End of year-2011.......thank goodness

the days are short enough now, the sun slips below the front porch roof, and shines down on me through the office window.  it's just for a moment and then it's gone back behind the clouds.   just like this past year. 
don't ask what that means, how the hell would i know.  it will just be good to see tomorrow night over and done. 

bartender.....fresh starts all around.

i know it's been awhile but i just haven't had much to say lately. 

i promise i'll do better next year.  









k3, doc, butch and i went down to big meadows campground on skyline drive in october at the height of leaf season.  it was a beautiful weekend, except for the 40mph winds.  oh, and k3 and doc in a tent.  butch and i put it up for them since they were going to have such a late, and dark arrival at the campgrounds.  neither of us had set up a tent in a while and with the wind that strong, i basically acted as a paperweight while butch ran around hammering stakes in the ground as fast as he could before the collapsed tent, with me in it, blew down the appalachian trail heading towards georgia.  thankfully, there are no photos of that little adventure, and eventually, we got it up and they managed to stay warm enough they didn't freeze during the night.



november flew by even with thanksgiving and the forced holidays of "first two days of deer season".  butch used his retirement present from k3 over the thanksgiving weekend and we drove to manasass for him to do a drive and ride experience at the old dominion speedway.  he had a ball.  when it came to the "ride" part of the day, he had to climb in on the passenger side of the car.  he didn't however tell his legs that he was going in on the wrong side and they were still climbing in the drivers side.  which, i guess, is how he ended up going in butt first and having his legs still sticking out the window.  and yes, i got it on film.

DUDE!  WHAT THE HELL??

UPDATE: I've made a mistake i never even knew...k3 called to let me know that butch's driving experience was not just from her but also k2 and doc. butch read the card, and i never saw it, just what was on the gift certificate, which was purchased by k3. when i asked butch about it, he acted like i was crazy for not knowing...."of course it came from the 3 of them" ....like my esp was just faulty and how would i not know that? so many thanks to all 3....k2, k3 and doc!

and then it was december.....

and, well, you know...

and then, a friend lost her fight.  it's been a really bad year for tough 'ole broads. 

butch is a good man. he tries to understand.
i know it will get better, and maybe a bit easier, and life does go on. 

just like the sun slipping back behind the clouds.

September

September is always the best month to vacation.  The weather is (almost) always great, the kids are back in school (so it's alot quiteter), and because of that the crowds are not as bad.  It's a great time to just go.....except for that hurricane thing.
September is always brutally busy for us.  Nothing like 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb bag...

Irene.  The bitch took out Rte 12 South, which meant we could not get to the island for our week on Hatteras.  Lucky, everyone there was safe and in the dark, but in good shape....if we could have reached them.  So we went to plan b.

Labor day means we haul our asses and the beach house to Atlanta.  As I've said before, there's nothing like driving a 36" motorhome through Hellanta in Labor day traffic.  Thank chemicals, I make it.
This year, we made it through the truck, and nationwide races, which were really good races.  Sunday rolls around and all the weather forcasts predicted massive amounts of rain starting around 5pm coming from a hurricaine that was coming up through the gulf. 
You know, the time the Lynard Skynard concert was about to start.  The weathermen were not wrong this time.  We never even walked up to the track.  When they eventually called the race, (to be run on tuesday) we had the motorhome packed up, jacks up, and rolling before most of the people even got close to their cars.  We made it up the road in good time considering we ran just on the rain line all the way.  We were somewhere in the hills of Virginia when my friend AS called.  He was keeping an eye on the house.  Apparently, we had had a squawl/mini tornado/wind sheer event that took out the big pine tree at the end of our drive.  As AS put it, "Do you know the 60 foot pine tree that used to be at the end of your driveway?  The one that was 45 feet away from butch's truck?"  um, yeah.  Not even our tree.  But somehow through the convoluted insurance system, we not only have to pay to get the truck fixed, but to add insult to injury, we have to pay for the freakin tree cleanup.  I can't even get into all the details of not being able to fix the truck, the damn old people who's tree it is was, and insurance companies, or my mind will melt out again.

The second weekend, we're at Richmond for the nascar race there.  It was a great weekend.  Big Dog and Sandy go to the fall race with us and we always have a ball.  Normally, we would head to Hatteras from Richmond, but we had to book a week later to get into Myrtle.
Silly me, after that I thought we had all the bad things behind us.

So we have plan b....
We went to Myrtle on monday of the 3rd week.  butch was not feeling spiffy on the way down.  he didn't get better and spent the better part of 2 days in bed....on vacation....and not in a good way!  i made it to the beach a couple of times in between the rain that was coming in from another hurricaine.  i started feeling bad on thursday, and i packed us up, and we came home 3 days early.  since then, he's had a round of antibiotics, i've had 2 rounds, and an ear infection (i still can't hear in one ear), we've cornered the market on puffs with aloe, and we're STILL not over it.
Which leads me to the race at dover on weekend #4.  with rain in the forcast (from the remains of a hurricaine-go figure) and both of us sick, butch yelled "uncle" and axed going there on saturday morning. 
much to my relief. 
So how was your September???

Seriously??

 Walmart parking lot (where else).  i made butch turn around and circle this so i could get a picture. 

um, really??

i'm so glad that they have this spelled out for me, cause i was thinking that maybe we could hire this for the trip to atlanta this weekend.  i'm sure that it is probably really tricked out on the inside, they just don't want to give it away from the outside.

AND, if you have that sporting of an rv, you just must have the trailer to go with it..."private use only-not for hire" taped to the it's side.  the truely funny part, they were obviously coming from the carlise corvette weekend, because on the back of the trailer it said "Corvette parts for sale".....um don't think they'd be too reliable!

I feel the earth..move..under my feet...

yeah, i know, entire east coast, not special here.  but still.......
my first nano-thought was that bucky, who is planted next to me in the cubicle farm, was messing with me.

working with the big cranes, and having r&d literally 20 feet away from the wall behind me, and also with a history of them running into the building......

my second nano-thought was SHIT!  they really hit hard this time!

the next actual thought was WTF?, the building is still shaking, why is this not stopping?

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!

we're under 100 miles from where they said the epi-center of the quake was, and the rumble just kept going, and going.  as about a kabillion people on the east coast experienced, the building shook, i mean SHOOK.  ceiling tiles rattled, crap on the walls fell,  it was wild.  when the floor finally stopped moving, everyone was standing looking at each other and had the dazed looks of east coasters whom had never been through an earthquake.  one of our tech writers is from california, and i called down to him---was that what i think it was?  and he said it sure was, but it was just a baby one.  spoken like a true californian.

k3 works in downtown b'more in the deutch bank building on the 18th floor.  she had a great view of the block when it caught on fire a couple of months ago.  however, evacuating the building at 100mph when your on the 18th floor is apparently not too fun.  she thinks she'll start to feel her legs again in a week or so.  see, heels are bad for you.  AND her man, bmr, the one who cares so much about her........ran.  if she'd been in his way, he'd have probably taken her out.  i'm not saying i'd have done differently, but, well, you know, i'd have at least acted like i was concerned for her.

EDITED to add-per bmr, he only went to the stair case to stand in the stairs until some big chick pushed him and screamed run, bmr, run!   um, yeah, okay-----LMAO!!!

40 lbs

this is what happens when 40 lbs of bird seed falls over into your river rock pathway and after all summer of no rain, the rains finally come and everything starts to turn green again. 

the statements made by the responsible party were....i was filling YOUR bird feeder......i had no idea that it would grow........so just spray it with the round-up.
i'm glad we put down that black fabric that is supposed to keep weeds from growing up through the rocks.

Flower

i thought it was a good idea at the time....
we keep the house and garage closed up during the hot of the day to try to keep it a bit cooler.  so last night when it started cooling down, i opened one of the garage doors, and the back people doors and turned on the ceiling fan on the covered patio.  there was a pretty good breeze and i thought why not open the back garage door a bit and let the wind blow through. 
yeah
about 9:30 or so i went out to close it, and as i came around the corner into that shed area i flipped on the light and walk towards the half opened door.  that was when i saw the black fur.  with the big white stripe down the middle and up the fluffy tail. 
i'd like to tell you  i reacted with all my normal calmness.
but we know that wasn't going to happen, you should know me better than that.
i think my screaming and running away really, really fast probably scared him more than he scared me and he never had time to stink.
so picutre if you will, butch relaxing, beer in hand, watching the nationwide race on tv, and i come racing in from the garage screaming.....SKUNK..............SKUNK...........SKUNK IN THE GARAGE!  ....SKUNK IN THE GARAGE!!!
you think he'd be used to it by now.
of course he thinks i'm crazy until he walks in there and cautiously (why take chances in case the crazy blonde is right) looks around to see the skunk on the other side of the mower. 
HA!  SEE?
at this point i'm looking through the window of the outside patio door.  way out of the line of fire (jumping up and down).  so butch backs out and comes around and says, just leave him alone, he'll go out on his own.
well, yeah, eventually!
an hour or so later he went out (with me trailing at a safe distance) and carefully looked around and of course, our little visitor had gone on his way.  we he looked around and under things with a flashlight to make sure we didn't lock the little sucker in the garage.
i think i'll make sure i put the doors down before it gets too dark from now on.  thankfully one of us didn't have to make a middle of the night run for tomato juice while the other stood nekid in the garage stinking.
and i think i pulled a leg muscle since i don't think i've moved that fast in a long time.

pirates in the castle....
skunks in the garage.

4th of july

this was butch's solution to me not letting him drag me and 2 chairs onto the roof to watch the fireworks....

it was after this that he remembered he had his own fireworks.  he'd had them in a closet for probably the last 4 years.  i really thought he'd forgotten about them, but no, he remembered.  all i can say is that the rain gauge will never truly hold water again, since being used as the holder for bottle rockets.  after watching him run around and try to find something better, against my better judgement, i suggested the bucket o'sand that we use for cigarette butts. according to him, it worked great, he could aim them.  which made me ask why several went over the house and in to the front yard?  i gave up the camera at this point cause i was worried enough to watch him without documenting the accident.

The Great Retirement Cook-Out



It's official-the cake says so!



Daren smoked pig.  B flew up from palm beach.  Connie fell out in wal-mart and wasn't allowed to fly.  R&V were on their last weekend leave from hope lodge.  k3, r&r plus lily made the drive.  butch bought a ton of beer, and i made 2 gallons of margaritas.  We were ready!!

We had a really beautiful day for a cook-out.  a bit warm, but not so you couldn't stand it.  We ate, drank and made merry.  someone kept moving my big girl sippie cup with the pink lid causing me to call amber alerts to find it.  Wanda found out k3's ron was a damn steeler fan too.  i'm not sure which one put a child up to rubbing the steelers huggie on me, but i'm betting they were both involved. 

butch was always on the move and happy to have everyone here, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, kids, dogs and even an appearance by cheba the cat.

1st shift showed up after noon.
2nd shift showed up just before dinner
1st shift left after dinner

3rd shift arrived just before dark

2nd shift left about the dark thirty
somewhere around midnight the margaritas ran out
3rd shift left at 3am
yeah, 3 o'freakin clock

we loved every minute of it!

 B-the beginning of the party pic

Mr Peach Fuzz and crew

Odie deDog, Jac and 2 Lilys

 Pulezzee gimme some cake

 3rd shift-just getting started (either that or they were trying to dance)

 trying to get a picture of the 3rd shift partiers is like herding cats!

this is b at the end of the party-

you know, where she loves everybody and has to sit on their lap!

Butch is DONE!

Yeppers, it finally happened.

butch officially retired on June 1.

i kinda thought it would be a good idea to have a party that he insisted NOT be a retirement party.
yeah, right.
so, since he retired, we've been running around and he hasn't even had time to think about that infamous honey-do list i've been working on.  in all fairness, alot of the running around covered items on that list anyway.

so the party was last saturday.........and into sunday.
i don't think the Mennonite women that lives down the side of our property probably appreciated it as much as we did.  oh, well!

i have to sort though the incriminating pictures that may have been taken, and post any that may not be too embarrassing.  more details to follow.
soon, i promise

Barrett Jackson Palm Beach!

The beginning of April we headed down to Brenda and Greg’s house for a visit with them, and one of butch’s bucket list items.  We went to the Barrett Jackson Auction in Palm Beach.  We had a great time with B&G and had a great visit with all the south Fla family.  We got to meet Madison, who was just celebrating her 1^st birthday, and help Aaron celebrate his with many rum and cokes!

Here are a few of the Barrett Jackson cars we I liked-

Look!  a Stud-E-baker truck!

I just love the little Austin Healy

Sweet little butt convertible Mustang



We spent most of the day Thursday, wandering through the tents checking out EVERY car they had. 

The auction room was much smaller than I imagined from watching it on TV.  There were very few seats, and the small number of bleachers they had around the perimeter of the place were taken well before the auction started each day.  Most of the time you had to stand in a throng of people, smushed in with people constantly trying to push by you.  It was annoying.

We got an unbelievable treat on Friday, G who is in the Lexus business, scored us sky box tickets!  That was definitely the way to watch the auction.  With the sky box tickets, we had a great view with seating, and they even fed you.  We spent the day up there in the high faluting areas.  Got to watch a dog named Dillon bid on 5 or 6 cars.  I realized that sometimes the auctioneer says banana, banana, banana, banana or montana, montana, montana, montana when he's filling in between bids.

butch in almost heaven!

Butch's favorite pics will be along when I can get him to sit down and pick out ONLY a half dozen or so!  

Tough Ole' Broads

Together again.

My heart breaks again.

Bing-Bing

you're free to move about the country!

sitting in the ramada inn bwi doing the park-sleep-fly
thing. why, if we're on holiday are we getting up at
the crack of ass o'clock in the morning.
well, flying out at 8:15am is way better than the
last time I booked the flight at 6:30am.
but the great part is having lunch with Brenda
tomorrow.

My Luck

I know the earthquake in Japan is a terrible terrible thing.
With everything that has happened recently, I hope I never have to experience that kind of tragedy.
HOWEVER, please see the photo to see a bit of my problems.

This is what I figured my recent luck would be.

The good news....when I got home tonight, the car dealer had left a message that my car was in and ready for pick up. 
PHEW

robins

looked out the kitchen window this morning and there were two robins be-bopping around the yard.
the snow is almost melted.  still piles (of snow) in the back yard and anywhere the sun don't shine.

deletion

i've deleted out the post i put up at thanksgiving.  in it, i said how lucky we were and that we didn't take that for granted.  since then, that bitch karma, has just continued to slap us in the face again and again.  so i take it all back.  i've deleted the post, and i didn't mean any of it.
karma you are the queen, i am just a lowly bitch, and you can stop now.

Family