DeWayne and Joy

DeWayne and Joy

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Brrrrrrr……

It’s cold and windy here in OKC today, so we haven’t ventured out at all.  We’ve piddled around the house, doing a little straightening and organizing, a little cleaning, listening to music or watching TV. 

I plugged the virtual fireplace DVD into the player, so we have a roaring fire to watch…
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And I’m sipping on a nice cup hot chocolate….
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So I’m feeling downright cozy in our warm little home.  Now all we need is some good Christmas music and we’ll be set.

We had a great Thanksgiving with family here in OKC and then went to Texas over the weekend for more time with family at the folk’s place.  The food was fabulous and the time with our families was priceless.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well.

On our way back from Texas, we stopped at Ginger’s house and she drove us out on the army base there in McAlester to see the Famcamp.  We’ll be moving the RV there (for a month) on Friday and we wanted to check it out in advance. 

Wow, I’ve never seen so many deer and turkey in one place in my life!  They were just standing around by the herds and flocks, totally undisturbed and oblivious to the humanity around them.  I can’t wait to get there with my camera!  Oh, and the Famcamp is really nice too, so I’m looking forward to the move.  And Ginger works at the base, so she can drop in for lunch or after work any time she wants.  I’ll keep the coffee on for her.

That’s about all the news for now.  I just wanted to post something to let everyone know we’re still alive and kicking.  We’ve just been really busy or on the road and just slowed down enough to even think about the blog. 

More to come, but in the meantime…….

HAPPY TRAILS!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Turkey Day Countdown and Who Will Win?

We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving with family and friends this year and I have my grocery list made out for the few things I'll be cooking to contribute to the feast.

I’ve decided to take the traditional pumpkin pie:
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And a Chocolate Pecan Pie (yum):
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And for those who need something to tide them over, some Queso dip with sausage:
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So that’s it.  That’s all I’m doin’ this year, but I plan to put a lot of love into these dishes.

Now for the other thing on my mind…..Dancing With The Stars!  I’ve watched this show faithfully for several seasons but I’ve never taken the time to vote.  Well, as of last night, THAT HAS CHANGED!

I spent hours trying to get registered online so that I could vote and finally got registered after one o’clock in the morning so that I could cast my five votes for Jennifer and Derek, the best couple in my opinion.
Jennifer and Derek
And why did I go to so much trouble to get registered for my five little votes?  Because I’m determined to do my part in making sure the best dancer gets the mirror ball trophy and it’s become apparent to me that LOTS of us need to vote to counteract the votes that Bristol Palin is getting.  This thing isn’t political to me because I’m conservative all the way, and I’ll be the first one to admit that Bristol has come a long way, but DOGGONE IT, she IS NOT the best dancer and I won’t just sit on my hands anymore and watch her beat out dancers that are much better than her.  Enough is Enough! 

So, I’m looking forward to tonight’s show with excitement, but also dread that the same thing will happen in the finals.  I’m happy in knowing I did my part by voting, so I’m hoping that many, many more folks did the same thing.  We’ll see…..

That’s all folks!  Catch ya later, but in the meantime……

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY TRAILS!!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

The Hoover Queen!

My goal for the week was to get all my shampooing done after I retrieved the shampooer from the barn in DeKalb.  I love this machine!
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We’re a team, my Hoover and me.  I started with the RV a few days ago and it took no time at all to get the carpet all fresh and clean again after six months of living.  I thought my little black and decker vacuum would be adequate for keeping the carpet clean, but after seeing the muddy water that came out of the shampooer, I’m realizing that the vacuum is barely picking up what’s on the surface and not any deeper.  So I’m going to be shopping for a regular vacuum cleaner that is smaller and more compact than a full size, but does a good job.  And cheap!  Any suggestions?

DeWayne had several places to go yesterday and errands to run and the weather was pretty.  I asked him to drive the truck so that I could shampoo the carpet and seats in the car, which didn’t take long.  I had already vacuumed it pretty good and it wasn’t very dirty.  Two down, one to go!

I knew DeWayne was driving the car to Lawton today to play golf with some old friends, so I tackled the truck this morning.  It had been a while since the nasty thing had even been vacuumed, and the carpet had six months of grime ground into it, so I spent two hours vacuuming and shampooing, but it was worth it.  All clean and smelling great again!

So, all my shampooing projects are done…..BUT……

The shampooer is NASTY!  I’ve had this machine since right after DeWayne and I married and it still works great, but after 10 years of cleaning the Schnauzer-treaded carpet at the sticks-n-bricks home and all the vehicles and, of course, the RV, the thing looks positively GROSS!

So, now I have a new project……Shampooing the Shampooer.  Say that 10 times really fast, I challenge you. 

Anyway, I’m off to find a screwdriver to take off all the parts I can and get to work.  After all, my faithful Hoover has worked hard for me and deserves a bath.  Not to mention it will bother me til I get it cleaned up.  I don’t mind a little dirt, but GROSS is another thing altogether!

We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving with family and I’m really looking forward to cooking the holiday favorites.  That’s about all the news for now, so I think I’ll get started on the Hoover.  Stay tuned for more “exciting” news from Oklahoma City, but in the meantime…..

HAPPY TRAILS!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Catching Up….Part Three

I left DeKalb and the folks house on Thursday and made my way back to OKC.  I’d had a great time visiting with family and friends for a week, but I also missed my Honey, so I stopped back by Ginger’s on the way and made my way “home” to Tinker AFB and DeWayne.

I didn’t get far before I had to pull over and get the camera from the back of the car because southeast Oklahoma was just awash with color and I knew the next time I made the trip, they would all be gone.  So I drove a little slower and tried to get as many pictures as I could through the windshield or by rolling down the side windows.  Wow, it was gorgeous!
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I made it back, safe and sound and was glad to be back at home sweet home and hubby.  Since then, we’ve been catching up with his family and visiting with some of mine who were passing through over the weekend. 

I love the FamCamp here at Tinker.  There are no pull-through slots, but it’s a beautiful place.  The camp hosts are wonderful and all the people are friendly.  Each space has a picnic table and concrete pads to park on.  Laundry is 50 cents a load, so that’s a plus!  Here are some pictures I took yesterday from the bedroom window. 
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Well, that about gets us up to date.  By the way, we went to see the movie “Morning Glory” on Sunday.  Great movie! 

I’ll be doing some cleaning around the RV while we are here and plan to shampoo the carpet tomorrow.  I’ll be shampooing the carpets and seats in the car and truck as weather permits.  I’ve been Suzie Homemaker the last couple of days, cooking soup and cookies, so we’re eatin’ good! 

And that’s finally all the news.  I’m caught up for now, so I think I’ll call it a night.  Stay tuned for more adventures, but until then….

HAPPY TRAILS!!!!!

Catching Up….Part Two

After arriving back in OKC on Wednesday, we made the two hour drive to Ginger’s house in McAlester on Thursday.  We had to remember how to pack since we’re used to hauling all our possessions around with us in the RV, so I ended up looking like I was moving out when I loaded the car for the trip.  Since I use a CPAP at night, it’s packed into what looks like a small suitcase for traveling.  Then there’s the camera case, of course, which is huge.  Then the bag that I haul the computer around in, plus hanging clothes and about six Wal Mart bags full of a week’s worth of “stuff”. 

DeWayne drove the truck and I followed in the car to McAlester and it was great to see Ginger, Curt, Jana and Casey.  After staying the night, DeWayne had to leave early the next morning to make it to Texarkana for his dr. appointment that afternoon and then spent the night with my folks before heading back here to OKC. 

I stayed at Ginger’s house all weekend, being spoiled rotten with lots of attention and great food.  I love it at Ginger's house!   Monday morning, I left for Idabel to make my own Dr. appointment that afternoon.  I had time to go by the office and visit with the gang for a while and I really enjoyed that.  After seeing Doc, I went on to DeKalb to visit with the folks for a couple of days.  I had to go back to Idabel the next morning for blood tests, so I got to hang out at the office again for a while and catch up on all the gossip.

I stayed with the folks til Thursday and had a great time with them and sister, Sharron, who came to spend the night on Wednesday.  Needless to say, we had a lot to catch up on, so we were up until three in the morning. 

It rained on Wednesday, but I got out the camera anyway since I don’t get much chance to take pictures other than from the truck.  I wanted to get out my “super lens” and play with it for a while, so I got some great pictures around the place.
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I took all these pictures from either the back porch or the front.  I love that zoom lens!

Okie dokie!  This concludes part two.  I’ll get started on part three, so stay tuned……

Catching Up……Finally…

I last posted from Williams, Arizona and we’ve been on the home front for more than a week, so I decided it was high time I got caught up.  Not to mention a coupla “nudges” from Snookie. 

From Williams, we made our way toward New Mexico and the country was as gorgeous as ever and we made good time toward Grants, NM.


Here are a few shots of our trek across Arizona and into New Mexico.
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It didn’t take long to get to the New Mexico state line.
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Where I had to get a shot of the fall colors.
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After Albuquerque, the landscape flattened considerably and not much to write home about.  We stopped at Cline’s Corner so DeWayne could get his walk in and I browsed the shop for a while, but didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without.  Nice shop, tho.  I made my way back to the truck and noticed a bank of clouds moving in.  And being the cloud watcher that I am, I had to get a shot.
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And they continued to roll in after we were back on the road.
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We made it to Grants and the RV park that we had reserved, but when we arrived, the park left a lot to be desired.  It was almost full of permanent residents, complete with all the junk piled around their RV’s.  The water was funky, but at least we had some.  The view out the bedroom window was a junk yard and someone from across the road had strung a wire and tapped into our cable hookup. But we had electricity, sewer and water, so we stayed one night and decided to move on the next day to Tucumcari, where we planned to stay two nights. It was the day before the elections when we arrived in Tucumcari and we had planned to watch the election results the next day on Fox News, but the cable provided to us at the RV park didn’t have the Fox News channel, so we stayed one night and moved on to Texas. 




We stopped in Amarillo at the Oasis RV park that is SUPER NICE!  The park is so big that it has it’s own restaurant and there are several buildings that have showers and laundry so that no one has to walk very far to shower or wash clothes.  And they had Fox News, so it was a much better experience. 

 I decided to get some laundry done so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it when we got home, so I didn’t take the time to take any pictures of the park, but I wish I had.  We were both hungry for shrimp, so we went to Red Lobster for supper and it hit the spot.

The next morning, we were up and going early so that we could get to OKC before the FamCamp filled up here at Tinker air force base.  They don’t take reservations, so it’s first come, first served, and we were sweating it.  DeWayne called when we were still 150 miles away and they only had one left, so we were extremely lucky that it was still open when we got here.  And there was another RV that pulled in right behind us, so we were literally about a minute from being out of luck (like the guy behind us). 

So DeWayne paid for a month, then we got unhooked from the RV and jumped back in the truck and drove back across OKC in rush hour to see DeWayne’s Mom and retrieve my car that has been stored since May.  Wow, it was great to get back into my “little red wagon”!
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It was late by the time we finally got back to the RV and still had to get everything set up, but we were glad to be here.  We both were driving the next day to McAlester, where Ginger and her family live, then DeWayne was going on to Texarkana for a doctor’s appointment, so we drove both vehicles. 

I’ll stop here and start another post about our first week back in Oklahoma.  Stay tuned……Smile