The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Sunday Fun

2009-11-01T10:44:00.002-05:00

I spent way too much time playing with this this morning! Get your own here.

Vote for Zoe

2009-10-27T20:20:00.002-04:00

Local author, Laurie Halse Anderson, is trying to get her children's book into Cheerios boxes and needs your vote. You can read her post and then Vote! You'll find Zoe on the third page of the ballot.

The Cheerios Spoonfuls of Books program gets books into the hands of kids that might otherwise not have any. Be sure to look for the boxes next year and consider buying a few and donating them to your local food pantry.

Spout Takes the Bus

2009-10-23T19:25:00.005-04:00

Sprout started preschool this year but since we don't transport the pre-k kids on our regular routes, Bean has to drive her to and from school. They do get to ride on our buses for field trips though.

They got to go all the way across town to the pumpkin farm.
(Across town takes about five minutes.)

There were other fun activities too.

The ride back wasn't nearly as exciting.

As much as I would have liked to be the driver for her first field trip it wasn't my turn. Instead I took Twig to a fund-raising breakfast back at the garage. We had a good time but I forgot to take pictures so here are a couple Bean shared with me.

Catch 22 in Michigan

2009-10-22T17:05:00.003-04:00

State budgets are tight all over. This story out of Michigan is just unbelievable.

Michigan State Police informed school administrators by letter this week that all 11 state school bus inspectors will be laid off as of Oct. 31. Without certification from inspectors, school districts cannot legally operate buses.

Buses can continue to operate only until their inspection sticker runs out. So some buses will be good for almost a year but others will have to stay off the road or run illegally as early as November 2. School districts have been told to seek the advice of their own attorneys. There is mention of a possible amendment to the law making the inspections optional.

So if inspections are optional I would assume most school districts would continue their own bus inspection programs and do all they can to insure the safety of their students. But with school budgets tightening I see an awful temptation on the part of a few to cut corners if no one is looking over their shoulder.

I'm sorry Michigan, this is NOT an area where you should be looking to cut your budget.

Driver Training in Tulare, CA

2009-10-18T17:47:00.004-04:00

I ran across this new story today and thought it was great. We weren't the only ones volunteering our time yesterday for bus safety.

A couple of things struck me about the bus they used. No roof hatches and no amber warning lights.

For some reason the embed won't work so try this link.

Safety Expo 2009

2009-10-17T17:21:00.006-04:00

I woke up early and immediately checked the radar and the rain/ snow mix was knocking on our doorstep. By the time we started setting up the sun was out in full force, which was great because it was chilly!

Some people couldn't make it at the last minute but others jumped in and filled their slots. We had more kids than last year but I'm still a little disappointed that we didn't have many more.

My policy is not to share pictures of student's faces so my pictures may make it appear that we didn't have a crowd which is not the case, I just have lots of pictures I won't share here.

The first two expos were held at the elementary school. It was great to be able to host it this year at our new facility.

The safety team bus, ambulance company, ladder truck and State Police.

We are lucky that two different fire departments participate. One department brought their off road rescue vehicle which is popular with kids and dads both. Both departments bring hand outs for the kids and the kids get little plastic firemen's helmets.

I'm thinking I can get a couple of more vehicles in there next year. Who can I invite?

The safety team bus simulates what a bus would be like in a roll over.
The Trooper brought lots of stuff to hand out too.

We let the kids ride up and down on the wheel chair lift to see what it is like for kids that have this ride every day.

The smoke bus was just as popular as ever. A member of our staff is also a volunteer firefighter and he does a great job with this and lots of us like to work at this station.

Sparky the Fire Dog was very popular. I had to crop out many faces but picture a large crowd off to the right.

New this year was a bike rodeo and it very popular. That's Nikki taking a turn on the course.

And of course I have to give equal time to Liz.

Here are Alex and Mike playing are you Safer than a 5th grader. One of the mechanics hooked up some old red lights with buttons that make them light so the kids can try to ring in first.

Here are other kids playing the game. We roped off the shop for safety but wanted everyone to have a peek at our new state of the art facility.

We had inside safety displays too. We were lucky to get someone from the power company to volunteer her time and bring this display.

And there was lots of food and drink in our training center so everyone could get a break from the cold.

There were other displays that I don't have pictures of to share. We had one of the huge parking lot plows and the local police out on the loop. A driver and attendant taught safe crossing. We had a table full of health hand outs and one of the building nurses doing blood pressure checks. Transportation staff also manned tables displaying items you can't bring on the bus as well as the very popular face painting. Bean let us borrow her pop corn machine and it ran non-stop.

And as always we ended the day with a drawing for the bikes that had been donated.

This was by far our best year yet. I'll be working on thank-you notes next week and then planning will start for next year. If you have any ideas for displays or activities we could incorporate for next year I'd love to hear them!

Happy Exhaustion

2009-10-16T19:45:00.002-04:00

The week before the Safety Expo is always stressful for me as the event coordinator and this week has been no exception. BUT this year instead of having a few key helpers and feeling overwhelmed with all that has to be done I've had more help than I know what to do with.

The last two days I just wanted to hide. Every time I walked in the building several people all needed just a moment of my time - to make suggestions, to ask how they could help, or to worry over details I hadn't quite worked out. A totally different type of overwhelming than I'm used to! (And being sick all week didn't help.)

Knowing that Mom had physical therapy today and that I'd be unable to stay on my mid-day break I spent some time yesterday making diagrams of what had to go where and then I created a long list of jobs that needed to be done. A few of us planned to set up as much as we could today after work. The head driver made a pot of clam chowder and I put the diagrams and to-do list on the bulletin board in case anyone finished earlier than I and wanted to get started.

I left Mom's a few minutes early so I'd have a few minutes to get something done before my afternoon shift. I walked into the break-room and there were people spread out already working on a couple of the jobs on the list. I had been worried that we wouldn't have enough candy and was told right away that the donations had been counted and we have considerably more than the number I was figuring on. I answered a couple of quick questions and had time to sit and relax!

I went out on my route, the kids were great and I finished a bit early and headed back in to work on finishing up the rest of my long list. Just as I expected several people started talking to me at once but it soon became clear that they were DONE WITH THE LIST and what else needed to be done? And come look at what we did with this. And does this look ok or should we put it over there? On a Friday afternoon more than a dozen people stayed to help and by the time I got in there was very little left to do. We moved things around and got some things done I just didn't think we'd have time for. People trickled out and the few of us that were left sat down and chatted over dinner.

We got so much done that I told everyone to sleep in and show up a half hour before the event. More than half of them plan to be there early, just in case they're needed.

Yes, I am certainly overwhelmed! And excited about tomorrow. They say three times is the charm and our event tomorrow is going to be great. All we still need is for lots and lots of kids to show up. (Oh, and please no rain or snow!)

Check list

2009-10-14T22:10:00.002-04:00

Final meeting this morning........

Two fire trucks - check
Ambulance - check
State Trooper - check
Three buses - check
10 bikes & helmets - have 7 the other 3 will turn up
Snow plow - check
health hand outs - check
Volunteers - 30!!!! Holy cow - Whoo hoo
3,200 pieces of candy - unh-oh, need to keep working on that
Baked goods - 80% promised, need to buy an extra brownie mix
One popcorn machine on site, one more promised
Signs placed - check
Fliers handed out - check
Hay bales and pumpkins - check

Still lots to do but this years Safety expo is going to be better than last years!!

Just Another Catch Up Post

2009-10-10T16:56:00.002-04:00

I have been neglecting this blog as usual. One of the resent topics for the Carnival of Genealogy was to write an obituary for our blog. If I'd done that little writing assignment here I suspect you'd have all believed it!

The past month has been busy, busy, busy! Just after school started we began working on our plans for our 3rd annual Safety Expo. Some key people dropped out and I was a bit overwhelmed for a couple of days but was very pleasantly shocked when several others stepped up and volunteered! With only a week to go we're in great shape with more displays and volunteers than ever before. Now we begin praying to the weather gods. Also at work, driver training has started. We have a lot of new people this year which is great. I don't know why supervising someone else driving wears me out but I've been coming how exhausted and cranky. The kids are tired of sub-drivers too and haven't been behaving as well as I know they can. Another week or two and that will be done for another year.

Mom has kept me on my toes. It turns out she is not shrinking, at least not at the rate she thought she was. The problem is that she is loosing range of motion in her good arm. I took her to the doctor yesterday and she has to go to physical therapy on Monday.

Kids night has resumed and I grab Twig once in while while Sprout is in school.

Hopefully I'll get back in the habit of writing here soon.

Bus Notes

2009-09-16T16:56:00.003-04:00

So many of my HS kids are in sports that I only have a half full bus in the afternoon. I explained to those kids that they could no longer sit in the very back seats so if we got hit from behind no one would be there. So Mike pipes up:

"Mrs Apple, you already hate me so I think I should sit back there. Then if we get hit by a truck and I die you won't be upset."

No Mike I do not hate you. I actually like you. I do not like it when you break the rules and I will enforce the rules. I like you so much that you can stay up front with me.

Back to Work

2009-09-14T18:24:00.005-04:00

The school year got off to a very rocky start for me. Last week you'd have thought I was a newbie at this. I missed kids and had to go around the block. They gave me kids that belonged on the next route over so I drove around the block. I drove in so many circles I was dizzy. The radio is always very busy the first week with parents calling in looking for their kids. I was getting calls and I hadn't left the school yet! After I left the school other drivers were getting calls and half the kids they were looking for were with me! We changed all of the routes this year to fill up the buses and save money. Everyone got to where they were supposed to be safely.

A big problem for me was all of the kids that were driven to school in the morning (or rode in on a different bus) and I had to figure out who was who to get them home. One little boy, Matthew, got on and was not on my list but his bus tag had my number. I asked him where he lived and he shocked me by giving me an address. An address at least five miles further out than I go. But he followed that up with, "But you're taking me to grandma's!" He didn't know where grandma lived. After a few calls back and forth to the school and I had an address. In getting the kids seated I missed the call to his morning bus looking for him. The other driver got on his PA and asked if Matthew was on and a little hand went up so he radioed back that he had him. They told him to keep him on the bus because he should have been on my bus. They called him back with the address that I had just gotten from the very confused school secretary, and asked if he could get him there at the end of his route. I heard this call and responded that Matthew was on my bus and I would be at Grandma's in five minutes. Now everyone was confused but Matthew got to where he needed to go with a smile on his face. I was so relieved to have Matthew straightened out that I drove right past the house of the next student, whom I had last year too. Around the block we went.

I have just a high school route and an elementary route - no middle school. Middle school age is not my group, so I'm happy. I have two boys on the HS route that are determined to push my buttons and I'm just as determined not to let them get to me. I have 50% new to me kids on that route too. The first couple of days the two groups segregated themselves but now they are all mixed together and seem to be getting along. What a great group of kids and what a pleasure to not have to yell sit down, leave them alone or get out of the aisle for an hour!

Today everything went like clockwork. The kindergartners are still taking a long time to get seated and get up and off at their stops but that's to be expected. Parents were thrilled when I arrived a half hour earlier today than I did last Wednesday. My fourth graders can't seem to get along and I've never had so much trouble with hitting. But over all the little ones are a great group too. With so many new kids it took me the first week but I think I've learned everyone's names. There was a little girl that didn't want to go today and I asked her to tell me her name again. I was certain she said Erin and I so I kept talking to her and using her name to try and reassure her. Finally one of the older kids that got on with her had had enough and yelled at me, "Her name is Ariel!" I'll keep working on those names........

Office Before and After

2009-09-05T17:07:00.005-04:00

This is how it looked when we bought the place in 2004.

I had put the job off far too long
You can see the new windows we put in last fall :)

I had planned to paint over the wallpaper but there were too many problems to fix.

Once the paper was down other problems were revealed and had to be fixed.

A coat of primer and base coat of paint and it looked lots better.

This painting technique hides all kinds of problems.

I got the valances made today.

I still need to paint the doors but that will have to wait a couple of weeks.

Mostly I'm pleased with the way it came out. I forgot that I should have cut in the edges before painting the walls and I'm unhappy with the way I cut it in afterward. I stills looks way better than it did before.

Mixed News

2009-08-26T08:09:00.002-04:00

I guess I'll start with the bad news. My Uncle Bill passed away Monday. His death was expected but that doesn't make it any easier for Mom. I wrote a little about him already so I won't repeat that here.

One of my nieces just moved home with her parents to continue her education. Another niece just let us know that she will be moving half way across the country. I'm happy for her and her family but we seem to be scattering further and further away. I am finding that on Facebook I can keep up with the younger generations comings and goings.

Sprout got to meet with her pre-K teacher and she loved it! I think being in the elementary school will be great for her.

Mom is actually using her new walker! We're planning to do some major furniture rearranging at her house this weekend to make it easier for her to get around with it.

I have finally started on painting the office. I've been at it a week now. There have been several interruptions but I can't seem to work as long as I did 5 years ago when we bought the place. I'll do a whole post with the before and after - assuming I ever finish ;-?

A small woodchuck has burrowed under the house, behind the back steps. I'm not one to kill a critter just because it annoys me but he has got to go. He sees my garden as his own personal smorgasbord. I guess I need to buy a trap unless someone has another suggestion. I'd be happy if he'd just move out to the woods where he belongs. Heck, if he needs a roof over his head he can move under the shed.

I stopped at work yesterday to pick up my mail and they were starting to pave the employee lot. Yeah! No more nails in my tires.

The mail I picked up was my score from the Roadeo back in July. I was pleasantly surprised considering that I felt I totally blew it. I finished 22nd out of 41 so not good but not in the bottom third where I thought I'd be either. :-)

Cool Shirts

2009-08-20T17:11:00.003-04:00

We don't have an official uniform at work so I tend to wear polo shirts with our school name and either a bus or the school emblem embroidered on them. In the winter I wear sweatshirts. I'm always on the lookout for new shirts and I received a post card from Have a Better Life Today. Since so many drivers are already back to work I thought I'd share the link. I really like their School is great - Bus Drivers make it better. I haven't done business with this company but I will be taking the flier to our refresher on Sept 3.

They have some other cute designs including a couple of Dairy and a Grandparents one.

Lord Love A Duck! - 5

2009-08-13T18:03:00.007-04:00

Goodness, has it really been more than a year and a half since I've had one of these posts? For anyone that hasn't been around that long, Lord love a duck is one of my mother's expressions. I have no idea what it means other than that she is exasperated. So these posts always involve Mom.

Mom had an appointment with her primary care physician this morning, one of the few things she leaves the house for. I headed down to her house this morning. There are two highways I can take, either 81 or 690. I'd heard there were lane closings on 690 but not where so I elected for 81, construction and all. No problem, I arrived early.

So ~~we're~~ she's chatting (she's been very chatty lately!) and I interrupt to tell her I need to get ready to leave. I use the bathroom first and head out to the garage to get the cooler for meals on wheels. She's still sitting in her new ~~throne~~ chair. I grab the oxygen pack, an extra cylinder, my purse and her ~~suitcase~~ purse and lug them through the living room and out to the car. She says she'll be right behind me. I go back to help her down the steps and she's vanished. She'd forgotten that she needed the bathroom too! So we get out to the car and she has trouble getting in. I say,"let me move the seat back," but nooooooo, she's fine. Finally she manages and we're off, only about five minutes late. Of course I had planned to leave five minutes early because it's always something.

To get to the doctor's office from her house you have to take 690 or cut through the city and without even thinking I headed for the highway. Now we know where the lane closures were. Rather than deal with the crazy traffic I decided to get off and take the boulevard, which quite concerned her. "I have no idea how to get to the doctor from the boulevard!" she exclaimed. Pause. "Of course I don't know how to get there from the highway either so I guess you know best." Thanks Mom!

We start talking about the way things were in the old days along this stretch of road. She tells me about the old muck farms and I point out the bowling alley where she bowled in league. I make a couple of turns and she exclaims, "This is Widewaters! How'd we get here." We arrived at the office right on time. (And can anyone tell me why it's called Widewaters!?)

Now usually it's hurry up and wait at this doctor but today they took her back fairly quickly. The nurse wasn't the one we're used to and she had a hard time with the bp cup. Apparently is wasn't reading out on the thing-a-bob on the wall she she kept pumping it up. You could tell Mom was in pain and finally the nurse decided to start over. She pumped it even further this time and Mom started yelling at her to stop and take it off, so no bp today.

While waiting for the doctor we talked about what she wanted to talk to him about. She was concerned about the swelling in her feet and legs and I was concerned that she's been unsteady on her feet. So the doctor comes in, says hi and before he can say anything else she exclaims, "Is there a limit to how much shrinking I'm going to have? And I don't mean sideways I used to be able to reach the second shelf in the cupboards and now I can't and it seems to me that the vertebrae can only shink so much and I want it to stop!" The last was said in a single breath - no small feat for Mom! He asked her how long it has been since she couldn't reach the shelf. Her answer - a day or two. Oh my, I never saw this one coming. He asked if she'd lost more than two inches and when I said yes he started hustling her out the door and down the hall for a bone density test. I insist that he look at her ankles first.

While she is having her test I am parked on a folding chair in the hall and an old woman sits down next to me. She was waiting for the same test Mom was having. She bought her clothes in 1999 for a trip to Tampa that she must have really enjoyed. She worked 42 years at the same company, has wonderful children and beautiful grandchildren and great-grandchildren - and was obviously very lonely. I continued to listen to her even after Mom joined us in the hall. She was really a sweet person and I hope one of her family calls her tonight!

Mom finally gave in and asked for her oxygen and I hooked her up. The doctor comes to talk to us right there in the hall - so much for privacy! Mom doesn't have osteoporosis so he tells her to take a calcium supplement and increase her water pill to twice a day. Mom's stumbling has really worried me but she refuses to use her cane. I know from experience that if the doctor tells her she has to she will so I bring it up again. He tells her she needs to start using the cane. She complains that with only one useful arm she can't carry anything if she uses it. He responds that then she needs a walker and they have a small triangular one with a basket and a tray that would work well for her, come back in a month.

So we make an appointment and head out to the car and she wants to know if I've moved the seat back yet. I had but I moved it back some more. Then her oxygen tank ran out. I knew it was low but not that low! I switch over to the other tank and realize that the first tank stopped because I hadn't opened the valve properly. Crap. She's fine so I don't switch it back and start out of the parking lot. She decides that she feels like going to shop for a walker. I was shocked but figured strike while the iron is hot. She knows where the place is - a little shopping area either on W. Genesee or Erie Blvd, she can picture it! I can't, so I call home so John can look up the address for me. It's on E. Genesee. East, west, what's the difference!?

So we leave and I turn right and she says she's sure we need to go west. I tell her that we need to get to E. Genesee St first. I go to the next corner and turn left on Erie and again she says she thinks I'm going the wrong way. I explained we had to go a couple of blocks further yet. My patience was waning. We finally got to the intersection and I pointed left and said, "Well that way is Fayetteville, which way do you think we should go?" Finally we agreed and went right!

Thirty or so pleasant blocks later we came to the store. It was right by the old Christian Science church that I used to attend. "See, I knew it was right here!" If she'd told me it was near the church to begin with things would have been so much easier.... There is a handicap space right in front of the store. I hardly ever use one but I didn't want to drop her off and go park, so I took it. She promptly told me that I couldn't park there, couldn't I see the fire hydrant? (The hydrant was one space up and this spot was clearly marked.) I started fishing for change and had to explain why I was going to pay if there was no meter. I came back with the receipt and put it on the dash but I don't think that she understood how it works.

So we head into the store and see the walker the doctor had described right off. But she has had in mind for some time that if she got a walker with a seat she could get out to check the mail. You know walk a little, sit a little. Never mind the fact that the walker would be in the garage and no good to her in the house. I took a different approach and pointed out that those walkers probably wouldn't fit through her tiny house. (They were just as wide as the three wheeled one was in back. But we do not need to tell her this, agreed?) The three wheeled one had a basket, tray and carrying bag so she took it for a test walk around the store. I noticed she was breathing through her mouth. For whatever reason the oxygen wasn't working again. She so seldom uses the portable tanks but I am fairly sure I had it hooked up right the second time! It seemed to be working in the car. They adjusted the height for her, took her check and we were finally headed home.

She seems much steadier with it and I really hope she uses it. Her house is tiny and she can't get to the kitchen with it, so when John and I go again we'll have to switch some things around and maybe take the kitchen door off. The new lift chair takes up a good chunk of floor space in the living room but she seemed to get through there OK and I moved the couch and table down so she could get to the hall easily.

John and I had an appointment at 2:00 and after running to the store for her calcium supplement I was starting to feel pushed for time and asked if there was anything else she needed before I left. Well she needed to tell me about her new trash service which took a few minutes.

Now I'm running late and a bit cranky and she says, "I can't tell you how much it means to me that you and your sister come as often as you do and do so much for me."

Love you too Mom!

Late Blight

2009-08-10T13:39:00.003-04:00

Summer has finally arrived in Snowville. It's always a short season here but this year has been ridiculous. It looks like we'll have temperatures in the 80's all week - along with more rain.

The weather men have been saying that July was a bit below average for rainfall. Hunh? I went out and bought a rain gauge because I'm certain they are wrong.

This was our first year planting a vegetable garden. Granted it's a tiny garden but it's a start. We're off to a discouraging start as the constant rain brought late blight to our garden. We had tons of tomatoes on the plants but we had yet to harvest one. :(

Everything I've read said that we needed to pull our plants and destroy them so that is what we did today.

One of the many toads in the garden this year.

Time Flies

2009-08-07T08:31:00.005-04:00

We've been home from vacation for a week now and I feel like summer is slipping away. I took the summer off so I could tackle several large projects that I've put off and I haven't started on a single one! I guess I should have worked after all - I'd be finishing up next week.

I spent way too mush time this week working on my family tree. I made some progress but I need to put it aside for the few good weeks we have left, unless I can find time to get to a courthouse or two to look for records.

Mike and Alex were here until late the other night and we had our first fire of the year. I was was nice but still a little cool to enjoy sitting out there for me.

The cool rainy summer is not making for a happy garden. It's been great that I haven't had to water but everything is blooming late. I planted zinnia seeds at the beginning of June and I haven't had a flower yet. I had big plans to redesign three beds and I did finally start on that. If the weather holds for the weekend I should get a lot more done!

Greetings from the Pocanos

2009-07-28T18:04:00.002-04:00

Despite the rain that followed us here we're enjoying ourselves. Read a couple of books, hiked enough to be sore and visited the Eckley Miners Museum.

Twice in the Same Day

2009-07-21T21:16:00.003-04:00

John and I rarely go to the movies and today we went twice!

This morning we took advantage of the free family movies at the mall and took the four oldest grandkids to see City of Ember. It wasn't a great movie but it wasn't bad either. John and I always bypass the refreshment stand and I nearly had a heart attack when I paid for the popcorn and sodas! The free movie was far from free so we probably won't do that again.

After the movie we took the kids to lunch. All in all they had a great time.

Alex and Liz chose to sit at the small table across the aisle from us.

Nikki and Mike are easily entertained.

After lunch we dropped everyone off and headed home. We were here just long enough for John to cut the lawn and we went back to the mall to see Harry Potter. It was a good movie I guess. It was probably great if you hadn't read and reread the books as we have.

Roadeo

2009-07-13T08:04:00.007-04:00

Saturday was the NYAPT Big Three Roadeo in Albany and I want to give a Big Thank You!! to all of the judges that came down to the conference early so that we could compete. I'm not certain but I think it takes almost as many judges as there are contestants to put on this event. Not only were there volunteers out on the course, the seven team leaders, there were the folks that administered the tests, others that played the part of student, several were runners, others were stuck in a little room all day tallying score sheets, and undoubtedly many more that I haven't mentioned. Everyone was pleasant and worked hard to make sure that the contestants had a great day.

I drove down on Friday afternoon and had dinner with some of the other people there from the CNYAPT chapter. After dinner I spent the evening battling the butterflies in my stomach by studying.

The Roadeo is an all day event with registration starting at 7:00 am. There we were given our t-shirts and contestant number. My registration had gone in late so I was expecting a very high number and was thrilled when they handed me #39! The first event of the day was a written, general knowledge exam and it was tough. I'm always worried that some of the questions are "trick" questions and I over think things. This cost me on at least a couple of questions :( There was also a written pre-trip test that we took later in the day.

We were then divided into "teams" and I was pleasantly surprised that there was someone I knew on my team and I quickly got to know others. Our team leader, Dave aka "Tangerine Man" was great!

Crowd near the announcer's table

I was quite worried about the surprise event, certain that I would have to do some type of backing skill so I was happy when it turned out to be a railroad question. We had to simply sit in the drivers seat and decide whether or not we had room to to cross the tracks and have a 15' cushion behind us before we got to the stop line represented by the cone. I decided that I wouldn't try it and I wish that they had told us what the correct answer was later in the day, when everyone was done.

Surprise Event

One of the activities between events was a smoke bus demonstration. Some of the pictures they used of a burning bus were ones I had taken at the Mass Casualty Incident Drill. How cool was that!

Smoke Bus

Straight Line

Serpentine

Offset Alley

Parallel Parking

Traffic Jam

Diminishing Clearance

End of the road!

So how did I do? My #39 that I was so happy about turned out to be the 2nd to last number on the course because my class went last. I don't think that really affected me too much but let's just say that I have never had a worse trip around a roadeo course. I was waived off of both of the backing events and I struggled with the events that I normally sail through. Thank you Helen, for being friendly and helping me relax before I drove. I'm sorry your last ride of the day was such an awful one. Thank you to everyone from CNY that hung around to the end to give me moral support! If you guys hadn't been there for me I'm certain I would have dissolved into tears.

I didn't have a good score this year but it was the most fun I have ever had at a Roadeo!

State of the Garden

2009-07-10T08:54:00.005-04:00

My sister has pointed out that I hadn't been posting much about my garden. There are areas that I am loving right now but there are more areas that I'm not!

I'm happy with ~~butterfly~~ hummingbird garden between the house and the garage. I initially envisioned masses of butterflies flitting through and instead I see an occasional one fly through. The hummingbirds are the real entertainment.

I'm very happy with the garage side except that it looks like there is an empty area in the center along the wall. I have cannas that are taking forever to get going. They took so long that I gave up on them and planted zinnias and now I have to move them - or just have an interesting mess. Hollyhocks do not get tall in this bed so I'm looking for a perennial that will get tall and not clash with the coneflowers and black-eyed susans that will be blooming shortly.

I'm not as happy with the house side. I planted the red lillies thinking they were the same as the ones on the other side. I love them! but they really need to be moved toward the back. I also love the combination of the red beebalm, gloriosa daisies and shata daisies but they need to be mixed up more because the daisies are all taller than the beebalm and are in the front. There are also a couple of big holes that I won't show you right now that I need a plan for.

The nightmare bed is once again looking scary but I'm still working on taming it. The milkweed smells wonderful so I don't mind working out there right now :-)

The front of the house has become overgrown and just blah. I have major plans for a makeover but will I get it done? Stay tuned.

The back and the other side of the house are so bad I won't even show them to you. They do contain some very pretty flowers however so here are just a couple.

Holiday Picnic

2009-07-06T18:45:00.004-04:00

We spent the morning of the 4th with Mom and were just as surprised as she was when my niece called to say she was in town and coming to visit. We left before she arrived but I hear that she had a nice visit with her grandmother. I know that Mom enjoyed seeing her!

Our family picnic was on Sunday and my niece was able to join us. It was so nice to be able to catch up! Good food, great conversation and kickball - what more could we want?

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T05:10:00.000-04:00

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Vanishing Apple

2009-07-02T07:15:00.003-04:00

I can hardly believe that it's been nearly three weeks since I posted anything. June is such a busy month here yet certainly there has been time where I could have written something quickly. Quite simply, I needed a blogging break I guess. More than that I needed a break from the computer. All winter and most of the spring I spent 8-12 hours a day parked on the couch with my computer on my lap.

After we moved into the new garage I started having lots of aches and pains, was winded easily and just was not feeling well so I finally broke down and went to my Nurse Practitioner. She took blood to check my thyroid, ordered a pulmonary function test and bullied me into going for a very overdue mammogram. After all the test results were in it was learned that I have very high cholesterol. The only other thing wrong with me is that I am fat. While I was relieved that there is nothing wrong I found the news very depressing. I have always been heavy and I know the only way that I personally will loose weight is by lots and lots of exercise. I have 60 pounds to loose but I'd be very happy to loose 35. There have been three other times in my life where I lost a lot of weight. When I was a teenager I went to live with my father on a farm and chores did the work for me. Twelve years ago I spent several hours a week in front of the TV cursing Richard Simmons. Five years ago we bought this house and spent 12 hour days working to make it habitable.

I have elected to take the summer off. I hope to spend a lot of time working in the garden, moving plants around and expanding beds. While we've been here five years now there are still things that I haven't done yet and some of the rooms already need repainting. I will be moving things around so that I have room to do aerobics. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I do have some fun things planned for the summer. There will hopefully be several family picnics, I will be going to the Roadeo next week and the grandkids will keep me busy. John and I will be spending a week away too.

Hopefully I can get back in the habit of writing with a minimum of Apple whine.

Another week has flown by!

2009-06-14T06:57:00.004-04:00

Work kept me very busy this week. We are starting now to work on our Safety Expo for next October. I'm hoping that by starting earlier we'll be able to really expand and that I'll be more organized in the fall! A couple of people volunteered to take charge of sub-committees but I still have to cajole at least a couple more.

We went to Mom's a couple of times and I had to go for another test. On my one free day during the week I had a very pleasant morning visiting the gardens of two friends and they came all the way out here to see mine.

Yesterday was the first Epilepsy Walk held in this area. Not really knowing what to expect I took just Mike and Nikki and we headed out to support a friend. For a first time event it went very well. Most of the kids there were younger than Nikki so next year we'll make it a family event. They had games and crafts for the kids, raffles, food and music. I was worried that I'd have a hard time making it all the way around the loop that we walked but I took it slow and wasn't too sore when I finished :-) The kids were way ahead of me but I could see them so I let them do their own thing. It was actually nice having just the two of them as they got along well and I didn't have to deal with the bickering that happens here at the house. After the walk we went to the dairy for ice cream cones and then went to see Jae's new apartment.

I have a couple of dozen chores that need doing but the dust isn't going anywhere so I think I'll just head out and play in the garden.