Redneck Tube Top

Saw this and thought I would share...

Mayflower Strikes Again

Mayflower would be the last company I would use to move my family, but sometimes you have no choice when the company picks them for your move. We have moved many times and Mayflower was the worst. We used them to move from Tn to San Antonio and they 'lost' half of our stuff. Well, Jason and Andrea had to use them to move to Savannah and it looks like another 'capable' Mayflower truck driver was behind the wheel. This happened one block from Jason's house after they got through loading the truck up...The neighbor had just put up his retaining wall....eeeek....

Jason's New Car

Jason traded his truck for a Shelby GT Mustang...I told him it can't say 'grandma'...

Off To A Great Week...

Yep a wonderful first night for Gary being back in Chicago for testing of some system for the Boeing 787. He was at the Japanese Steak House next door to his hotel, the Hyatt, when I called him to make sure he knew all hell was about to break loose. He got to his room and took this pic as he was going into the building. 80 mph wind hit and he couldn't even see the weather warnings, because the satellite was ripped off from the top of the building. We stayed on the phone, while I switched back and forth on the weather channel and a local Chicago station we get, to keep him informed where the tornadoes were touching down.

We got nothing here. Suppose to have possible tstorms tonight but who knows, but 83 outside today. We never hit the 90 degrees they promised yesterday. It only got up to 82 but the humidity was 56 so I managed to work up a sweat mopping the floor. When I got up this morning it was 57 degrees, so I kept the doors and windows open till about 2pm. Got my electric bill today for July...129 dollars and gas bill 30 dollars. Electric was up about 10 bucks and gas bill runs around 20 in summer for the hot water heater is gas, but the local news explained the bills were up due to energy costs...yeah right...

Speaking of energy costs....u--rek---a...Gas Sunday was at 3.75..omg...from 4.45 to this wow...Obama and McCain have both showed their faces here in the last few weeks...why I ask...it's not like there is anyone left here to vote. The house beside me and the house on one side of me are empty...left...abandoned...like over one third of Grand Rapids is in foreclosure...our state unemployment rate is at 8 percent...for every household moving in 5 are moving out. I went to the grocery store Monday morning only to find the shelves sparse with gaping holes or product expanded on the shelf to make it not look empty. The meat department was missing meat cuts...things I buy...and what they had was "extended" on the shelf...cheap cuts. Lots of chicken tho..I hate chicken! I knew things were bad, because of all the news I watch but I don't leave the house often to see it for real, but it was apparent the neighborhood Family Fare grocery store was having a hard time.

Today, I talked to Jessica and she is doing good sounds like. My day has been dull...getting ready to start on another book, just can't make up my mine which one to start on..an epic, a auto biography, comedy or murder mystery...where do I want to go for a couple of days?? Yes go...books take me out of these four walls. I am filling out a volunteer sheet for the new Hospital near us to see if I can get something to get me out of this house...but they want references--the reason I don't apply for a job of some sort--...someone I am not kin to...????...I know no one...oh well I will try it anyway and see if I can find something to do...wish I could sit and rock and feed babies...ha....but I will do what ever just to see other people. I just can't lift heavy things (over 20 pounds) and stand more than 15 minutes but I can push wheelchairs or direct people or clean up after people---I have had 34 years practice at that...oh well I will see...

Take care and I will blog again...

The Weekend

We decided to strike out Saturday toward Northern Michigan and try and find the Coast Guard festival. We left out at 10:15 and drove toward Muskegon...turned out after some driving around there that the festival was at Grand Haven...half way between Holland and Muskegon on The Lake. Well about the time we got to outside Grand Haven it became apparent to us that everybody on this side of Michigan had the same idea. It was the last day so we thought maybe the crowds would be done with...not....So we decided well since everyone is here we will go to the beach in Holland, so we drove on down state road 31 and found a nice fruit stand before we got to Holland. We bought fresh tomatoes, plums, blueberries (I am making a cobbler out of those), great juicy peaches, and a watermelon. Can't wait till the fresh asparagus hits the stands...we have the best asparagus/cranberry/blueberries/raspberries around.

Well we got to the beach and guess what...it was crawling in people...we couldn't even park within a mile of the beach...so we drove home...5 hrs in the car and the highlight was buying some fruit/veggies...oh well I got out of the house for awhile so that was good for me.

So, after coming home and taking a nap we went to the theater to see The Dark Knight...Batman...pretty intense!!..scared the crap out of me 3 times..I jumped out of my chair...geez...but it was a great acting job by Heath Ledger...for comic appeal he used a distorted voice version of Lewis Black, the comic and his mannerisms. There was one 'speech' in it that he makes that I know was taken from a book I read called 'My Life Amongst Serial Killers'...his speech was almost word for word about the act of killing....arrrrgh...This movie should have been rated R...too intense and warpped for kids of any age...

Today we bought a new deck cover...the first one I bought this year was cheap and a 60mph storm came along and broke parts of it so Jason taped it then Gary "mamao rigged" it. Well a week later 80mph winds in a sudden storm finished it off. So I got up this morning and wanted a new cover now that our 90 degree weather is coming...tomorrow is suppose to be our 3rd day of 90 degrees...82 right now, 40 percent humidity. The sun comes in that back door and heats up the house and one of those covers make it cooler inside and I don't have to turn on air till about 2 or so, and less heat on my plants on the deck. The dogs like to lay out more with a cover, and I love sitting out in the morning reading with them laying around me. It is collaspable, so if bad weather is coming I will just drop it and then take it down when the first snow is threatened. We searched 5 different stores before we found this one...seasonal around here..after July 4th everything is on sale so the stores have very little outside stuff left.

The people get in the mind set...summer is over and winter is coming...hey people..three and half more months till nanook of the north appears again...By the time August is over though, I even start looking and waiting for the first snow. I am still like the little kid when the first snow comes..excited and in awe. Fall is grand here...lots of mums, beautiful trees, great weather..can't wait for my next season!!!

Gary is going to Chicago this week and will stay there next weekend to work, so it's just me and the dogs for two weeks. That means I don't sleep at night, just all day, and no cooking just eating tuna fish sandwiches, cheese and crakers and salads.

Pics are of the fruit/flower/veggie stand and Gary and the dogs and me on the deck with the new cover.

Take care and will blog again...