. There was an accident on this huge bridge over Lake Charles…a load of lumber was blocking the east bound lanes. What a mess. We finally pull into our reserved spot and let me tell ya…there is NO room for anything in these spaces. We are jammed in between a half million dollar Country Coach to the left and a nice 5th wheel rig to the right.

Both grandpa and I are hungry so we tell Paulie to step it up and we head over to the casino for some dinner. Of course, they have the all you can stuff yourself with buffet which is total waste of money for us, a sports type bar of place that has 15 buck hamburgers and then the top of the line steak house. Hmmmm…we finally find the sandwich market and Paulie and I split a cheeseburger. Grandpa settles for the most dried out looking piece of pizza I have ever seen. Both Paul and I try to talk him out of it to no avail. Stubborn old coot. By the way, he is not able to chew the crust…

I head back to the rig while the boys go throw some money away. I find very little to watch on TV…reruns and junk….Thank goodness for PBS….IL Divo in concert, am I lucky or what!!!!! Oooo, Ooooo that Spanish guy is sure a hunk.

I am really tired tonight. We should be in Livingston tomorrow. So far a very enjoyable trip overall.

Later…dee

Sunday December 3, 2006

We were up having coffee and reading the paper by ten. At least I got up and was semi-awake at ten. We decided to go back to the Garden District and the Uptown area just to tour around in the car and view the architecture. Again, the map we have sucks so Paul got another one out of the newspaper. Unfortunately he didn’t look at it closely and it has no street names, but accompanied an article in the paper about the levee system reconstruction. Gee, what a helpful guy he is.

We were quite impressed with the uptown area. Beautiful mansions. Truly unbelievable palaces to be honest. The uptown area is where all the universities are….Tulane, Loyola and St. Xaiver. The garden district is historically signigicant as if I recall it was the former high society area of old New Orleans money was centered. I was quite surprised as the homes there were not opulent or over adorned. Lots of lush, but overgrown landscapes. Most of these old homes have been converted to condos and apartments. Not a parking spot to be found…anywhere. We circled around a bit and then headed back towards the river. We wanted to check out the steam boats, perhaps taking a tour. We parked just outside the JAX building, the former Jackson brewery. It is now shops and restaurants but I thought they still operated a small micro-brewery. Nope. No beer. We walked across the street and came upon what the sign said was the only operating micro-brewery in New Orleans. We went inside to check it out. I ordered the sampler which was four approximately 3 ounces glasses of the house drafts. A dark German type; a Pilsner; a reddish brew called the Stallion and then the special which due to the holiday tasted like it had nutmeg in it somehow. I relished them all. Grandpa ordered the Black Forest dark brew and Paulie shared my samples even though I wasn’t in the sharing mood. Who shares beer for heaven’s sake? Certainly not moi.

After this we go back in the car, paid the outrageous parking fee ($8 for not quite two hours…a real rip off but what choice does one have?) We were just outside the French Quarter so we decided to find a place to eat. First we had to find a parking spot. Lo and behold we find a handicapped FREE spot just off Royal Street. We stroll down Royal which is the art gallery and antique shoppe street in the FQ. We saw some street musicians and all of a sudden the streets began filling up with people in Saints jerseys. The football game has ended and the FQ invasion of the drunkards had begun. No restaurants to be found on Royal. We get to Bourbon and make a hasty exit. It smells like vomit and beer. Jeez. How disgusting. We make our way up to Toulouse and find a bar & café that looks inviting. I must say inviting because we were hungry, tired and the sun had set and it was getting quite chilly. Grandpa had the house sampler (gumbo, red beans with rice, and either jambalaya or the et-to-fey (Sp…My dictionary doesn’t do Cajun and Creole). Paul and I split a hot beef poboy that had the most delicious gravy. I ate about three bits of beef but chowed down the fresh French bread covered in that marvelous gravy. Talk about being stuffed. Bread grows in my stomach, and I know this…so what do I stuff my face with? Yep, bread. Paul finished up, paid the bill and went off to get the car. By this time the streets were filling up very quickly with the tourists and more of the football folks. We headed back to the rig, all tired from our unexpected walk through the French Quarter. We will be heading into west Louisiana towards Cajun country tomorrow. We plan on touring the Tabasco plant on Avery Island and then head to the Sam Houston Jones state park to stay the night. We will then head towards Livingston, Texas on Tuesday.

Later…dee

Saturday December 2, 2006

We slept in this morning. Paulie was up first and took a walk to an interesting little Chinese grocery store several doors away from the RV Park. He picked up the newspaper and a breakfast sandwich. I didn’t get my bum outta bed until almost 11. Tom and Sue called and said they would pick us up around three, and take us to the lake house for a pontoon boat ride. We stopped for crawfish and shrimp at a local place near the lake house and by the time we got to the house, the sun was sinking into the lake quite quickly. So…we just looked around at the lake house property and then dove into the food. I am very picky about my food, if it looks nasty, I don’t eat it. Well, I had to quickly decide if I was gonna be squeamish or starve. The shrimp still had the heads on. So Gross. So Disgusting. So Vile. Sue showed me how to rip their buggy eyed heads off and peel ‘em. They tasted wonderful. Unbelieveably fresh, just caught today. The crawfish are another story. They really ARE bugs. Mudbugs. They remind me of the monster in the Alien movies. I grabbed one and again Sue guided me thru the process of ripping off the bug eyed head, pull some of the shell off and just crack the tail and pull out the meat. There would be NO sucking of the stuff in the heads to pass these virgin lips like Tommy. There is approximately one one-hundredth of an ounce of meat in a mudbug. I am not making this up. The little sliver I managed to get out of the shell was as big as my ring finger fingernail. It was ok…one was enough. I now can say I ate a bug. Of course, dear readers… you know that alcohol was involved in this…NO WAY would I eat this stuff sober yanno. I am not nuts, honest.

Tom and Sue’s lake house is quite beautiful. Just what you’d imagine a getaway cabin to look like. It is bigger than the house we live in…furnished in that rustic look that is so popular now. After dinner we just sat around and talked…it was almost ten by the time we were back on the road and on the way home. Another great day in NO.

Later…dee

Friday December 1, 2006

I think I have my dates goofed up on my previous postings. Now ask me if I care. We awoke to a very frigid New Orleans. Crap. Normal temps are in the mid 70’s with lows in like the 50’s. Today the HIGH will be fifty. With a very cold and biting wind. Better than being at home I say. I don’t like ice and snow anymore. Oh well, we are up and out the door, heading to Café Du Monde in the French Quarter. Of course, we take the Canal Street exit off I10 and I TELL the driver to stay on Canal. An arrow points straight ahead and says in ENGLISH, Canal Street ahead. The driver makes a right. Me, playing navigator, tries to read the map upside down since the map is one of the guide book things and I am desperately trying to figure out where the heck we need to go. After several U-turns, the driver runs right through a frickn’ red light. We make it through alive. We finally ask some guy and he says to go right and stay on this street. We go through what seems to be the financial district before we stumble onto Bourbon Street. What a sh*t-hole. Strip clubs line Bourbon street. I thought this was a place to hear music and have a drink. Ugh, the place is so gross. We continue on and get to another cross street which I recognize so we turn in, and finally we are in the real French Quarter. We find out later that after Hurricane Katrina, that disgusting Larry Flint came in and bought up Bourbon street for pennies on the dollar to destitute property owners. What a shame. Bourbon Street is now Hustler filth alley.

We find a parking spot just off Decatur Street, and see the Café across the way. The wind off the river is really nippy. We get into the Café and it is not unlike my expectations, very quaint. There are only either Chinese or Vietnamese waitresses who can barely speak English. We each order beignets and I got the café aulait, the boys ordering hot cocoa. The coffee is a dark roast that is very rich. Half coffee and half hot milk is perfect. Best café auliat I have ever had. Obviously I am biased by my surroundings. We have NINE beingnets in front of us. Gee I hope they reheat well. They are hot and loaded in huge mountains of powdered sugar. I immediately fell in love with Café Du Monde. I will be back. Just now, I can checkmark this place on my list of “wanna go to’s” and “wanna go back to’s.” Paul and grandpa seemed to enjoy them also, at least they didn’t complain. After we finished, we went up to view the Mississippi. We are below the levee and I would assume under sea level? We walk up the rampart, and all of a sudden my head is just spinning and my ears are screaming in pain. The air pressure is not normal here and I am frantic to get away. We walked a bit down Decatur. Lots of really neat shops and café’s, including the French Quarter Grocery, home of the original Muffaletta sandwich. The smell from the grocery was incredible. We continued walking for a couple of blocks to the visitors center and check out tours. Grandpa and I just cannot walk to do tours or sightseeing. My head was pounding from the air pressure and grandpa’s legs were giving out. We found the French Market but just were outta gas to do any kind of shopping. Paul walked back to the car and grandpa and I sat freezing in a quaint little park off the market waiting. Paul had gotten a call from his friend Tom, and we headed to Gretna to see them. I wanted to stop at the rig first to get cleaned up…I had nasty bed head this morning and just stuck a baseball cap on my head. They have a beautiful home. Right now son Tommy and his wife and two kids are living with them until February when they transfer to Houston. We talked all afternoon, and then Sue made a wonderful dinner of Italian type chicken with breadcrumbs and diced tomatoes, sautéed broccoli and noodles. We talked around the table until about 9:30 pm. I felt really kinda stupid keeping my baseball hat on the entire day, but by then my bed head had turned into a couple of greasy tufts of thin stragles so no way would I take the hat off. Let Tom and Sue think I am a weirdo, I wouldn’t let anyone see my hair like this. Poor Pepe was prolly doing the “I gotta go potty” dance back at the rig so we said our goodnights and went home. We pretty much just went to bed when we got back. A good day…very disappointing for both me and grandpa. It is soooooo frustrating not to be able to walk more than a block. Both he and I are in the dumper…we had looked forward to doing some sightseeing here. He’s almost 90, so he’s got reason…me, who knows?

Later,

dee

Thursday November 30, 2006

The rig was packed and ready to hit the road about 9:30 a.m. It is starting to drizzle again. The cold front is pushing south and we are running just ahead of it. Paul had run over to a small donut shop and brought us a couple of deep fried grease nuggets. Why does deep fried grease taste so good?

We got back on I55 once again heading straight south. We stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center and picked up a bunch of tourist brochures. I would love to go on the Vampire and Cemetery Tour, but it is a walking tour and its after dark, too deadly for moi. Walking is still difficult and forget walking in the freakin’ dark…since I have no balance I have to use my EYES so darkness renders me totally unbalanced…no rude comments please.

I55 into NO is very interesting. About 20 or so miles out of the city, there are bayous along the highway, shrimp boats and houses on stilts. Very interesting. We plan on doing a swamp and bayou tour. I better remember the bug spray or I won’t come out alive, sucked dry no doubt.

We arrived in New Orleans just ahead of the super thunderstorms that are making up the cold front down here. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the traffic on the NO freeways just whizzed by us. I think Paulie was stressed. I cannot describe just how terrible it still is down here as we passed on I10. All the residential areas we passed still had half the houses in repair or disrepair. Roofs missing, windows boarded up. FEMA trailers still stand in a lot of front yards. We passed a strip mall that was still just a pile of rubble. Some homes look like they have been rebuilt already…their insurance must have been good. There are still piles of rubble everywhere, on street corners and even on roofs. Very sad. This was probably not a very attractive area, most likely a poorer area and it just looks like jumbled up shambles.

We finally find Chef Menteur Hwy and get off to find the park. Hmmm, it’s a parking lot with hookups. There is a pool, and a hot tub. I truly doubt if I’d set foot in either one, even if I was dying of the heat and humidity. There are mostly work campers here. It looks like a lot of electric company trucks are here. I suppose if the work is here, staying in a campground is not such a bad deal. At least you go to bed in YOUR bed every night, and can cook a meal. About six blocks from here is the quarry and the main barge landing on the Mississippi. Not the most picturesque place we’ve ever stayed by a long shot, but NOT as bad as my favorite place in Southern Illinois. We are about 5 miles from the French Quarter. First thing tomorrow morning I am shagging male asses outta bed and we are going to the Café du Monde for beignets and café au lait. It IS open 24 hours so I may just steal out in the middle of the night and treat myself.

The rain finally caught up with us at around 5:30 p.m. It was really heavy and came down in torrents blown to and fro by a strong wind. Paul stupidly made himself and grandpa fish sticks for dinner and stunk up the entire rig. No windows can be opened due to the torrential rain, and he makes fish sticks…in the toaster oven. Jeez. Now it smells like Arthur Treachers in here for heaven’s sake. I am lighting candles all over the place. Putz.

Well, that’s about all that’s going on here. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so I am not sure what is on the agenda except for the beignets .

More later

Dee

Wednesday November 29, 2006

After a nice sleep-in, we decided to go to Vicksburg to once again visit the Battleground Museum and Cemetery there. Grandpa had changed his mind and decided he now wanted to go, so we thought we could see things we missed on our first visit over two years ago. We again purchased the CD tour which is very interesting and puts the battle into perspective as you drive through the huge battlegrounds. The Siege of Vicksburg is told from both sides, Confederate and Federal. The townspeople fled to caves they had carved into the hillsides along the Mississippi. The most beautiful monument in the park is that of Illinois. It is a domed structure of marble and inside its circular interior are the names of each Illinois soldier to serve in this historical campaign. I have put up a new album of a few photos at http://www.yahoopictures.com. We didn’t get out of the car so the pictures are just basic…but the day was beautiful and 77 degrees.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch, early dinner thing. Of all the regional foods we could have sampled, the men choose CB. Jeez. Whoosies, both of ‘em…all that BBQ just waiting to be sampled and we eat at a place we can eat at any damm time.

We will head for New Orleans tomorrow. It is about 245 miles from here so it will be a nice easy day. We found a place to park the RV in the French Quarter…it only costs $80 per day. I think not. Instead, we will be staying at a place called Judes Camp for a mere $30.00. I sure hope it’s in a good part of town, or is there such a thing anymore in New Orleans?

Later

Dee

Hey, since this is the first time I've had access to the net, I've done several updated entry/uploads all at once...scroll down until you get to the point where its new to ya....

dee

Tuesday November 28, 2006

Forget Tunica…we decided to just do a short 220 jaunt south to Jackson Mississippi. The weather has been great, but we awoke to cloudy skies and light drizzle. After packing up the rig and saying goodbye to Tom Sawyer’s place we were off and out of Memphis heading south on 55 by 9:30 a.m. We stopped for breakfast at Waffle house, one of our favorites. I of course had to have a waffle AND a bowl of grits. I KNOW I cannot eat even half a waffle so what’s up with me getting the grits too? They are so good with butter. If I lived south of the Mason Dixon line or where ever the invisible line exists where hash browns suddenly turn into grits at the eateries, I’d weigh 600 pounds. Grits, butter and fat Dennise. No question. I ate ¼ of the waffle and about 5 spoons of grits. The poor waitress thought something was wrong…I just had to assure her that my eyes are a whole lot bigger than my stomach. If she only knew.

After an uneventful yet pretty drive, we pulled into Swinging Bridge RV resort. I think they are using the term “resort” quite loosely down here. We unhooked the car and made a quick trip to the market. I was able to access wifi at the local McDonald’s but it took me forever to get the software uploaded. I had SBC freedom link but now its gotta be AT&T. Like I need more aggravation. Oh well, we are updated, I was able to access my email and send a message to the neighbor to send mail to us in New Orleans Wednesday.

Tomorrow is either Vicksburg, which grandpa has never visited , or Gulfport and find a campground with an ocean view. Paul and I went to Vicksburg so I’d prefer to keep going south.

Will update more when it happens.



oh, here is a picture I snapped of Pepe...he was trying so hard NOT to fall asleep....

Monday, November 27, 2006

A beautiful day again in West Memphis, AR. The river runs quietly by, the occasional barge passing by with sounds similar to a passing train or motorboat. The river currently flows approximately 7 miles per hour. Funny, I’ve passed over the Mississippi a million times heading into St. Louis, but it never seemed to flow as swiftly as it does here. Perhaps it is because passing over a distant bridge, the current is unnoticeable. I just sat and watched this morning in the bright sunlight sipping my morning coffee. The swift current continued to wind its way always southward, itinerant tree limbs, origin unknown, keeping pace, making their inevitable journey to the sea. (Gee, I shoulda been a writer).

It was a quiet catch-up kinda day. Since I walked what seemed like miles yesterday, I was not only sore all over, but I was simply exhausted. How funny this disease fibromyalgia is. A good day or two and then the bastard reels you back in for more misery. Good thing Paul and grandpa understand. Grandpa had spoken earlier to one of the campground hosts. His wife also suffers from this unseen disease. He said that for a period of about 6 months, she could barely get out of bed. He says she has improved since they have been here at this RV park. Perhaps it is the mild climate or maybe it’s just the ability to sit and watch the river each day that creates a sense of relaxation and quiet peace.

We will be pulling out tomorrow morning, heading (I think) towards Tunica. Grandpa said he had no interest in seeing it, however we have a lot of time before we meet up in Gretna, LA with Paul’s friend, so we need to slow down the pace and that seems like a good place to do it.

Sunday November 26, 2006

Poor Paulie…he tries soooooo hard. He has a couple of other Rv’ers helping him to set up this stupid dish. Every Rv’er in the freaking world has a dish satellite hooked up and running. Except us. Bummer. One fella brought over his signal finder and attached to the dish, it shows at least a 70% signal but the satellite strength on the TV is zippo. *Sigh*. No Bears game today unless we hit some kinda sports bar. Grandpa wants to go fishing in the pond, convinced that he can get dinner. We could send him down to the river which is right out the door but he won’t pop the $5 for the license. He took off on MY scooter…the one I haven’t even USED yet…oh well, he breaks, he BUYS ME A NEW ONE!

Paulie is on the phone with Dish. I hate these people. As soon as he is done we will be off into Memphis. First item…Walgreens…I need refills on two scripts. Just plain forgot to do it before we left. Nothing that I can’t live without. The expensive little Purple pill Nexium and a bity thing for high blood pressure which is stupid cause I don’t HAVE high BP. Argh.

We slept til about 9 and grandpa was already up. He had turned on the coffee pot, as I had kindly premade it last night before I went to bed.
I sure do make good coffee, if I say so myself.

Paulie went to get us some cream for the coffee (as he forgot the one at home that I bought). He brought a Memphis paper and a couple of sweet rolls. Of course, grandpa took the apple one and then bitched about how lousy it was. Sometimes…..he just irritates the crap outta me.

Paulie and I are off in the car about 11 am. We head first to the visitors center and pick up a few brochures. Then we find Beale Street. Very picturesque…and disgusting in the daylight. Delapilated store fronts, actually bar fronts, peeling paint and an ATM on every corner. There were lots of places to eat and the smells were fantastic. Since I am not a good walker yet, we only went up two blocks and then back on the other side. We stopped at The Pig’s…BBQ with an attitude. We split a pulled pork with beans and fries. Memphis BBQ is unique, it has a vinegar base almost. The sweet sauce was great. Even the beans had vinegar in them. We really enjoyed our lunch which we followed up with a renowned southern fired peach pie. Of course, I had to take a pain pill…swilled down with a Killian’s Red…it hit pretty fast. The I had a stupid hot flash. Hmmmm, maybe related to the pill and the beer?

We walked back to the car and started our quest to find both a Walgreen’s and a grocery store. We had to get one of my refills….oooops. Guess I blew that one. We finally got back to the RV park around 3 pm.

Remember earlier when I lent grandpa my scooter and said he’d have to buy me a new one if he broke it? Well, guess what. He broke it. Snapped the go forward lever right off. I am not a happy camper…we called the scooter store and all they could do was have someone call us on Monday. Crap.

After I took a ‘lil nappie, Paulie made us a nice dinner of steak, baked potato and corn along with a salad. Quite tasty. He is so good to us.

Well, we saw the last ugly minute of the Bears game. That damm Grossman. What a putz. He needs a sports psychologist. The same guy never shows up to the game for chrissakes. That’s why I hate getting to involved watching sports. My team always breaks my heart. We will just watch a bit of TV tonight…Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal are on. At least we’ll get a few laughs tonight.

Here are a couple of photos of the Mississippi about 20 feet from our campsite at Tom Sawyer's RV park in West Memphis, AR.

Friday, November 24

We slept til about 9 am. Auntie Avril came out just as Gene was getting Pepi out for his morning walk. She said breakfast would be ready soon. I had wanted to take her out for breakfast but she beat us to it. She had made French toast and bacon and it was wonderful…she even heated up the syrup!
After breakfast, Paul disconnected the car and he and grandpa went off in search of a Bridgstone tire. Auntie Avril and I just talked ourselves silly til they got back around noon. Around 1:30 we decided to try to drive a couple of miles towards Memphis before traffic got bad. Peggy and David were entertaining some friends and we would have to miss visiting them at the farm this trip. We stopped at a KFC for dinner (since we didn’t have any lunch) and filled up the tank. We decided to stop at the West Plains MO Elks club. They had 30 am hookups and water and all for a $5 donation. Incredible. We all turned in early, but Paul and I watched TV til about ten.

later...
dee

Thanksgiving Day 2006

Well, we had a good nights sleep, and were up and moving about 7. The tough part about loading the motorhome is that the majority of stuff we will use is stuff we use daily in the house and therefore have to wait until take-off day to load it up. It is very tiring. After putzing around for several hours, we finally hit the road about 11 am.

By this time I had a sore hip, sore butt from walking and I was walking into stuff. I have so little stamina, just vacuuming the kitchen floor had me winded. I stretched out on the new sofa/futon, which is by the way, quite comfortable, Pepi along side of me and slept until we were way past St. Louis. We hit a bit of traffic in the Springfield but it was clear sailing the rest of the way. Just as we passed Cuba MO, Paul was flagged down by a passing car, the passenger pointing to the toad. After pulling off, Paul discovered that the right front tire was shredded. Earlier, I had heard a thump, so there must have be something on the road that wasn’t visible. Paul called OnStar and they said someone would be there to change the tire within an hour. Of course, this meant we had to get the temp tire outta the back of the Vue, which meant unloading the entire back end, including my new scooter. After the mechanic helped get us back on the road, it turns out we had only been down for about an hour. I had called Auntie Averil so she knew we’d be a bit late. I think we rolled up about 5ish. We had a great time catching up, and then we had our turkey dinner, hauled all the way from Springfield. It was just as good warmed up as it was fresh. We all just sat around and talked until about 10 p.m. and then we headed to our rolling home to retire for the night.

As usual, I don’t sleep well the first night in the rig (it’s the change of bed or excitement or just plain stupid). I was up to the bathroom at least 8 times. Snickers decided to sleep in between Paul and me….by our heads, and she kept putting her paw on my cheek, hoping I’d pet her. Paul seems to be snoring a lot again…have to mention this to him. He isn’t breathing thru his nose, he is breathing thru his mouth and doing the sleep apnea stop breathing for 15 seconds tricks again. Grrrr.

Here is a wonderfully flattering picture of me and Auntie Averil....she's gonna kill me.....

Wednesday November 22

Heh, heh, heh...you guys fell for my bs again. I haven't updated since Oct! Well, the old saying, the best laid plans....

For weeks the debate here in the Ziaja realm has been ...."when are we gonna leave? What are Zack's plans? Are Jan and the girls coming in? blah blah blah." We finally make a decision to leave Thanksgiving day. Not MY choice. Grandpa has had his clothes in the motorhome since October. Every now and then I see him sneak out to get some clean underwear...he wears the same pants and shirt everyday. Paul has to steal his clothes in the middle of the night so they don't walk away. Just Kidding yanno.

It is 8:30 pm and Paulie is still outside loading the rig, mostly the stuff in the storage bins. My thoughts are this should have been done WEEKS ago yanno? Last minute Paulie, flyby the seat of his pants. Some things never change I guess. I don't get it. We have talked up this trip for freaking MONTHS. The bad thing about being part-timers is that we have to share the stuff in the rig with the house...like pots and pans. Toothpaste and shampoo. Can't keep it in the rig as it melts in the summer and freezes in the winter. Same with clothes. Gotta wear seasonal clothes, can't leave them in the rig either. But stuff in the bins? PIA.

Add to this, we all had to pack for the cruise. Summer clothes for the cruise, warm clothes cause we don't know what the weather is where we are going stateside, light jackets, a heavier jacket, and who knows what kind of clothes for the Rio Grand Valley. Gee what a terrible dilemma!

Well, I am totally exhausted at this moment. I will have to take something strong tonight. All I have to take into the rig tomorrow is my cruise suitcase(if anyone can lift the sucker) and my meds and toiletries.

We probably will get on the road around 11. Our first stop is Lebannon MO to visit Auntie Averil and get there some time in the afternoon. She lives about 150 miles from St. Louis so with the 90 to SL, we have about a 4 to 5 hour trip. Not too bad.

I will update when we get on the road tomorrow.

Boy, time sure flies when your having fun. Since my last update over two months ago, I had my surgery, recovered, dislocated my new hip twice and after several ambulance trips to the er and visitis back to the doc, a revision is only option. Crap. Had revision on Sept 27. Doc said there was fluid in the joint which made it unstable. He lengthened my leg, inserted a new socket that has a lip to keep the ball in place and then put in a larger ball. I did ok after surgery. My ass hurts where all the soft tissue damage was done. Can't describe it any other way...I have pain in my right ass cheek. Hmmmm. Back to square one...a simple (for most folks anyways)surgery, becomes a 16 week ordeal for me. Typical.

We are getting ready for the great get-away. Hopefully we will get outta Rochester before Thanksgiving. Time will tell.

I am going to try to update daily from this point on, keeping everyone abreast of what is happening here.

later
dennise

Oh goodness. It's Monday night and I have only one more day to wait til I get this freakin' hip fixed. I have so much stuff to do tomorrow it is just ridiculous...I hired a cleaning lady today...$15 an hour...oh well, it's only money right? I just can't deal with a dirty house and Paulie just can't keep up. I suppose it will be about 4 hours worth of work for this woman, and I promised her that I'd have the place at least picked up so she doesn't have to clean around clutter. We picked out the lino for the bathroom redo today...its a light grey background with speckled spots...just like the stuff from the 50's. I am going to draw something up for the wallboard guy to look at...I want beadboard and chair rail along with new baseboards. Shouldn't be too expensive. Can't wait to see it done. One more step to selling the house. I am making lists of stuff we have to do. Get rid of sh*t is number one. Getting rid of furniture is next. Gosh, its gonna take months to get this stuff done. I worry about video tapes of Zack when he was growing up....pictures, knick knacks and stuff I really love is gonna be tough. If we do buy a mfg home, I can keep some stuff. Kitchen stuff. I have great kitchen appliances such as my Kitchen aid mixer. Ain't giving that puppy up...how about my pizzeli (sp) maker...no...how about my professional cookie sheets, hell no! China, silverware and serving dishes are also hands off. I gotta have some stuff to make a new home a real home.

I will prolly not post until after I get home. Don't be offended if I am a bit grumpy or surly...it is gonna hurt like hell and I am not gonna be a happy person by any stretch of the imagination...

hugs

dee

My girlfriend Karen told me on the phone that my blog was coming up blank. Yikes! It was...the edit page was there, but when I also tried to view the blog, all I got was a blank page...hmmm. Thus the test test test post. Sorry. It seems to be ok now. Pffft. Technology. Can't live with it, can't live without it.

I am sitting in my recliner, another day down, 7 more to go. This is only the second time I have actually WANTED to have surgery. This pain in my hip sucks the big one. Sorry, that's not nice, but heck, I am NOT feeling "nice" right now.

I visited with Terry Stephens at Dr. Stegeman's office today...preop physical. What a pia. She did take my disability paperwork to be completed and signed by Dr. S. Disability paperwork is a necessary evil I guess...I recall getting complaints from folks when I took calls at the Franklin for disability. We did waive the paperwork after the individual was deemed permanently disabled and had no hope of recovery in order to go back to work. That's me I guess. I hope they agree to waive my forms soon for pete's sake.

We are trying to figure out which chair I am going to use after I have surgery next week. The chair I am using now is not appropriate as my hips lie lower than my knees. Can't have that. So, I guess it's either stuff pillows under my butt to level my hind end out, or use the other chair. The nasty disgusting chair Paulie uses is an oldie moldy from the farm house...and has spent the last several years in Zack's dirty pit, er bedroom.

Well, that's about all for today...I need to go to Walgreens for some meds I need to start prior to surgery.

later

dee

Testing....testing....testing....hey, where did my blog go?

Monday

Well, we secured the rig, loaded up the furkids and some of grandpa's stuff and hit I74 for the 2 hour ride to Rochester.

We got home and as expected, the house was dirty...I expected this, Paulie is pissed. I don't know why he thought the house would be clean. It is after all, still standing. There were no holes in the wall, no burnt food in the oven, no dirty dishes all over and all the furniture was still in one piece. Dirt is something a 20 year old boy doesn't see. Doesn't he get this? Disappointed my tushie...as I said, it was almost cleaner that I thought it would be. Nothing is broken, everything is still in place and the plants are even still alive. Paul needs to chill. And then the weather is so great...99 in the shade! The house is starting to cool down...but the outside flowers are pretty well goners, I have yet to see the tomatoes. Where I had planted annuals, the weeds have taken over the plants everywhere. Oh well, it'll just have to stay that way...no way in hell is anyone gonna pick weeds in this weather. And since I can barely walk, weeds can do whatever they please.

We will head back to kickapoo on Wednesday evening....I am planning on getting together with my cousin Nancy who lives near there. After the Cenois FMCA meeting is over on Saturday morning, Paulie and I will head home in the rig. Gee...since grandpa won't be with us, I will actually be able to sit in the FRONT seat instead of the frickn' recliner in the back. Wow, I am soooo excited.

later

dee