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June 15, 2014

Graduation Road Trip

As I mentioned in my last post, I drove down to Chesapeake, Virginia this past Thursday to attend my nephew’s high school graduation.

It was a happy-sad occasion for me. I was very happy for Josh, but sad because my Mom REALLY wanted to be there.

In the years leading up to her death–she knew her health was declining–just about every time I talked to her, she’d tell me she wanted to at least be around long enough to see my son, Eric, get married and my nephew, Josh, graduate from high school.

Mom, pictured with my Dad on the right, missed both.

Some higher power had other plans for her, apparently.

She wasn’t there, physically, but she was there in spirit. She would have been so proud of her youngest grandson. He’s grown into such a nice, happy young man. AND he earned a $20,000 academic scholarship to Old Dominion University (ODU).

I don’t have many vacation days to spare, but I really wanted to be there for Josh. Lucky for me, the ceremony was in the evening. So I worked half a day and then drove down to Chesapeake.

1_Graduation — The ceremony was actually held at ODU.

1a_Graduation — Think he was excited? (photo captured by my sister-in-law, Sharen Reichard)

1b_Graduation — I KNOW he was excited. He was ear-to-ear smiles all evening. (Photo captured by my sister-in-law, Sharen Reichard)

I’m so glad I was able to go. My Dad was there, too. Both of my sister-in-law’s parents have passed and, sadly, due to a work commitment, her brother wasn’t able to come. Josh, an only child, doesn’t have a very big immediate family.

Josh, at age 3. Mawsie is in the background.

I actually worked a full day on Friday (being a remote employee does have it’s advantages; I can work from anywhere), but still had the evening to visit. A graduation party was planned at my brother’s house on Saturday.

I knew they’d be running around like crazy peeps getting ready, so I decided to get out of their way. Any guesses as to where I went? They’re about 35 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean…

4_Graduation — Saturday Morning on Virginia Beach

5_Graduation — It was a beautiful beach morning.

Everyone was still sleeping when I left the house shortly after 8:00 a.m.

I haven’t been to the beach, or even in the sun in a bathing suit in quite a few years. So I knew it would be a short beach trip.

It really was a picture-perfect beach day. Temps were in the low – to mid-70s and a nice breeze was blowing. Mentally, I could’ve stayed much long. Physically, I would’ve burned to a crisp. I hit the sand shortly after 9:00 a.m. and left the beach around 11:30.

6_Graduation — I Love Beach-town Architecture

I went in a shop or two because I also love looking at tacky beach souvenirs. And the crazy tee-shirts they sell. Then I headed back to the house.

Crazy Tee I Shoulda Bought for My Friend, Ashley

They did a great job transforming the yard into party central while I was gone. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pictures. I did get a shot of the yummy smoked chicken, dogs, and burgers that my brother grilled.

I left for home around 3:45. I was supposed to have left around 3:00. Oops.

The late-departure didn’t stop me from making an important pit-stop, though. I’d checked my RoadsideAmerica.com app to see what “attractions and oddities” were in the area and was tickled to see there was a Muffler Man nearby.

I took that pic for my friend Rachel, who really likes what she calls “roadside weirdness.” Then I captured a fun selfie or two for myself.

12_Graduation — Muffler Man Sprouting From My Head

13_Graduation — Muffler Man Selfie with Odd, Unintentional Focal Point

I’ll leave you with yet another fun selfie. I asked Josh if he’d pose with me before I left and my brother photobombed us.

Why, yes, I do have a slightly goofy family. And, yes, I need more selfie practice.

Even if I didn’t get to ride my bike as I’d hoped, it was a fun, but far too brief, trip.

June 12, 2014

Washout

I’m traveling from home to Chesapeake, Virginia this afternoon — leaving in less than an hour — to attend my nephew’s graduation. I had REALLY hoped to take the bike.

But it’s storming.

See that map? If I were a crow, I’d be following the black line.

Rain doesn’t scare me, but I don’t have much time to spare.On a bike, you can’t hurry through rain. Not to mention torrential rain/thunderstorms.

If I’m late, I either miss the graduation. Or make everyone else late.

So I’ll be caging it.

Oh well, it’s still a road trip. 🙂

June 10, 2014June 12, 2014

The Big One Five

All of our dogs are rescue dogs. Hubby has been known to call them “used” dogs. Cast-off, unwanted pets.

Our oldest, Meg, turned 15 yesterday. She is the only of our current dogs who came to us with papers, so I know for sure June 9 is her birthday.

One of Meg's "adopt me" images (Feb-2005). — One of Meg’s “adopt me” images (Feb-2005).

Her health has slowly been declining over the past few years, so today is a big day for us. I didn’t think she’d be around this long. And I don’t know how long she has left. She has good and bad days, so we’ve been taking things one day at a time. As long as she’s relatively comfortable and happy, she’ll be with us.

Meg is sweet — she loves everyone — but has ALWAYS been a challenging dog. She’s very stubborn, extremely food-driven, eats weird stuff (Belle poo, sometimes her own poo, used Kleenex, chocolate (sometimes still-wrapped), butter, birdseed, etc.), and will steal food or some of that aforementioned weird stuff in a heartbeat, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

She has kept us on our toes since day one. But we love her. She’s given us lots of laughs over the years.

She was so difficult that, after just a couple of months, we were seriously considering giving her back. The girl would NOT listen and was always getting into trouble of one sort or another. Terrorizing our cats, stealing food, eating cat poo, digging in the trash, etc. Then one of my rescue friends told me about the dreaded squirt bottle loaded with vinegar water as a disciplinary tool. One shot to the face was finally the thing that got the “no” message across.

To this day, if we even pretend we have a squirt bottle in hand, she pays attention. And we haven’t actually put vinegar in the water since around 2005. LOL.

Anyway… I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite Meg pics captured over the years.

On the ride home, the day we adopted her. (Feb 2005)

She has always loved snow. — She has always LOVED snow.

Meg in a stare-ff with Moses. She hated that cat. — Meg in a stare-off with Moses. She hated that cat.

Meg during a construction break at the WV Place.

Enjoying a car ride. (She is the absolute WORST car passenger.)

Food-obsessed dog. She especially LOVES chocolate.

"Hurry up and fix it, Mama." (I was repairing her favorite toy.) — “Hurry up and fix it, Mama.” (I was repairing her favorite toy.)

Meg has always had the most expressive face. My friend Carol often says, “I swear, she’s going to start talking any second.”

DSCN1914 — Her crazy sleeping positions have always amazed me.

“Yes, I’m in your bubble. Is that a problem?”

Back when she could run. She loved to run.

Happy to be at the WV Place, her favorite place in the whole world.

“There’s an effing cat on your lap and I do NOT like it.”

A post all about Meg wouldn’t be complete without everyone’s favorite slideshow.

I have no idea how long Meg has. The heat is hard on her. She’s still going on daily walks with me and the two younguns, but she’s getting REALLY slow.

I love my old girl. Seeing her deteriorate is hard. As long as she’s comfortable, we’ll continue to take it one day at a time. 🙂

June 7, 2014June 6, 2014

On Hunting Lizards

Our middle dog, K, is a hunter.

If it moves, she’ll stalk it. She’s got very keen eyesight and a sharp nose, too. She’s also got determination, leaning toward compulsiveness and/or obsession.

On a recent trip to the WV Place, K spent a total of about 10-12 HOURS in one day hunting lizards in our woodpile.

Before the woodpile, she was chasing the critters around some cinder blocks.

There are quite a few lizards in our yard. West Virginia only has six different species of lizards, and we saw at least three different species that weekend.

From what I observed, she could see and hear the lizards, but she couldn’t smell them. And, because they are very fast, she had a hard time catching them. In fact, I think it is safe to say that K isn’t a very good lizard hunter.

Determined, yes. Successful, no.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her. At THEM, actually. Belle would offer help every now and then, but she’s no better at catching lizards.

"Can you see me now?" says the lizard as he laughs under his breath. — “Can you see me now?” says the lizard as he laughs under his breath.

They did manage to rout out, and try to kill, this cute little skink, which Hubby rescued.

Five-lined Skink (aka Blue-tailed Skink)

Meg, who isn’t really into hunting, could not have cared less.

lizard_hunting4 — Belle helped on occasion, but quickly lost interest.

lizard_hunting6 — K NEVER lost interest.

By the end of the weekend, K was so exhausted, she could barely stand. Which I guess is the reason she walked right past this lizard near the front porch.

Dogs are a never-ending source of entertainment. Our lives would be so dull without them around.

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

A LONG Working Weekend

Did I mention that the weekend was a long one? Hubby and I spent the Memorial Day weekend cleaning up our WV Place. Three full days of cleaning, painting, cleaning, making repairs, and more cleaning.

You regulars may remember the frozen pipe disaster of January 2014. If you’re new here, or simply missed that post, take a peek. It was awful. More messy than structural, which is good, but who wants to deal with mess?

Wondering why it took so long? First, the place needed time to dry out completely. Second, we had to find a contractor to make repairs. Neither of us is keen on ever hanging and/or finishing drywall ever again. Finally, the contractor had to actually do the work.

In addition to making repairs, we also had the guy add closets in each of the small bedrooms. Without a closet, a room isn’t officially a bedroom. Oh, we had him remove our junk pile, too, in addition to all of the mess from the clean-up.

Why do we care about “official” after all this time. I’ll get to that.

The contractor we hired actually did a great job. The new ceiling and walls are nice and smooth.

The contractor primed all of the surfaces. The touch-up painting was left to us.

It was just like old times. I got to say fun stuff like, “I need a progress picture. Pretend like you are working.”

That Hubby of mine is particularly fond of comments like that.

The paint made a huge difference.

The dogs enjoyed their time in the woods immensely.

While the girls entertained themselves, we worked. And worked some more.

Hubby painted the back wall of the garage.

While Hubby labored inside, I got to use my favorite power tool… the pressure washer. (No sarcasm intended, I really do love the pressure washer.)

The best thing about the pressure washer is seeing immediate results.

Pressure washing is such a great way to spruce things up.

207 — Meg “helped” me paint the trim around the garage doors.

Amazing how a little bit of paint can brighten-up things.

As for the interior…

After Hubby did all that painting, he cleaned. Not only did each room get re-organized and dusted completely, he swept and mopped the floors. And then he waxed them.

Remember, the floors in the WV Place are acid-stained concrete. The best floors ever. They look fabulous when properly maintained. We hadn’t waxed them for a while, so they were looking a bit dull. But now they really shine.

Master Bedroom (the wrong quilt is on the bed)

I did my share of cleaning and waxing, too. In fact, Hubby left a bit early on Monday with two of the dogs so I could finish the floor cleaning. It’s much easier without dogs tracking in and out. K, who stayed behind with me, was too busy lizard hunting to bother going indoors.

237 — Hubby enjoying a well-deserved break before he left.

The place looks so much better. It’s all comfy and cozy again.

We really love our WV Place. But, since we moved to Virginia in late 2011, it’s gone underused and has become neglected.

We built the place when we still lived in Maryland. The purpose of the little house in the woods was to serve as a base for our motorcycle rides.

When we lived in Maryland, our house was in the suburbs, about halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC. Our neighborhood was surrounded by more suburbs. Not to mention a mega-mall. And a casino. There was an airport, too, which was convenient for travel, but quite loud.

Although we live in the middle of a town now, it’s small. And the town is surrounded by horse farms. It’s awesome.

Here’s a pic comparing the two locales.

To make a long story short, we no longer need a remote base for motorcycle rides. Amazing motorcycle roads are two minutes from our door. Literally.

Two of our three kids live on the West Coast, and the third kid is moving to Spain. So the kids won’t be using the place. The grand kids won’t be visiting us there, either.

We no longer have the time or the desire to keep the place. Yes, we built it with our own hands, but if we don’t visit and maintain it regularly, it’ll deteriorate. And we don’t want that. So we’re selling it.

One one hand, it’s sad. A lot of work went into that place. But on the other hand, all good things must come to and end. Plus, with one less property to maintain, we will have more time to ride.

Here’s hoping it sells quickly. Before we change our minds. 🙂