Vacation - Part 3

New Mexico

This was on top of a mesa Tom took us too. If you looked at my feet, it just dropped off. See the river winding?

Since we girls told the guys we wanted to see what we saw, we gave them the day to choose where they would go off roading at. That was ….um…. I want so much to say a mistake.

We got into this national forest and went way up this mountain to like 10,000 feet. It was so beautiful. I have never seen ****A trees before. They are white and look like the bark is made from paper. Okay, that was neat.

How beautiful are these?

Then…we got down this road heading back to civilization. That’s funny. Road. There were big ruts in the road and thank GOD David was driving. He’s got lots of experience doing the off road thing.

This is where Robert wants to put a house.

Now lemme tell ya something. We live out in the boonies. We be rednecks. They don’t. This isn’t a slam on them. Not at all. And even though Robert and Dave have this “Hoss, I’ve driven a million miles off road.” Linda and I laugh in the back seat.

Down this road, I have no doubt David could do it. Honestly. They weren’t so inclined toward this manner. In fact, I believe they were a bit fearful. Well, that and the insurance on the rental is void if something happens and you are off roading. Sooo……..we turn around.

Go down the next road. Get down there and same thing. Turn around. We spent like 5 hours doing this. Hahahahaha! Linda and I shake our head.

We get to this lava field. Stop in at the info center to find that there are also ice caves to see. Ooooooooo! Linda and I want to see this! Well, being the time of day, we were running a little short of time. So we went to the first one and saw the lava spout and a few other things. It was neat. To imagine that many moons ago there were volcanoes shaping the land the way it was….neat.

This poor guy is used to show how big the spout was. How neat is this?

Get to Toms. I have to tell you first about his kitchen floor. No. First about Tom. Tom is a card. He’s got like two PhD’s. He’s very intelligent. He’s funny and catches Dave off guard a lot. He’s also an excellent wood worker. Makes custom cabinets and I believe that man could make ANYTHING.

He’s telling us one day about how he built the adobe walls surrounding his property. I get back and look at these walls. THESE WALLS? WOW! But back to his kitchen floor.

That pretty adobe, that would be just one of the walls he built.

There are big pieces of rock with color in layers. Apparently he knew this contractor who had this flooring ordered for these people who changed their mind. I’m looking at this flooring. (they changed their minds?) So he got it cheap. Good for him. He and his wife put it in.

This is gorgeous flooring. Gorgeous. I wish I had a pic of it. It’s shiny and so colorful. His wife was telling me the many steps they went through to put it in correctly. Wow. I was so impressed.

He built the wooden staircase that goes up from the kitchen and underneath this staircase are all these little cabinet doors. Oh my. You aren’t telling me….yes, I am telling you. These all open up to cabinets. In fact, one opens up and the drawer slides out. My mouth drops open a foot.

These are tumble weeds caught in the canyons.

Shooting Prairie Dogs

Okay, this was the best part of it all. Tom traps on this farmer’s property. I can’t describe how big it is cause he was telling us he owned like (pulling number out of the air) 178 ‘lots’. One lot is so many acres. It takes like 150 acres to support ONE cow. (cause there’s nothing to eat, you would think someone would buy a clue) This info is important later, remember it, there will be a quiz.

Tom says these are campfire scars from the Indian's. Imagine if they could tell stories.

Okay, so we go out and we shoot a couple prairie dogs. Not many, just a few and then we go out riding. Tom took us to the property he traps on. O M Gosh was it huge. The mesa alone was 22,000 acres. Put that in your brain and imagine it. Flat? Nope. We were bounced all over the place. It was fun.

The first killing fields.

At one point I saw a jackrabbit. Apparently they are competition for the cows. Not to be mistaken for the cottontail rabbit. These rabbits have really long ears. Tom keeps two loaded guns mounted between his front seats. He stops, hands me one and tells me to shoot it. “From the van?” Yep. I’m sitting on David’s lap in the front. Okay, but isn’t he gonna go deaf? Nope, just shoot it. OKAY! I did, and I got it! YEAH FOR ME!!!!! Direct hit! (Had I been standing, I’d a done a jig)

Now you know why we use scopes. Doesn't he look sexy with that slung over his shoulder.

He takes us all over the place. We saw the bottom of the mesa, from the top of course. The valley with a creek and water. There was water in it! (amazing, honestly) Wild burrows, elk, antelope and tracks all over the place. It was so interesting.

Can you see the burrows in the churro?

One place he took us to was where they are Indian hieroglyphics. They aren’t called that, they are called Petroglyphs. Tom, will know. I’ll email. We got out and climbed all over these huge rocks to see them. WOW, oh wow! Can you imagine an Indian out in his loincloth making these pictures way, way back? Here I am in sneakers and a digital camera googling over them. My only fear was finding a rattler.

This is taken from up on the Mountain where the petroglyphs were. Little high?

We saw where they had a HUGE flood in September. It actually ATE the road. We had to go another way. On the side of these mesas were long black scars. This is where the Indians made their fires way back. He even took us to Indian ruins for pottery shards. The reason we could pick them up and no one else had totally gleaned them is because we were on private property. I came back with an entire can of them. The girls were delighted.

This was by the indian ruins. See the chimney? We found many of these.

We went back and Tom refills his shells. That was so cool. Here’s my husband, “Tom, you aren’t doing a good job of teaching my wife anything.” He got all flustered. I got to remove and replace the primer. He wouldn’t let me refill the gunpowder no matter how much I fussed and insisted I was smart enough. But, he did let me put the bullets in. That was so very cool! We used them the next day. Must have done it right cause no guns blew up. (whew!)

The next day we went out and met Ernie. He was over an hour away. We met him on the side of the road. Everything looks like the side of the road, hahahaha. Ernie is serious about his prairie dog killing. He has this cart with a table on the back. Then this pouch to set your muzzle on to keep it from moving (cause I do a lot of that). It was so very way cool!

I’m looking down this scope. He’s spotting for me. It goes kinda like this:

See the telephone pole? Go to the left. Right behind the cholla……

The tire…..go about 15 yards down and to the left…..

This in Indiana would be: See the tree…….?

400 yards puts me out by the tire, can you see it? Here, use the scope.

I can’t describe to you how much fun I had. I’m looking down this scope and the cross hairs are the same width as the little boogers. And still I got them. Yeah for me! He got all excited. “She got a double!” I look up, ‘is that good?” He’s yelling over his shoulder, “she got a double! Two of them with one shot!” I did good, yeah for me again! I got a double. Geez, I was just happy I hit what I was aiming at. I got a double, bragging rights to me!

Then he was spotting another for me. I saw a different one. I go, “I see one.” He says, “Well shoot it.” Alright! He gets all excited. “She got one at 400 yards!” (is that good?” He’s pointing to this spot way out there. Bragging rights to me again. Being that I’ve shot a gun now like 5 times in my life. Yeah for me! I had so much fun!!

I had to put this one in cause I like that hat. That's my smooksie-poo.

Remember how much land it takes to support one cow? Anything that gives it competition or endangers its safety is considered expendable. Prairie dogs don’t eat much, but they make these holes for their houses that make the ground fragile. While we were walking, more than once I stumbled because of a prairie dog hole. They say the cows break legs because of them. There is apparently a prairie dog family that is 600 miles across. WOW! When do we hunt that one?

That's Ernie, me, Tom, Robert, and Linda.

The west was beautiful. It was a neat learning experience. I enjoyed it much. It was good to be home and see my kids again. The dry air had all four of us with dried, cracked sinuses. We got off the tram by the truck and I threw out my hands, tossed back my head and shouted to the parking lot: “Oh humidity, wrap your arms of love around me!” David laughed. I think it took 3 days for our noses to get right. :)

Nothing topped Bubs’ face alit, yelling, “Mommy!” , and being smothered in hugs from my children. Now that was priceless!

Vacation - Part 2

Arizona

Okay, so we have plans with Robert and Linda to go out driving around the desert and see stuff. (Dave’s favorite word) 8 am and they are ready to go. Now we went to bed at 5am. I still have sleep in my eye. Am I awake? Am I dreaming? Am I moving? Okay. Just make sure I don’t crash into something.

Out we go. Beautiful! I saw that ‘Welcome to Vegas’ sign all the movies have. (See Godfather) When I finally moved out of Arizona back in High School, I swore to myself I would never return. I hated it. The brown. The brown. The lack of color, green, life and such. Hated it.

See that little road? We were on that. How beautiful is this scenery?

It was beautiful! We visited this ‘haunted’ place. It was a wee bit difficult to find due to the fact that AZ doesn’t mark a darn thing. Find it or don’t find it. They don’t care. The cacti had blooms on them. Flowers all over the place I have never seen. One of these cacti had blooms that look like someone sprayed silly string all over it. It was so neat.

This flower was growing right out of a rock.

We went off roading throughout the desert. Off roading. Hahahaha! You get off pavement it isn’t like the ‘dirt roads’ we have where there’s gravel and such or chipped and tarred. All roads out there off pavement are dirt. Why you ask? Cause they don’t get enough rain to make a hill of beans difference in the shape of it. They are all passable. Well, in the desert anyway.

This was actually taken in New Mexico but they happen in AZ just as well.

We visited this little town called Chloride. IT was need. This is where we found out about the Haunted Towns. It was a very poor town. People decorated their places with blue Skyye Vodka bottles. It was…different to say the least.

There was Cholla cactus everywhere it seemed. That would be the ‘jumping cactus’ I was so readily warned about when I was younger. The babies of this plant will jump towards heat and instantly curl into what ever it has hit. I’ve had one friend with one that grew into their wrist and another where it grew into his knee. Not fun.

When the plant dies it loses all it’s thorns and turns into this pretty wood with holes all in it. I laughed. People sold that stuff to tourists. Guess who was a tourist now? No, I didn’t buy any. But Robert jumped out, broke a piece off and then couldn’t figure out why we didn’t want any. Lol!

Second day. We went to the place where the great big crater is. The one where this meteorite hit and made a hole in the ground a mile wide. Wow. No, it wasn’t worth the $15 they charged to get in, but Linda and I enjoyed the museum that they had. Very, very interesting. I enjoy learning new stuff. Guess which country gets hit with the most meteorites? Austria. Interesting.

This crater is a full mile wide. This is a piece of the meteroite.

Then we went through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Now THAT was neat! I can remember my family going through this right before we left AZ. I was so disappointed. Having gone through it again, I can see why we were. You have to go through it either at daybreak or sunset. Wow do the colors just jump out. I saw where we stopped as a kid and it was the blandest of the whole place. Get away from there and there were colors everywhere. My only mourn was that I didn’t have a panoramic camera. Oh how could I get on film what my eyes could see? It was everywhere. This great gorge cut out and layers upon layers of color exploding everywhere. WOW!

You HAVE to see this in person. It stretches on and on.....

Further on down the road was the Petrified Forest. Apparently, from what I read, there was a flood that traveled all these trees down to this area. The trees got waterlogged and sunk to the bottom. They soaked in all the mineral and such from the water and then got covered with something else (memory escapes me), which petrified it. Wow were they beautiful! They were all over the place too. When they are polished up, they are a most beautiful stone. There was a thin slab that was cut and polished as a tabletop. Price: $10,000. Wow! I got two little slivers for my nick knack shelf at a dollar a piece.

This stuff is everywhere! How pretty is this landscape?

This petrified log is made into a bridge.

We stayed that night in Prescott in this hotel that was over a hundred years old. It was so neat. It was so nice to GET OUT OF THE CAR! Next morning I had French toast stuffed with Prickly Pear Cactus jelly. YUM!! Gotta try something new everywhere we go. Now why would I want to have what I can get at home?

This is the cactus they make the jelly out of. It's those round things under the blooms that is the fruit.

Note to self: Find that jelly online and order big jar!

From there we went to Sedona. Now this is a tourist trap that my friend Olga brought me to when Dave sent me out to visit her when I was just pg with the Wild Man. It’s got all these neat shaped rocks. Rocks meaning there is a big mountaintop shaped neat. Like Snoopy rock and the twins, and the turtle and such.

Don't they make such a cute pair?

Crossed the Hover Dam. That was neat. I forgot how big it was. Then we went way up on this mountain to this town called something like Jerome. It was literally right on the side of the mountain. One of the stores in there makes kaleidoscopes. Wow were they cool! I loved the snowflake ones. You barely turn them and these beads and such inside glycerin gently slide and make snowflakes. How awesome. We spent more time in there than anywhere.

I forgot how big it was. This is from up in the mountain.

Back in the day. WAY back in the day, they wanted to keep the prostitutes away they called the main street Husbands Street. Hahaha. Wonder if it worked.

Driving around those roads on the edge of the mountain made the boys a bit nervous. They were glad to come back down. That town was at the level of over 7,000 feet above sea level. WOW!

Vacation - Part 1

My flower bed before I left for Vegas.

Vegas

First I leave home and drive to the airport with my Mom, George and Bubs as company. As I’m walking up to the airport I notice they aren’t going anywhere, like to my house. Or even leaving the airport. Poor George has his long legs up to his ears from my seat setting. So I help him with that, walk on and notice….they aren’t going anywhere. God love them. I had to go back and help them again. This time they got on their way.

Walk in, get my ticket, strip almost naked for security and go on. I’m surprised, this time I got through with no bag check. Yeah for me. The first lag to Chicago was nothing other than I got to travel with some gang members there. That was interesting. You know, I realize there were people who said this about me when I was a teen; boy girls are thin now a days!!

Second jag I am sitting next to his really huge fellow and this very schizo woman. She must have been nervous about something. I just wanted to sleep. I close my eyes….and they start selling things. This for $5, that for $5. The lady next to me took everything. The fellow next to me kept making trips to the bathroom. Maybe I’ll just doze, sit here with my eyes closed. They show a movie. What’s it called? Chronicles of Narnia. I didn’t mean to watch it. I didn’t mean to try to read the lips of the actors, or lean in closer to the person next to me to hear through their headset. Now I have to see it.

I’m staring at this screen, where have I seen that white witch from? Where, where, where? I was about to go in mental circles when it hit me, Constantine! That’s where I’ve seen her. She was the cussing angel in it. AHA!

Get to Vegas. Now here is a prime example of what all David has taught me. I have absolutely no fear getting a taxi and telling them where to take me. Before I would have been worried about kidnapping, theft, what have ya. Nothing but a thang. Got to where all the guys are. Yeah! I haven’t seen some of these fellows since Convention in August. Some of my favorite people where there! Actually, I thing about all of them were my favorite people. Yeah for me again! What a way to end a trip!

I tell you what. I could sit around for days and just listen to these guys go on and on. The way they rib each other and pull pranks. It was great. I laughed and laughed. Ahhhh………this is the life! Especially Dave and Robert. Those two act like brothers. You must read the rest of the blog and hear about them going on during our drive in the desert.

So we all get ready to eat. I’m starved cause I didn’t eat breakfast and there wasn’t any part of this trip that they fed me on. Plus, there’s three hours difference between there and here. I’m hungry to say the least.

“Oh Hoss!” This is Roberts favorite phrase. One everyone likes to rib him about. “Hoss, there’s this restaurant at the Rio that has all you can eat lobster and sea food.” Okay, we all hail about three taxis, and head that way. Oh my, my, my.

Tom, (he’s a card too. Gotta read about New Mexico) Lumpy and Dave are in one taxi. How could this have happened? Oh my. I about laughed my head off. The taxi driver was having fits as well. I thought he was gonna pee himself.

We get there and wait in line F O R E V E R. Not that I minded. There was a ceiling show and dancers and such. No kidding. There was this horse that comes out of the ceiling and boats and such with dancers. Well, I don’t have to worry about anything. Nothing. My kids are safe with my Mom and the ever patient George. I’m on vacation. Leave all worries in IN and have fun. So I did. It was great. Oh and the crab legs were excellent. The lobster was bad, crab excellent. And I can almost eat my weight in crab legs. (good thing it’s a fat free food eh?)

After dinner we go back to our hotel, the Luxor. Now that you will have to look up. It’s the big pyramid. None of my pictures came out cause it was too dark. We go change clothes, wait in line with Lumpy for a club named Ra. We are watching at the front of the line and people are just walking in. Hmmm….must pay closer attention. I sit down on this statue and pay attention. Hmmmm…this is something Dave is good at. Hey Honey……I tell him what is going on. We tip the bouncer and in we go. Lumpy bout lost it. I won’t go into detail why but he’s young, he’s single and been out in Montana for way too long without company. ‘Nough said.

Short while of that and we left. Bored. Time to go do what everyone comes to Vegas to do. Let’s play Black Jack! I LOVE Black Jack!!! We sit at a table. I think we walked away down $30. Not so bad. Can’t complain. I even made one single small bet on the roulette wheel, just to say I could. I lost. I watched these two rednecks (I can say that cause I are one) win $400, yell and yell how they were getting a steak dinner at the Ponderosa, in three rounds, it was all GONE. Nah, ya think?

The Winds of Change

(Isnt' this beautiful? I just had to have a pic of it to remember how gorgeous my back yard looked on the morning of March 25th. Can you see the frost on the barbwire even?)

This is what it looks like a short walk from my house. Can you believe this mess?)

Winds of change. That's funny. Since just last week a tornado, straight winds, (a giant passed gas) whatever you want to call it went by less than a block from my house. It took plywood off the neighbors trailer, tore thier barn in half and completely demolished the trailer across the street from them. Whoosh! Who knew a trailer could cover such a large area of land!?!

(The first is the creek on our property. Normally the water is no where near the fence. The second is a bridge we have to cross into the great town of Mayberry that we live in. That is an entire tree, roots and all in there. Later I'll take a pic of what it normally looks like. Anyone care for swimming?)

I'm thinking, when was that? Oh yeah. Let's go back in time , shall we? Last Monday, my boss gives me a job. He tells me this isn't good and I shouldn't be happy about it. It's an evaluation. He keeps telling me, "don't be happy about this. this isn't a good thing." So I look at him, "Um, what are the consequences if I fail?" He can't tell me, it's an evaluation. Okay. Do this......so I gleefully go back to my office with this new challenge that I am eager to create. Yeah for me! (I am SO niave)

I work and work and study and study and try and try. Thursday I have this forboding feeling. I go outside in the wonderful warm sun to think and calm down my heart rate. I pray. "Dear Lord, I love my job. I love where I work and the people I work with. If you want me to keep this job you will. If not, please help me to follow the direction I should go in." That wasn't a easy prayer cause I meant it. Every word of it.

Friday. I go into my boss's office to tell him I've got most of it but having trouble with a bit of it. I've done over and over and over. I know it's got to be something simple but I just can't seem to put my finger on it. I told him I was paranoid. He laughs. Nothing to be paranoid over. Well thought I'd lose my job. Nothing to be paranoid. I believed him. Turned in my project at the end of the day and left feeling relieved.

Monday. Go to my boss's office to tell him about the tornado. He looks at his screen and quickly says, "I don't have time right now." Okay. That's odd. He's never like that but he has been given a full plate lately. I can understand that. Just let me know when you have time. I was anxious to figure out about the project. Turned on my computer to work on it some more. I WILL figure this out!

Get a phone call 2 hours later. Come to HR. Okay. Step in. The lady's desk is clean except for one single folder. It's NEVER clean. Always a stack of work. And my boss. Not good. His words exactly, "There's no easy way to say this. This wasn't an easy decision, but for the good of (the company) we're going to have to let you go. Believe me, this wasn't easy. (name) has some HR things and I can't stay here for this." And out he goes. Um...........????????

After she goes over things I ask, "did I do something wrong?" (she smiles) "I can't tell you anything more." ??????? So I'll ask my boss. "He can't tell you anything more either." ??????

I email him, can we talk for 5 min. Email says, "I understand you are frusterated, my hands are tied. There's honestly nothing more that I can tell you." And he LEAVES THE BUILDING!!! (so now I have the plague?)

I numbly go back to my office and start packing. I can't believe this. No warning. You suck. Kiss my a**. You can't do your jobs. We don't like your hair. You stink. Something would have been better than nothing. Nothing makes your mind go in a whirl thinking of every possible thing you did/didn't do. Okay, so I move on. Would someone please pull my legs out of the mud?

Nothing. That's what I got. A big fat nothing. Hmmmm....I will at least tell a person my issue with them. Ask, I can give references. Oooookaaay.

Go home in tears. Feel like a big fat failure. Be numb for a day. Make a double batch of triple chocolate chip cookies with my kids. I'd like to say my kids are supportive, but that would be only half true. My youngest ones come up and hug me. BBug says, "Mom you'll get another job somewhere." My oldest say, "Yeah, Taco Bell is hiring." Haha, I forgot to laugh. Dork. (she'll laugh when she reads this)

My husband surprised me the most. He was supportive. He was oh so very good. Was upset with me. Understanding. Took two days off to be with me. Loved on me. Patted my head. Told me it was going to be okay and then yesterday told me it was time to get up off the dirt. I'm a smart woman and it was thier loss. Time to move on and look at my options. Good man. Very good man.

So....we've worked on the front flower garden, we built a strawberry patch, and started on the veggie garden. I've worked that poor man like a barrowed mule. :) Today I updated my resume, went to my previous place of education and visited the job expo. I know who I want to call. We'll see if anyone calls.

These two fellows were there with a computer. One fellow must be from India. Raj. He looked smart. The other guy was the president. After some conversation he told me congratulations, I was the first person he'd met that used .Net, which is the language they code in. Oh yippy skippy. So, we'll see.

To combine my stress, I noticed the child support checks weren't coming in and made a call to the ole ex. Yep, he's not working this month. Think maybe you'd like to make a call? Maybe say, "Hey, you may want to adjust your budget as such?" Of course not. Cause he's the ex. And this is the sort of thing he's expected to do. Now is the time to tell the attorney to drop the battle ax on him. Hmmmm........

So my pride is bruised, (and why is it spreading out?) but I do have hopes for the future. My yard and gardens should look better here soon and I'm working to keep my head up. Saturday I'm joining my hubby in Vegas. We need some time alone. I was voting for Cancun. I'm happy with Vegas. Hopefully by the end of the trip I get to shoot something, like prairie dogs.