Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Walkie Talkie Thoughts by a friend…

My friend Sal wrote this and I like it so much I got permission from him to share it with you.  I wish I had written it!

1076571_100003511893398_564700952_qSAL
WALKIE TALKIE
This is not a story about hand held radios. It is a story of an observation I've made over the past four days. I have been...
working turn two at Laguna Seca for a five day motorcycle event. Each day after lunch I've notice two woman walking briskly around the lake bed area. The entire time they are involved in rapid conversation. At one point in their chosen course they pass close enough to turn two for me to hear them but not really understand what they are saying.
This got me to wondering as I have many times in the past. Where do people find so much to talk about?


These two women were either good old friends with a lot of catching up to do. Or co-workers gossiping about co-workers. Whatever the subject they seemed to enjoy sharing their thoughts with each other.

Note from me:  I don’t think I could EVER talk that long!
It's about a mile around the lake bed area and they do about eight laps. Imagine walking eight miles and talking the whole time.

Note from me:  I particularly can relate to this next paragraph, especially about those with a gift for gab that GET has!
Those of you who know me know I am not much of a talker. This doesn't mean there is nothing going on in my head. On the contrary there is a lot, maybe too much to consolidate into a sentence. When I was a child my family would always ask,"How come you don't talk?" And my father would reply "Oh he's just shy." This was not the case. I was and continue to be an observer of mankind. Also I have learned that if I open my mouth I only create a larger space to insert my foot. So I choose to keep my mouth closed before the sarcasm comes flowing out. Which it usually does. And I have learned that not everyone is a fan of sarcasm. But I envy those who are blessed with the gift of gab. It creates good public relations and can get you far in life.

Note from me:  Sal has this picture of him posted on Facebook.  Sarcastic expression at this age?

1455124_407235292736864_513415546_n SAL baby

So tomorrow when I see those two women walking an talking, I will smile to myself and think, they must be good friends who haven't driven each other crazy. Yet.

Note from me: This has nothing to do with the thoughts Sal shared here but all of us that know him love to see photos of him during his younger years!  A hippie at Disneyland?  Sure appears so!

941491_404062416387485_1331085519_n SAL hippie

Note from me:  I guess even very good friends drive each other crazy sometimes but its almost always a temporary crazy!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Pinterest, I love it BUT. . .

I just spent the last hour (or so) browsing, “liking” and Pinning on Pinterest.  I love Pinterest but what is the point? I have a bunch of Boards and lots of items pinned on them.   I “follow” 44 other Pinners and have 29 who follow Me, most of whom I don’t personally know.

DSCN9391

Why do I need to collect pictures of “All kinds of critters?”

DSCN9392

I know why I started this Board.  GET and I used to follow “love is…” in the newspaper because we related to this little loving couple.

DSCN9393

I love to read, love libraries and search out Carnegie Libraries as we travel the country.  Other than really liking the libraries I’ve posted I’m not sure why I spend time collecting and posting them on Pinterest!

DSCN9394

I’ve always saved quotes and “words to live by” in a little book.  Now I post my favorites on a board.  DSCN9395

The main board on Pinterest.  All kinds of intriguing pictures and subjects to browse through and “Pin It” to my boards!

DSCN9396

I do enjoy it and will continue to Pinterest even though I don’t know why!  Come see me on Travelerlady if you also like to spend time doing something of dubious value!  Who needs a reason!

Not Me. . .Happy Pinning!

Sunday, November 03, 2013

We go on the road…the good, the bad and the ugly!

We hadn’t been on the road with our fifth wheel for awhile and were happy to be out curing a serious case of “itchy-hitch.” (As in we are itching to get on the road.) As we hooked the Escalade up to the truck I had a flash of foreboding but brushed it aside.

Our trip down the coast was uneventful.  Found a spot at one of our favorites along the coast, Rincon Beach in Ventura County and had a nice evening enjoying the ocean and a glass of wine with my sister.

The next day got a WHOLE lot more interesting.  Our name wasn’t on the list when we pulled up to the guard shack at Coronado Naval Station to check in for Fleet Week Coronado Speed Festival.  DSCN9243

When the young Shore Patrol sailor at the gate directed us toward a small-ish parking lot to wait for clearance GET told her he didn’t think our long rig would make it. “Oh, it’s ok for you to drive over the curb.” she told him.  So, following orders we started to pull into the parking lot only to hear sirens and bells and alarms go off!  At least four security vehicles arrived within seconds and a huge steel gate rose from the ground effectively closing the Base down!

IMG_1135

The back of our fifth wheel had “brushed” against the concrete barrier at the guard shack! No damage to the concrete barrier but our home was definitely dinged up! No matter, the Shore Patrol security personnel took both of our driver’s licenses, our insurance, registration, asked where we each were born and asked GET if he had ever been in the military. (yes sir-he proudly served six years in the USAF.)  We were surprised that they didn’t request Dulee’s adoption papers! They didn’t throw us in the Brig and we were finally cleared to enter the Base.

GET thought that this was just a little repair job until we got the estimate from the RV repair shop: $3,000!  Thank goodness for insurance!IMG_1134

After the incident we got settled in our fifth wheel’s designated spot on the Base runway.DSCN9250

View from my window (because of my hip replacement I wasn’t able to be a Course Marshal for the event):  a racetrack, a cruise ship and a Navy helicopter.  Pretty cool, I thought.DSCN9262

GET doesn’t often do Course Marshaling.  Here he is in his whites setting up at Turn 7 on the racetrack.DSCN9271

More from my window: Vintage muscle cars (my favorite) gridded up to race. WAY back I owned a ‘65 Mustang similar to #222.DSCN9284

I liked the design of this helmet.DSCN9289

After good, bad, and ugly at Coronado Fleet Week we continued on to a new location for us: Jalama Beach. A bit more “ugly” at Jalama Beach where we were assigned a site which we could not get our rig into. . .of course the sun set to darkness as we were trying to figure out where to park. . .and, of course the Ranger Station had closed for the night so we winged it and parked in a less-than-desirable vacant spot for the night.  Next day it was all worked out with the Ranger and we were set for the next few days in a site with a perfect view of the Pacific.  Pretty close to paradise!

Jalama Beach Store advertises “world famous Jalama burgers.”  One of our friends noted that GET is checking out other good buns in this photo!!! Nah, couldn’t be, but it sure appears that way!

DSCN9311

The burgers were GREAT just as they said.DSCN9314

Fabulous Pacific Ocean sunsets.DSCN9321

Working our way up the coast, our next stop was Morro Bay.  Our home with a view of Morro Rock which is part of a chain of nine extinct volcano peaks called the Nine Sisters.  Morro Bay has been one of our favorite destinations for years.  I always visit The Garden Gallery store and add to my succulents collection.DSCN9358

Found these cute earrings at Poppy. DSCN9386

This guy was obviously on the lookout for fish waste and most likely trash too!  We didn’t give him a chance to get near our Dungeness crabs.DSCN9364

We ended this adventure at Camping World where we had this HD satellite dish installed on our home.68944n

My initial sense of foreboding really hit me just as we were finishing at Camping World and I learned that my sister is terminally ill.  Much too hard right to write about now…maybe never.

Life really does have the “good, the bad and the ugly” doesn’t it?