Gal Pal fun again...

About 30 years later... I met another friend..

Lorraine.. I believe I wrote a story about

Lorraine before..  The Geronimo story.

How Lorraine, the King and I were down

at a local dock on the lake.  We, the King

and I were in the water... and Lorraine

came running down the dock and jumped

off the dock while yelling GERONIMO!!.

And crunch... what she didn't seem to

know is, that there was a cement boat

ramp, under where we were SITTING..

She thought we were standing... It was

known instantly, she had broke her leg.

We got her back over to the dock.. and

she scooted down the dock while the

King got our car closer to the dock on the

beach. The King wrapped her leg with

a hollowed out 2 foot log and an old

shirt we had.

Another man came along and he

help get her from the dock to the car.

I had laid a blanket on the seat, and

after they got her to the seat edge, I

was able to pull the blanket and her

into the car. And off to the hospital

we went.  8 weeks later she was up

walking again.

One time we were driving around and

we found a wonderful pile of wood.

It was obvious excess ..left over piece.

Some were 10 feet or 12 feet long,

some were round.   We found out

who was dumping it there.. And was

told yes, we could scavenge what we

wanted but.. they were going to set it

on fire in a couple of days. So for about

4 days, we would go by truck, some

times van she had, and piled as much

of the pieces we could get in each one.

There was tuck and groove pieces 8 feet

long, and 4 inches wide.  There was 2x4

10 feet long... some 12 feet long. Some

6 inches wide.. and some 4x4's. There

were log slices... about 4 inches thick.

about 2 feet around.

We were wishing we had 10 acres, so

we could go into the scavenger business.

We had a stack about 4 feet tall.. of lumber

and about 4 feet wide.. with a huge piles

of log slices.  She used the log slices for

stepping stones, and built a porch on the

back side of her house.  We had just

changed out our front big window...and

she used that for the porch and it became

a green house effect.  She also used the

lumber for repairing her front porch.

And larger pieces to raise up her shed.

She is the Red Green of Idaho..

We also went up to a place that the King

and I had found on a hunting trip, that

was shale rock.. We loaded up my truck

with that and ended up involving the

King in our second load, as they were

heavy... I would climb up as far as I

could go, and start slabs rolling down

the side of the hill.  I was like a mountain

goat, with surefootedness.. she wasn't

so steady, besides some of this was

after she had broke her leg.  She used

this to put around her pond in her

back yard. I kept a couple of them.

We have been up in the woods finding

fern, and moss... and huckleberries.

Huckleberries is like hunting mushrooms.

Once you find a great spot, you don't tell

ANYONE where they are... And sometimes

the forest dept. or the electric company

had mowed it out around their towers

in our favorite places.. So have had to

find a new place... One time we were up

where my gal pal had picked before.. Even

when she was a kid.. but the area had been

sold off in the 1980's so every time you went

around a corner or so... there was no trespassing

signs everywhere.  We found some of the state

land, but gates were it was private.. so we would

go up before the gate... one time one of the

owners came by with dogs in the pickup..

we thought we were going to be had. But we ducked

down under the bushes.. as they went slowly thru

the gate and up the hill.. 

One time we were walking back

to the car, and a very unusual soul stopped

to talk to us. He had a one ton with flat bed

truck, almost dragging a log. The end was

about 6 inches from the ground.  But he, himself

was flying high... He was an old hippy guy...

offering us a ride.. we said no, car is just down

the road.  Wanted to know why we were there,

huckleberry picking.. he then offered us his

place up the road.. but we thanked him for

his offer, and said no, especially when he took

out a tiny gun from his waist... and said for us

to watch out for the bears.. and he uses this.. as

he waved the gun around... we bide him good

bye quickly, and headed back to the car.. as

he continued down the road, singing to his

hearts content... of which we figured if there

were any bears around... he scared them off.

We haven't gotten into any trouble.. seem to

skirt that.. but have had lots of fun..

You know we are due an adventure.. maybe

this summer we can go scouting in the

woods again.

Tomorrow is her 67th birthday.. she is an

April fools kid.. maybe that is why we get along

so well.

Gal Pals of fun

As this time comes around.. it always has me

pondering about the past.. and now that I am

in my seventies.. a little pondering of the

future.. and how much is there..

Because life is alike  roll of toilet paper,

the closer you get to the end.. the fast it

fly by..

In the past I have had some fun gal pals..

BFF to the younger crowd..

When I was in my late 20, and early 30's it

was Cherie... Cherie, at the time was a single

mom with 4 kids.  And a neighbor.  I was

married and had a bunch of kids too.

When she was building a panty shelf area,

we did it what we referred to as the Roslyn

way.  I don't know where we got the wood.

But she was a little short of funds, so we

used old nails. Spending one afternoon

straightening out crooked nails.  After all

they were still good.. just needed to be straight.

We would roll them on the sidewalk and pound

until they were straighten out.  We actually started

out with screws for one of our projects.. By the

end of the day, our palm of our hand were raw.

Near the end of the panty shelve project, her boy

friend from Seattle saw what we were doing, and

he couldn't take it anymore.. So he bought us

a box of good nails...  He was a keeper and she

married him about a year later.

We also changed the water pump on her station

wagon. I had seen Marv do it enough times,  I

figured I could do this.. and we did.. Using the

proper cuss words, it went in pretty well and

we got it done, and with new hoses.

Then there is the  time, we were coming back from Ellensburg,

from shopping at second hand stores.  She had

got a few shirts for a previous boyfriend...and we

decided to deliver them..  We made it 3/4 of the way

up the hill. And it was winter time in Cle Elum.  As

we came around the corner, it was a little more of a

climb than we were dealing with.. and the truck stop

going forward and started to slide backwards.  I

turn the wheel so the rear tires caught the snow bank

on the side.  In those days we didn't have cell phones.

We had cb radio's (citizen band) so we call my house

and my husband's friend Wayne answered.  We told

him our predicament.. and asked if he could call

Skip (her boyfriend) whose house was about 1/4

mile up from where we were.  And have him

come down to help us.  Wayne said sure and

he would get back to us, after he got a hold

of Skip so we would know how much of a

wait we would have.

Wayne called us back in about 10 minutes

and told us that Skip was on his way, but

he is laughing so hard, it is hard to understand

him... Seems he call the number of what he thought

was Skip's house.. and said.. WILDCAT IS IN

YOUR DRIVE WAY.  Then a woman said WHAT?

It was at this time that Wayne figured out it wasn't

Skip....but didn't explain to the woman about WILD

CAT..  hung up.. Then got ahold of Skip.

So some poor woman somewhere, was worried

about the WILDCAT  on her road.  WILDCAT

was my cb name.  Also to add to all of this.. Cherie

had to go pee.. So she step out of the truck on the

snowbank side and proceed to drop her pants to

go pee... then she let out a howl.. Seems when

she relaxed enough to go, she found herself on

a standing up icicle. 

Yep.. Cherie was my Shirley. of our Laverne and

Shirley escapades.

Oh, yea, I forgot the Christmas tree episode... The first

Christmas that Cherie was in Roslyn, she wanted a tree,

for the kids.. I asked her how big.. Up to the ceiling she

said...  A couple days later, Wayne, Marv and the kids

and I were snowmobling... the kids and Marv were

cold, so they went in the house to get hot cocoa.. I

was explaining to Wayne about needing to get a tree

for Cherie.. He said no problem.....come one.. So

I got on the big snowmobile with him with a saw.

We went up in the hills about a mile.. found a great

one.. cut it down.. which took a little bit.  After tying

it up to the snowmobile.. we headed back home.

About half way there, the snowmobile started to

bog down.. So we got off and pulled everything

out of the snow.. and started again, but we walked

with the snowmobile until we got down to the

road.. and around the corner to Cherie's house.

I told her, we have a tree for her.. And it was a

full one like she wanted.  It took all of us adults

to get it inside the house.. she looks at me and

says, I think it is a little big.. lol.. We cut off

2 feet and it still scraped the ceiling..  I think

she lopped off some off the top.. But she had

her full Christmas tree..

tomorrow.. Gal Pal Lorraine. my Lucy

and Ethel partner in crime..

Another 4 years of driving...

Well, the good state of Idaho saw fit for me to drive

for another 4 years... and this time I have actually a

decent picture on my new temporary license.

They use to make up the plastic license right away,

but don't know what happen to that.  Because now

we get paper one, with our picture on it, that is good for

30 days, and the new one is suppose to show up

within that time limit.. Hopefully the post office

doesn't screw that up.. but that is a story for another

day.

A 4 year cost $30 and an 8 year cost $55.  I can

remember when an 8 year cost $25 or $28.  but

I guess that isn't too bad.. just a little over $7 a year.

See in Idaho when you are over 63 ...you no longer

can get an 8 year.  And because I didn't have any

tickets in the past 3 years, I didn't have to take

a driver's test. At least that is the rumor.

I seem to get a speeding ticket every 20 years.

Last one was about 4 years ago.  And the last

two (one in 1980 something) and 4 years ago

was add insult to injury, the King was around.

The one in 1980, I was along side the road

getting my ticket, when he drove by laughing

at me.. and the last one, he was with me.  And

I was driving because he wanted to gawk around

at the farmer's fields and etc..  I had a slight case

of road rage, as this guy would pass me.. and then

slow down to 20 mph in a 45 mph area.. so the

second time around, I fly around him and down

the road, into the arms of a state trooper, to the

cost of $80.  Much to the enjoyment of the King.

So I guess I should be grateful, that the good

state of Idaho entrusted me for 4 more years. 

Memory gone? No more space?

It seems like we remember a lot of stuff...

Childhood memories... education stuff..

People we meet years ago.

Important things.. like dates of places.

Unimportant things... like what kind

of candy was best when you were 5.

So when you get old.. over 60, say...

things are remembered the same..

or jarred your memory when you

see something or hear a song...or

gone all together...

Not dementia.. just gone.. and I guess

I kind of figured it out...  After all how

much can you cram in to a space of

1 foot square.

So if you are lucky, you remember the

important things.. like your social security

number, birth dates of your children.. your

anniversary, all the pass words and numbers

that are required in life.  Dr. appointments

and etc.  

But you can't remember what you ate for

breakfast this morning. Yet you can remember

some dumb ditty song from 40 years ago..

Mine is: IT'S ABOUT TIME...

ITS ABOUT SPACE,

IT IS ABOUT

THE HUMAN RACE... 

from a tv show called About Time..

with Imogene Coca, and Joe E. Ross

No wonder I don't have any more space for memory..

Day late and a dollar short...

Yesterday was National Puppy Day....

I did not know that...

I did not know that it even existed.

But better late than not at all...

Here are my grand puppies....

Well, they aren't quite puppies anymore.

Mr. Chili the chihuahua is about 8.

Don't know how old Tiki is..but pretty close

to the same..

And Miss Holley the pug.. is about 2 I think.

They came to visit this past weekend with

their staff.  And very well behave they are.

And they were very polite with Misty. 

As you can see they aren't so happy about being

captured all on one lap. 

IT WAS A GREAT WEEKEND...

AS THEY SAY.. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. 

 Our son came up and helped the Ken get back on track  with his 47 Ford pick up

had to do some cutting to get the box in the right place

Already to go... and now where to go.. we were trying out the seats to see if they were going to fit right.. if you think we are grinning now. wait until the front is done and the engine is running..

Thanks, Gil and Terra...you are fabulous, don't know how we could have done it without you... And the great time Terra and I had together while the guys worked.. .

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US?

We have trains that go thru and around our town and

county. It is just part of life... As it is, they have

removed several tracks and reroute around the

town near me.

But even so, there are people who are complaining

about the noise of the horn as it goes thru the

intersections of the town and near the town. They

say they have lights and some have gates, so no

horn is needed.   Only trouble with all of this is..

we have had several deaths on the train tracks.

Where people just were not paying attention.

We lost two young ladies within weeks of each

other.  Why they decided to come across the

tracks at the time, when the train was coming..

I don't know.. Mostly likely never will.  But as

long as people make mistakes... they have to

take every precaution they can.. so with the

lights and the gates...is horns.

I have lived across the street from train tracks

several times.. It doesn't take long before you

don't even notice them. And where I live now

is about 3 blocks from the trains.. and find even

in the evening... the lonesome call of the horns,

a nice sound..

We have coal trains that have gone thru this town

forever.  But now there are people who are protesting

them.. commenting about the dust from the trains.

As one who has had to wait for the train to go by,

I never noticed any coal dust coming off of it..

But protest they do..

But one man whose words that caught my eye,

in his letter to the editor... WHAT HAVE THE

TRAINS DONE FOR US?  NOT A DAMN THING.

NOTHING.   I had to shake my head.. because if

for some reason the trains were to stop.. He would

find out in short order what the trains do for us.

Food, cars, lumber, you name it.. it is transported

by train....... as well as people..  Maybe we should

ask him... what have you done for us, mister? Not

a damn thing... you can bet.. 

More gadgets...

I ordered another gadget and it arrived today..

This one is a honestech...VHS to DVD 5.0.

I got it at noon when I went to get the mail.. I couldn't

get it out of the package soon enough.. read ...well, as

well as I read things... I have the man's mindset when

it comes to directions.. Read enough to be dangerous.

After all, how hard can it be, right?  Considering it all,

it wasn't too bad.  One thing, it was a lot smaller than I

thought it was going to be.  Only the size of half of a

pack for cigarettes and half as thick.... but this little

thing does great.

I got it all hooked up.. then put in the disc to the computer,

and went thru all the click here, and there and back there.

Then I thought .. which one do I want to use first.

Had to use the VHS in the bedroom, as the one in the living

room has taken to eating my tapes.  After about 3 tries.. it worked.Found out it has to be hooked to the back of the player and not the front.. don't know why.. but it worked.

Half an hour later it has recorded the whole movie... then went to the burn part.. download it somewhere.. and then said did I want to burn it to dvd... well, yes.. duh..  It did a great job...I tested it in my dvd player.. then it said do you want to burn another.. that took 3 tries and by accident I hit the right button.

It burn another one in 10 minutes..

Oh, this find as kind.. ... well, not quite.. as I screwed up some how and had to do one from scratch again... but the rest did go thru after trial and error.. and now I have 9 copies of this one movie... taken 20 years ago..  now testing them today, get video wrapper to mail them out.. THIS IS GREAT!!

Now got to figure out what ones are worthy to put to dvd.

Sure beats the $60 some odd dollars that it cost me last

year to have it professionally done.

My daughter is in the process of getting 8mm turn into

copies on dvd's as well.. and the lesson we learn there?

Do it asap.. those are up to 50 years old and they are

starting to fade... So if you have some old ones in a box

in the closet.. maybe you should get them out and get

them copied to dvd.. before you lose them. . 

Where have all the good candidates gone?

To the tune of Where did all the flowers go... Where have

all the good candidates gone, long time passing?  

Because all we have is reruns.. Clinton, Bush.. isn't there

anyone out there who would be the man or woman of the people for the people? 

But then again.. I can kind of understand... After all what person of good common sense, want to run for President?  Because all kinds of information will come out of the wood work.. Doesn't have to be true.. it can have a bit of truth with a good spin and your life, your spouse's life, your children's lives have been exposed to bullying and any thing that can be used.  What person wants that.. who wants to sign up for that?  Not me.

People are grand slamming Clinton right now because they

are scared of her. But why not use stuff that is important...

as I said before.. the woman has steam trunks loads of stuff.

Is it because they don't have any one to run against her that

would be good for the country?

And Bush, Jeb that is.. nice guy.. but another rerun family.

Probably a nice guy to have for a friend.. but President?

We had enough with the last two.... heard even his mother

said something similar.  

Isn't there anyone fresh out there.... or are we scared of

fresh, after Obama bombed out on us.. The hope we had when we voted for a change.. dashed... the promises we had hope for.. even though we knew there was no way he could pull it off.

The transparent of the government.....the line by line vote on

laws and policies for Congress to pass... instead of the

piggybacks that we have had and still have for years. No

more lobbyist?  

He did keep his word for health care for all.. he did keep

his word for fairer rules for gays, he did keep his word to

find the job market after Bush just about killed it.. People

just don't like how he did it, but they didn't have a better

plan going.

I understand why he bypassed Congress many times.. I don't

like it..but I understand.  We have had Presidents in the past

who did not get along with Congress, but not with as much

hatred as he gets.   And the foreign country policies.. who

can keep up with the constant changing? Where were his

experts for foreign polices? Clinton, Kerry.. not.. Clinton,

really didn't have a chance, after all .. all the countries

rearing their ugly heads.. had no respect for a woman,

no matter who she was.

So what is in store for our next President? No one is going

to like him or her.  The country is noted for not liking their

President. Not even John Kennedy.. or even Roosevelt.  Both who everyone thinks were the greatest Presidents. Now.. but hated when they were in office.

Who wants to sign up for that duty?  Surely not a good, honest, common sense person.. with the slanted politics of today, with who can buy the best President that money can buy. 

Leave MY COUNTRY alone....

There was a sign going around in the 1970's

IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT HERE, LEAVE..

It was due to people trying to change America.

It is a continuing fight.. 10 Commandments

on Federal or State land...is the biggest one.

There are statues around our country, that

are way up in the hills.. and they want them

pulled down..

Get rid of all things on Federal and State

lands or property that pertain to God.

And this still goes on to this day..

What those fools don't understand.. if we got

rid of everything on Federal property that had

anything to do with God.. we would have to

blow up Washington, D.C.  They have no idea

how many buildings have biblical references

on those building somewhere.  Even on top

of Washington Monument.   And then there

is our money of course. 

So if anything religious bothers you.. don't

look at it..

I don't know who I am more upset with...

the people who bring lawsuits to get rid

of the statues and etc... or the people who

allow them to do so... and change things. 

Here we go again....

We all know that election year running starts sooner each time we have a Presidential one. There have been a few who threw in their hats into the ring, only to run in and take it back out...Romney for one.

There are a few who let rumors run wild, Cruz, and the

Louisiana governor to see if they will fly.. 

And of course, the continue saga of Hillary Clinton.

Now I am not a Clinton fan.. Her husband was not as bad

as the Bush group.. that is when he could keep his pants on.

But there is just something about Hillary, I can't get behind her.

But never the less, there she is, out there with speeches,

testing the waters so to speak before she actually says..

yes, I am running.

She has so much baggage with her.. heck it isn't

luggage, it is steamer trunks... but she has the

Republicans running scared.  You would think with

all the luggage she is carrying, they wouldn't have

to come up with much mud to throw at her, to see

if it would stick. 

So we have the much ado about nothing, email caper.

They are raising cain because she used personal

email instead of government email for doing government

business when she was Sec. of  State.

Well, when you think about how the government gets

hacked from time to time.. and personal not quite so

much... that would be a good thing. Myself.. I would

have been more bent, if she used government email

for personal..  But she turn it all over to the government.

They had changed over to government email right

around the time she got in office.. Then the truth comes

out, the government has the same problem you and I

do.. their computers crash and they lose everything on

it, emails included.. In fact they said, that since they

started it.. that there were over a billion emails done,

and they only had 61,000 in their files.  Plus they

said.. everyone she contacted that worked for the

government, would have had copies of her email

from her as well as their own answers, because

theirs were saved... kind of..   Like I said ..

much ado about nothing.

Going to be a hell of a long election run... I think I will

do like I do with the Voice and American Idol.. wait

until they narrow it down to the finally 3, next June

and then get research on those.. No sense looking into any

candidate that doesn't make it that far. Waste of time.

And then there is always my other option...

NONE OF ABOVE ..vote selection. 

Some days, pictures do better than words...

Rokon enjoying the sun

 Misty too

 some plants peeking up...

 yard art going out..

 Even the neighbor dogs enjoying the sun

 got to clean out this shed and find the rest of the yard art..

and finally ....out go my wind chime... that has been in the house all winter..

Living in the Present and researching the Past....

The last month has been full of research of the Past.

Still looking thru old pictures of relatives.. and passing

them on.. 

And then my daughter found someone who could take

8mm movies and put them on video for a reasonable

price.. Now we are making copies for family members.

This one hits a little closer to home.. meaning my

generation and my children..  blips like 8mm is..

from time of the 60's to the 70's .. as my children

were small children.. Some of these movies are almost

50 years old.  As the oldest is moving up on 55 this year

and she is 5 in some of the shots..  There is my folks

farm..

And what would be a surprise to my readers...is the

pictures of my husband and my business of the 1970's.

Smashing cars for scrap iron.  There is where we use to

burn them (before EPA) as it clean out the copper under

the dashboard. Burnt off all the coating on the wire.. So

you can reach up and pull it all out.  Also it weaken the

iron in the car, making it easier to smash.  Then we

would transport it to Seattle for the crushers, to send to

Japan at that time.. for the mere $12 a ton.. and that was

good money, as we did get $8 a ton for a while.  My

deceased husband who was doing this.. would have

a heart attack if he could see what the prices were

4 or 5 years ago, when it was going to Turkey and

they were paying $400 a ton..

Anyway, watching the video is kind of like watching

your life past before your eyes... And we have more

to come.. As one of my son's had the 8mm I gave

him and the ones his dad had... So that will be a

wonderful sight to see too..

One thing we did learn.. it is good we did it now..

as a lot of the pictures were lost to faded pictures.

There is a lot of good stuff... so well worth the

viewing.. but makes us realize.. if we don't get all

of them on dvd's, they can be lost forever.