Day by day

Monday right before 3:00pm was the worst. The Flagyl stopped working and I felt very bad. I thought it would be no problem to wait over the week-end for Wal-Mart to ship in the Vancomycin, but if I knew then what I'd be in for I'd have driven the hour and a half to Las Cruces. Now I'm on the antibiotic that my doctor calls the "Big Gun" against C. Diff and I hope and pray it will restore my fauna and flora. My goodness, it's terrible having something like this wrong, and be wrong for so long. It's like living life under a blanket with all the daily joys of life muffled. I will say the Vancomycin is easier to take. It's a capsule and doesn't taste awful like the other does. Would it kill them to put a little coating on that stinkin' Flagyl?

I went for a walk and it was a lovely day with cloud cover. Hot, but beautiful. I felt much improved all day but the walk made my tummy ache. We had a tad bit of rain. In the morning a roadrunner was clucking right under my bed outside the trailer. My dad and his wife stopped by on their way home from Nebraska and we had a really nice two hour visit.

My husband and son are watching "The Three Stooges" and laughing like crazy. I find the Stooges mildly amusing. It's got to be in the genes.

Would those birds shut up

The horses are called Paints. I guess they're a combination Pinto and Quarter Horse. Don't quote me on that, but it's what I read. There was another white horse and he put his head in our truck. That was exciting! They're domestic horses. That's why he was so friendly.

Yesterday I woke at 4:00am and couldn't sleep. At 5:00am a quail started crowing incessantly every 30 seconds and he continued his exultation for 30 minutes. I was gritting my teeth thinking is the next crow going to be 25 seconds or 30. Then I thought, oh dear, but I love the quail. What in the world is the matter with me? I stand at the window and wait to see who will get a drink of water and wonder, will it be a dove, a sparrow, a roadrunner, a mockingbird, a quail, or a squirrel who comes for the next sip. I have to meditate and pray a Proverb. Proverbs 17:22 - A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. So true.

My husband and son are working the kiosk at the Visitor's Center till 3:00pm. 'Tis busy here this week-end. Beautiful day with puffball clouds all around. We ordered my husband a new money clip for Father's Day. It won't come in till Tuesday though. Drats. It's a nice Indian Head Nickel style. He lost the one that I gave him about 15 years ago. He left it on top of the change machine at the laundromat and someone took it. Luckily, he had taken his money out of it. He shouldn't have set it down. I'm going to make him that Nilla Vanilla Cookie Wafer with banana and vanilla pudding recipe for a special dessert. I hope he'll like it.

We're proud owners a yet another chip in our windshield. Yesterday a regular old Ford truck passed us on the left and a teeny rock hit our windshield. Now we have three chips and a crack in it. We may have to think about replacing it!

I'm starting a different antibiotic on Monday. The pharmacy doesn't have it in stock today. My doctor said this next antibiotic is the big gun for use against C. Diff. The Flagyl didn't seem to be working for me this time. He said Flagyl works for a limited time and it looks like I need this other medicine. I haven't felt well for a week. Here's my big whine about it. WAAAAAAAH. And I'm done whining. That's the only whine allowed for that. I have a swollen cold sore on my upper lip that hasn't scabbed yet. That garners its own separate whine. Waaaaaah! Okay, done. :)

Flag earrings

My sister wanted to see the 4th of July earrings I made so my son took some quickie pics for me.

In this pic, I look good but you can't see the earrings. I look so nice in semi-light!
I just took my pill. I take it with food but it still makes my tummy feel, meh, so-so. I used to enjoy having a bedtime snack but now that I have to take this pill with food I've come to hate a bedtime snack.

I gave our son a big pep talk on the importance of writing his pre-algebra problems from the top down neatly and legibly. I told him math develops logical thinking and people always like to whine and say "I'll never use this math in real life," but in reality, they do. It's important to be able to think in an orderly manner. I said a lot more too, but it escapes me what I said. Anyhoo, he responded favorably and has written neat and legible math problems for two days - in a row.

At the ranch

"The Grandmother"
She's been around a long time!

Deer in the distance

With the naked eye I could hardly make out these deer. My camera saw them clearly though which I didn't realize till I downloaded the pics. We spent the day at the ranch yesterday and it was peaceful and fun. We drove down a canyon and we saw horses and cows, calves, and deer. Branding day is the 27th and it's always a big event. They have about ten calves this year. That's a lot for this ranch. They'll be branding some bulls too. It's going to be a sight to see the men pull down those big, strong animals.

Had a terrible dream the other night. Dreamt I went to someone other than Ivan to get my ends trimmed. I looked in the mirror and my hair was cut in that style that everyone is wearing lately; real short at the nape and above shoulder length on the side. I'm sure I dreamt of that style because I was sitting in church looking at the pastor's daughter flip her hair about and she has that style. I asked the hair stylist what happened and why she did it. She said she didn't know. Then to top it off I dreamt my stomach was really big and round and sticking out and that's not all. When I walked I stomped around like Frankenstein. What a nightmare.

It's such a pretty day here. I can't get enough of sky, sky, sky.

Our dish is fixed

Saturday's New Mexico sunset

We're back in New Mexico and we're so fortunate. We got a site with full hook-ups for a month and my husband is volunteering. It's worked out well. My husband called up the volunteer coordinator even though all the sites we're full for the summer when we left, but one site came open! And then the Hughes.net man came out to the park and fixed our satellite dish for us. We have a brand new arm and nose on the dish. It works now! He was a knowledgeable technician.

On the down side, that nasty C. diff returned. My good bacteria are having a hard time flourishing I guess. I'm on a med for 21 days to fix it. Last night at evening church I asked my friends there to pray for me and Brother David, the assistant pastor, got the anointing oil out for me and he and his wife and some others that I like a lot, prayed for me. I have a hard time asking and I knew I should ask but it was so hard doing it. Finally, only a few people were left in church and I asked him and man, my face turned red as a beet. Clunk me on the head will ya. I told him he could pray for me later at his home but he said, "Liliana, you know us and if we're gonna pray we're gonna pray it right now."

Look at those sunset photos, eh? Glory to God. I went for a walk and the colors were amazing. I was snappin' and snappin' hoping my camera would catch the brilliance. Fire in the sky!

It's a regular, normal, homeschooling day today. No. Driving.

Oklahoma thunder

National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Photo taken June 5, 2009

We stopped at a perfect time. It was about 3:30pm and started to rain and there was a KOA Kampground only a few miles away. We got completely setup and inside within ten minutes. And we have thunder! Big, giant, rumbling, bumbling thunder! As long as there's no tornado we like it.

My husband just cut up some watermelon for us to eat and it's delicious. Watermelon. It reminds me of, hmmm, it reminds me of being eight years old in Nebraska, of hot summer time and we kids running around having a watermelon seed spitting fight. It was Timmy and Chrissy and me. Timmy was one year my junior and Chrissy and I were the same age. Timmy was my first kiss. It was in the days when a peck between a little boy and girl was not illegal and it was sweet, not vulgar. They call him Tim now, not Timmy, of course. He had curly blonde hair.

A couple weeks ago when I was at the hospital I got three hair compliments at once and it was from three black girls. I was at the lab and my hair was down and they said I had pretty hair, long hair, and then my two favorite comments, they liked how it shows the change in my hair color over time, and it's healthy. I totally should have told them I attribute its health to coconut oil but being as how I had dropped off some samples I wanted to escape quickly and quietly.

Hafta make dinner now. It's leftover homemade chicken noodle soup, one of our favorites. Having soup for dinner on a rainy day - you can't beat it. Son has had a sore throat and fever so it'll be good for him. It'll soothe his throat.

After 24 years, I still blush

I thought I read somewhere that after age 50 people don't blush anymore? I still blush and have often blushed easily.

Today my husband said I haven't been doing much dancing. That's a big duh. People with diarrhea just don't dance. But I digress. I am wearing my Peace, Love, Belly Dance top which is kinda cute and I said, "No, I haven't felt much like a belly dancer, that's true." And then he said I still looked like one. That's when I turned red and he said he can't believe I still blush because of my own husband. I don't know why I turn red sometimes! I guess I should just be glad he gets over me being sick so easily. Back in 2005 when I barfed till dawn I thought he'd never touch me again after hearing me doubled over the commode with the flu. The next week, he's kissin' me like always. Men have a short memory maybe. That's a good thing.

There is one time I blushed that I've never been able to forget and I wish I could. It happened at my new job as a city planning intern. I found out I had blown out the competition for this job so I was brimming with self-confidence. On my first day the Director of Planning took me around to meet the employees and the urban planners, most of whom were men. He introduced me to my boss-to-be and when the director said, "And I'd like you to meet Dick," I shook his hand and could feel my face turning from pink to red. Have you ever experienced the unmitigated horror of not being able to stop an oncoming blush! I didn't think any bad thoughts. Really I didn't! I was just embarrassed for him that his name was Dick I guess. There's no way to disguise a blush. You lose all the upper hand, all coolness, once you have a red face hanging out there. You can't cover it up. You can't bring your hands up to your face because that'll just highlight the situation. Sigh. I'm sure the two of them had a good laugh about it later at my expense.

Hey! My husband said there are fireflies outside. Oh boy! I gotta go see some fireflies. We don't have those in California or New Mexico.

Irresistible

I ask you, who could resist? Somehow, we did! Haha! Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

We toured Washington, D.C. yesterday. Got up at 5:00am and got home at 7:25pm. We went on a tour bus. My feets is still sore! My favorite part was the Lincoln Memorial. Wow. It's way bigger than I thought. And we visited the Smithsonian, and saw the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Veteran's wall, the WWII Memorial, the White House. It was incredible. At the National Archive our eyes touched one of the four original existing Magna Cartas from 1215, the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the some of the Amendments.

The other night we went to bed and woke up the next morning to find fuel had gone up 20¢ at the gas station we had scoped out. If only we had fueled up before bed!

We're on our way back to New Mexico to chill for awhile and wait for the doctor bills to roll in so we can pay 'em off. I thank the Lord we can pay our bills.

Our son had a great time tonight at a flashlight candy hunt. Also we're grateful for his sharp little eyes. Today he noticed the valve stem on a trailer tire was puffed out. My husband thinks it's defective so he changed it out and put on the spare while we're here in a campground. That kid is so observant. He's worth his weight in gold. 'Tis a driving day tomorrow.

He's tired of driving!

When people kept asking us how long we'd live in a trailer and travel I would say, "I guess we'll quit traveling when my husband says he's tired of driving." Well! He said it yesterday. And he said it again today. So. It's official. As in double official.

In itself it doesn't change anything drastically but it gives us a direction. I always wondered, how would we stop? I didn't think I'd ever want a house, but now! I kinda do. This year there's been no joy in the driving. And I used to wonder how could we all want to stop traveling at the same time? God works in miraculous ways. We all three want to settle down and all the praying I've done asking where to settle? Answered. We'll settle in New Mexico and we all three agree. We all three love it. We all three are ready.

So that'll open a new chapter - the chapter of finding an abode. New happiness to find, new challenges to face. But the chapter doesn't start yet.

Gettysburg. We arrived today and went to the Gettysburg Museum and the 20 minute movie was so good. I almost cried about three times. We'll be here a couple days. There's an auto tour we want to take and maybe a bus tour into Washington, D.C. I was thinking of spending a couple weeks to drive several times into D.C., but we can't take it here for that long. We want to head out west. It's more open there. We prefer the open land. Here there are so many trees and cars and people. We are claustrophobic from it. I told my husband today that I think I have a touch of ye olde depression closing in and I think it's because we're not in a place we really want to be. Course, my lame illnesses of the past two months are a major contribution too, but we just really need some open road soon. I praise the Lord for His answer in perfect clarity. It is an awesome God we serve.

It was a four state day today: Tennessee, Virgina, West Virgina, Pennsylvania. In the median between the interstate going north and south there was a carpet of wild red Iceland Poppies! Quite a sight. I love those flowers. And we didn't know the Bible Belt came up this far. First off, crosses. We've seen about four giant crosses. And on the radio you can find a sermon to listen to any time of day! And on the interstate today was a flashing sign with a warning of only one lane ahead and it also flashed "Christian Enlightenment." Whuh? Who put that in a state sign? The ACLU would be on it like white on rice.

The photo is the side of the road on the way to KOA.

Leaving Smokies

View from the walking path going to Clingman's Dome.

A faraway bear. I'm scared of bears. Do you see the butterfly?

We're leaving the Smoky Mountains tomorrow. It was okay. We spent two days in the park. Yesterday we went to Clingman's Dome, and today to Cademan's Cove which is the most popular spot in the park. Cademan's is a one lane, one way 11 mile loop and people drive slow. Going in we were all fresh but coming out we were headachy and tired and hungry. People are as bad as at Yellowstone - they stop and no one can get around them. That part was kind of miserable. The best sighting today was a pileated woodpecker. He was big. We saw two black bears (a mama and her teen), one deer crossing a cemetery, and some turkey birds.

I was a little disappointed with the buildings at Cademan's Cove. The churches are so well kept that they didn't look old. They had the windows replaced and the part between the panes was plastic so I know they're new and all three churches were freshly painted. I expected them to look old. The cabins and outbuildings, well, I couldn't photograph some of them without the walking path chain being in the photo or cars. That's not very authentic! Then at the other end of the park, yesterday, I took a bunch of photos of the landscape and when I downloaded them they looked like a bunch of regular ol' trees and hills. Hmmm. A little disappointed. I like trees. We need trees. I'm the first to holler, "Hooray it's Arbor Day!" (That might be a stretch.) But I guess you need a specially trained eye to catch a really good tree doing what trees do.

I'm glad we came so I can say we've been here. I think fall with the changing leaves would be spectacular, but it's so crowded. On Sunday the park was packed. I suspect all the eastern parks are more cramped than the National Parks west of the Mississippi because of the high population of the eastern states. It's a blanket statement, but generally.

It's 513 miles to Gettysburg.

Now for the lyrics to one of my favorite songs from fourth grade. We sang it at school.

On top of Old Smokey,
All covered with snow,
I lost my true lover,
For courting too slow.

For courting's a pleasure,
But parting is grief,
And a false-hearted lover,
Is worse than a thief.

A thief will just rob you,
And take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover,
Will lead you to your grave.

The grave will decay you,
And turn you to dust,
Not one boy in a hundred
A poor girl can trust.

They'll hug you and kiss you,
And tell you more lies,
Than crossties on a railroad,
Or stars in the sky.

So come ye young maidens,
And listen to me,
Never place your affection
In a green willow tree.

For the leaves they will wither,
The roots they will die,
And you'll be forsaken,
And never know why.

A day

Truck window drive by photography. A little old shack. I hope to see more.

There's the cutest basset hound puppy next door. His ears drag on the ground.

We made it to our destination at 4:00pm. It's like déjà vu all over again!

When we left the other day I did something I never do. I knew they gave no refunds here but I was so sad about leaving that I worked up the courage to go and ask if they might give me a night free at least. We paid for three nights and stayed for only one. I hoped that if I got anything at all that I could convince my husband to come back. A Christian family runs the campground and the sign out front says God Bless. I didn't expect I'd get anything because I'm one of those people who has a naturally guilty looking face. Ever since I was a kid I've had the kind of face that looks like I did it even if I didn't. Well, I went ahead and asked her and I saw the wheels in her mind a-turning as she sized me up. Then she said, okay. Wow! I was happy! This brand of campground puts it in black and white, No Refunds Ever. Thinking it over, I think it did not hurt that I was dressed modestly. I think the Holy Spirit whispered in her ear, She's being honest, give this sister a break.. Either that or the fear of having to get a possible colonoscopy showed on my face. Haha!

When we returned today she asked me how I was. She was so nice. And she asked if we homeschool and I said yes. I do wonder how people know or guess we homeschool. It happened just the other day too except the last person stated plainly, "You homeschool." The lady here told me she homeschooled her two children. The other lady was very pro-homeschool. The way she stated it I wasn't sure at first. So, do we look like fruits and nuts? Do I look like a granola mom?

There's gonna be church here at the outside pavilion tomorrow. I'm all freshened up and washed my hair tonight. Life. Is good!

Sweet

Our son gave me flowers today. Lil' punkin. I think they're chrysanthemums. Yellow. As he handed them to me his face was as bright as the mums.

I'm making some Pillsbury cinnamon orange rolls for us now. We haven't had any for a long time. Last time I made them was in our old trailer.

Oops. Back in Nashville.

I had to go to the doctor. Again. We drove five hours to come back. Turns out I have one of the most common side effects from using Clindamycin. Clindamycin kills off bacteria both good and bad, so my good bacteria, being wiped out, could not fight the bad bacteria and the bad bacteria took over my colon. It's a powerful antibiotic and should never have been prescribed to me for a bladder infection in April. It's not for bladder infections! No wonder it worked so slowly. I've lost all faith in urgent care. It seems like a good concept but twice I got doctors who were not knowledgeable. The physician I saw today said, "That's urgent care." I hope never to have to go urgent care again.

I have C. diff. It can be downright painful. I could feel a cramp thinking about coming on and it would take its time then wrench my abdomen. In addition, it is definitely gross. The physician gave me a prescription with a refill. He says I may likely need to take it for more than 10 days, so that's why the refill for another 10 days. He was a fantastic doctor. He's a Libertarian and very active in politics. My mom recommended him to me and I can't thank her enough. But since he knows my mom I think he figured I'm like her. My mom is very bright, talkative, curious, smart. Way. Smart. I'm educated too but I'm no mathematician. That gene skipped my generation. My mom is cerebral and has a depth of knowledge that I lack. So anyhoo, he started talking about things that I have no idea what he was saying. Man, I was doing my best to look intelligent. On the inside I was screaming, "Think of something to say! Think of something to say!" But alas, I came up with nothing. My mom is a trip. It makes me appreciate her.

Talked to my cousin on the phone tonight. It was like we never skipped a beat. It was like we haven't stopped talking for three years. It was kinda cool. I'm going to see her tomorrow afternoon.

The plan is to go back to Smoky Mountains on Saturday. Oh how I hope I will be well soon. The doctor said I won't get this C. diff again after I finish the meds and it is fine for me to travel. I was afraid I might get it over and over but he said no. He did say not to take any antibiotics for awhile after this.

We're here. We're somewhere!

Finally. We're in a new place ready for a new experience. It's the Great Smoky Mountains! We'll be driving in tomorrow morning early. It's free too. It's the only national park with no entrance fee. There's a story there but I have to go read it again.

So we got our site today and this evening we drove through Gatlinburg real quick which is right at the entrance of the park. It's an upscale, beautiful, tourist town. It's kind of like a Palm Springs of Tennessee - verrry nice. It has lots of eateries, quite a few pancake houses we noticed, Baskin Robbins, Ripley's Believe It or Not, a wax museum, t-shirt shops. We drove straight through and the road enters the national park and it was evening, not quite dark, but in the forest it was completely dark! So we quickly turned around. The forest is scary at night kind of the same way the ocean is scary at night.

We're looking forward to waking in the morn and seeing the Smokies in the early light. We saw mist! There's lots of mist exactly like I've read about. Wow.

Leaving Nashville

We're leaving Nashville tomorrow morning. Today we went to Opryland and walked around the atriums. It's huge. The convention center is there and the hotel and places to eat. We walked through the Delta Atrium and the Cascades Atrium. The flowers and foliage are impressive. We didn't see anyone working in the gardens but everything was perfect - the dirt was perfect, the flowers were perfect, the windows were clean. I didn't see a single dead plant! It's enclosed and I have no idea how they keep the glass roof so clear. The hallways are positively opulent. Imagine the hotel rooms!

I'm disappointed I missed church yesterday. We could have gone to Cowboy Church which I wanted to experience, or we could have gone to listen to Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Drats.

Remember, our satellite dish quit working. I will post again when we have a connection. I think there is one where we're going, but I'm not sure. We're going to Gatlinburg, TN. Hopefully, we will see the Great Smoky Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains will see us. Ciao!

I feel better

Woohoo! My mom has the same thing I have so that means it's not the clindamycin. It's a bug. A regular old everyday abdominal bug. Boy am I glad. Hopefully I won't have to go to a doctor.

I have new Playtex gloves. Ever since they came out with the pink I've bought nothing but pink. The other day my husband found a purple pair for me! Now I can't wait to get a hole in my pink ones so I can use my new purple ones! Happy is the woman who washes dishes in purple Playtex gloves.

Tonight I made chicken noodle soup and it turned out very well. Homemade chicken soup will cure what ails you. Yep, it do.

It rained much of last night and on and off through the day.

The campers across from us are in gigantic motor homes and they sit in a semi-circle outside their rig watching tv. They smoke and eat and ride an electric golf cart around the campground. Even the young girls in the family are overweight. (One is on her cell phone at the moment.) I think it's so sad. The new rigs all have tv for outside viewing. I woke at 6:00am to the yammering sound of their television and it has been on literally all day long. Well, I guess camping means different things to different people.

Dish went out

Terrible news. Either our modem or router or maybe even something else has gone out. Kaput. We're dependent upon campground Wi-fi now. Plus, now something else is wrong with me. If I'm not better by Tuesday I'll have to find a doc. I think it's from that stupid clindamycin they gave me in San Diego. I'm getting awful painful cramping. Why am I all fragile? How can I do a walking tour through D.C. when I'm like this? I can't. It's all bad.

Dishes and trees

A satellite dish and tree canopy is not a good match. We found a gorgeous state campground in Tennessee on Monday but we had to move. Our satellite dish won't work in the trees and lemme tell ya, they got alotta trees in Tennessee; big, tall, and bright green. There's so much green here I almost had to make this photo black and white.

The weather is lovely. The humidity hasn't set in so it's perfect weather.

The highlight of our week is that our wonderful dentist got us in with a week's notice and once we got here he got us all done in two days. They gave us the appointments that got canceled. They are so kind. This dentist is the best dentist for kids too. His shots don't hurt. He's remarkable. We had a dentist in California who touted himself a specialist in childrens dentistry but our dentist in Nashville puts him to shame. The one in California, we found to be condescending toward the children. I hate condescension toward youngsters. It's so insulting. We wondered if we were the only ones who noticed it.

Our son had three cavities and I had three and my husband had none. My mouth was numb all the way up to my nose and we went to Golden Corral for dinner. Have you heard of the Golden Corral? It's a restaurant with a gigantic buffet. There are all kinds of meats and veggies and desserts. I can't believe what a spread of food they have there. We've gone twice already. It's so good! Tonight was less than satisfying for me though because I thought I could chew okay but found I had to be real careful not to bite myself. I ate so carefully I gave myself a headache afterward. The best part of my meal was two dark chocolate cupcakes for dessert.

On the drive here we saw a lot of armadillos on the side of the road dead. I hear they're slow so they get hit a lot. I saw one whose body looked perfect but I think he was dead. It's really sad. They're so cute and such unique creatures. I don't take pictures of dead things.

We're on our way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday morn. My dear cousin decided to go out of town this week-end so I can't see her till Monday I guess.

Arkansas

We're definitely in the Bible belt. Definitely. If you're getting fuel and wanting to get some of God's Word, stop at the Flying J. Or take your pick, there are all kinds of sermons going on on the radio Sunday morning. Knock me over with a feather, this morning my husband said to get one of Pastor Mike's CDs and let's listen to him while we drive. Amen and amen!

I'm terribly sleepy. We have one more day of long driving. Tomorrow we'll hit Nashville. It's about 350 miles from here. We'll see my mom, my cousin, and the dentist. I haven't spoken to my dear cousin in some three years. I invited her to my blog once. She read a little and then I never heard from her. I wrote and asked what she thought about my cool blog and she said it was very entertaining but the Christian content turned her stomach. I was deeply hurt! I've since gotten over it and have wanted to call her many times. Now, I'm going to her house. That's better than a phone call, right? I hope so. If you see any fireworks that'll be me and my favorite cousin dukin' it out on her front porch! She can't stand hopped up conservative Christians of which I am one.

Oklahoma and maybe a life change

Taken through the windshield. Raindrop blur at bottom.

We didn't see a Welcome to Oklahoma sign. My husband said Oklahoma saved up its money for an awesome rest stop. This is the entrance. Purty nice signage!

We drove in some wind and some rain today. We were in rain three times. At least it wasn't all day so that's good. It's very green here.

We're staying at a small RV park next to the old Route 66. The I-40 has been right next to the old 66 for a long ways. The little lady who owns this place was sweet as can be. She doesn't take debit cards so we were collecting the cash between the three of us, $23.00, and for a minute we only had $22.00 and she said that would do. Awful sweet of her. We gave her the $23.00 though.

Tonight my husband said he had something to say. When he says this I stop and listen. I stopped washing dishes, took off my pink Playtex gloves, took my iPod thingies out of my ears, and looked at him. I know him by now. And tonight he said this might be our last year of travel and we might start thinking about getting a house. The king of our family has spoken! So I'm a little excited and a little blue, but he always makes wise decisions for us. He's always changed jobs at the right time, bought and sold the house at the right time, moved our money at the right time. In retrospect, all of his decisions for us have been sound. I wouldn't think to argue. Well, unless I had a good argument, and I don't. He said he thinks the low fuel prices are an anomaly and they won't last. I think he's right. This year we've been able to fuel up twice for the same amount one fill-up cost last year. He said Oklahoma has the lowest fuel prices. I never thought I'd see prices this low again in my lifetime! It sure is nice. I will appreciate this summer knowing it may the the last of its kind.

What I want is a view of the lake. Can we get what I want? Is it in the realm of possibility? What I want is small. My best wish would be 1000 square feet. Most things with views are very big, rather grand; multiple bedrooms, multiple bathrooms, and ginormous garages. But I want to continue a life lived small. Could I have a very small house with a very large window? Is my desire possible? Does it exist? Does it exist?

Lord, does it exist?

Tucumcari, NM

It was a nice drive today. We enjoy the desert scenery. We'll miss it. There was a wild wind here in the late afternoon, luckily after we were off the road. It was a warm wind and there were great, gray clouds, billowy white at the top, in the sky.

At dinner my husband asked us what was our favorite part of the day. Actually first he talked about the meaning of happily ever after. We talked about that for awhile and it led to our favorite part of today. His was how well the truck pulled the trailer. There was a long incline and the truck had no problems with the pull. Our son's favorite part was buying a decorative cedar box with a picture of horses on the lid from one of the truck stops. He had seen one like it at another Flying J store a month or so ago and coveted it ever since. He got money for his birthday and spent $20.00 of it on the box. It's smells so nice. I was surprised he spent so much on it. He really wanted it. My favorite part was when they went into McDonald's to get breakfast, and as I sat in the truck I observed the sparrows making a delicious morning meal of the insects on the front grill of the semi-truck next to us. I thought about sparrows in the Bible. It says God knows every hair on our heads, He forgets not a single sparrow, and He values us above the sparrow so we should not be afraid. I imagined myself a sparrow. I thought about how sparrows don't know about the Bible and how I wouldn't like to eat insects. Blech!

Tomorrow we're going through the panhandle of Texas and into Oklahoma. We're not looking forward to driving through Memphis in a couple days. Eeek.

My husband told me to go to bed. We need an early start tomorrow. Ciao!

Travel day

Tomorrow I'll be getting up at 8:00am. Hopefully we'll be on the road by 9:00am. I think we're driving to the other side of New Mexico - the east side.

Have a great Friday!

I got one done

Finally. One, entirely, complete leaf earring.

I'm teetering. I'm on the brink of insanity. I'm starting the second one now. Actually, it's a third one because the first one I made I need to tear apart because now it's not good enough to match this excellent one.

When the earring moves in the light, I think the beads glitter!

Uh

I can't get the sewing needle through the dried glue?

Tried glue

I made two more leaves tonight. Since the sewing on the first one looks so sloppy because I couldn't hold the tiny o-ring and two leaves together and see what I was doing at the same time, this time I dabbed a bit of glue between the two leaves and another dab on the o-ring. I'll let it dry overnight and tomorrow I'll sew them all together and the plan is that they won't constantly slip out of my fingers.

My husband says we can stay at Devils Tower in Wyoming for ten days. Hoooweee! I'm joyful. Prairie dog town here I come!

I washed and measured my hair today and it's 42.5. I hadn't updated my hair log for quite sometime. My ends are still straight across and lookin' pretty nice.

Well. It was a slow day.

Dentist

I need three appointments but I was only able to get one so far. We'll have our son go in first because our dentist in Nashville is just the best. Last filling our son got he didn't even feel the shot of Novocaine. That's a good dentist! Hopefully there will be some cancellations so husband and I can get in too. Our son will be getting braces later this year so he needs his teeth in a state of readiness.

My husband. He said my corner where I sit will turn into a rat's nest if I keep my current CDs in a pile here. He's got a nerve! I've gotta import them to my iPod. I'm unaware as to how papers, CDs, manila envelopes, drinking glasses, ear buds, pens and newspapers collect here but they're all things of interest and things I'm doing. I'm very active in this corner you know. If I put it all away I'll never get anything done.

My iPod froze up on me tonight. That was an hour wasted. One full hour of pure unadulterated stress. Finally I figured it out and it wasn't frozen at all. There's a minuscule micro slider button on the bottom. It's a lock that I must have inadvertently touched. All this time I had no idear there was a button there. Do the young, hip, technology people intentionally mess with us older people whose eyes are no longer sharp? I think they're stickin' it to me!

Three more sleeps and we start the traveling year. Good golly Miss Molly! Our plans have firmed up a bit and we're heading to Tennessee on our way to Pennsylvania (Gettysburg). We won't be spending a month in Wyoming. KOA Campground at Devils Tower, one of my absolute favorite places in the USA, has raised their fees. It will now cost us $1,290.00 to stay for one month. What? If I pay that much for a month's stay I better have a porcelain toilet instead of a plastic one and mints on my pillow at night. Needless to say, we may not stop there at all or if we do, only for a few days. I do love Wyoming. :(

I'm sleepy

I'm up too late again. I'm such a late bird.

Got my books from Amazon.com today and it looks like a truck ran over them. Why did Amazon send me my books like this? The covers are dirty, one is missing its placemarker ribbon and the other is crushed and ripped on the inside cover. Why would any human put those in a box and mail them to a customer?

A good day

[Myheart. Ourheart.]

I woke up. I had my favorite breakfast, coffee and toast. Got dressed in my new skirt and blouse, put my hair in a Chinese bun with my purple hairstick from Fox and we went to church. I, fully content with the fact that I got to tithe the amount from the date we left including every Sunday up to today. I had told my husband we didn't have to since we've been hemorrhaging money on account of me going to the doc's four times in six weeks. But I woke and there were the funds on my keyboard. It was the bestest Mother's
day present. I was surprised!

I fixed myself grilled cheese and Campbell's chicken soup for lunch and husband prepared gourmet macaroni and cheese with spinach for dinner. After dinner our son gave me a ginormous chocolate chip cookie and hand made card. During the evening he ate most of my cookie. Hehe! I could only eat a little bit. It was soft and delicious like I like it. Helen is so sweet to have made it with him for me.

The spinach in the microwave caused the A/C compressor to turn off again. Again it was like a hot box in here. Again we went for a drive. This was the most interesting part of the day. We drove to the far campground and found Speedy and Cheryl were there! Speedy is named Speedy because when he was 12 he was the fastest newspaper boy of any of the newspaper boys. He's not fast anymore and he has a bad cough. They pull their fiver with a semi. We visited for half hour then said good-bye. Cheryl talked to Reta just an hour before we got there. Reta's dear Jack died two years ago. No, it was three years ago. Where does the time go? She moved to Oregon and bought a condo but she's not happy. She's got the itchy feet but is hesitant to travel on her own. I wonder what she'll do.

On our way home two women were waving their arms and crying in the middle of the road. As we approached I hoped they didn't have a gun or anything. They didn't. I worry too much. Their car got stuck in the sand and Crazy Wayne was there. He was wearing a coat and underwear and a gray afro from the '60s and they were scared. A man before us had stopped to help them, but their cell wasn't working. We let them use ours. They asked if we'd drive them to town to get a tow and we said sure. So they jumped in and we drove. It was a mom and about a 15 year old daughter I'd guess. As we drove we saw a tow truck approaching. We all waved at him frantically (well we ladies did) and we both stopped on the road and talked through the windows. Apparently the man who first stopped to assist them contacted a tow company already! They thanked us, hopped out and got in the tow truck. They were pretty scared but they would be okay. They had two strong men to help them and they'd be out of the sand before dark set in. We got home and the inside of the trailie was comfy cool. I didn't have to do dishes because it was Mother's Day.

It was a good Mother's Day. Year: two thousand and nine. How many more will there be?

One good, one not

I found two sterling silver earring tops that look good with my leaves so I sewed the leaves together and sewed the o-rings on too. One earring turned out well and one not well. Give me a big tissue. Waaah. I can't tear it apart without complete ruination of the earring. I'll have to sew two more leaves and try again. I think I might put a dab of glue on them this time before I sew. They're very wiggly to hold, and the stitches are so tiny. I realize now it's gong to be hard to make the two earrings look similar. The two I have now are dissimilar. Can't wear them. This is why 99% of the Russian leaf earrings I've seen are singles. Ahhh yes, now I see the truth!

In other news, I've been meaning to do my toenails for three weeks. I've got to get that done tomorrow.

I'm organized

Last night I spent a couple hours cleaning out and organizing all my beading stuff. Our son helped me a lot. He took apart anklets and eyeglass leashes and earrings, unsuccessful beginnings, so I can keep the beads I don't want to part with. I found beads I forgot I had. I came across some Swarovski bicone beads in the bottom of one bag. I was completely refreshed but too tired to bead anything by the time I finished. Ha!

Saguaro

Catalina State Park, Arizona. May 2009
Nice park. Lots of saguaro. Nice trails. We only walked the one mile birding trail because of the heat but we thoroughly enjoyed it.



"Hey, hey, help! I'm all by myself out here!"

This park is unusual because literally across the street from the entrance there's a Wal-Mart, Petco, a shoe store, and two Walgreen's within three miles. Oh, and housing. Tons of housing everywhere. As we looked for the park we thought, Oh no, are we spending the night in the city in a state park? This is too weird.

But the park was lovely and we didn't hear traffic noise. Arizona is so lucky they staked out the area for a state park. It's eight square miles, north of Tucson (what, one foot from the city boundary?) has archaeological sites, and lots of bird life. The bird songs we heard were great!

The park was especially refreshing after Benson, Arizona, where we spent the night at an RV park. We called it the campground of the dead. It's one of those places that look perfect, not a pebble out of place, but look out. They won't come out and tell you forthright, but they're not child friendly. Example, my son and I went to use the jacuzzi one evening. No one was in the pool or the jacuzzi. No one was in sight anywhere in the whole park in fact. We were in for ten minutes when a man appeared and told us we had to get out. He said children under age 18 aren't allowed in the jacuzzi. I checked afterward and the sign said no children under 14 without parental supervision. He said sorry, but he wasn't sorry. They'd rather the amenities sit unused, than have a child use them. My husband was hot, as in not happy.

Our current plan is to leave here Friday morning and venture towards Gettysburg. My husband has wanted to see Gettysburg for years. There's an excellent historical novels called Killer Angels and if you want to get some history on the Civil War it's the book to read. It was so good!

Guess I'll do some beading now. I have to take a shower too. I better do that first because there are only two and this campground is full. I can't shower in the trailer because we only have water and electric hook-ups here. Have to conserve water. We'll have to button up and make a short trip to the dump station soon. That's a drag.

Well

Driving through southwestern New Mexico last week, side of the road looking out the truck window pic.

**************************************

Went to the doc today, an actual MD, and got a clean bill of health. Technically speaking, or rather, per se, I'm good to go. Nothing's broken the doctor said. Okay, I'll take that. My blood pressure is usually low but it was 132/86. That's the highest I've ever had in my life. I was Mrs. Anxious! I'm glad it's over.

I made another leaf tonight. Stopped at Hobby Lobby, it's Christian owned you know, and bought two earring tops but got them home and neither looks good with the leaves. Boo. I won't be able to wear them right away. Bummer.

The other night I expressed a desire to hear our pastor's sermons when I'm on the road and a friend from church brought me about 15 CDs today. Woohoo! It was sure nice of her. A bunch of them are about the book of Revelation which I know zip about so it oughta be superb listening.

My sister didn't write me tonight. She wrote today though. She didn't have a particularly good day I don't think. She's was happy about getting her nails done though. She gets tired from her job by the end of the week.

It was over 100 degrees today! Our A/C went off for a few minutes and we got hot. Had to go for a drive to cool down a bit. I wore a new blouse and a maxi denim skirt to my appointment today and they're really cute. Everyone is nice to me when I wear them. I wish I could wear them every day.

Progress

She did it! It was no small feat. A Russian leaf with veins. The veins are done with size 15 beads and I only have three colors of those so I lucked out that the silver actually complements the green and brown.

I plan to place the little one on top of the larger one, sew them together, sew an o-ring to the back, and add an earring top. Hope I can find a pretty one at Hobby Lobby tomorrow. None of the ones I have have the connector going the right way for me to connect to the o-ring.

I think the green leaf alone would look nice but the two together gives it an extra "ahhh." Now to start beading a match.

Evidently obsessed

I can't stop with the Russian leaves. I'm still unable to make one with veins. The one I finished (brown one) I am no longer satisfied with. The top didn't turn out nice enough. I simply cannot hang that from my ear and feel good about it. Back to the drawing board. It's pretty but too narrow to add veins in the center. The other one is the pitiful specimen I created in class. What I want to do, like the one I saw at the bead shop, is make two leaves and put one behind the other and sew them together to make one earring. The brown one is a nice shape for the back but I gotta learn enough peyote to get the veins added.

Ordered our curriculum for next school year. They do a sale once a year so I buy in May and it'll be online for me in September and they'll send us the books and consumables in September. I can't believe I'll be teaching 7th grade! Oh my gosh. I sure like teaching. I'd be a teacher if I could have a class of motivated students. In my dreams, I'd like to be an art teacher. Next year I'll be teaching Life Science (we're doing Earth Science this year), English (his favorite subject next to history), and the first of two years of World History (we're doing Civil War up to the modern era this year). Oh and math, but I don't teach math. When I had to start asking my husband for help in about second grade he said he thought he ought to take over. Heh. Good thing.

Our youngest son will be 12 this month and our eldest will be 31 this month.

Youngest made a friend exactly his age when we were in San Diego. He and his family moved to San Diego from Alaska. Said they got tired of not seeing the sun. I can believe that. They were from Eagle River not far from Anchorage. At first he told us he was from Anchorage and I said, man, that's the city all right. Then he said Eagle River and we said oh we've been through there. I'm sure it's just easier to say Anchorage because most people wouldn't know where Eagle River is. Our son and he were texting today. It's nice for him to have a new friend that he has so much in common with. I've ended two sentences with the word with. Am I okay tonight? It's not illegal to end a sentence with a preposition but you should find another way to express your idea because ending with a preposition is generally frowned upon.

Today we visited Tombstone, Arizona. It's so commercial. They want money for everything.

Tomorrow we're driving to New Mexico. I have to get up at 8:00am.

Guess what. I think I'm all well! I have no discomfort. As of tonight I feel safe to say it's all cleared up. I'm doing a happy dance! God is good. He's a little slow, but I guess to Him he's right on time. I prayed through it even when I wanted to lie there like a lump of misery. That's a change because in the olden days I'd just isolate myself. Shouldn't do that. You need to be part of the body, the body of Christ, and accept prayers and ask for them. And be thankful for them. I am. :)

Egret

The stately great egret (from San Diego). He's not a snowy egret because snowy egrets have yellow feet and are smaller birds. The great egret has black feet.

And he did some preening and had an itch to scratch.


I finished one Russian leaf today! It's pretty and it has potential.

I sense success

First a few photos from last week.

A beautiful pelican. It must be a male because he's so colorful.


An angelic face. As we left the beach area there was this one last seal lying on the rocks. She really responded to my sister. More people came over and took photos as the seal responded to my sister's voice.


And a baby.


I got a little over half of one Russian leaf done tonight. I'm excited. Perseverance!

I'm interested in using Skype or something for making calls on the internet and using the web cam. It's my sister's idea. My husband got a new laptop that has a web cam built in. It's quite fun and we're not even connected to anyone but ourselves yet. Haha! I need to make sure that video calls don't use too much bandwidth though since I only get so much per day.

The worst thing happened last week with my sister. We were talking to this girl, I'd guess a college student, Asian, who said she saw Arnold Schwarzenegger in person in La Jolla. As I walked up to my sister who's four years younger than I, the girl said, "Oh is this your mom?" Can I say how this has destroyed my ego? I already had a little ego (ego is different from vanity) and now I have no ego. Pffft. Gone, disappeared, annihilated. I was horrified. I covered my mouth and couldn't move a muscle from pure anguish. And the girl was horrified too. Then she tried to clean up and say she was going to say sister, but the damage was all done. My sister never even smiled and you'd think as a competitive sister she would have. But she didn't. And the girl couldn't apologize enough. I felt bad for her for half a second, but I've felt worse for me ever since. Sigh. In my defense, I didn't feel great, had been in bed the week before, I had my hair in a tight bun, and I have lots of grey hair and my sister has none. She keeps saying that if my hair was down the girl would never have said it. I don't care if my hair was up or down. I felt really bad.

My husband had a dream about me last night. He said men dressed in riot gear, holding both my arms, were escorting me out of a building. I hope it's not prophetic. I'm going on 50 and if I look like 70 someone's going to need riot gear before July 8th.

Beading

I took a class to learn how to make Russian leaves and I still can't make a Russian leaf. The one I made in class was pitiful. I got a little farther tonight but still get an F for fail. I'm going to try again tomorrow. They are so doggone pretty. I've just got to figure it out.

This is a baby squirrel getting the most nutritious meal a baby squirrel can get. Mother's milk develops the myelin that covers the nerves in the brain so this will be a healthy, smart squirrel. I know they're rodents but I like squirrels. And look at his little ear! It's a baby squirrel ear.

Leaving San Diego

This is La Jolla where the extremely wealthy folks live. We had a wonderful day here. The salt air smelled so good and the sound of the ocean waves and wind was music to my soul. When I was 23 I lived a few blocks from the beach and I used to jog three miles of coast, or sometimes I'd just sit in the sand and watch the waves in the evenings after work. Good memories.

See the little cove in the distance. That's were I wanted to go. Those are harbor seals lying about in the sand. When I was young it was a children's beach but sometime back the seals took it over and the people let them have it. I think that's nice. It's a treat to watch them although they don't do much but loll about in the sand and sleep.


See what I mean?


We'll be on the road at 9:00am tomorrow morn. We're off to see the saguaro cacti in Arizona on our way to New Mexico. I've wanted to stop and spend the night with the saguaro for a few years as we always pass them on the drive from New Mexico to California, but the campground has no sewer hook-up and we do like having full hook-ups generally. This year we're going to stop there and spend the night anyways. So spoiled are we. I did see the temp is supposed to be 94 degrees tomorrow so we may not stay a few days if it stays that hot. Saguaro cactus and joshua trees are fascinating. They look like a myriad of figures dotting the landscape, telling their stories. I imagine what each one has to say or what they say to each other.

In 15 minutes it's the first day of May! Happy May! May should be a good month.

Tonight I had one last fling with my sis. We went to Mimi's Cafe and had a dessert. My treat. I left the waitress a $10.00 tip because she was so good and so sweet. My sister can talk and talk she did. We must have been there two and a half hours. She didn't want to leave, I could tell. Finally I said, "Colleen, we can't stay here all night ya know." So we left. She said she admires how I exit and don't do messy good-byes. Hate the messy good-byes, eh? But I admit I teared up as she turned right and I turned left on the road home. I had to shake it off with the radio turned up loud.

She thinks I'll instantaneously be all well when we leave. We shall see.

I feel compelled to say sorry for not posting. If you clicked in all month, I'm sorry about that. Guess I fell off the horse. I don't usually, but hey, even monkeys fall out of trees. Perhaps some things are better left unblogged? I've had a case of the uglies and I hope that'll go away too for goodness sakes.

Oh I have to add - my husband went with me to see my dear old dad today. It was the best visit of all. Husband is my better half you know. Everything is better with him present. Even our son said, "Mamma, you were relaxed." What? Me, relax? Haha! With God all things are possible. My husband hadn't spoken to my pop for over five years.

Sweet, sweet May. Take me away. . . .

Hi!

It's a "Hi." and not a "Boing!" I've been not feeling well and am still not together enough to travel. I clicked to my blog and my pictures that seemed just okay to me before, are delicious to my eyes tonight. I want to be well. I want to feel GOOD and get on the road.

We've been in San Diego all month. Haven't done much but I've been to the doctor's three times since March 28.

Our son is going into arrears on his house this coming month and I'm heartbroken for it.

We found a church my husband likes and he's gone to church with us all month. Faith comes by hearing. The church is a Calvary Chapel and the congregation looks like it's stuck in the '70s. Perfect church for me. Heh.

We leave San Diego May 1. Going back to New Mexico for a wedding on the 9th and to make sure I'm well before we travel. I was thinking I might like to take photos of the bride preparing for the wedding. I'd like to take photos of her doing her make-up, putting on her dress, interacting with her bridesmaids and such. I told them I don't want to be the wedding photographer so they hired someone else. It was kind of them to think of me first though.

I don't know, but I might not update till May. I'm visiting family here. I am still crumbled up. I told my husband I'm using my mind and he said that's a scary thought. Haha! Maybe I'm better off miles away in New Mexico, eh?

My hair is doing well. That's something. Yes?

Love,

Liliana

Today's hike

Wild Cat Trail in not a maintained trail, so you have to keep your eyes peeled for the cairns. Gotta watch for venomous snakes and insects they say. We didn't see anything but a little old lizard. Didn't even see a bird fly by.

Found out Wild Cat Trail hike isn't free. It's cost us fifteen bucks. Why I oughta. Ya gotta pay to enter the area where the hike is. It's called the "fee area" and when you pass the gate you pay. Bummer, man! So we paid our $5.00 each and drove to the trail head.

This hike is 3.2 miles around the base of the monument called West Mitten, and in between the two Mittens. It was awesome. I mean, I am in awe walking up so close to the big rocks. I like rocks. See those two little pinpricks on the trail? Those are the guys who started right before us. Let's follow! We're going to walk the whole way around the Mitten shown on the right. Brochure says it starts out easy (that means downhill), becomes moderate (it's level part around the monument), then becomes strenuous (going downhill, naturally, means you have to go back up hill). Actually, the uphill part was slower going but not what I'd call strenuous. They were just being cautious in the brochure I think. Part of the way you walk through deep sand and that's good for the legs; harder walking, but good for the legs.


This is the other side of the Mitten.


We finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird. It was good! I think I did a good job reading because my husband was quite emotional and talkative at the end of the story. It was hard to read aloud. I found it to be the most difficult read-aloud I've done.

Also, I made reservations for the Tetons and Yellowstone, two weeks at each in July. Hope it turns out. Reservations and us usually don't get along. For some reason we have the hardest time sticking to reservations. They're hard to get for Yellowstone and the Tetons though, and you really cannot go without reservations and a big rig unless you're the bettin' kind. For Yellowstone I was lucky. I got one of the last two sites large enough for our trailer and truck. Whew! I almost cut it too close.

Tomorrow we're on the road to Arizona. This time we know where a McDonald's is for a nice cup of coffee. Well, Arizona is only about three minutes from here cause we're in Utah just across the state line, but we'll be driving about four hours to our next destination.

The road today

It was so cold it snowed a little bit today. And we got hail. We went for a drive to Kayenta about 20 miles away and came back to town - there was a dust storm! All this weather in one day. Now it's 11:00pm at night and it's 30 degrees. Oooooh, chillllly. I'm makin' chicken soup tomorrow.


There were only dust flurries at our campground and we were surprised the mesa got much more snow than we did. Look at it, will ya. Real snow!


And we passed this rock. It looks exactly like Shiprock, but smaller. I'm pretty sure, in the words of Wikipedia, it's the erosional remnant of the throat of a volcano. Looks like the Navajos have an old horse corral at the base of it.

There is only one hiking trail in this area that is free and if the weather will allow it, I sure hope we get to hike it before we go. Tomorrow's a homeschooling day but afterward we can do a little something. I absolutely must get back on track with my Bible reading. I haven't read it all week; not since we've been here. Eek.

Practicing

I'm getting my groove back! This evening I practiced catching the sunset with a couple Utah Junipers in the foreground. This one I took in RAW format which is a digital negative, and was pleased that it enabled me to bring out the colors so prettily. I am so waiting for the day when I can get a really awesome sunset.



One of the Mittens with deadwood. This stop is next to a place where Navajos were selling jewelry. A lot of the jewelry was very pretty. I was impressed and I'd have bought some if I thought I'd ever wear it. And the prices were very reasonable.



We drove the 17 mile loop and it was it bumpy! We never went faster than 15mph and it took us nearly three hours to go through it. We did stop a lot. This is a high contrast image. I am trying to learn High Dynamic Range imaging and this has the feel of an HDR image but it's not the real thing. It's turning out not to be so easy to learn. But, that is okay. I have time. :) An HDR image combines three images into a single photo: one standard exposed, one over exposed and one under exposed. This photo is just one .jpg though. I worked all last night trying to combine three images and ended up with zip, nothing, nada. Erf.

I'm all sandy. Even my hair is sandy!

Monument Valley

These are called East Mitten, West Mitten, and Merrick Butte and these hues are the exact colors our eyes saw!

We only went to the museum today and then out to dinner, early, at 4:00pm. I had an oxymoron for dinner. Jumbo shrimp with wild rice. It was quite good. It was so much that I have leftovers for tomorrow.

We did do lessons today. That reminds me, the other night our son crowed as he was reading in bed, "Woodrow Wilson is really interesting." Haha! I guess you have to homeschool to hear that one from your kid! I don't know a thing about Woodrow Wilson except he wore glasses.

We have full hook-ups this week and it feels like a luxury using as much water as I want. I'm in my husband's good graces because last week when we didn't have the sewer hook-up (not all campgrounds offer the sewer connection at each site) I discovered I can make our gray water tank last seven days instead of two and a half by washing the dishes in a large pot in the kitchen sink and dumping the water in our bathroom sink. Our trailer is unusual in that it has two gray water tanks instead of one. It's weird. One tank would be normal and so much easier. But the kitchen one is very small and the bathroom one is very large which is backwards because when you're roughing it you're going to shower at the campground showers and you're certainly not going to wash a load of laundry. You're gonna conserve your water as much as possible. Seems like the manufacturers decided to put in a huge tank in the back for the shower and clothes washer and a teeny one in the kitchen, consequently just washing dishes a few times completely fills the tank. We've never, ever filled the back tank up. Why didn't they just make one big tank for the kitchen and bath? We used to have to hook-up and pull the trailer all the way to the dump station to offload the gray water from the kitchen tank, or use the Blue Boy which is a plastic container that you put the dirty water in and you roll it to the dump station. It's not a pleasant job because the gray water stinks and it's hard to get under the slideouts to drain the gray tank for the kitchen (another mistake by the manufacturer). Anyhoo, short story made painfully long, my husband thinks I had a total brainstorm and is happy I saved him from using the smelly Blue Boy.

I accidentally ate a whole package of graham crackers and two Oreos with two glasses of milk at 9:45 pm. I don't know what overcame me. Alas, I was powerless as in, no will power.

Tip for photographing animals

I woke with a headache and various maladies so we're not going to drive the loop today. I think with it being as chilly as it is I'll end up all crickety and unhappy what with getting in and out of the truck dozens of times and getting frozen hands (I lost my fingerless gloves awhile back and haven't found a replacement).

Here's a pic from yesterday. I snapped everything handheld just to see how my camera and I would do. Here is a free tip.

Picture Takin' Tip and Trick

All critters run or fly away fast if they see a human approaching. There are exceptions, naturally. For instance, a black bear, a grizzly bear, a moose, or a mountain lion might come right toward you. I have no tip for dealing with that, except stay in the car in the first place!

For everything else that's cute, if you're in a vehicle and you spot a furry or feathered creature close by the road and you want a photo, if no cars are behind you, slow way, way down or even stop, but don't get out of the car. They're not afraid of cars and trucks! That's the tip. They're used to vehicles. What I do is roll down the window fast as I can and sit on the door if the animal is in front of us and snap best as I am able while my husband navigates. That's how I caught the horse above. But only people with good balance should try this. In all other cases, put your camera on Sports Mode (people will argue but it works for me), put all distractions out of your mind, concentrate fully on focusing and not shaking, and just shoot out your side window when you see animals on your side of the road. You might get a memorable shot.

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I've been practicing silhouettes. At the campground we winter at I didn't get a chance to drive out to any good silhouette locations so I got a lot of creosote bushes pretty much. Here, there's open range and so the animals can cross the road. It's a delight! The soil is so red here that in the afternoon if there are big clouds, we saw the bottom of the clouds reflect a light pinkish hue.

If this photo had an awesome sky I'd be satisfied.