Vacation - Monday

Unfortunately, Cathie had to work on Monday so Ron and I were given a vehicle and a GPS and we were sent out on our own!

One of the local attractions we picked to go see was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The man's presidency was filled with more than his fair share of scandal (Iran-Contra, HUD grant rigging, Savings and Loan crisis just to name a few) but he was still the President of these United States. I have to respect the position, if not the man. So, politics aside, we went to see the place. I am honestly glad we did.


This library was put on one of the most gorgeous locations I have ever seen. It's on the top of the mountain, looking out over the Simi Valley. No matter which side of the campus you were on, the view was absolutely breath taking.



One of the coolest sights to see was the actual Air Force One that was used by President Reagan. I couldn't believe that they actually got this plane INSIDE of a building! Well, I'm guessing they built the building around the plane, but what do I know! It was awe inspiring to see this historic plane and even better that we got to go inside of the plane.


There were no pictures allowed to be taken inside of the plane, but they were more than happy to sell you a picture of you walking into the plane. We did copy a popular pose taken by all presidents, getting on or off of their Air Force One! Some times you just gotta be that tourist!


Also in the hangar was Marine One. We couldn't go on Marine One but we got to look all around the outside. As you can see, it's sort of parked beneath Air Force One.


The tables and chairs are because this is the level of the Ronald Reagan Pub. $8.50 for a turkey and avocado sandwich but it was a damn good sandwich!

Of course, more looking out over the valley, this time from another side of the building.




The museum part was interesting. Perhaps what I found the most bizarre item in there was the brand new blue suit that Ronald Reagan was wearing the day he was shot. You can see where the ER personnel had cut off the suit and you can see the bullet hole. Like I said, bizarre. At least they cleaned the blood off of it.

Now, to get serious. For those of us old enough to remember, President Reagan gave a speech in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, where he uttered the famous words "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

The Berlin Wall had been erected in 1961 to keep the residents from communist East Berlin out of the free West Berlin. The guards of East Berlin were actually ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to get over that wall to freedom and way too many people lost theirs lives trying to do just that. This wall divided a city, family, friends. Finally, on November 9, 1989, this wall DID come down. I remember watching on TV while people were breaking this wall apart, some with their bare hands. It was an emotional moment for me then and it still is emotional for me now.

This six inch wide wall was so much larger than life. There is a piece of this very wall at the Presidential Library. This is the side of the wall that faced West Berlin.


From the side, the wall was only about six inches at the most and it tapered as it went up to maybe three inches wide.


Lastly, the side that faced East Berlin.


It was a sobering experience for me. I stood next to the wall, definitely in an emotional state.


There is really nothing more I can add to this.

And, of course, the final resting place of President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America.


No matter what your politics, if you're in the area, it was a great place to see. Air Force One, even an old version, plus this piece of the Berlin Wall, made the visit worth it.

Now to try to end on a better note, turning my back to the grave stone, this is the view. Unbelievably beautiful.




Lastly, just some shots that I took on the grounds. The landscaping obviously is top notch. I took a bunch of pictures, but loved these two flower shots the most. Then, my favorite picture that I took all day! I couldn't fit anything in to the blog about it, so I'm just adding it to the end!

Vacation - Sunday

We had a lovely morning just catching up with Cathie. Unfortunately, duty called and Cathie had to go to work for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. Instead of staying home while poor Cathie had to work, Ron and I decided to go to work with her! Who wouldn't want that!

We got the tour of Cathie's office, and we set ourselves up in a conference room right outside of her office. Ron and I had the laptop, so we both checked our emails and I wrote out yesterday's blog. In between checking email, Ron and I both had our books. We easily blew off a few hours while Cathie got some important project out before her Monday deadline. Win-win!

In between, I also went outside with Ron when he had his smoke breaks. We'd walk laps in the parking lot, and I took my camera to practice shooting pictures. Thank heavens I didn't have to pay to develop all of the pictures I've taken so far this week! Yikes! What did we do before digital cameras!

Here are a few things I was photographing just for the blog! First a little back story. Cathie works in the town of Santa Paula. It's a lovely little town that happens to be located in a valley between two mountains. Because of its location, there is always a breeze blowing through Santa Paula. That sure makes for some lovely weather. We just had a picture perfect southern California day. There is no way that these pictures, or any pictures I take, capture the beauty around me here. This area really is breath taking.

First off, right outside of Cathie's front door, underneath the over hang, was my new little buddy, Floyd the Snail. Why Floyd? I don't know, I just think he looks like a Floyd!


He really wasn't much company, but I enjoyed looking at him stuck up there, just hanging out. Why or how he got way up there, I don't know. But, way to go, Floyd!

There were some flower beds around the parking lot that I was having fun with. I was lucky enough to find these really cute daisy like flowers and one of them even had a bee in it! I tried to emulate some of Mark's pictures with the bee, but for all of my trying, this was the best I could do. The bee didn't stay there too long, so I grabbed as many pictures as I could and this was the best of them.


Darn thing just wouldn't take direction from me! When I'd tell him to turn this way or that or whatever, he totally ignored me. How rude!

These flowers were just so pretty! I have no idea what they are, but I love the color pattern in them.


Down a little ways I saw this palm type thing in the middle of where it didn't look like it belonged. I've heard they end up growing like weeds in places. That might not be a bad thing, as I thought this was a cool little plant!


I don't care where you are around here, there is a view of the mountains. Keep in mind we were in an industrial park, so forget about the work vehicles! That aside, you can't complain about the view.


It was just a picture perfect day. Blue skies, breeze blowing, this is the California they talk about in all of the movies, for sure.


Sunday night we met up with Cathie's husband, Dan, for dinner at Wood Ranch in Moorpark CA. If you ever get the chance to go to one of their locations, order the combo meal of tri tip and chicken breast. Holy crap, when they brought my plate out I never thought I'd eat all of that. Before you knew it, my plate was empty and I was wondering who stole my food! If only I wouldn't have inhaled it! Damn good stuff!

Sunday night was a quiet night at home. We played some board games, and just chatted and caught up and enjoyed each other's company. It doesn't get too much better than this.

Monday was touristy stuff! Stay tuned!

Vaca - Just Getting Started

As you know, we left for vacation on Saturday. We couldn't have asked for a better day for travel.

Aside from having to leave the house at o-dark-thirty, we had a problem free travel day and even a few most pleasant surprises!

First, Cleveland Hopkins Airport sure changed in the last few years since I've been there. The places I remembered were no longer there and there were a ton of new restaurants and new stores. Who would think to go to the airport to shop? But what amazed me the most was the Best Buy vending machines! For real! A vending machine!


You could buy just about anything from this VENDING MACHINE! Need a new camera? Got it. A new cell phone? Right here. Whatever you needed, including just about any peripheral you can think of, it was in this vending maching. A Best Buy vending machine. Wow. Who knew?

Further proof that technology is just running on by me, here was a new addition to the airplanes as well. Directv! I am not kidding you!


They told you to grab your free headsets as you boarded the plane and then for a nominal fee, you could get Directv right to your personal very own monitor! This is just crazy! I watched most of a movie, some NCIS, America's Next Top Model, Dirty Jobs among other things. Ok, this had to be my favorite part of the trip. We all know how much I love my TV watching time!

This picture is of the runway! This is as we were just making the turn to get onto the runway before ZOOM up up and away!


And then of course, not two minutes later as we are climbing out of Cleveland OH.


We had perfect flying weather. Even at 36,000 feet, I was able to see the ground the entire way across to California. I like that much more than being about the cloud cover. Everything pretty much looked like a barren wasteland at 36,000 feet but at least I could see something.

I took a bunch of pictures but nothing really came out. The window wasn't the cleanest and there was just a hint of a cloud and that was enough to ruin all of my shots. I'm posting them anyway because some of them I thought were cool, but I can only do so much from inside of the plane!






Yeah, I have no idea what we were looking at or where we were, but it was beautiful from way up there.

Then of course, finally come down into Los Angeles.


That is a welcome sight after spending 4-1/2 hours in a plane. Ugh, I was so ready to be anywhere but seated in a confined area.

However, there is still the two hour drive to get to my sister's house! Last time we went to California, Ron and I took a puddle jumper from LA to Oxnard. It was the most gorgeous 30 minutes in a plane that went right up the coast line. So worth the extra price of the ticket to fly right into Oxnard. Unfortunately, about six months ago, Oxnard stopped all commercial flights out of their airport and it is now reserved for private planes only. We had to be on the road now to get to Cathie's house.

I was to call Cathie when we were on our way to baggage claim. From there, she would tell me where "she" would meet up with me. I called. She said my DRIVER would be calling me in a minute to go over where to pick us up!! NO WAY! My driver??

My sister sent a Town Car to come pick us up at the airport! Here is me getting in my ride with our driver, Jon!


If you gotta spend two hours in a car driving out of Los Angeles, a Town Car is the way to do it!

This was one heck of a way to start our VACA! I can't wait to see what happens next!

PhotoPhun Challenge: Sharp or Pointed Things

It's PhotoPhun time again!! Oh, the pressure! Don't forget to go and check out Lisa and Mark's blogs to see what phun they came up with!

This week's challenge theme was my idea. I got this idea ever since I bought this pony tail holder thingie. I saw it as a PhotoPhun challenge photo since the day I bought it. I tried to make the picture in my head come out in the camera, but I still don't have the camera all figured out yet. I had to nix that idea and I had to go searching for other photos that would fit the challenge and here is what I came up with!

I have blogged before about my sister buying me a ceramic knife and that it's so sharp I cut myself twice cleaning the same piece of celery! Here is that damn knife! If that's not sharp, nothing is! Please note that all of my blood has been cleaned from this knife!


This is one of my prickly pear cacti that are in my yard right here in Lorain OH. Who knew that Ohio could grow such beautiful cacti! Trust me, these puppies are sharp!


This is from the pine tree in my neighbor's yard. Sharp and pointed!


I am a huge fan of wind energy. If I could put one of these in my yard, it would be there in a heart beat. This windmill is the one in the Apple's parking lot in Sheffield Lake.


And, of course, my self portrait of my nose. While in itself it might not be very pointy, I can assure you it's always helped point me into the direction of some trouble! I think that counts for this challenge!

I'm Leaving . . .

On a jet plane!!!!

VACATION TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably not a good idea to let the world (or at least the five people that read my blog!) know that I'm going on vacation!

It's been a tough week. We've been planning this trip for months and now that it's actually here, I am over the moon excited!! I was pretty much useless this afternoon at work, so thanks to Mike for letting me bug out a few minutes early. I swear that clock quit moving after 3:00!

So, what do we have planned? I'm glad you asked! First thing Saturday morning, Ron and I are heading all the way to California to see family and friends. I am over the moon excited about this!

Now, while we're gone, someone please keep an eye on Phil! Make sure there are no wild parties here while we're gone. If you snitch from the liquor cabinet, just replenish the stock! Feed my fish twice a day! And, don't burn the house down. Easy, right?!!

Stay tuned folks. I hope to have stories worthy of the blog on my vacation. And, if we're lucky, we'll have some stories that I CAN'T write about on the blog! ;-)

How Much Would You Pay For Ugly?

Every once in awhile, I need change. I feel like I'm in that kind of funk now. Something needs to change.

Since I can't change the big things I want to change, I will have to settle with changing some of the little things. Like window coverings! It's not as expensive as getting new furniture, and hopefully it will ease that yearning for change in me.

I need a whole lot of window coverings, but I picked two windows to work on. We've been in this house seven years now and I still have nothing but mini blinds on all of the windows upstairs. Hey, I don't want to rush some things!

Over the Labor Day weekend, Ron and I headed out to JCPenney's, as I know they are always running holiday sales. I was able to order new foo-foo for one window but couldn't get what I wanted for the other window. One outta two ain't too bad, I guess.

With that taken care of, and as long as we were there, I wanted to go look at living room furniture. I really suck at picking out furniture! We are on our third bed in seven years and I hate this bed as much as the last two. I still think that's one of the reasons I can't spend a full night in that damn bed. But, I digress.

I bought new living room furniture a couple of years ago and I hate my couch and recliner. Hate. While I don't have the money right now to refurnish my living room, I do love looking. I talked Ron into going to plop our butts down on some couches just for fun!

I can honestly say I didn't care for any of the couches I plopped down on at JCPenney's that day. But, there was one overstuffed chair that looked really comfy so I tried it out. Looks were very deceiving. This was a piece of crap chair. However, while I was plopping there, right across from me, Ron was plopping onto the ugliest chair I have ever seen. I do mean ugly.

Ron told me I needed to try the ugly chair. You can see it coming, can't you! It was THE most comfortable chair I have ever plopped my butt into! Holy cow! And, as an added bonus, it was a recliner! I would never have guessed it! I went back one level, like a TV watching level. I was almost in heaven. One more level back took you to napping level. I truly found Nirvana! Have I mentioned that this chair was ugly?

I even told the sales guy that this chair was the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but I didn't want to get out of it! He was nice enough to inform me that it came in different colors, if that helped any. Let me explain - the style of the chair was ugly. The pattern on the fabric was hideous! I don't think putting it in a different color would have made any difference! But, I had one happy butt. I seriously thought I was buying an ugly chair and I'd find room in my home for it.

Until I saw the price tag.

Over $1,000 ON SALE for that much ugly. For ONE chair! A damn comfy chair but still. I just couldn't pay that much for ugly no matter how comfortable it was.

It Went Bump In The Night

Saturday night, Ron went and spent the night on his boat. That means I have a quiet night at home with no one complaining that I'm watching reality TV all night long!

There I am, watching Judge Judy and playing Pogo when I heard a loud bang/boom kinda noise. To me, is sounded like Phil fell in the next room.

I jumped up and ran over to Phil, who was sitting quietly in his room on his chair, watching TV. I got his attention and asked him if he heard that bang. When he watches TV in his room, he usually has his headphones on, so he heard nothing. Hmm. So, I went around and checked out all through the house and looked out all of the windows to see what could have caused the noise.

It was actually all quiet in my neighborhood that night for a change. I saw no one outside, the motion lights outside weren't turned on, so I had no idea what it was. It didn't sound like a car kinda noise as there was no metallic ring to it. It really sounded like it was inside the house, and that someone or something fell.

Strange things happening in my house isn't new. It's happened to us since we moved in, and it happened to the people that lived there before us. There are strange noises, things get moved, lights get turned on or off, there are cold spots. Not often, but it's happened. I wasn't really thinking about that at first on Saturday, but now I'm not so sure.

That was about 10:00 pm. Sometime just after midnight, I decided to go to bed. Just as I was crawling into bed, I heard it again! LOUDLY. I jumped up and ran out into the hallway. Phil's door was now closed, so I stood outside, trying to listen if he was snoring. I didn't hear snoring, but I also didn't hear him moaning in distress. Once again, I went all over the house, checking all of the doors, windows, cars outside, etc.

Nothing. Again, no motion lights were tripped, no one around outside, nothing inside was moved or fallen. Finally I said the heck with it. The alarm was set on the house, so if anyone tried to open a door or window, I'd hear it. There was nothing more I could do. Back upstairs I went.

As soon as I was back in bed, a third thud! I had enough. I finally said out loud "I'm done. Make all the noise you want, I'm staying in bed!" I did lay in bed and watch TV for awhile, but that was the end of the banging in the house. Some days you just gotta get tough with restless spirits.

Then, I had the thought. I just felt my Dad. Maybe it was wishful thinking, maybe it was just a random restless spirit or maybe it was just my imagination. Either way . . .

July 29, 1924 - September 13, 2007 I miss you, Dad.

PhotoPhun Challenge: Water

Water. That's a great theme, as far as I'm concerned. When I was picking "red" for my week, water was actually the runner up for a theme! I had a bunch of ideas so I was excited to see that water made this week's challenge.

Then, Mark said to "do whatever we want" with it. Hmm. I took that advice to heart!

While reading Mark and Lisa's blogs this week, I knew they were out shooting pictures pretty much at the same spots I thought of to go shoot. I am not ready to put my pictures next to their pictures to compare! This is definitely a challenge with the three of us in the same area. So, I ran with the advice to "do whatever we want"!

Let's start with my bathtub. Hey, that's water in there! Along with a few rubber duckies and some bubbles!


Again, I took this water challenge and tried to look at it in a different way.


And, as long as I was in the bathroom . . . .


Just be happy the last one wasn't a video! Once in awhile, I do edit myself!

Lastly, just in case you didn't think I take this seriously, here is the pond kinda behind where I work. It's beautiful out there. If I could only get my boss to allow me to go fishing (yes, there are fish in there!) in the afternoons, life would be good!



This last picture is my favorite.

That was a fun challenge! Please make sure you check out Lisa and Mark's blogs to see where water took them!

Family Boating Fun

Are you tired of boating stories yet? Well, I'm not! Thanks to my favorite nephew, Michael, his wife Jenny and their beautiful little ones, Evan and Grady, for coming out and playing with us today. I'm telling you, we had so much fun today, we must have stolen someone else's fun for the day!

Today the lake was not the most cooperative. There was a storm blowing in, so we were trying to get this ride in early before the weather turned for the worse.

After my last experience on the boat, I was a little apprehensive to try this again. But, I wanted to go play with the kids, so I took my Dramamine earlier this time and hoped for the best.

Evan and Grady couldn't get on the boat fast enough. They were on, life jackets on and ready to go! If there was any apprehension in them, it didn't show. There were just ready to go.


My favorite nephew, who always strikes a pose when there is a camera around!


Grady had this huge grin on his face the entire time we were out, except for the one millisecond it took to take this picture!


Me and Jenny hanging.


I think this was the boys' favorite seat on the boat. They would sit here, then go below into the cabin, then back up and falling, crawling, and stumbling around the deck, on the back seat, then back to the front seat, down to the cabin, back and forth back and forth. The kids definitely weren't bored! I think trying to walk on deck while the boat was bucking was the most fun for them! Go figure!




Michael even took his turn at being captain. He drove us most of the way from when we got on the lake all the way to Cedar Point! Of course, Evan was right there to help!


Ron is talking over the finer points of keeping us on course.


I tried to get a picture of Cedar Point, but I didn't even realize we were there until Ron went to turn the boat around and head us back home. Holy crap, that's when all hell broke loose!

The ride was bumpier than heck going out, the waves getting bigger and bigger. But, turning around it was suddenly like we were on a totally different lake. You know, a 29 foot boat looks pretty big in the marina. It's also pretty big with four adults and two children on it. It's a good sized boat. Until you're in rough waters. O M G, I felt like I was in a teacup.

Personally, I was absolutely terrified. The marine forecast said waves to two feet and that doesn't sound like a lot but when you're jumping over those puppies, they're huge! I had a death grip on the seat and I was doing my best not to curl up into the fetal position on the floor or jump overboard! I didn't want the kids to get scared in the rough water, so I tried to hold it together. Ok, Michael and Jenny knew I was crapping my pants, but hopefully the kids didn't. I'm telling you, they were hooting, hollering and just having a great time. That make everything worth it!

Ron took over the driving on the way back. Like I said, this is where the waves were the worst and that boat was rocking. Up onto the crest of the incoming waves and it felt like a few times we slammed back down onto the water. It was crazy! Here is Michael and Jenny, enjoying the ride! The three of us in the back and Ron driving the boat all ended up soaked on the ride back! There was no safe place to get out of some of the spray. Hey, I was wetter in the shower earlier. It's all good!


Thanks to my favorite nephew and his family for coming out to play with us today. The best part of the whole day was when we were loading up to go home, Evan wanted to know when we could all go back out on the boat again! Yeah, I am the fun great-aunt and still the favorite aunt in Ohio!