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Friday, 24 May 2013
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The Right To... Beer.... Arms
@Bookmark61 and I spent a couple of days in a part of Arkansas where they got the idea for boondocks. We were there to clean my mother's house which is a whole other post unto itself. We thought we'd save ourselves the 50 mile drive back to civilization each night, so the first night we got a motel in the town where my mother's house is located. It was just a Mom & Pop type of motel, old and cheap but clean. The problem was the mattress. It was old and cheap and really, really uncomfortable.
There was not much more to chose from in the way of restaurants than there'd been in the way of motels in that town, but we searched until we found a Mexican restaurant because Brett wanted nachos and a beer. We ordered, but there was no beer. We were in a dry county. And the food was kind of bland which makes it all the more weird that it gave me heartburn, but that's another story.
The next night we'd had a hard day working at Mom's house and I'd stepped in a hole and wrenched my back, knee and neck so we drove 30 miles to find another motel. This one had pillow top mattresses; comfortable pillow top mattresses. We drove around town until we found a steak house. Brett thought a steak and a beer sounded just right after the day we'd had. Except there was no beer. We were in another dry county.
That brings us to yesterday. We had the worst job in all of the house - cleaning the kitchen. I have horror stories about the kitchen, but for now I will only say that it took us six solid hours of nonstop work to get it presentable. Hot work, with face masks and latex gloves to make it even hotter. We finally finished, loaded the van and headed back toward civilization and on the way, we passed this church in the middle of the dry county boondocks.
Remember, countless soldiers have died defending your right to bear arms in a house of worship. But apparently not enough have died to defend your right to have a beer with your steak.
Which of these rights is more important to you: The right to carry concealed weapons in church? Or the right to order beer with your nachos?
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
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An Alarming Welcome
(Edit at end of post.)
@Bookmark61 and I reached our nephew's house on the outskirts of Fort Smith, Arkansas at 7:00 Monday night. We were only two or three hours away when we first learned of the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma. We kept an eye on the radar via our smart phone apps and managed to stay ahead of the storm system as it made a big curve, hitting the Fayetteville area before it got to Fort Smith. About 15 minutes after we arrived at our nephew's house, the tornado sirens began wailing and the Emergency Broadcast System started beeping. The sirens and emergency alerts continued intermittently for the next couple of hours.
This was the third or fourth alert.We kept a close eye on the local television station and at one point stepped out onto the front porch to watch the lightning in the distance. Because the sun hadn't actually set yet, the sky behind the lightning was bright pink.At one point, my cell phone made an alarming noise it had never made before. It was my Radar Now app sending me a message that read, "TORNADO WARNING! TAKE COVER NOW!" A few moments later, Brett's Intellicast app sent him an alarm. Sometime after that, our nephew's cell phone sent him an alarm, and once the storm was over, our niece-in-law got her alarm. So my app wins. The storm was centered enough to the west of us that it didn't do any damage where we were.Today we visited my mother at the nursing home and then drove 50 miles south into another storm system, to the town where her house is located. I got a couple of photos from the moving vehicle as we once again found ourselves trying to beat a storm to our destination.
We walked through my mother's house. It's empty of her belongings, but filled with mouse droppings and bugs. We've been assured that the mice have been eradicated. We set off six bug bombs, locked the house and got a motel room. Tomorrow morning we will begin cleaning. Other family members have made a start already, so it's not nearly as bad as it could have been at this point.
The yard is another story. There is so much trash and junk left all over the yard. The dumpster is already nearly filled and there's more to clean up. It's going to be an unpleasant job to get the place in order, and if the weather doesn't clear up it will be even worse. But we'll do what must be done and get as much accomplished as possible.
We are in a small motel with "high speed" internet that I think I could easily outrun. Not sure how long we will be here. I doubt I will be online too much in the next few days.
EDIT: One more photo taken on our way back to the Mom & Pop (or whatever the Indian version of that is) motel after a mediocre Mexican dinner in this isolated, dive of a town with no Sprint signal.
A double dose of Zen on an otherwise unsettling day.
Sunday, 19 May 2013
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Old Cars
@Bookmark61 , @joyouswind , a friend and I met at Baguette de France for lunch today before the other three walked in the 10k CROP Walk to raise money to fight world hunger. Baguette de France sits at one end of a little strip mall. Next to Baguette de France is a Chinese restaurant, then, fittingly (heh), a gym, and Papa Vino's anchors the other end of the strip. It looked like there was some sort of event going on at Papa Vino's. When we left, I spotted this beauty in the parking lot.
When I turned around from taking this photo, I noticed a couple more old cars.
Actually, there were several rows of them.
I love to look at vintage cars, but I sure hope we don't get stuck behind any of these classics as we begin our trip to Arkansas in a little while.
I am shutting down my laptop so I can put it in my suitcase. I'll see you guys tonight when we stop somewhere in Illinois. Unless I'm too tired, in which case I'll see you sometime later from somewhere else. Ciao!
Saturday, 18 May 2013
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A Full Day
Today was a very full day.- I got up around 6:30ish, picked up @joyouswind and we walked 5k for charity.
- I did laundry.
- I ironed a half-dozen shirts.
- We went to see the new Star Trek movie.
- I got most of my packing done.
Still to do tonight:
- Finish the last load of laundry.
- Make Chex Mix.
- Find all my chargers.
Tomorrow's list:
- Go to church.
- Pick up some socks at Meijer.
- Replace a geocache that got muggled.
- Finish packing.
- Leave for Arkansas.
We are starting our trip late in the day because @Bookmark61 and @joyouswind are participating in a 10k walk for charity tomorrow. We originally thought we would be going to Arkansas in April so we cleared that month of commitments and registered for these walks in May. Of course they both fell on the very weekend that everything finally happened in Arkansas. That's how these things always go.
I'll be away from xanga a lot over the next couple of weeks as we travel and spend some long, hot days doing some unpleasant work. I'll check in when I have the time and a wireless signal. I'm not confident of the wireless signal for part of the time we'll be gone. I'm packing the cribbage board, a deck of cards and my Kindle for the nights we will be in the boondocks.
How do you amuse yourself when there's no internet and nothing on TV?
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One Little Tick
One little tick crawls up my pants leg, and the rest of the day I feel like this.
I need a scalding shower and about six shampoos.
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Off to sleepwalk for charity.
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Wow - the last message on my chatboard is from 2010, and I wrote it. Haha!
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Bots used to bother me; now I'm just grateful for the footprints. A thousand thanks, Hong Kong.
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