Old Grey Frog, DD Daughter and Ms. En - May 2, 2008


Ms. En Loves to Play with Gift Bags - May 2, 2008


Ms. En is Crawling - May 2, 2008

Word of the Day

Halficle - A small cubicle or half of a large cubicle. Usually found in a call center.

We're Home at The Lake! We actually arrived on Saturday but found out very quickly that we had no phone service...which also translates into having no computer service. Because it was a weekend (Saturday), we were able to report the problems we were having but nothing could be done about it until today. Monday. I was out walking Gypsy when the phone company truck toodled down the driveway. He stopped long enough to find out from me that HTP was at the house waiting to receive him. After determining that the problem with our phones was not an internal problem, he toodled on back down the driveway (passing Gypsy and me for a second time), telling me that we should receive a call from him shortly...which I translated into, "You'll have your phone up and running shortly." We did. And, obviously, we also have our computers up and running or this blog would not be possible.

Since I had no time to blog as we crossed the country on our way to The Lake, driving in two cars with my folks, caravan-style, I'll try and catch you up on the events.

On the Road

Day One - April 30, 2008

We left Las Vegas in the morning....9:41 AM. Slow start but we made up for it on the road. We had smooth driving conditions. There was just a tiny dusting of snow in the higher elevations of Utah. We arrived in Green River for the night at 6 PM, staying at the Ramada Inn. We lost an hour due to time changes. We had supper at the Tamarack Restaurant in Green River. I'll have to remember not to order spaghetti again...not there. But if I do, I'll make sure to order from the "Small Eaters" menu. The serving sizes looked the same but cost half as much. Huh?

Day Two - May 1, 2008

We arrived in Sterling, Colorado at around 5 PM. Safe!!!!! Snow! We saw and drove through lots and lots of snow and slush and ice! Nasty driving conditions. Truckers and other commercial vehicles couldn't drive through the Vail Pass without chains. We took things slow. And...obviously....we made it safe and sound. Things let up some by the time we stopped in Georgetown....one of the first towns after we got through the Eisenhower Tunnel. We had to scrape the ice off our headlights which had acquired a thick layer of muddy ice. My folk's car is a bit lower slung than our car. My Dad had to knock the ice off his front license plate. It was completely covered in dirty ice. However, we thought we were good to go with no more snow until..... we got hit with whiteout conditions as we drove though Denver. Nasty. Thankfully, there was no snow in Sterling but the wind was fierce which made the 43°F temperature outside feel LOTS colder. I wasn't looking forward to taking Gypsy out for her nightly walk that night. *shudder* We stayed at the Best Western Sundowner Motel. We ate supper at a Mexican restaurant in Sterling. Not too bad but....Mexican? In Colorado?

Day Three - May 2, 2008

We left Sterling at 8:30 AM in the morning with the dire warnings of a blizzard warning which we heard on the TV in the breakfast room at our hotel tucked skeptically into the back of our minds. After all, the mountains were behind us. May 2nd. Spring flowers and all was what we figured would be the conditions of the day...despite the fierce winds that greeted us when we woke up and I walked poor little Gypsy. Blizzard conditions were encountered within twenty miles. Nasty driving weather. High winds. White out conditions. Slush started to accumulate on the road. There were several big rig accidents. We took it slow. There were way too many drivers who didn't know how to drive in winter storm conditions on the road. We listened to all the school and activity closings on the radio but eventually things cleared up. It actually looked like we might see a bit of sun at Kearney where we stopped for lunch but...no such luck. However, no more snow.

We arrived in Omaha, Nebraska at around 4:20 PM and met DD Daughter, GI Joe and Ms. En at Valentino's Italian Buffet Restaurant for supper. Ms. En has developed into quite a little personality at 8 months old. We got lots of pictures. Valentino's has a wonderful selection of Italian food and it caters to families, large and small. After supper we followed DD Daughter, GI Joe (and Ms. En) over to their apartment. Nice apartment. We had a nice visit before we said our goodbyes (after promises that they'd all come for a visit sometime in August) and continued on down the road. There were no rooms to be had in Omaha. So...we had made reservations for the night at a small town twenty miles north of Omaha. Missouri Valley. We stayed at the Days Inn there. Very nice AND high speed Internet.

The weather was rainy and windy. Lots colder than the weather we've become accustomed to in Arizona and Nevada.

Day Four - May 3, 2008

We left Missouri Valley at 8 AM. Turtle was the flavor of the day at Culver's in Clear Lake, Iowa where we stopped for lunch. At Albert Lea, we split off and continued to our separate final destinations. My folks drove solo to their home in Chippewa Falls where they settled in to unpack and repack and organize before continuing on to their cabin home at The Lake. HTP and I continued on to The Big City where we had a nice visit with HTP's folks before continuing on to our home at The Lake, detouring only long enough to pick up some groceries in the city. Unpacking, reorganizing, setting up computers, etc. was the plan but....no phones.

******

We're Home! I've seen four deer so far. Geese. I can hear a woodpecker busy in the woods. I pulled and cleaned some spring onions that volunteered in my vegetable garden. HTP and I fixed a loose board that was sagging on our back deck. I sprayed Round-up on the weeds in the garden. It's so cold that it'll be at least two weeks before I can plant a garden. Gypsy and I have taken long walks. The hepaticas are blooming. If the trees are budding out, I couldn't tell. I saw a bald eagle last night. We're all unpacked. There are still a few ladybugs crawling about the house but we got most of them when we vacuumed. I've got a long list of groceries that I need to buy...tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day. One shouldn't expect to get everything done in one day.

Murphyism of the Day

Throop's Axiom

The universe is not user-friendly.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

If writers stopped writing about what happened to them, then there would be a lot of empty pages.

- Elaine Liner