Retirement Travel and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff
In today’s failing economy, buying gift cards this holiday season could be a BAD idea. My Mom mentioned this during a recent telephone conversation. I also got an e-mail about it today. So I decided to check SNOPES. Read for yourself. It’s WAY too long for me to summarize with any accuracy.
Though not a new scheme, you have to keep this in mind, too.
A week or so ago, I got the idea to Blog about the tackiness of Christmas this holiday season.
Just for the record, the picture at left is my tree from some years ago. It isn’t tacky (at least I don’t think so), I just hate pictureless posts.
Want to help? Here’s how.
Just tell me about tacky or fun Christmas stuff you stumble across. “Tacky” would be stuff like my Mom found. Another great example of tacky Christmas stuff can be seen in this picture. Actually the entire post from a 2007 Blog is worth seeing. Or you can peruse the whole blog.
“Fun” (to me) is stuff like this. Okay, it’s only sort of fun.
NOTE: this really is not meant to be mean. I realize it takes all kinds to make the world go round. So let’s not identify folks, unless they clearly want to be identified.
This effort will really kick off after Thanksgiving. But feel free to start e-mailing your links and/or images to me at toadmama@gmail.com. Feel free to mention this post to all your friends, too. Let’s see just how much crazy stuff we can come up with.
I’d never really thought about how much both dogs are a part of the WV place. Whenever Hubby and I were there together, the dogs were there.
I didn’t post every picture I took of them (you’d think I was one of those crazy-obsessed dog people), so you’ll just have to trust me when I say I have a ton of pics of both girls in WV. We have lots of fond memories there together. I’m sure I’ll share more pics someday.
For now, I’ll leave you with this image of me with my doggie “helpers.”
Neither of the girls were ever away from us for too long. They did love to go off exploring though. C hated the ride to and from (she never did grow fond of car rides), but she loved being there.
For a dog that tended to act like a princess when we were “back in civilization” at our Maryland place–she hated to get her feet wet, she hated being in the rain, she much preferred hanging out in the house–she could sure get dirty. And stinky. She had a tendency to roll in stuff like turkey poop, deer poop, cow poop, etc. She loved rolling in grass, wet or not. She even had one very memorable roll in a bog.
Like I said, I’ll post more pictures one day. Most likely, in the form of a slide show. For now, the pain is still far too fresh.
We miss our little CeCe.
Her early years weren’t pleasant. And she was such a sweet little thing. So we made up for it in her later years. With us, she got to enjoy life. She got to experience the love and care that she deserved. And she made our lives much richer in return.
Hubby and I both agree the above is our favorite picture of her (C’s on the right). Because of the way she was raised, she didn’t know how to play like other dogs do. Except for when she was out in the snow.
Hubby used to always call her “pretty girl.” As he said, “She doesn’t know what ‘pretty’ means, but she sure likes it when I say it.” That’s usually because it almost always accompanied by an ear rub.
This is another of my favorites. It was taken late in 2004. She’d only been with us for about 10 months and we’d managed to fatten her up nicely. She’s the picture of good health here. Until she got sick, she NEVER looked her age. Especially when her ears were trimmed.
I’ve always liked this picture, too. With C on the left and Meg on the right, they look like Ma and Pa Kettle to me.
I’ve written other posts about C. Like this one, where I talked about her cute, hairy brown lips. One of my favorite posts about the dogs is the one with the video showing them playing The Nose Game.
She was a bit neurotic at times. But we loved her anyway.
It was unbelievably hard taking her to the vet for the last time even though we know it was the right thing for her. As painful as it is to lose her, we’re really glad to have had her in our lives.
Yes, I have lots more pictures. A good number of funny stories, too. But writing this is torturous, so I’m going to end here for now.
Shown at left is Mike’s grandfather, Clair (Pete) LeRoy Hallock. Sadly, he left this world on Friday, November 14, after having lived for 96 years, 7 months and 5 days. (Read Obituary)
Live he did, too. This was one spunky old man.
Oddly, I met Mike’s grandfather well before I met Mike (Mike’s cousin was one of my childhood friends). He lived with his wife in the neighborhood where I grew up. After retiring from a long, distinguished career with the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company, he and his wife (who passed away in 1993) returned to their childhood home of Clearfield, Pennsylvania.
I remember visiting Pop in Clearfield as a child. Every time he saw me as an adult, he’d say, “I remember when you came up to my place and you and that other girl of mine (my friend, Laura) were riding around in that wagon.” That’s where he’d always shake his head and laugh. The “wagon” was a small thing, pulled behind a lawn tractor. For some reason, that really stuck in his head.
He loved telling stories.
The above image was taken in January, 2006. Hubby and I had gone up, with our dogs, for a visit. As we were leaving, Pop walked out with us to see Hubby’s then-new truck. I can’t say I remember the story from that moment, but this is definitely Pop in full story mode.
In addition to telling stories, he had quite a sense of humor, too. The above shot was taken in April 2007 at Pop’s 95th birthday party. Four generations are represented here (that’s Hubby’s mom on the right). Almost five, really, since Amy was about 6 months pregnant at the time. The expression on Pop’s face is priceless.
And here’s all FIVE generations in one picture.
This shot of Mike with Pop is another one from our visit to PA in January, 2006.
Here’s another “four generation” image, taken when he visited our house in early-November 2003. Pictured, l-r, are Hubby’s Mom, Dena “Jean” Murphy, Amy, Shannon, Hubby and Pop.
I did mention that he was spunky, right? Up until about five years ago he had not one, but TWO, lady friends. One in Baltimore and one in Clearfield. Once, when Hubby and I were in Clearfield visiting, Pop took Hubby and I, along with the PA lady friend, on a driving tour. That was one of his favorite pastimes. He’d drive people around and show them all sorts of stuff. On that same visit he remembered when I was in a wagon, he drove a van load of us about an hour across the mountains to see the “camp” of some friends of his. They weren’t home (he knew that in advance), but he wanted us to see their fancy, two-seater “biffy” (outhouse).
Back to the driving tour I started telling you about. This is a great example of his spunkiness and sense of humor. At one point, he made a detour through town to stop at a memorial (headstone) dealer. Of course, there were a couple of samples outside. One happened to be heart-shaped.
“Now, you see that one there,” he said, turning to us slightly as he pointed. “That one there has a heart on.” Yes, he meant it to sound just like it did. “Oh, Clair,” his demure little lady friend said softly as he chuckled.
I could go on and on with the stories. I could tell you how he rode ATVs through the woods at least through his late-80s, maybe even into his early 90s. And all about the bears that he so loved to brag about and hand-feed. I could tell you about all the friends he had (I don’t think there was ever a time while visiting when at least one friend or neighbor didn’t stop in). I could mention his kind, generous nature. His expert woodworking skills. Perhaps describe his annual trips with my mother-in-law to “York State” to buy Concord grapes.
There really are lots of memories of Pop and the stories he shared. But one of the things that was most special about him was how much he loved his family. He really enjoyed family gatherings. And he could spend hours and hours talking to his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren on the telephone. The family all loved him right back, too.
Really, 96 years, 7 months and 5 days may be a long, LONG time. And he really did live life to its fullest. But, one thing I know for certain, Pop Hallock surely will be missed.
Today is November 14. Thanksgiving is still two weeks away. Yes, I know retailers have been gearing-up earlier and earlier every year. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
A couple of nights ago, Hubby and I went to the library. About halfway there, as we passed the Willow Oak Flower & Herb Farm, I groaned pretty loudly.
“What!?!” Hubby exclaimed. (I think I startled him.)
“Look, Christmas lights,” I said, as I pointed. Groaning again for emphasis.
“I just ignore them,” Hubby replied, inferring that my exclamation was unwarranted.
“It’s just that they’re the first ones I’ve seen this year…” I tried to explain.
Now he was ignoring me, so I dropped it.
That was November 12.
During my lunch break earlier today, I went to Mordor (aka Wal-Mart; aptly dubbed by one of Amy’s blogging friends). The guy out front with the red bucket on a tripod, wearing a Santa hat, ringing a bell should have warned me of bad things to come. But, I went in anyway. I mean, I needed to buy some stuff, which is why I was there.
On my way to the Pet department, I had to go past their Christmas section, which I’ve managed to ignore for at least a month, maybe more. That’s when I saw this, which was rather hard to miss…
The tree really is purple. I didn’t have my camera with me, so I borrowed these views from Mordor’s Web site. I did not Photoshop it.
What about this one?
But wait! There’s more…
That tree is NOT really dark green. It’s black. BLACK.
This is probably the least-offensive of them all. It’s close to the horrid silver ones that have been around for years. Of course, I never understood why anyone would want a silver tree either.
Here’s the worst one of all, in my opinion.
It truly is a quite-shocking blue. BLUE! (Although I must admit, it did make me think of Elvis singing “Blue Christmas.”)
Who buys these things? They are FOUR FEET tall (1.22 metres, for my ex-US fans).
I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m old fashioned. But I think even the more-modern folks in the family would probably agree these are awfully tacky.
Which gives me an idea. A mission, of sorts. To see just how much tacky stuff I can dig up, in person or on the Web, between now and Christmas. You faithful fans can help look for tacky stuff, too.
This could be quite interesting. Or quite boring. Depending on whether or not you have a sense of humor. Happy hunting!
