1800 Miles In Two Days

It was a grueling drive. We drove straight through with a very uncomfortable sleep in the truck stop after the 1000 mile mark. Of course we made quite a few stops for the dogs and us and I suspect when we head back in December it will be the same sort of trip. Unfortunately we certainly will not have the same kind of comforts awaiting us as we did Saturday. We stopped for the night at Len and Kel's (thanks Mary for taking the doggies for the night) who offered a very comfortable bed to sleep in (although David wondered if we should just borrow a couple of pillows and sleep in the truck....HA), a nice warm shower and a home-made chicken Alfredo pizza for supper. This is going to be our new 'Kelly's special please make again' I am sure.

And it is surprising how much can change in even a few weeks when you are talking grand-kids (I cannot even imagine how much the ones we don't get to see very often have changed-sad face)
Shelby Marie is no longer sleeping in a crib, is walking walking walking, has a mouthful of teeth and is sitting in a regular chair with a booster seat for meals!
Does it look like she thinks she's a big shot...yep I am thinkin so.

Now that they both have their own chairs life is better
And Julia is driving. OK maybe not really but both girls sure do like their Barbie Jeep. Julia does drive only because Shelby has not yet figured it out. Once she does...look out cul de sac! For now she is content to enjoy the ride.
Right down to the backyard they go.
Yesterday we grabbed the dogs and put on our last 250 miles home. Not far from home I spotted what I was sure was an albino deer. I have never seen one much less gotten a picture of one. And this is not the best of shots because it was dusk and he/she was behind the trees but it is proof that I was not seeing things. I wondered if it could be a horse until we spooked it and it's tail went up and off it went.
Speaking of deer, next weekend is the opener and I hear we may be getting a snow storm just in time for it. Good for seeing deer in the woods as well as tracking them, if one should be lucky enough to not only see one but get a shot at one as well. Len, Kel and the girls will be joining us for the annual opener get together-more on that later I am sure.

October 27 2005

Makes today, October27, 2011 my sixth year cancer free. We are now on our way back home. David would like to make it in two days....that would be 900miles a day and i guess even I have to drive at some point....gonna muzzle him while I drive. Because we are on the road this post is going in via my Droid which does not allow for paragraphs etc so excuse the awkward look. I really do want to thank my family and friends who were there for me during my journey-you know who you are and so do I :)

Her Maiden Voyage

David found himself a good deal on what is called a Porta Bote this past summer. A Porta Bote is one that folds together so that you can haul it easily. When it's time to put her in the water it is unfolded, the seats are put in (three of them) a dealy on the front and one on the back, attach the motor (6 hp) the oars and walla you have yourself a 10 foot boat. It was certainly easier to put together than either of us thought it would be and she runs down the river quite well.

Here he is the proud captain of his ship...or porta bote. The first day we set out of course there are people on the beach watching every move. I waved and hollered, "We are on our maiden voyage wish us luck". We didn't get very far down river when a jet ski came upon us, slowed down and pulled up beside us. The driver, who we later fund out was 81 years old, was sent by one of his friends (one of the guys that I had hollered to) to check on us. His friend told him that we were on our maiden voyage and he was worried about us. Too damned funny to have an 81 year old nice as can be guy breeze up on his jet ski to check on us young-uns. It was actually a very nice gesture and we told him so...after we all had a good laugh. It is interesting that many of the folks on jet skis here are in their 70's and 80's. They must live well because one would never know how old they are by looking at them.

Anyway, we have spent the past couple of days on the water and it has been wonderful. We don't go all that fast but it is the sped that I prefer.
There are some pretty darned nice homes across the water from us.
The boats that we share the water with are these and more...
Every one of them goes much faster than we do and some don't play so nice. One big ass cigar boat going full throttle I am sure went by within 25 feet of us causing waves that didn't beach us but threw a tremendous amount of water in our boat-enough to get my camera wet and those are fighting words. As I threw up my hands and said very loudly, " What the fu--" he waved at us. See, some just don't play so nicely.
This is our campground from the water. We are in there somewhere.
Mountains and vegetation on one side-Cali side
And shear mountains on the AZ side. We didn't even get the boat out at home this year so this has been a treat, mean big boats and all. When we come back it'll be fishing time. The world record sunfish was caught here-5 pounds some ounces. I cannot even imagine!
But driving down the road beware of the burros. This momma and her little one held my interest for quite awhile
These guys are not dumb, they know where the good grass is. That would be on the golf course where they water it constantly. There has been a herd of about 20 wild burros here every time we have gone by. Wouldn't that be fun Ryan? Wouldn't have to worry about the burros, it's what they leave behind.
Yep it's nice here. We head back home next week but will be back in December.

It's Hot....Really Hot

And I am so not kidding!

But when your backyard is this the heat is tolerable. We are parked on a gorgeous sandy beach on the Colorado River in Parker AZ and lovin it.


Boats, there are a shit-load of boats running this river on the weekends calming down during the week. The water here is as clear as many lakes and is swim-able as well.
This is our beach looking towards the mountain and beyond that mountain is Lake Havasue City.

The river is not known for sharks BUT.....
It seems there was another frightening creature that slipped out of the depths of the river attempting to grab this unsuspecting swimmer for lunch. The look on her face tells the story of her fear.....

But then they both got up and danced....
OK so it all made a good story but pure fiction. This big guy was our neighbor for a few days, he and his people that is. One of those people was the gal that was playing with him in the water. This guy is a 1 1/2 year old mastiff and was as gentle and well behaved as could be. His people were not so bad either, fun neighbors.
On a drive to town David spotted a pair of road runners who seemed to want their picture taken. This we think was the male, the other was not quite as colorful and was most likely a female.
He fluffed his feathers for me letting me get pretty darned close.
Wild donkeys often tramp through the park at night. We can hear them but usually only see their leftover poop in the morning. Have not run across a snake yet and that is just fine with me.
One of these next days we are going to have a maiden voyage with our boat-more on that after the event occurs:)

And The Sign Said

This year we thought it would be wise to bring the 5th wheel down to Arizona while the weather is good, spend a few weeks and leave it in Arizona until December when we head back for the winter. It gets pretty dicey hauling the rig if the weather and roads are bad...so good plan right?
We decided since the weather was good that we would go via Colorado since neither of us have ever been.
After spending a night in a truck stop parking lot we headed out at 4am and even though it was dark the moon was full and I was able to get a few shots. Most of these were taken out of the truck window while we were moving.
The mountains in Colorado are gorgeous and even more so with snow covered caps


And this as the sun rose
SO, traveling in the mountains is great but maybe not so much while towing a 38 foot rig, not our brightest decision. This is the sign we saw after the 8000 foot elevation mark as we were coming down a bit. It was at this point that I became a bit nervous

Couldn't resist taking pictures though


Beautiful
The colors are starting to change

This one I took while we were stopped, one of our many stops to exercise the dogs
We made it down safely with the brakes smelling mighty hot. Not a choice we would make again and since we made it without incident we can now say we were glad we did it :) The smart choice of coming early should totally negate the not so smart choice of driving up to 8000 feet while towing a large 5trh wheel in my opinion.
We are now settled in for a much needed two night stop in Sedona. Going to see Rachel and Dezbah tonight then off to our final destination tomorrow.

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month

And fall as well. It seemed that our fall colors peaked for 5 minutes and then the wind came. My garden does have color though and it just keeps coming.
There are butterflies everywhere up here


And bees collecting their pollen

And my mums are gorgeous
I did manage to snag a few colorful leaf photos-reds
And oranges (as in color not the fruit). BTW why do some spell it colour?

And a mixture of colors

This is my latest project, a rag quilt, done in fall colors.

And on a drive one day we almost hit a porcupine crossing the road. They can move darned fast when threatened. He's not easy to see hiding behind the grasses.
And next is David's favorite time of year....winter..HA-not.

Three Years Ago

Gas was $3.29 a gallon

And Julia Bernice Leonard was born

Then she was one
And at age two she gained a little sister

And now (as of 9-23) she is three. Love you lots baby girl...and yes no matter how old you get you will always be my baby girl.

My Momma Used To Say

It's just a little thing. In other words don't sweat the small stuff. Last weekend was one of 'little things' and I followed her advice to a T.

David and I took care of our Prior Lake girls while mom and dad went to a wedding in South Dakota. Because they left Friday morning we had to pick the girls up from school (daycare) and because they need to ride in car seats we needed to use Kelly's car, which they left home for us. HOWEVER in order to drive a car one needs to have the keys in their possession. The first 'little thing' was Kelly forgetting to leave us her keys. Of course when I called her she felt horrible but I told her that it was just a little thing, we would work it out.
We muscled the car seats out of the traverse and, after lots of tugging and pulling and a little cussing, we got them put in our truck. I tell ya, when our kids were small we didn't have car seats and this is the grandma who has trouble unfolding a stroller. Needless to say the car seats were a challenge but we got em.
Julia has always wanted to ride in Grandpa's big truck, last weekend was the opportunity. Isn't she just the cutest little lady......

Our plan was to pick the girls up, head to StPeter, pick up Julia's 'new grandma' Grandma Loi and go to an open house party (Shiloh's Hope). We drove through Old McDonalds (as Julia calls it) getting the girls' favorite-chicken nuggets and fries. I knew something wasn't quite right when Shelby didn't dig right in. In fact she pushed my hand away nugget and all. In no time flat another 'little thing' popped up, or out, or all over. Poor Shelby threw up all over herself, her car seat and her grandma. Now we were driving down 169 which was busy with after work traffic all traveling 65 and over. I said to David, "Pull over Shelby's throwing up". He says that he will in a second. I said "You gotta do it now I am afraid she is going to choke on her vomit". The poor thing was unable to get it out of her mouth totally because she was strapped nice and tightly in her car seat and of course I couldn't take her out given the traffic. Man what a spot to be in. David did get pulled over, ran to the side of the truck, opened the door and immediately got hit with a wipe full of...you guessed it! Thank goodness Kel packed a full pack of wipes in the 'to go' bag (sort of makes up for the forgotten keys...haha) cuz we used lots of those wipes. We would wipe and then toss em on the ground, no where else to put em. Well who appears but Officer Mark of the State Patrol. Nope we didn't know him but because I was telling Julia who he was I had to ask his name. He had stopped to see if we were OK and stayed for moral support (and to make sure we got all of the wipes picked up...just kidding). A very nice fella who gave both of the girls pencils, it actually brought a smile to poor little Shelby's face. We finally got her cleaned up and turned around to go home. Of course Julia was bummed that we weren't going to the party...hence another 'little thing'. However she handled it very well.
Even sick this little trooper is in good spirits.

We had both girl's monitors right next to my head in the bedroom (hearing problems dont ya know, especially after the hearing aids get taken out at bedtime). I think Shelby cried out every hour and of course I dashed into her room to make sure she was OK and each time she was still sleeping just not very well. Thank goodness Julia slept through the night. The second night Shelby was feeling better but Julia woke up sobbing so I ended up sleeping with her in her bed. Ahhh Grandma-hood:) Oh and did I mention that Julia broke her elbow? No not that weekend thank goodness but a week prior. She currently has a pink cast with purple glitter and a heart. The cast does not slow her down any. She refuses help with dressing and most everything else. I guess for her the cast is 'just a little thing'
We headed back home on Sunday only to find another 'little thing' when we got home. We had used Kelly's garage door opener so that we could lock the doors to their house when we left and still be able to get into the house through the garage. Well you guessed it...we took the garage door opener home with us! Yep all only 'little things' and everything worked out just fine. It was a great time with the girls and they were both so very good for us.

Once home David officially finished the exterior of our house and here she is, new siding and new windows. Oh wait David it's not totally done yet. Whatchya gonna do on those retaining walls?
Anyway, the house is looking nice we think.
After a few days at home back down to StP I came to take my friend Mary to the airport and here I am at her house with Yoni. David and our boys joined us today because tomorrow Julia turns 3 and her momma Kelly turns....well who knows but it's her birthday as well. Saturday is the party with pictures to follow I am sure.
Remember most things are just 'little things' and it all works out in the end.