Martie's Place

Hey Diddle Diddle

What a day! What a wonderful day!! I woke up early this morning with energy to burn. So I woke up my youngest daughter and we took off to the local store room I've rented (which leaks and now has moldy things in it). We pulled out a bunch of stuff that wasn't moldy and took it to the new (and non-leaking) storage shed in the village youngest daughter will be attending University in.

Do you remember the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle"? Well, in that rhyme there's a line "the cow jumped over the moon". Now I can't imagine a cow jumping so I thought that was just a line. Guess what. Cows, or at least calves, can jump! Honest. We passed some cows in a field and one of the babies was jumping up and down (sort of like a big rabbit)! Wow.

Anyway, we finished in the store room and headed back towards our village. On the way, in a soy bean field, we spotted a deer running quickly. She had a long run, but finally made the corn field.

We went back to the store room (moldy one) and loaded up the truck again and returned to the farm - where we unloaded some of the stuff to the house and the rest to the burn pile.

Tonight my parents took us out for my retirement celebration. We went to my favourite Italian restaurant. It was wonderful. Two of my three daughters were there, two of my three grandkids, one sister and her hubby and son, one Auntie and one cousin. It was great and the food was fantastic. Thank you Mom and Dad!!!!

As we neared home the fireflies were out lighting the way and as we pulled into the drive we saw the two bunnies who like to eat our clover AND a raccoon (who quickly ran into the forest).

What a wonderful day...

The Miller Reunion 2008

This weekend saw the Miller Clan invasion of Brown County, Illinois. My Mom is the youngest of 7 children, all still living. Once a year they get together for a reunion. They come from Florida, Colorado, and Louisiana. Their kids come pouring in from all over. This year many of the children and grandchildren couldn't make it, but all the Clan were here -- ranging in age from 76 to 93! Although there are many meals over the course of the weekend, this year the "main event" was hosted in my Aunt Millie's home. Here they are - in all their glory. The most amazing thing is that while some are going blind, a couple have dementia, and two are using walkers, all are still living productive and independent lives.

Stick a fork in me. I'm done!

OK.  So, there is no trash pick up out here.  The village trash collection stops about 2 miles away, so we either have to burn trash, compost it or take things to a recycle center.  This is good.  Right?  Well, I thought so too.  Being good to the earth, not contributing to land fills.  Yes, this is the life I want to lead.

Today it's was time to burn some trash.  I took it out to the burn barrel, put my papers in the bottom and lit a match.  Fire took hold no problem.  Since I'm clearing out the rented storage shed and had unpacked six LARGE boxes of dishes, we had lots of paper.  So I kept putting the papers into the fire.  Now there is a knack to this, my Dad explained.  Flat papers take a long time to burn, crumpled ones burn much faster.  So, I'm crumpling papers and going close to the burn barrel to toss/drop them in.  Dad didn't tell me about wind tho.

Do you know what happens when you drop one handful of crumpled papers into the burn barrel and before you have a chance to drop the other handful in the wind changes directions?  I do.

You singe the hair all around your face and part of your eyebrow is gone.  Thank God I wear glasses or no telling what my eye lashes would look like.

And let's not even talk about the stink that burnt hair makes.  Or that it comes out in clumps. 

Life on the farm

Can it only be one week since we arrived at the farm? Well, a week and a day. On one hand it seems like only hours ago, on the other it seems like a long time ago.

Our trip from Louisiana to Illinois (via Arkansas and Missouri) was uneventful. The scenery, which had "greened up" from west Texas, continued to become more green and lush. It was a beautiful, easy drive.

The farm looked wonderful, and a neighbor had freshly mowed and edged, so it was even more beautiful than I remembered. (More on mowing later.) And when I unlocked the door, there was a loving sign left by my Mom welcoming me to my new home.

Sleeping arrangements are tight, but do-able. We began life on the farm with my Mom and Dad, daughter Steph and her 2 kids, Chelsea and me. The first few days went by with sorting through the storage shed, rearranging things, my Mom packing up things they'd had at the farm for when they came up to check on it for me. Slowly my things begin to fill the spaces and it became more and more mine. We have begun painting, converting a closet to a pantry, and so on. The guest bathroom and entry hall are now a sunny yellow with white trim. The potty, sink, light, mirror and so forth are being installed by Dad. (He's also doing the shelves.) As wonderful as it is, we have had a few issues.

Internet. My Dad had dial up when they would come up. It was incredibly slow, to say the least. He did lots of research and we discovered a local company has satellite with access up to 1.5MB download (250K upload). Dad had it installed in the spring and all was well. But we couldn't get it to work. Between spring and now the trees not only grew a bit, but all the leaves are now out and they were blocking the signal! The local company sent the fixer man, who arrived at 7am, and now all is well. Slow, but well.

Then the phone went out. Twice. Both times it was the phone company's issue - not mine. It's working now.

Ticks!! After a day of frolicking in the yard, the forest and the park, we discovered two ticks on my granddaughter, one on grandson, and one on Chelsea! YUCK. They were dealt with.

Then we discovered that a 8" skink had taken up residence. Dad evicted him.

Cell phones. With the numerous cell phone companies in the US, and in spite of what you see in ads, there is only one company who apparently works at the farm. We are trying them out, and so far so good. My folks have one company and they usually have to go outside and walk around until they get a signal. Steph has the other "big" company and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Mowing. I can now more appreciate how wonderful my neighbor is who mowed so nicely for our arrival. I have a ridding lawn mower and it takes 4 hours to mow -- and if you've let the grass get too long another 1 1/2 hours to run the sweeper that collects the cuttings! I went out 2 days ago and only got a small section done. I can't go out in the mornings because the dew makes it too heavy. The sun is directly overhead at noon, which leaves me out mowing around 3pm. I did the section I was working on in about 2 1/2 hours. Should have taken less, but I got the darn mower stuck in a ditch TWICE! (Two different ditches, I really don't make the exact same mistake twice!!)

Business things. We have filed the deed and the property is now all mine!! The water and electric have been put in my name.

Wildlife. We have seen a mommy raccoon and her five babies crossing the road, a baby deer (still with her spots), a deer I assume to be the mommy (twice), pheasants, and squirrels. And every evening two bunnies come out and play in the yard - they are so much fun to watch.

Today and tomorrow are freshman orientation at the University. Steph attended the same University and she agreed to accompany Chelsea for the orientation, which leaves me in the hotel room with the grandkids. Chelsea will be staying in the dorm, but Steph will be back tonight. I'm anxious to hear from them to see how things are going. I am posting from the hotel, but since I forgot to pack the camera/computer connecter I can't share any photos just yet!

Texas and Louisiana

The landscape of Texas is dramatically different from one side of the state to the other -- probably because it is so darn large! West of Abilene it was very much like New Mexico -- desert. After Abilene the scenery began to turn green, the humidity began to rise and by the time we hit Louisiana it there was dense, lush vegetation all over. Beautiful.

While stopping for lunch we noticed that the sky was rather dark. Didn't think too much about it until several of the locals moved to tables by the widow to "keep an eye on things"..

And while the storm chased us, no funnel clouds developed!!

At one rest stop I spotted these...

Not Texas Longhorns, but they are TEXAS cows!

We made good time and got to my parent's place about 3. Enjoyed a wonderful visit then went out to eat.

Did you ever see the movie "Deliverance" (1970s)? If so, did you ever wonder what happened to those "special" guys? Well, I'm happy (not) to report that they are alive and well and having a tail gate party in front of our motel door! They are swilling beer and actually bar-b-q-ing in the back of the truck (which is facing the motel door).

Tomorrow morning we'll all be hitting the road bright and early. That is baring any fires or other emergencies tonight.

Texas

This is one BIG state. We headed out this morning and soon hit the Texas border. Much to our delight, the speed limit said 75 mph!! Then later it went to 80 mph. Then to, wait for it, 70.... Oh well. Speed was fun while it lasted.

The scenery was much like New Mexico, desert, but with less vegetation. I did pass several oil fields, but was unable to get a photo for a variety of reasons. No place to pull over, the vegetation was over my head so there was no clear shot, or we were in a valley and I couldn't get the angle right.

We did stop in Midland (birthplace of GW Bush) for a drive thru Starbucks. One of the day's highlights (the coffee, not the town).

After what seemed like a year we'd gone our 500+ miles and arrived in Abilene. We checked into the motel and found a Red Lobster for dinner. Not the same as the fresh fish from the Pacific, but for a land-locked location (the town) it wasn't bad.

Tomorrow we'll be in Louisiana where we'll spend the night, visit my parents, pick up the truck and then the family convoy (Steph and her kids in her van, my folks in their car, Chelsea and the cats (and me) in the truck) will head towards Illinois.

California, Arizona, New Mexico -- OR

Day 1 of the Road Trip. Well, we were up early this morning to load the van and hit the road. We got a bit of a late start -- 6:45. But we were on our way, my middle daughter and her two kids, Chelsea, the two cats and me.

We'd planned to eat our meals in the motels at night (Steph did the cooking/freezing before and we were going to heat them up), and eat breakfast and lunch at nice places. Well, that was our (my) first mistake. We had been on the road a little over an hour and decided to stop for breakfast and that was when I realized that there was no way we could go into a restaurant to eat while the cats were in the van. It's the desert we are driving thru!! So, breakfast was McDonald's and lunch a sandwich shop. We did arrive at our hotel on schedule. The little ones changed into swim wear and Steph took them down to the pool. I heated up our supper. That was great! The little ones are now laying down to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we'll have to think about changing our feeding schedule! But there is a Starbucks in town, so I'll get my cup of java in the morning before heading out.

And from the beautiful Pacific Ocean of just a few days ago, our views have changed to desert.

Here's the view we had through Arizona...

And here's the view in New Mexico...

Back in the US

Yes, that is us. Back in the US! We had an uneventful trip and arrived in Los Angeles where we checked into the hotel, got cleaned up and grabbed a few hours of sleep before my eldest daughter and grandson joined us. It was wonderful to get caught up with her and see them both. I hadn't seen them in nearly 2 years!

Tuesday morning arrived early -- about 2am for me. Jet lag is hell!! Dawn arrived in the form of fog and smog. After everyone was up we headed for Riverside where we spent more time visiting and then went to a restaurant for dinner and to meet Heather's significant other, Ray. Nice guy!!

Had my first tandori chicken pizza. Strange, but it tasted nice. Then Heather drove us to Indigo where we met up with my middle daughter, Steph, and her family. Came to Calipatria and enjoyed catching up with their news. My granddaughter and youngest grandson (5 and 3) have changed so much in the 2 years!!

I've been awake for about an hour now -- it's about 4:30am. Road trip begins tomorrow!!

Finally figured it out!

OK. As a treat, I upgraded our economy seats from Tokyo to LA. So now we'll be flying Business class. We're at Narita now, sitting in the Business Class Lounge. Enjoying comfy chairs, free food and drink, internet and so on. We board in another hour and forty-five minutes. Until then, I'm going to enjoy this as if there is no tomorrow!!

Yep, after all these years, I FINALLY figured out how to travel. (Some of us are slow....)

The Graduate - 2008

Today was THE DAY! Chelsea graduated, with honors, today!

Arriving on stage...

Singing....

(If you look carefully in the above photo, you'll see she's wearing the white sash of Honor Graduate over her gold sash of the National Honor Society. You should also see the gold and blue cords of the math society, Mu Alpha Theta.)

Got the diploma...

Finally, a graduate!