Continuation of my life story....(The story began in May)
About this time I met a friend that we have become lifetime soulmate type friends. Irene. We have gone years without writing, but will always be close friends. Irene lives in Vancouver Washington by Portland Oregon and found me from a forwarded email she got from a friend. My old email address was (Phyllis@whidbey.net). She only knew one Phyllis from Whidbey so she emailed me and we keep in touch now. We used to have ESP together. I would pick up the phone and we’d start talking and about ten minutes later we would say “wait a minute, who called who?? The phone never rang!!” We would head out to some parties in the woods, and I would get my "weird" feelings, and start to panic and we'd get the heck outa there. We drove out one road while the cops were driving in the other road. people started to go by my "feelings". If they saw me start to act weird, we'd move the party. We can’t really remember where or when we met, but it was at some party. She was a year younger than me and lived in Oak Harbor with her parents. She only drank whiskey and coke and that was very seldom. I don’t think I ever saw Irene drunk. I can remember her smiling and laughing all the time. Boy did we ever have FUN!! She always had a Coke. She had as much fun as all of us, but didn’t get sick like me because I always drank myself into oblivion and she stuck with Coke. She was not an alcoholic like me, but she was always laughing at/with me. She met her husband through me. My father was a jailer at that time and the jail was about 4 blocks from my brown shack. My parents lived about 5 blocks away. One night about 4 guys came to my party and said they always wanted to come here. I asked where they heard about my parties, and they said they could hear them from the jail when they were there.
I was having a Keg party once when we ran out of beer. We had bought the beer at the Chiefs Petty Officers club, and called them and asked if we could trade in the empty, and they said to come on over, so 4 of us jumped in the car and went and bought the beer. About a mile from the club I ran out of gas. Along came Officer Sharp asking if all was ok. I told him we ran out of gas, and he looked in the back of the car and noticed the huge keg sitting in the back. I wasn’t worried because it wasn’t tapped. But….we were all under 21!! Four underage people at the party, and it was us that went for the beer!! DUH!! Well he gave us all a ticket for minors in possession of alcohol, and confiscated our keg. (the deputies later had a party with it!!). The guys had to spend a few days in jail because they were just out for other charges. I was having another party and knew the guys could hear my music, so I snuck up to the jail and tied a 5th of vodka from the window of the jail cell window and stuck a long plastic “relief tube” in it and stuck the other end through the window. Dad said the next day that the prisoners were all drunk, and he didn’t know how!! Hehehehehehe. Only in a small town!!!
Those parties continued for a few months. During that time my old boyfriend that was in Viet Nam started writing me and saying he was coming back in a few months. Swell. He showed up one night and didn’t like what he saw. I had long straight hair and wearing flowered bell bottomed hip hugger pants. We went our separate ways. My drinking was becoming a nightly occurrence and I blacked out a lot!! My boss was getting mad at me for coming in hung over and being late. Town was-a-talkin!! The guys got their own place and the parties started to move over there. I was on a three day binge and never showed up for work or went home. When I finally went home it was a shambles. Someone had gone in and threw all my albums out in the yard and really trashed the place. My parents were scared that I was kidnapped or murdered!! I was starting to get ugly in my drinking. I was kinda going with one guy and we got intimate one night. He got a job in Everett and we went different ways. Well a month or so later I discovered I was pregnant, and decided to keep the baby. My parents insisted that I marry the guy and I didn’t want to. He was going on with his life and I was in Coupeville. We were not in love. My sister was driving to Virginia Beach with her two year old daughter to get married about that time and asked if I wanted to go there with her. I jumped at the chance to get away from this small town gossip and parents that wanted to make me get married. So in the Fall of 1969 we went to Virginia Beach Virginia to start a new life!
Tomorrow, Virginia Beach here we come!!!!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Monday, June 14, 2004
I'm Baaaaaack!!
Ok, The fun is over Mary Lou!!
I finally got my computer back after 5 days of being down!! It was a corrupted somethingorother in the whatchamacallit. I paid a guy $100.00 to take it for the weekend and fix it!! He did, so I am back and runnung I hope for a long time!! WHEW!! I was busy all weekend so I didn't really have time to feel lost, but I did feel rather weird!! We sure get hooked on things, huh?
I will get back to posting maybe Wednesday. I found I need to give myself other time to do things. I come home from work and sit in front of the computer and next thing I know it is time for bed, and I did nothing else. I need to manage my time better. HAHAHAHA We'll see.
Meantime, I have alot of reading to catch up on, then try and get back to my life story that I seemed to back off on!! Later, folks!!
I finally got my computer back after 5 days of being down!! It was a corrupted somethingorother in the whatchamacallit. I paid a guy $100.00 to take it for the weekend and fix it!! He did, so I am back and runnung I hope for a long time!! WHEW!! I was busy all weekend so I didn't really have time to feel lost, but I did feel rather weird!! We sure get hooked on things, huh?
I will get back to posting maybe Wednesday. I found I need to give myself other time to do things. I come home from work and sit in front of the computer and next thing I know it is time for bed, and I did nothing else. I need to manage my time better. HAHAHAHA We'll see.
Meantime, I have alot of reading to catch up on, then try and get back to my life story that I seemed to back off on!! Later, folks!!
Sunday, June 13, 2004
PHYLLIS loves Fart jokes....
Man Who Loved Baked Beans
Once upon a time, there lived a man who had a terrible passion
for baked beans. He loved them, but they always had an
embarrassing and somewhat lively reaction on him. One day he met
a girl and fell in love. When it became apparent that they would
marry, he thought to himself, she'll never go through with the
marriage with me carrying on like this, so he made the supreme
sacrifice and gave up beans.
Shortly after that they were married. A few months later, on his
birthday and on the way home from work, his car broke down.
Since they lived in the country, he called his wife and told her
that he would be late because he had to walk home. On his way
home, he passed a small cafe and the wonderful aroma of baked
beans overwhelmed him. Since he still had several miles to walk
he figured he could walk off any ill affects before he got home.
It was, after all, his birthday. So he went in and ordered, and
before leaving had 3 extra large helpings of baked beans.
All the way home he putt-putted. By the time he arrived home he
felt reasonably safe. His wife met him at the door and seemed
somewhat excited. She exclaimed, "Darling, I have the most
wonderful surprise for you for dinner tonight!" She put a
blindfold on him, and led him to his chair at the head of the
table and made him promise not to peak. At this point he was
beginning to feel another one coming on. Just as his wife was
about to remove the blindfold, the telephone rang. She again
made him promise not to peek until she returned, and away she
went to answer the phone. While she was gone, he seized the
opportunity. He shifted his weight to one leg and let go. It was
not only loud, but ripe as a rotten egg. He had a hard time
breathing, so he felt for his napkin and fanned the air about
him. He had just started to feel better, when another urge came
on. He raised his leg and RRIIPPP !!! It sounded like a diesel
engine revving, and smelled worse. To keep from gagging, he
tried fanning his arms a while, hoping the smell would
dissipate. He got another urge. This was a real blue ribbon
winner, the windows shook, the dishes on the table rattled and a
minute later the flowers on the table were dead.
With his blindfold still on, when he heard the phone farewells
he neatly laid his napkin on his lap and folded his hands on top
of it. Smiling contentedly, he was the picture of innocence when
his wife walked in. Apologizing for taking so long, she asked if
he had peeked at the dinner table. After assuring her he had not
peeked, she removed the blindfold and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!"
To his shock and horror, there were twelve dinner guests seated
around the table for his surprise birthday party.
Once upon a time, there lived a man who had a terrible passion
for baked beans. He loved them, but they always had an
embarrassing and somewhat lively reaction on him. One day he met
a girl and fell in love. When it became apparent that they would
marry, he thought to himself, she'll never go through with the
marriage with me carrying on like this, so he made the supreme
sacrifice and gave up beans.
Shortly after that they were married. A few months later, on his
birthday and on the way home from work, his car broke down.
Since they lived in the country, he called his wife and told her
that he would be late because he had to walk home. On his way
home, he passed a small cafe and the wonderful aroma of baked
beans overwhelmed him. Since he still had several miles to walk
he figured he could walk off any ill affects before he got home.
It was, after all, his birthday. So he went in and ordered, and
before leaving had 3 extra large helpings of baked beans.
All the way home he putt-putted. By the time he arrived home he
felt reasonably safe. His wife met him at the door and seemed
somewhat excited. She exclaimed, "Darling, I have the most
wonderful surprise for you for dinner tonight!" She put a
blindfold on him, and led him to his chair at the head of the
table and made him promise not to peak. At this point he was
beginning to feel another one coming on. Just as his wife was
about to remove the blindfold, the telephone rang. She again
made him promise not to peek until she returned, and away she
went to answer the phone. While she was gone, he seized the
opportunity. He shifted his weight to one leg and let go. It was
not only loud, but ripe as a rotten egg. He had a hard time
breathing, so he felt for his napkin and fanned the air about
him. He had just started to feel better, when another urge came
on. He raised his leg and RRIIPPP !!! It sounded like a diesel
engine revving, and smelled worse. To keep from gagging, he
tried fanning his arms a while, hoping the smell would
dissipate. He got another urge. This was a real blue ribbon
winner, the windows shook, the dishes on the table rattled and a
minute later the flowers on the table were dead.
With his blindfold still on, when he heard the phone farewells
he neatly laid his napkin on his lap and folded his hands on top
of it. Smiling contentedly, he was the picture of innocence when
his wife walked in. Apologizing for taking so long, she asked if
he had peeked at the dinner table. After assuring her he had not
peeked, she removed the blindfold and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!"
To his shock and horror, there were twelve dinner guests seated
around the table for his surprise birthday party.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
June 12, WORLD Naked Bike Ride Day
Yep, It is!! Major cities all over the world are organizing these bike rides to protest our dependancy on world oil.
Guess I better get my lawn chair ready and park it along the highway so I can watch!
RIDE ON FELLAS!!!
Guess I better get my lawn chair ready and park it along the highway so I can watch!
RIDE ON FELLAS!!!
Friday, June 11, 2004
DOWN!!!
Phyllis is DOWN!!! Her 'Puter died!! We do not know the prognosis as yet, hopefully it has just passed out, and is not DEAD! She is waiting for someone to come fix it, but beings as how this is a National day of mourning and everything is closed, and tomorrw is the weekend, it may be awhile! MAy be only an hour or two, but meanwhile, you need to go over to MY BLOG and sign in!! She may come over and update, but don't count on it!
Mary Lou
Mary Lou
Monday, June 07, 2004
37 years ago....
I graduated by the skin of my teeth. Coupeville High School class of 1967. The school is a very small farm school, and there were only about 28 kids in the graduating class. (I think I was #20, I didn't do alot of studying).
Ah, to be that innocent and THIN again!!
Hey, I had a long neck then!!! What happened???
Little does she know what lies ahead of her!!
Mwahahahahaha (sigh)
Ah, to be that innocent and THIN again!!
Hey, I had a long neck then!!! What happened???
Little does she know what lies ahead of her!!
Mwahahahahaha (sigh)
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Vacation is over.........WAAAAAA!!
Well it is Sunday night and I am getting the house ready for the work week ahead. I just had two weeks off, and am wondering how it went so danged FAST!! I have another weeks worth of things to do, but at least the floors are put in and the camper is cleaned and put away, the tomatoes are planted, My closet is purged and all my clothes washed ironed and put away!! I have gone through MOST of my junk drawers and piles of paperwork that I absolutely have no idea why I keep them!! I am shredding most of them!! Sheesh, but I sure am the clutter collector, and I HATE clutter!! As I organize and clean, I turn around and generate yet MORE clutter!!
Enough of my blabber. Hope everyone has a great week!! Monday morning is sneaking up really fast!!
Later, folks!!
Enough of my blabber. Hope everyone has a great week!! Monday morning is sneaking up really fast!!
Later, folks!!
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Friday, June 04, 2004
Floors
Well my floors still aren't done, but very very close!!
He will come back on monday to finish. I can't really put everything in it's place because the trim isn't done yet, and a small spot in the hall needs to be done. There went my vacation! But it was worth it!! It doesn't look like the same place!! I rearranged everything and bought a new fan to put in the kitchen also some small throw rugs for the kitchen.
I sure am spending the money I don't have yet!! HAHAHAHA
I already have the spot picked out for the Christmas tree!! I feel like I have moved into a new house!!
I cleaned out my tent trailer and put it away for the rains tomorrow, and planted four tomato plants in whiskey barrels. I am ready for a relaxing two days before going back to work on Monday!
Now I need to get back to my life story.
Have a great weekend, and remember....If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
He will come back on monday to finish. I can't really put everything in it's place because the trim isn't done yet, and a small spot in the hall needs to be done. There went my vacation! But it was worth it!! It doesn't look like the same place!! I rearranged everything and bought a new fan to put in the kitchen also some small throw rugs for the kitchen.
I sure am spending the money I don't have yet!! HAHAHAHA
I already have the spot picked out for the Christmas tree!! I feel like I have moved into a new house!!
I cleaned out my tent trailer and put it away for the rains tomorrow, and planted four tomato plants in whiskey barrels. I am ready for a relaxing two days before going back to work on Monday!
Now I need to get back to my life story.
Have a great weekend, and remember....If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Wha the...............????
Of all nights to happen.......I am sleeping out in my tent trailer tonight because the furniture in my house is all piled up in my kitchen and my bed is on it's side in my living room because my floors are still being installed. I left the door to my house and the door to my trailer open so my cat can come in and sleep with me in the trailer, then go to the house to use the litter box if she needed to. My friend made me promise to close the doors because of all the weirdos in my trailer park. Well good grief, I really don't think anyone would bother me, so I broke my promise. I went to bed at midnight and my cat crawled on the sleeping bag with me. I was sound asleep and a bright light woke me up. It sweped by my tent and faded out. Well that startled me so I got up and looked outside. Not a thing was stirring outside, so I went back inside and got back in my sleeping bag. Then KABOOM...crackle...shake!!! Well THAT got me up and out of my tent really fast!!! My cat and I both levitated and she about tripped me getting out of the tent before me!! My heart was thumping out of my chest and I tried to run like Hell but OOOPS!! I forgot about my CPAP machine and the mask on my face!! Okay, got that off and then continued levitating out and into my safe house!! I thought at first it was thunder. Well not a cloud in the sky, and the full moon was shining. Hmmmm, now that got me wondering what the heck it was????!!! I came in my house and called my sister who lives 7 miles away and she heard it too!! I waited ten minutes and called the ICOM dispatcher to ask her if there were any reports of an explosion, and she said yes, there are conflicting reports of maybe an earthquake or a meteor. Earthquake no, my stomach would tell me if it was an earthquake. But meteor, possibly. I did see the bright light before the noise. The dispatcher told me to turn on the emergency radio. Well all I'm getting is a weather report. Now I am WIDE AWAKE and it is 3:30 AM. I need to get some sleep because I am starting physical therapy tomorrow. (1.5 hours of exercising to strengthen my lungs and back). Okay, my adrenaline is down to a wide awake psycho now instead of a raving maniac, so I will try and go back outside where the monsters lurk and get some sleep!! Later, folks!
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Still hangin in there!!
Well my floors are about 1/2 done now. It is taking MUCH s l o w e r than I anticipated, but it is going to look great!! My living room furniture has been stacked in my kitchen since Friday, and the old carpet and padding is piled on my new patio!! I guess he will haul it all to the dump when he is through. The sun has finally come out and will be nice for the next few days! YAY!! At least I will have a few good days for my vacation.
I can't think yet to post any more, so I am off to get my hair cut!! That will make me feel better!!
Next week all will be back to normal!! But then WHAT IS NORMAL????
I can't think yet to post any more, so I am off to get my hair cut!! That will make me feel better!!
Next week all will be back to normal!! But then WHAT IS NORMAL????
Monday, May 31, 2004
Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day. Some people think of camping, picnics, a three day weekend, shopping, the beginning of Summer. I think of all that, but my heart is with the servicemen/women that paid the ultimate price for our freedom. God rest their souls!! Without them where would we be? I cannot imagine a life other than the one I am living today. I have the right to choose who and what I am! I can work wherever I want, schools are for my choosing, I can say what I please and go to the Church of my choice!! AMEN!!
Thank you to all who serve our Country!!
My father was in the Navy during World War Two. He joined when he was just a teen. My sister has a picture of him on her site. Go check out that handsome dude!! Hope everyone has a great day!!
I am back from camping and cramped in my torn apart house!! The floors are half done and I am sitting on bare plywood floors with all my furniture piled in my kitchen until tomorrow or Wednesday!! Geeze...but soon it will be done!! I will get back to my story when I am settled in.
Later, folks!!
Remember....Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
Thank you to all who serve our Country!!
My father was in the Navy during World War Two. He joined when he was just a teen. My sister has a picture of him on her site. Go check out that handsome dude!! Hope everyone has a great day!!
I am back from camping and cramped in my torn apart house!! The floors are half done and I am sitting on bare plywood floors with all my furniture piled in my kitchen until tomorrow or Wednesday!! Geeze...but soon it will be done!! I will get back to my story when I am settled in.
Later, folks!!
Remember....Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier'n puttin' it back.
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Camping
I am home for a shower and to feed "Punkin". My floors are about 1/3 done and my house is all torn up and a mess!! But.....next week it will be DONE!!!!! YAHOO!!
I set the camp up yesterday and as soon as I got there the sun came out. I sat down and opened the trail mix I made, and two squirrels appeared and demanded food!! After a while we left and when we came back the trail mix that I had in a quart jar was on the ground with the cap screwed off!! The little beggars had chewed around the plastic jar lid and figured out how to twist the lid off!! Now that would've been fun to watch!! For dinner We grilled Teriyaki steaks and had rice, waldorf coleslaw and brocoli salad. It was nice all day and night. I woke up to rain early this morning, but by the time I got up and out of bed the rain had stopped.
Well back to the campsite!!
I set the camp up yesterday and as soon as I got there the sun came out. I sat down and opened the trail mix I made, and two squirrels appeared and demanded food!! After a while we left and when we came back the trail mix that I had in a quart jar was on the ground with the cap screwed off!! The little beggars had chewed around the plastic jar lid and figured out how to twist the lid off!! Now that would've been fun to watch!! For dinner We grilled Teriyaki steaks and had rice, waldorf coleslaw and brocoli salad. It was nice all day and night. I woke up to rain early this morning, but by the time I got up and out of bed the rain had stopped.
Well back to the campsite!!
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Yikes!!
Well I woke up today and planned out the day. I ate breakfast and dressed then cleaned out the bathroom and hall. The guys are coming over today to put in the bathroom and hall floor, and tomorrow they will come and rip up the carpet and floor in the rest of the house. NOT!!! They showed up today and started moving things out and said they will rip up everything today!! I wasn't ready at all!! (AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMM.......calm down, Phyllis). Next week will be here and all will be done, so it will all work out!! I just wanted to get all the stuff out of my living room by tomorrow not today. But oh well. I also thought they were going to work through the weekend, but they are only here today and tomorrow, then finish next week. But I have all next week off too, so not to worry Phyllis!! It will be done soon enough, and all I have to do is enjoy the finished product and worry about paying for it the next few years!! I am going to put the trailer in the park tonight, and go camping tomorrow. The weather report.....
Today
Rain at times. Highs in the upper 50s. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Detail
Tonight
Showers. Lows in the upper 40s. South wind around 10 mph in the evening becoming light.
Friday
Showers likely. Highs around 60. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Detail
Friday Night
Partly cloudy. Scattered showers. Lows in the upper 40s. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Saturday
Rain likely. Highs around 60. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Detail
Saturday Night
Rain likely. Lows in the upper 40s.
Sunday
Rain likely. Highs in the lower 60s.
Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain. Lows in the upper 40s.
Memorial Day
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs around 60.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Lows in the mid 40s.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs in the lower 60s.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Lows in the upper 40s.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s. &&
OH well, it is Memorial Day and that is the norm!! I'm used to it!! The best part is coming home to a shower and a nice comfortable bed!!
Later, folks.
Today
Rain at times. Highs in the upper 50s. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Detail
Tonight
Showers. Lows in the upper 40s. South wind around 10 mph in the evening becoming light.
Friday
Showers likely. Highs around 60. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Detail
Friday Night
Partly cloudy. Scattered showers. Lows in the upper 40s. Southwest wind around 10 mph.
Saturday
Rain likely. Highs around 60. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
Detail
Saturday Night
Rain likely. Lows in the upper 40s.
Sunday
Rain likely. Highs in the lower 60s.
Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain. Lows in the upper 40s.
Memorial Day
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs around 60.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Lows in the mid 40s.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs in the lower 60s.
Tuesday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Lows in the upper 40s.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s. &&
OH well, it is Memorial Day and that is the norm!! I'm used to it!! The best part is coming home to a shower and a nice comfortable bed!!
Later, folks.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Too Pooped to Think!!!!
Okay, I have been busy the past few days shopping with my sister, taking Hannah out to dinner, getting my house ready for new floors to be installed, getting prepared for the camping trip in the rain, and trying to feel better. I think I got a bug of some kind which isn't surprising as it is my vacation!! Sooooo, I will hold off on my drunken past for a few days!! (I also need to put my mind to work remembering some of those foggy days).
I will pop in once in awhile as I live 15 miles from the campsite and will come home daily to feed the kitty!!
Hope all is well your way, and will be seeing you later!!
Come on over to the campsite and grab a hot dog and some S'mores and a cup of coffee and enjoy the campfire!!
Later, folks!!
I will pop in once in awhile as I live 15 miles from the campsite and will come home daily to feed the kitty!!
Hope all is well your way, and will be seeing you later!!
Come on over to the campsite and grab a hot dog and some S'mores and a cup of coffee and enjoy the campfire!!
Later, folks!!
Monday, May 24, 2004
Day 8….Back to parties!!!
Now I am getting into some of my foggy years. There are a lot of missing time warps, and as I write, more bits and pieces come to mind. Let’s see, when I went to Seattle I needed some money so I sold my car to my dad, and in turn he sold it. I moved back to Coupeville and got my job back at the Seagull Café. I found a room in a motel 2 miles south of town that rented out for the month. It had a kitchenette and it was sufficient. I would get a ride to work and there was always someone to get me home. I would go to parties in Oak Harbor (12 miles away). I decided to have a party at my apartment, and had someone buy me a bottle of vodka and some roses lime juice. I started drinking gimlets as soon as I got home and by the time the first person showed up, I was drunk!! When I drank, if it tasted good, I would want MORE!! So I drank the entire fifth and when everyone showed up, I passed out. The next day I was told that I can throw a great party! I’ll take their word for it!!
I had a hard time getting rides to work so I found a cheap place to rent in town (Town had a population of 750 in 1967). It was two blocks from work. After work I went to a lot of parties and they usually ended up at my house. In fact many times I would come home from work to a party going on in my house and I lived alone!! I did not own a television. I had a stereo and lots of albums. The best albums were the “Oldies but Goodies”. I met a group of Sailors from New York and they would all end up at my house. We played the “Oldies but Goodies” all through the night and we danced, danced, danced!! That little one bedroom bungalow would cram in 50 people partying through the night!! To this day whenever I hear an Oldie from the 50’s, I get melancholy. Sha Na NA is one of my favorite groups. I remember one night I got a phone call from Vic Seeley the Tavern Owner/Mayor. He asked if I had a party going on, and I said yes, and he sent 9 Green Beret guys over!! They were at NAS Whidbey doing some survival training for Viet Nam and were on a weekend off and went to the Tavern looking for fun and girls. Vic sold them each a case of beer and sent them to my house!! Remember, I was only 19 or 20 at the time!!
I need to go back a year or so. When I was still living with mom & dad we lived in a very old Victorian house on top of a hill. It had a ghost in it. We never saw it, but it would do strange things. Once it locked my bedroom door from the inside. I lived on the second story and there is no way anyone could’ve locked it from the inside and sneak out the windows! It had a hook lock that needed to be pushed to lock. The ghost would turn my light on and off in my bedroom. There was one source of electricity in the room and it was from a hanging bulb from the center of the ceiling. I was afraid of the dark and would go to sleep with the light on. I would wake up in the middle of the night and it would be turned off. This battle went on for months, so we had it re-wired. That did not stop it. The cat would sleep with me and I would wake up to the cat growling staring at the wall. (mice?). We were all convinced there was a ghost!
Once while I was working at the café Helen and I were the only two in there. We were sitting at the counter and two good looking well dressed guys walked in and headed to the back dining room. I grabbed two menus and headed back. I got in the dining room and they weren’t there. I went back out front and Helen was still sitting at the counter. I asked her if she saw them walk out, and she said no. The only two doors were right in front. Helen was sitting there and they had to go by her to get out, I was in the hall and they would have to go by me or walk through the kitchen and come out by Helen. Hmmmmm…a couple of spirits just passing through.
Back to the parties… One night the “New Yorkers” were at my house and were were bored so we all decided to go to an old abandoned house a block away. It was eerie. The grass was mossy and soft, and the windows and doors were nailed shut. We pulled off the boards and opened the front door. The guys of course decided to go in first and my friend Irene and I were right behind them. As we all entered the house a Rainier beer bottle came rolling down the stairs!! (We were drinking Olympia). Well those big brave men flattened me trying to get out of the house screaming like little girls!! I got the giggles and couldn’t run! I was rolling in the front yard laughing hysterically. One by one they all came creeping back sheepishly. We went back in looking for the source of the bottle. Upstairs was kinda spooky. Well okay, the whole house was kinda spooky!!
I went in one of the rooms upstairs and there was a rocker in the middle of the room rocking all by itself. This time my eyes popped out of my head and I turned to run and noticed that again I was the last to leave!! They guys were a block away screaming by the time I got to the front door. Again I was rolling in the front lawn laughing hysterically. I think I peed my pants that time!! To this day I love to get scared!!
(adrenaline junkie).
Tomorrow…more parties!!
I had a hard time getting rides to work so I found a cheap place to rent in town (Town had a population of 750 in 1967). It was two blocks from work. After work I went to a lot of parties and they usually ended up at my house. In fact many times I would come home from work to a party going on in my house and I lived alone!! I did not own a television. I had a stereo and lots of albums. The best albums were the “Oldies but Goodies”. I met a group of Sailors from New York and they would all end up at my house. We played the “Oldies but Goodies” all through the night and we danced, danced, danced!! That little one bedroom bungalow would cram in 50 people partying through the night!! To this day whenever I hear an Oldie from the 50’s, I get melancholy. Sha Na NA is one of my favorite groups. I remember one night I got a phone call from Vic Seeley the Tavern Owner/Mayor. He asked if I had a party going on, and I said yes, and he sent 9 Green Beret guys over!! They were at NAS Whidbey doing some survival training for Viet Nam and were on a weekend off and went to the Tavern looking for fun and girls. Vic sold them each a case of beer and sent them to my house!! Remember, I was only 19 or 20 at the time!!
I need to go back a year or so. When I was still living with mom & dad we lived in a very old Victorian house on top of a hill. It had a ghost in it. We never saw it, but it would do strange things. Once it locked my bedroom door from the inside. I lived on the second story and there is no way anyone could’ve locked it from the inside and sneak out the windows! It had a hook lock that needed to be pushed to lock. The ghost would turn my light on and off in my bedroom. There was one source of electricity in the room and it was from a hanging bulb from the center of the ceiling. I was afraid of the dark and would go to sleep with the light on. I would wake up in the middle of the night and it would be turned off. This battle went on for months, so we had it re-wired. That did not stop it. The cat would sleep with me and I would wake up to the cat growling staring at the wall. (mice?). We were all convinced there was a ghost!
Once while I was working at the café Helen and I were the only two in there. We were sitting at the counter and two good looking well dressed guys walked in and headed to the back dining room. I grabbed two menus and headed back. I got in the dining room and they weren’t there. I went back out front and Helen was still sitting at the counter. I asked her if she saw them walk out, and she said no. The only two doors were right in front. Helen was sitting there and they had to go by her to get out, I was in the hall and they would have to go by me or walk through the kitchen and come out by Helen. Hmmmmm…a couple of spirits just passing through.
Back to the parties… One night the “New Yorkers” were at my house and were were bored so we all decided to go to an old abandoned house a block away. It was eerie. The grass was mossy and soft, and the windows and doors were nailed shut. We pulled off the boards and opened the front door. The guys of course decided to go in first and my friend Irene and I were right behind them. As we all entered the house a Rainier beer bottle came rolling down the stairs!! (We were drinking Olympia). Well those big brave men flattened me trying to get out of the house screaming like little girls!! I got the giggles and couldn’t run! I was rolling in the front yard laughing hysterically. One by one they all came creeping back sheepishly. We went back in looking for the source of the bottle. Upstairs was kinda spooky. Well okay, the whole house was kinda spooky!!
I went in one of the rooms upstairs and there was a rocker in the middle of the room rocking all by itself. This time my eyes popped out of my head and I turned to run and noticed that again I was the last to leave!! They guys were a block away screaming by the time I got to the front door. Again I was rolling in the front lawn laughing hysterically. I think I peed my pants that time!! To this day I love to get scared!!
(adrenaline junkie).
Tomorrow…more parties!!
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Day 7...City Slicker!!
1968….I decided living in Coupeville was BORING!!! I thought I’d go to Seattle and look for work. I stayed at a friend’s apartment and she helped me find a job at the Vernell’s candy factory. Now that was hard work!!! I would station myself at the end of the conveyor belt and inspect the mounds of chocolate that would come down the belt and into the boxes. When the boxes got full I would pick them up and put them in a pile and go back to the next box. If the mounds came out with no chocolate, I was to push the emergency stop button to cancel the conveyor belt and refill the chocolate. Have you ever seen the segment on the “I Love Lucy Show”? Lucy and Ethyl working at the candy factory and eating the candy and stuffing them everywhere when the belt started going faster? Yep. That was me!! I lasted two days at that job!! I could hardly make it out of bed the next day, and crawled to work and just couldn’t make it the full day! I moved back home and was working in the beet fields and was pushed off the tractor by a big dirt clod!! I tried Seattle again and found a job at the “Fred Astaire Dance Studio” as a dance “instructor. I was 19 years old and they told me I would travel around and possibly go to Vegas and the clubs. I told them I was under age, and they said no problem, they would get me a fake ID card. I told my dad (the cop), and he put a halt to that right away!! It was a Call Girl ring!! Now that would’ve been exciting!! I was so naïve in those days. I had “Country Bumpkin” written all over me!!
I stayed at the YWCA in Seattle for a few days while looking for work again and took a test for the Bell Telephone Company. While waiting for the test results, I went across the street on First Avenue to a café for some coffee. The owner came up to me and offered me a job if I didn’t get the job at the Telephone Company. I was really excited for that!! He asked me to come back that evening to look at an apartment he would let me live in if I worked for him. Luckily I got the job at the Telephone Company. I was told later that he was a pimp!!! (Country Bumpkin again!!). To celebrate the job at the Phone Company, I went out with a gal I met at the YWCA to a dance. I was dancing and met a neat guy. We went walking the City after the Dance then he walked me back to the YWCA. The doors were locked. I didn’t know the rules there were so strict that they locked the doors at a certain hour. He said I could stay at his place and he snuck me into the YMCA. I got scared so we left there and ended up at the Space Needle area, and found a shack to go rest in. We fell asleep and a guard woke us up in the morning. I felt really cheap then!! We didn’t do the no-no, but I still felt cheap!! My make-up was smeared all over my face, my dress was all wrinkled, and I really looked BAD!! I got back to the YWCA and got cleaned up then went home.
I found an Apartment in Seattle two blocks away from the Greyhound Bus station. The Telephone Company was on Third Avenue 11 blocks away. I could take a bus home. The gals there would teach me how to apply make-up, and put on false eyelashes. I remember once I was on the bus and it was HOT!! I smiled at everyone and they smiled back and looked away. My eyes felt sticky from the eyelash glue and the heat. When I got to work I looked in the mirror and noticed the eyelashes stuck to the upper lid of my eyes instead of down by my eyelashes where I glued them!! HAHAHAHA. No wonder everyone was looking away smiling! I thought they were just thinking “what a nice gal”!! HAHAHAHA!!
I went to a party at a girl’s house that I worked with one night. We had beer and wine and then we all sat on the floor in a circle and they brought out a pipe. They lit it and passed it around. I thought that was pretty weird!! I smoked Marlboro’s. City people do strange things. They told me to take a puff when it came around so I did then blew it out. They said NO!! Ya gotta keep it in your lungs for as long as you can!! So I did, and it made me dizzy. I got the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing. I was told I now smoked pot!! OH MY GOD!!! I got really scared!! I had no idea what that was in 1968!! It just wasn’t in the town I was from. I walked home that night alone in downtown Seattle. Walking through the city was weird. The nightlife was all over the streets. I stopped at a place for coffee and watched the action on the street. 5th and Pike Street was the place for prostitution!! I was fascinated!! I somehow got home safe and sound.
Another night I was walking home and noticed a man behind me. This was a dark street one block from my apartment, so I started walking faster. He started walking faster. I slowed down, he slowed down. I got scared and started walking faster then ended up running to my apartment building. I got to my door and looked down the hall. He was coming at me pulling his penis out of his pants!!! I got in my apartment just in time and slammed the door. I didn’t have a phone, so I pounded on the wall for the neighbors and yelled to them to call the cops!! The Police showed up and I let them in. My apartment was a studio with a fold down bed, and long narrow kitchen with the refrigerator at the end of the kitchen, and a small bathroom. The one cop came out of the kitchen and asked if I knew there was a kitchen door. I said NO!! Behind the refrigerator was another door that opened up to the hall. It was wide open!! Thankfully the Police were quick to respond and must’ve startled the guy as he was getting my kitchen door open!! I described him and they showed me a picture of him!! I said YES that was him!! He had raped and murdered a woman the week before, and raped another one. Bud Buttendahl (one of the cops with beautiful blue eyes) met me after work every night to give me a ride home. I started dating him. He was a real sweetheart!! After two months of working at the Phone Company I came down with strep throat. I tried to call in sick but I did not have the time in the books, so I went to work. They sent me to the doctor and he said I wasn’t allowed to go to work because I was contagious. I went to work to tell them, and they said well I guess you don’t work here any more!! So that was the end of my career at the telephone company and my life in the big city!! I was actually happy to get back home to my comfy little safe town!!
Tomorrow….Back to Parties!!!!!
I stayed at the YWCA in Seattle for a few days while looking for work again and took a test for the Bell Telephone Company. While waiting for the test results, I went across the street on First Avenue to a café for some coffee. The owner came up to me and offered me a job if I didn’t get the job at the Telephone Company. I was really excited for that!! He asked me to come back that evening to look at an apartment he would let me live in if I worked for him. Luckily I got the job at the Telephone Company. I was told later that he was a pimp!!! (Country Bumpkin again!!). To celebrate the job at the Phone Company, I went out with a gal I met at the YWCA to a dance. I was dancing and met a neat guy. We went walking the City after the Dance then he walked me back to the YWCA. The doors were locked. I didn’t know the rules there were so strict that they locked the doors at a certain hour. He said I could stay at his place and he snuck me into the YMCA. I got scared so we left there and ended up at the Space Needle area, and found a shack to go rest in. We fell asleep and a guard woke us up in the morning. I felt really cheap then!! We didn’t do the no-no, but I still felt cheap!! My make-up was smeared all over my face, my dress was all wrinkled, and I really looked BAD!! I got back to the YWCA and got cleaned up then went home.
I found an Apartment in Seattle two blocks away from the Greyhound Bus station. The Telephone Company was on Third Avenue 11 blocks away. I could take a bus home. The gals there would teach me how to apply make-up, and put on false eyelashes. I remember once I was on the bus and it was HOT!! I smiled at everyone and they smiled back and looked away. My eyes felt sticky from the eyelash glue and the heat. When I got to work I looked in the mirror and noticed the eyelashes stuck to the upper lid of my eyes instead of down by my eyelashes where I glued them!! HAHAHAHA. No wonder everyone was looking away smiling! I thought they were just thinking “what a nice gal”!! HAHAHAHA!!
I went to a party at a girl’s house that I worked with one night. We had beer and wine and then we all sat on the floor in a circle and they brought out a pipe. They lit it and passed it around. I thought that was pretty weird!! I smoked Marlboro’s. City people do strange things. They told me to take a puff when it came around so I did then blew it out. They said NO!! Ya gotta keep it in your lungs for as long as you can!! So I did, and it made me dizzy. I got the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing. I was told I now smoked pot!! OH MY GOD!!! I got really scared!! I had no idea what that was in 1968!! It just wasn’t in the town I was from. I walked home that night alone in downtown Seattle. Walking through the city was weird. The nightlife was all over the streets. I stopped at a place for coffee and watched the action on the street. 5th and Pike Street was the place for prostitution!! I was fascinated!! I somehow got home safe and sound.
Another night I was walking home and noticed a man behind me. This was a dark street one block from my apartment, so I started walking faster. He started walking faster. I slowed down, he slowed down. I got scared and started walking faster then ended up running to my apartment building. I got to my door and looked down the hall. He was coming at me pulling his penis out of his pants!!! I got in my apartment just in time and slammed the door. I didn’t have a phone, so I pounded on the wall for the neighbors and yelled to them to call the cops!! The Police showed up and I let them in. My apartment was a studio with a fold down bed, and long narrow kitchen with the refrigerator at the end of the kitchen, and a small bathroom. The one cop came out of the kitchen and asked if I knew there was a kitchen door. I said NO!! Behind the refrigerator was another door that opened up to the hall. It was wide open!! Thankfully the Police were quick to respond and must’ve startled the guy as he was getting my kitchen door open!! I described him and they showed me a picture of him!! I said YES that was him!! He had raped and murdered a woman the week before, and raped another one. Bud Buttendahl (one of the cops with beautiful blue eyes) met me after work every night to give me a ride home. I started dating him. He was a real sweetheart!! After two months of working at the Phone Company I came down with strep throat. I tried to call in sick but I did not have the time in the books, so I went to work. They sent me to the doctor and he said I wasn’t allowed to go to work because I was contagious. I went to work to tell them, and they said well I guess you don’t work here any more!! So that was the end of my career at the telephone company and my life in the big city!! I was actually happy to get back home to my comfy little safe town!!
Tomorrow….Back to Parties!!!!!
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Day 6…Freedom!!
I was working full time at the restaurant now. I moved into a little one bedroom apartment with my friend Carrie. The apartment was a remodeled garage behind a two story hundred year old Blockhouse Inn on Front Street in Coupeville. We paid $50.00 a month rent plus electricity and phone. Remember now, this is 1967, wages were $1.25 an hour. For a 30 hour week I would take home about $55.00 every two weeks, plus tips. I made about $5.00 & 8.00 a night in tips, so I brought home about $250.00 a month. I bought an old car, a 1949 Nash Rambler convertible for $150.00!! So now we had our own place to live, wheels to get to the dances in Oak Harbor 10 miles away, and we were young and life was gooooood!!
We were the talk of the town! Girls did not live on their own in Coupeville in 1967. That means trouble, for sure!! Let me go back 6 months….I cleaned a house for an elderly lady after school for about 6 months. She was a sweet little old lady. Her name was Ida Mae Sill. Her father was the first white baby born on the Island. His last name was Alexander. They have an old blockhouse named after him here in the town. A blockhouse is a log structure about 12’x12’ and two story. It has little square holes in the sides for guns to poke through in case of Indian attacks. The Indians on the Island were friendly but the ones from Vancouver Island were the renegades. Anyway, Mrs. Sill was a friend of mine and was thrilled that I moved in next door to her!! Her house was one up from the Inn. The Blockhouse structure was next door to the Inn. Her thrill didn’t last long at all. I was too busy to visit with her, as I worked until 9:00, went to the dances, came home around 3:00 or 4:00 am, slept until noon and went to work. This was a daily routine! I didn’t have time for my sweet friend. Dang, I feel bad about that now.
The guy from Texas I dated was too busy getting drunk in the bars (he was 21) and chasing other women, so we kinda split our ways. In other words, he quit calling me. He was sent to Viet Nam in November. I never heard from him until he was ready to come home two years later.
We had a Christmas party for work, and we all exchanged gifts. Barry, the guy that worked on the farm was invited which thrilled Carrie and I. I drank a lot at the party and was sooo sick the next day! Everyone thought it was cute. Barry laughed at me when I was drunk. Well okay, everyone laughed at me when I got drunk! I was sick for about three days after that party so I went to the doctor. He said I had an allergic reaction to the alcohol I drank. I asked if that meant I couldn’t ever drink again, and he said “no, but you will have bad hangovers if you drink too much”. Oh, okay!! So for twenty years I had bad hangovers. I almost wish he would’ve told me “no, you cannot drink again”. But then I wouldn’t be writing this drunk-a-log now would I?!!
Work…dance…PARTY!! We met a bunch of guys at the club that played guitars, and they would bring their guitars over to the house and drink beer and wine and play music.
Carrie and I worked different hours, and sometimes I would come home to a party going on. There was never a shortage of men on the Island.
Helen put me on the morning shift at the restaurant. I hated mornings!! I would sleep in and Helen would call me to get to work, and I was in deep trouble. Once she didn’t call me, and I was replaced by another gal. I was called the next morning and she told me she would give me another chance. I was fine as long as I worked the evening shift, but she would put me on mornings again, and then fire me for sleeping in, then hire me back!! Geeze, she should know that I stayed up all night drinking and partying, how the heck could I show up for work at 7:00am??? Nobody liked the change that was happening to me. I was hanging out with sailors at my house at all hours. The busy bodies just knew we were having sex orgies there. My mom was a drunk, and so I will end up just like her so they said!! Barry would get disgusted with us for hanging with the sailors and getting drunk. The more people talked the more I partied!! I was getting disgusted with this town any way!! What the heck do they know?
Carrie got pregnant and married her boyfriend, so I was living alone at the place now. I started going to the clubs again and met new friends, and new parties. It just wasn’t the same though, all my friends I hung around with were all married now and had babies!! And the cheese stands alone………More tomorrow.
We were the talk of the town! Girls did not live on their own in Coupeville in 1967. That means trouble, for sure!! Let me go back 6 months….I cleaned a house for an elderly lady after school for about 6 months. She was a sweet little old lady. Her name was Ida Mae Sill. Her father was the first white baby born on the Island. His last name was Alexander. They have an old blockhouse named after him here in the town. A blockhouse is a log structure about 12’x12’ and two story. It has little square holes in the sides for guns to poke through in case of Indian attacks. The Indians on the Island were friendly but the ones from Vancouver Island were the renegades. Anyway, Mrs. Sill was a friend of mine and was thrilled that I moved in next door to her!! Her house was one up from the Inn. The Blockhouse structure was next door to the Inn. Her thrill didn’t last long at all. I was too busy to visit with her, as I worked until 9:00, went to the dances, came home around 3:00 or 4:00 am, slept until noon and went to work. This was a daily routine! I didn’t have time for my sweet friend. Dang, I feel bad about that now.
The guy from Texas I dated was too busy getting drunk in the bars (he was 21) and chasing other women, so we kinda split our ways. In other words, he quit calling me. He was sent to Viet Nam in November. I never heard from him until he was ready to come home two years later.
We had a Christmas party for work, and we all exchanged gifts. Barry, the guy that worked on the farm was invited which thrilled Carrie and I. I drank a lot at the party and was sooo sick the next day! Everyone thought it was cute. Barry laughed at me when I was drunk. Well okay, everyone laughed at me when I got drunk! I was sick for about three days after that party so I went to the doctor. He said I had an allergic reaction to the alcohol I drank. I asked if that meant I couldn’t ever drink again, and he said “no, but you will have bad hangovers if you drink too much”. Oh, okay!! So for twenty years I had bad hangovers. I almost wish he would’ve told me “no, you cannot drink again”. But then I wouldn’t be writing this drunk-a-log now would I?!!
Work…dance…PARTY!! We met a bunch of guys at the club that played guitars, and they would bring their guitars over to the house and drink beer and wine and play music.
Carrie and I worked different hours, and sometimes I would come home to a party going on. There was never a shortage of men on the Island.
Helen put me on the morning shift at the restaurant. I hated mornings!! I would sleep in and Helen would call me to get to work, and I was in deep trouble. Once she didn’t call me, and I was replaced by another gal. I was called the next morning and she told me she would give me another chance. I was fine as long as I worked the evening shift, but she would put me on mornings again, and then fire me for sleeping in, then hire me back!! Geeze, she should know that I stayed up all night drinking and partying, how the heck could I show up for work at 7:00am??? Nobody liked the change that was happening to me. I was hanging out with sailors at my house at all hours. The busy bodies just knew we were having sex orgies there. My mom was a drunk, and so I will end up just like her so they said!! Barry would get disgusted with us for hanging with the sailors and getting drunk. The more people talked the more I partied!! I was getting disgusted with this town any way!! What the heck do they know?
Carrie got pregnant and married her boyfriend, so I was living alone at the place now. I started going to the clubs again and met new friends, and new parties. It just wasn’t the same though, all my friends I hung around with were all married now and had babies!! And the cheese stands alone………More tomorrow.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Looooong Day!!
I just got home from work an hour ago, (13 hour day)and just don't have time to write in my blog. So I am giving y'all a break for a day or two.
Going to shower then to bed to read.
Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!! Then I am off for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!!!
Gonna camp for 4 of the days then have my carpets pulled up and have laminate floors installed maybe June 1-4. Lots to do!!
Later, folks!! And remember......Always drink upstream from the herd.
Going to shower then to bed to read.
Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!! Then I am off for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!!!
Gonna camp for 4 of the days then have my carpets pulled up and have laminate floors installed maybe June 1-4. Lots to do!!
Later, folks!! And remember......Always drink upstream from the herd.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Day 5…Dance the night away!!
Let’s see, it is 1966 now and I am a Junior in High School working part time at the Pharmacy and also at the Seagull restaurant. I would get off work then run to the dance at the “Kon Tiki” and get home around midnight or 1:00 am. I would go to school in the morning and then go to work after school, to the dance, etc. Mom told me if I ever stayed home from school because I was tired, I would not be able to go to the dances. I would be so tired in school that around 3rd period I would go to the nurses station and tell her I was sick again and she would let me sleep in the sick room for an hour. I told the nurse that I had a heart condition and tired easily and had the nurse convinced that mom would make me quit my jobs if I went home sick from school, and I needed the jobs desperately. HeeHeeHee Mom never knew that until about 15 years ago!! She got mad when I told her!!
I had a 4th of July/Birthday party at my parent’s house for a friend of mine. My sister and her boyfriend were the chaperones, and mom and dad were at the Tavern. We found dad’s stash of apple cider he was brewing, and passed it around. We all acted drunk on it, but got diarrhea from it. It was pure vinegar!! HAHAHAHAHA My sister was in a car wreck later that night.
The dances on the base were so much fun!! During the summer of 1966 I started working full time at the restaurant and quit the Pharmacy. There were some cute young construction workers that would come to the restaurant for dinner. I had a crush on just about every cute guy that came in there. One was Barry. He was an “older” guy that worked on the local farm. He was 28 years old. Carrie and I both had a crush on him. When we cleaned up the restaurant at night Helen would call next door to the tavern and ask for a 6 pack of “strawberry soda” (Olympia Beer), and Vic Sealy (the mayor and tavern owner) would send someone over with it. It only cost $1.25 a 6 pack then. She would let me and Carrie drink a beer while we cleaned up. Then we’d head to the Kon Tiki!! The bartenders knew when we ordered cokes, and once in awhile would send over a rum and coke!! I was too busy dancing to bother getting drunk. Believe it or not, I was painfully shy. Working at the restaurant helped me get over the shyness. The summer of 1966 was good!! I slimmed down and bought grown-up dresses, hemmed them up to make them into “mini” skirts, and had a ball!! I started out my Senior year a happy girl. I was becoming popular in school, and had a fun job and went out dancing 4 nights a week!
I remember Christmas of 1966 as a really bad one. Mom and dad had some guys over from the Tavern and they all got drunk. I was asked to take this drunk old man (probably 35) back to the base, and on the way he tried making passes at me. I whopped him a good one!!
When I got back home dad was in bed and mom and Hobart were drunk. I went to bed and woke up around 8:00. Dad was gone to work (he worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off as a Fireman) and mom and Hobart were drunk and passed out under the tree. I ran to my sister’s house and got her to help me kick Hobart out of the house and told my little brother (12) to get back to bed. I pulled mom to bed and found all the presents and wrapped them and then got my brother to come down to open them. Merry Christmas!!
In the Spring of 1967 there was a beauty contest on the Naval Base. “Miss NAS Whidbey”. I was informed that I was nominated to be a contestant!! WHAT??? ME??? I found out the Marine Corps Barracks nominated me!! (GET THIS STRAIGHT, I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THE BARRACKS IN MY LIFE)!! The guys would come over to the dances, and thought I was cute I guess. Any way, I was honored!! I had to go to Seattle to buy a formal, and get my picture taken by a real professional photographer!! They held the contest in the Theater, and I was on stage with about 20 other gals. I had no hopes at all to win, but I felt so wonderful to just be on that stage!!! MY GOD, ME???? I didn’t win, but I had the time of my life!! I felt like royalty. (oh my gosh, if they could see me now!) I started dating this tall cute guy from Texas, and he had to go to work on the flight line at midnight, so once in awhile he would take me out to where he worked and sneak me in the hangar. I remember climbing up into an A-6. (now I know why…so they could look up my skirt). I also went out in the red-eye truck on the airfield once while they brought in an airplane. My dad was working as a Firefighter on the base by now and found out I was sneaking out there, and gave me the riot act!! He had some really strict rules and made me abide by them as long as I was living in his house. I was counting the days until I could get my own place in June when I graduated from high school. I went to my senior Prom with a sailor, and that was frowned upon by the rest of the class so I left early to go to the Kon Tiki and get some real dancing in!!
The night before Graduation I went to the dance at the club and then went for breakfast afterwards. We were all sitting there talking and before we realized, it was 3:00 am!! Carrie was still living at home too, and we were in big trouble!! We had a 2:00 curfew!! She was scared, so we went out on the road and gave the car a flat tire then called her parents. She didn’t get in trouble because her parents believed her. Well my parents knew better!! I told them the truth that we flattened the tire on purpose. I was on restriction on Graduation Night!! I found an apartment a block away from where I worked and I moved out of my parent’s house the next week and was on my own!!
Tomorrow…FREEDOM!!!
I had a 4th of July/Birthday party at my parent’s house for a friend of mine. My sister and her boyfriend were the chaperones, and mom and dad were at the Tavern. We found dad’s stash of apple cider he was brewing, and passed it around. We all acted drunk on it, but got diarrhea from it. It was pure vinegar!! HAHAHAHAHA My sister was in a car wreck later that night.
The dances on the base were so much fun!! During the summer of 1966 I started working full time at the restaurant and quit the Pharmacy. There were some cute young construction workers that would come to the restaurant for dinner. I had a crush on just about every cute guy that came in there. One was Barry. He was an “older” guy that worked on the local farm. He was 28 years old. Carrie and I both had a crush on him. When we cleaned up the restaurant at night Helen would call next door to the tavern and ask for a 6 pack of “strawberry soda” (Olympia Beer), and Vic Sealy (the mayor and tavern owner) would send someone over with it. It only cost $1.25 a 6 pack then. She would let me and Carrie drink a beer while we cleaned up. Then we’d head to the Kon Tiki!! The bartenders knew when we ordered cokes, and once in awhile would send over a rum and coke!! I was too busy dancing to bother getting drunk. Believe it or not, I was painfully shy. Working at the restaurant helped me get over the shyness. The summer of 1966 was good!! I slimmed down and bought grown-up dresses, hemmed them up to make them into “mini” skirts, and had a ball!! I started out my Senior year a happy girl. I was becoming popular in school, and had a fun job and went out dancing 4 nights a week!
I remember Christmas of 1966 as a really bad one. Mom and dad had some guys over from the Tavern and they all got drunk. I was asked to take this drunk old man (probably 35) back to the base, and on the way he tried making passes at me. I whopped him a good one!!
When I got back home dad was in bed and mom and Hobart were drunk. I went to bed and woke up around 8:00. Dad was gone to work (he worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off as a Fireman) and mom and Hobart were drunk and passed out under the tree. I ran to my sister’s house and got her to help me kick Hobart out of the house and told my little brother (12) to get back to bed. I pulled mom to bed and found all the presents and wrapped them and then got my brother to come down to open them. Merry Christmas!!
In the Spring of 1967 there was a beauty contest on the Naval Base. “Miss NAS Whidbey”. I was informed that I was nominated to be a contestant!! WHAT??? ME??? I found out the Marine Corps Barracks nominated me!! (GET THIS STRAIGHT, I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THE BARRACKS IN MY LIFE)!! The guys would come over to the dances, and thought I was cute I guess. Any way, I was honored!! I had to go to Seattle to buy a formal, and get my picture taken by a real professional photographer!! They held the contest in the Theater, and I was on stage with about 20 other gals. I had no hopes at all to win, but I felt so wonderful to just be on that stage!!! MY GOD, ME???? I didn’t win, but I had the time of my life!! I felt like royalty. (oh my gosh, if they could see me now!) I started dating this tall cute guy from Texas, and he had to go to work on the flight line at midnight, so once in awhile he would take me out to where he worked and sneak me in the hangar. I remember climbing up into an A-6. (now I know why…so they could look up my skirt). I also went out in the red-eye truck on the airfield once while they brought in an airplane. My dad was working as a Firefighter on the base by now and found out I was sneaking out there, and gave me the riot act!! He had some really strict rules and made me abide by them as long as I was living in his house. I was counting the days until I could get my own place in June when I graduated from high school. I went to my senior Prom with a sailor, and that was frowned upon by the rest of the class so I left early to go to the Kon Tiki and get some real dancing in!!
The night before Graduation I went to the dance at the club and then went for breakfast afterwards. We were all sitting there talking and before we realized, it was 3:00 am!! Carrie was still living at home too, and we were in big trouble!! We had a 2:00 curfew!! She was scared, so we went out on the road and gave the car a flat tire then called her parents. She didn’t get in trouble because her parents believed her. Well my parents knew better!! I told them the truth that we flattened the tire on purpose. I was on restriction on Graduation Night!! I found an apartment a block away from where I worked and I moved out of my parent’s house the next week and was on my own!!
Tomorrow…FREEDOM!!!
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Day 4...Beginning my work history
I am trying to capture the jobs I had during my lifetime. I will probably jump around, but my mind does that once in awhile. Well ok, it does that a lot!!
When I was 13 & 14, I worked in strawberry fields in the summer picking (and throwing) strawberries. I threw a big grey moldy one and hit the field boss! I was fired from that job and went to the next field. It was dirty hard work. I remember the mornings being cold and damp. The smell of the dirty and moldy berries, crawling on your hands and knees in the mud, picking the berries really sucked. In the afternoon it would be HOT and dusty!! I would save some berries in my pockets for throwing out the windows at tourists standing on the bridge when the bus drove over the bridge! I remember one old woman screaming and grabbing her chest when a juicy berry hit her in the back. oooops!! HAHAHAHAHA OOPS fired again!! I also babysat at night. When I was 15 my friend Loraine got me a part time job after school sorting laundry in a dry cleaners. I worked there a few months until I sorted a red towel into a Navy chief's white shorts and t-shirts. Whoops!! They all turned out pink!! I think I was asked not to come back. I can’t remember.
When I was 16 I was shopping at the local drug store and the owner, Ted Christianson, came up to me and asked me if I would like to work for him. I told him I was on probation for stealing, and he said he knew that but would give me a job if I wanted one. I was flabbergasted!! I started working for him in the drug store and the clothing store attached. I learned how to wrap presents there, and to this day I love wrapping presents! This man I will never forget. He saw a teen that was going through troubled times and gave her a chance!! God Bless you Ted!! When you think that you can’t make a difference, think again!! That one kind gesture 40 years ago influenced my life!! I in turn look at troubled teens and see potential not doom! I try to encourage them and give them something positive to aim for. I like to tell them I was right where they are and I got out, and so can they. There is hope for you kids!! Of course they roll their eyes, give me the finger and walk on! Hahahahahahahaha
Let’s see, I was 16 years old when I went to pick up my sister on the Navy Base. She worked in the cafeteria and on the other side was the Enlisted Men's club. I walked in the front door of the club looking for her, and she pushed me into the restroom and told me to take out the curlers in my hair and put on some lipstick. I did, and we went out and sat at a table and ordered Shirley temples. Ooooooooo I felt like such a grown up!! Sailors would come up to our table and talk to us, and buy us some Shirley Temples!! I think the next day I aged 5 years!! I was suddenly a grown woman wanting to look pretty and go dancing!! So I did! I found out there were dances Thursday Friday and Saturday nights. Mom said as long as I don’t miss any school I could go to the dances! I bought some pretty dresses at “Gloria’s” where I worked, and grew into a young lady!! I really loved the attention I was getting at the dances!! The boys in my school had no interest in me, but at the base, well I was eye candy to the sailors. I can remember walking in the front door and hear wolf whistles!! Woohoo!! HEAVEN!!!! When the band would start guys would trip over themselves trying to get to our table first!! (we were the only girls there). I remember my sister had two friends that took the job of being my “big brothers” Joe & Gomer. They would not let me date certain guys because of their reputations. They called me “princess”. I was chubby when I started going to the club but lost 60 pounds right away!! The dancing and the attention gave me incentive!! Some of my girl friends at school found out where I was going and wanted to go with me. Cheryl, Carol, Linda, Heather and Cathy all started going to the club with me. Well in school we got the reputation of being “sailor bait” right away. That was not a good name to have in Coupeville, ‘cause that meant you were “easy”. Heck, I think I was the only virgin at graduation! I was having way too much fun teasing the guys to stick to just one!! There was a band called the Sceptre’s. It consisted of 4 sailors from Heavy 10 squadron. Paul, Harvey, Ken & Dave. I think I had a crush on all of them at one time. They had a small house in Coupeville and us girls would go to their house and listen to them practice!! Carol ended up Marrying Ken, Cathy (her father was Ted that owned the store I worked at) married Paul, Heather went with Harvey and a gal that worked with me married Dave & Linda married a sailor that worked in a gas station in Coupeville.. I was dating a guy from White Deer Texas I met at the club. Life was gooood!!
In the summer of 1966 I went to the Seagull Cafe on Front Street to visit my friend Carrie while she was waitressing. I was sitting at the counter, and she told me to go in the back and help them wash dishes because they were so busy they needed help. I did, and Helen hired me to wash dishes on the weekends. It was back breaking work!! I would take a big grey tub out to the tables and fill the tub with the dirty dishes, then lug that heavy tub into the kitchen. There were three big stainless steel sinks, (no dishwasher machine) I scraped the food off the plates, washed them in the hot water, rinsed them in the middle sink and sanitized them in the third sink then stacked them on the drainer, then put them away and I’ll be darned if that danged Helen would pick up those clean dishes and start all over again!! During the slow time I would peel potatoes and put them in the French fry cutter and put them in stay fresh in a 5 gallon bucket. REAL French fries folks, not those frozen mushy fake things! And when we closed, the pans rolled in!! YUCK!!! Then I had to sweep and mop the floors. Hard work!! Later on in the summer Helen threw a ticket book at me and told me to get out there and take some orders!! I had no idea how to do any of that, but learned real quick when I saw the tips rolling in!! In August the band played at the local Island County Fair in Langley, and us girls go-go danced on the stage with them!! Woo hoo!!
More tomorrow….
When I was 13 & 14, I worked in strawberry fields in the summer picking (and throwing) strawberries. I threw a big grey moldy one and hit the field boss! I was fired from that job and went to the next field. It was dirty hard work. I remember the mornings being cold and damp. The smell of the dirty and moldy berries, crawling on your hands and knees in the mud, picking the berries really sucked. In the afternoon it would be HOT and dusty!! I would save some berries in my pockets for throwing out the windows at tourists standing on the bridge when the bus drove over the bridge! I remember one old woman screaming and grabbing her chest when a juicy berry hit her in the back. oooops!! HAHAHAHAHA OOPS fired again!! I also babysat at night. When I was 15 my friend Loraine got me a part time job after school sorting laundry in a dry cleaners. I worked there a few months until I sorted a red towel into a Navy chief's white shorts and t-shirts. Whoops!! They all turned out pink!! I think I was asked not to come back. I can’t remember.
When I was 16 I was shopping at the local drug store and the owner, Ted Christianson, came up to me and asked me if I would like to work for him. I told him I was on probation for stealing, and he said he knew that but would give me a job if I wanted one. I was flabbergasted!! I started working for him in the drug store and the clothing store attached. I learned how to wrap presents there, and to this day I love wrapping presents! This man I will never forget. He saw a teen that was going through troubled times and gave her a chance!! God Bless you Ted!! When you think that you can’t make a difference, think again!! That one kind gesture 40 years ago influenced my life!! I in turn look at troubled teens and see potential not doom! I try to encourage them and give them something positive to aim for. I like to tell them I was right where they are and I got out, and so can they. There is hope for you kids!! Of course they roll their eyes, give me the finger and walk on! Hahahahahahahaha
Let’s see, I was 16 years old when I went to pick up my sister on the Navy Base. She worked in the cafeteria and on the other side was the Enlisted Men's club. I walked in the front door of the club looking for her, and she pushed me into the restroom and told me to take out the curlers in my hair and put on some lipstick. I did, and we went out and sat at a table and ordered Shirley temples. Ooooooooo I felt like such a grown up!! Sailors would come up to our table and talk to us, and buy us some Shirley Temples!! I think the next day I aged 5 years!! I was suddenly a grown woman wanting to look pretty and go dancing!! So I did! I found out there were dances Thursday Friday and Saturday nights. Mom said as long as I don’t miss any school I could go to the dances! I bought some pretty dresses at “Gloria’s” where I worked, and grew into a young lady!! I really loved the attention I was getting at the dances!! The boys in my school had no interest in me, but at the base, well I was eye candy to the sailors. I can remember walking in the front door and hear wolf whistles!! Woohoo!! HEAVEN!!!! When the band would start guys would trip over themselves trying to get to our table first!! (we were the only girls there). I remember my sister had two friends that took the job of being my “big brothers” Joe & Gomer. They would not let me date certain guys because of their reputations. They called me “princess”. I was chubby when I started going to the club but lost 60 pounds right away!! The dancing and the attention gave me incentive!! Some of my girl friends at school found out where I was going and wanted to go with me. Cheryl, Carol, Linda, Heather and Cathy all started going to the club with me. Well in school we got the reputation of being “sailor bait” right away. That was not a good name to have in Coupeville, ‘cause that meant you were “easy”. Heck, I think I was the only virgin at graduation! I was having way too much fun teasing the guys to stick to just one!! There was a band called the Sceptre’s. It consisted of 4 sailors from Heavy 10 squadron. Paul, Harvey, Ken & Dave. I think I had a crush on all of them at one time. They had a small house in Coupeville and us girls would go to their house and listen to them practice!! Carol ended up Marrying Ken, Cathy (her father was Ted that owned the store I worked at) married Paul, Heather went with Harvey and a gal that worked with me married Dave & Linda married a sailor that worked in a gas station in Coupeville.. I was dating a guy from White Deer Texas I met at the club. Life was gooood!!
In the summer of 1966 I went to the Seagull Cafe on Front Street to visit my friend Carrie while she was waitressing. I was sitting at the counter, and she told me to go in the back and help them wash dishes because they were so busy they needed help. I did, and Helen hired me to wash dishes on the weekends. It was back breaking work!! I would take a big grey tub out to the tables and fill the tub with the dirty dishes, then lug that heavy tub into the kitchen. There were three big stainless steel sinks, (no dishwasher machine) I scraped the food off the plates, washed them in the hot water, rinsed them in the middle sink and sanitized them in the third sink then stacked them on the drainer, then put them away and I’ll be darned if that danged Helen would pick up those clean dishes and start all over again!! During the slow time I would peel potatoes and put them in the French fry cutter and put them in stay fresh in a 5 gallon bucket. REAL French fries folks, not those frozen mushy fake things! And when we closed, the pans rolled in!! YUCK!!! Then I had to sweep and mop the floors. Hard work!! Later on in the summer Helen threw a ticket book at me and told me to get out there and take some orders!! I had no idea how to do any of that, but learned real quick when I saw the tips rolling in!! In August the band played at the local Island County Fair in Langley, and us girls go-go danced on the stage with them!! Woo hoo!!
More tomorrow….
Monday, May 17, 2004
Day 3...My teen years.....
Like I said yesterday, I don’t want to paint a bad picture of mom, but I am telling it like it was. Everything that happened in my childhood made me who I am today. I love my mother and father dearly and do not carry any resentment whatsoever. I have forgiven and let go.
Dad came home from the cruise and we thought everything would be better now. Mom was well into her alcoholism and refused to quit drinking. Dad was angry when he came home and found out mom had hocked anything of value so she could go out on the town. I don’t remember too much of what happened after that, but I guess dad thought if you can’t beat them join them. They were out on the town most of that time. I think she even introduced Herb (her special friend) to dad. Dad was a man that took his marriage vows seriously. He loved my mother for better or for worse. He never took off his wedding band. He stood by her through all of this and waited for her to come to her senses.
We moved back to Whidbey Island in February 1961. Mom got a job on the base as a secretary and then at Public Works. They continued their drinking nightly. I had a hard time making friends when we came here. I was kind of a nerdy clumsy kid. I started Junior High School in 1962 in a brand new Junior High. I thought great, a new beginning with everyone!! But everyone already had their “clicks” and I was still the new nerdy kid on the block. I remember ruffled blouses became popular and asked if I could get one, and mom got me one from Sears and it was with the small ruffles not the big ones that were popular. I just didn’t fit in and I didn’t feel good in my skin at all. Those are rough years for any kid. In 1963 we moved to West Beach (5 miles away) I met some kids about my age that lived out there, and they were the “hoods”. Loraine taught me that smoking cigarettes was “cool”. So I would steal some of mom’s cigarettes when she was sleeping and we would walk down the street smoking. I stole a couple of beers and took them to school to be “cool”. I heard there was going to be a locker inspection so I took the beers to the woods and poured them out. Loraine’s brother would drive us to school instead of riding the school bus!! I felt great!! After school we would stop at a store and the guys would get out to “steal” some stuff. I was taught to go in the store and ask the clerk some questions to keep her busy while Terry J. and Rich P. would go to the back of the store and steal some wine. We would get in the car laughing our heads off!! I was quickly becoming an adrenaline junky!! We stopped at an auto parts store and I stole a big bag of lug nuts. I didn’t even have a car, but the guys thought it was really cool that I did that! I was finally fitting in!! One day I was babysitting for a neighbor and the kids were outside. I went up in the master bedroom to vacuum the carpet. I was putting stuff away and saw this gallon jar full of coins. I was curious as to how much was in there, so I poured it out on the bed and started counting it. The kids came running in yelling that they heard mom’s money jar! I panicked and stuffed it all back in the jar and was straightening out the bedspread when they came running in the bedroom. I noticed that there were about 6 quarters on the bed, so I grabbed them quick and hid them in my pocket. The kids never left my side so I had no chance to return the quarters to the jar. The woman came home and paid me and I went home. She called me later and told me I stole some money. I went to her house and explained what happened and gave her back her 6 quarters. She said I stole more than that and I said I did not. She told me she felt sorry for me because my mom had guys over to the house all the time and was a drunk! That really pissed me off and I told her to go fuck herself! She canceled the check that she paid me with, and I had to go to the store that I cashed it at and pay them back the $8.00. She reported it to the Police and I was put on 6 months probation. We moved to Coupeville (10 miles away) in January 1964 but I continued going to Oak Harbor School. Dad was retired by then and was working as a Jailer at the Sheriff’s office. I was at the High School by then and still hanging with the “hoods”. I went to the restroom during a class and went through a locker. There was a paper bag in it and I knew it was someone’s lunch. I took it and went to the restroom to look through it. I was always curious as to what is in a person’s purse, lunch, closets, medicine cabinets, etc. I have no idea why! Well a teacher came into the restroom and caught me. I was expelled from school and my father had to come pick me up (in his Deputy uniform!). I was then made to go to Coupeville Schools!! What a shock!! I always went to school in a Navy town and most of the kids were transients like me. Coupeville had a bunch of farmers and the kids all went to the same school from grade school on. They all knew each other and I was the strange one (again)!! I had a bad reputation from the get go. I dated a guy that had dropped out of Oak Harbor School then came to Coupeville to graduate. He drove a black & white 1957 Chevy. He smoked cigarettes and had his hair slicked back on the sides and a flat top. He was COOL!! My sister found out I was dating him and told me I was going to be pregnant before I graduated! (I proved her wrong). Rex M. graduated and joined the Army and moved away. I finally started making friends with some gals in the school.
More tomorrow……
Dad came home from the cruise and we thought everything would be better now. Mom was well into her alcoholism and refused to quit drinking. Dad was angry when he came home and found out mom had hocked anything of value so she could go out on the town. I don’t remember too much of what happened after that, but I guess dad thought if you can’t beat them join them. They were out on the town most of that time. I think she even introduced Herb (her special friend) to dad. Dad was a man that took his marriage vows seriously. He loved my mother for better or for worse. He never took off his wedding band. He stood by her through all of this and waited for her to come to her senses.
We moved back to Whidbey Island in February 1961. Mom got a job on the base as a secretary and then at Public Works. They continued their drinking nightly. I had a hard time making friends when we came here. I was kind of a nerdy clumsy kid. I started Junior High School in 1962 in a brand new Junior High. I thought great, a new beginning with everyone!! But everyone already had their “clicks” and I was still the new nerdy kid on the block. I remember ruffled blouses became popular and asked if I could get one, and mom got me one from Sears and it was with the small ruffles not the big ones that were popular. I just didn’t fit in and I didn’t feel good in my skin at all. Those are rough years for any kid. In 1963 we moved to West Beach (5 miles away) I met some kids about my age that lived out there, and they were the “hoods”. Loraine taught me that smoking cigarettes was “cool”. So I would steal some of mom’s cigarettes when she was sleeping and we would walk down the street smoking. I stole a couple of beers and took them to school to be “cool”. I heard there was going to be a locker inspection so I took the beers to the woods and poured them out. Loraine’s brother would drive us to school instead of riding the school bus!! I felt great!! After school we would stop at a store and the guys would get out to “steal” some stuff. I was taught to go in the store and ask the clerk some questions to keep her busy while Terry J. and Rich P. would go to the back of the store and steal some wine. We would get in the car laughing our heads off!! I was quickly becoming an adrenaline junky!! We stopped at an auto parts store and I stole a big bag of lug nuts. I didn’t even have a car, but the guys thought it was really cool that I did that! I was finally fitting in!! One day I was babysitting for a neighbor and the kids were outside. I went up in the master bedroom to vacuum the carpet. I was putting stuff away and saw this gallon jar full of coins. I was curious as to how much was in there, so I poured it out on the bed and started counting it. The kids came running in yelling that they heard mom’s money jar! I panicked and stuffed it all back in the jar and was straightening out the bedspread when they came running in the bedroom. I noticed that there were about 6 quarters on the bed, so I grabbed them quick and hid them in my pocket. The kids never left my side so I had no chance to return the quarters to the jar. The woman came home and paid me and I went home. She called me later and told me I stole some money. I went to her house and explained what happened and gave her back her 6 quarters. She said I stole more than that and I said I did not. She told me she felt sorry for me because my mom had guys over to the house all the time and was a drunk! That really pissed me off and I told her to go fuck herself! She canceled the check that she paid me with, and I had to go to the store that I cashed it at and pay them back the $8.00. She reported it to the Police and I was put on 6 months probation. We moved to Coupeville (10 miles away) in January 1964 but I continued going to Oak Harbor School. Dad was retired by then and was working as a Jailer at the Sheriff’s office. I was at the High School by then and still hanging with the “hoods”. I went to the restroom during a class and went through a locker. There was a paper bag in it and I knew it was someone’s lunch. I took it and went to the restroom to look through it. I was always curious as to what is in a person’s purse, lunch, closets, medicine cabinets, etc. I have no idea why! Well a teacher came into the restroom and caught me. I was expelled from school and my father had to come pick me up (in his Deputy uniform!). I was then made to go to Coupeville Schools!! What a shock!! I always went to school in a Navy town and most of the kids were transients like me. Coupeville had a bunch of farmers and the kids all went to the same school from grade school on. They all knew each other and I was the strange one (again)!! I had a bad reputation from the get go. I dated a guy that had dropped out of Oak Harbor School then came to Coupeville to graduate. He drove a black & white 1957 Chevy. He smoked cigarettes and had his hair slicked back on the sides and a flat top. He was COOL!! My sister found out I was dating him and told me I was going to be pregnant before I graduated! (I proved her wrong). Rex M. graduated and joined the Army and moved away. I finally started making friends with some gals in the school.
More tomorrow……
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Day 2...The continuing saga of "As the Cork Pops"...
Growing up a navy brat was interesting and very dysfunctional! Mom was a stay at home mom for the most part. Our early years were pretty much normal that I can remember. Mom took us to Church on Sundays. Dad stayed home, he said he was raised Catholic and was forced to attend Church as a child and quit going as an adult. I can never remember dad ever going to Church. Mom was raised Methodist and took my sister and I to that Church. My sister and I were baptized in the Methodist Church. When my brother came along mom had quit taking us to Church. Mom and dad had started going out quite a bit at nights leaving us kids alone. My sister was the oldest; therefore she was to keep watch on us kids. Now that is where we started our love/hate relationship! She loved to boss me and I hated it!! Have you seen the car commercial where there are two kids in the back seat and the little boy reaches over to touch his sisters leg, and she yells “stop it!” and he would say “What?”, then he would do it again and again irritating his sister more and more, making his parents roll their eyes and tell them to stop? Well that was me and my sister. She would touch me and give me “cooties”!! hahahaha
Dad moonlighted at night as a bartender and mom would go drink and dance. Mom and dad both loved to party!! We always had booze in the house and as far as I can remember it was a way of life. I can remember looking out my bedroom window into the yard at night and see the glow of cigarettes and hearing laughter. Mom and dad would have neighbors over for drinks outside. We had a lot of laughter growing up. My dad was a real practical joker, and poor mom took the brunt of most of them! I think I take after my dad I get myself in more trouble with my sick sense of humor.
Moving around a lot as a kid, I never had any real close friends. I would go to a new school and I remember the kids staring at me wondering what I was like. That was about every year and a half. We went to the schools by the base, so most of the kids had the same kind of life. I don’t ever remember fitting in. I always felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I had a bad skin condition, and the kids would tease me relentlessly about my pimple face!!
My brother was born in 1955 on Whidbey Island Washington. From there we moved to Southern California then to Hawaii. When I was 10 years old in Hawaii I was at school and told the teacher I didn’t feel good. I was sent home and the next morning I woke up with my ankle swollen about as big as a football!! Mom rushed me to the hospital, and they took a lot of blood tests. Mom cried every time they poked me in the arm!! I was admitted to Tripler Army Hospital with Rheumatic Fever and was in the hospital for three months. When I came home from the hospital I remember mom had fixed up our bedroom with matching pink and white bedspreads with ruffles!! It looked like a normal little girl’s bedroom!! Dad had made a dresser out of orange crates and mom made a ruffle to go around it. I felt like a princess!! Mom made most of our clothes. She made gathered skirts and put a waist band on them but never did finish putting a button hole and button on them so we used safety pins to hold them up. OUCH!!! Once in awhile a pin would pop open and poke us!!
We moved to Alameda California in 1959. That is when the laughter stopped. Dad had sea duty and was gone for 9 months. Mom went out to the bars a lot then and left us kids to fend for ourselves. Mom met a man and they were very close and she would be gone for a few days at a time. I remember writing my dad and telling him everything but I found out years later that he never received those letters. Mom didn’t mail them. I don’t want to paint the picture of mom being a bad person. She had her own demons to live with and I understand now that alcohol was the culprit!
More tomorrow………
Dad moonlighted at night as a bartender and mom would go drink and dance. Mom and dad both loved to party!! We always had booze in the house and as far as I can remember it was a way of life. I can remember looking out my bedroom window into the yard at night and see the glow of cigarettes and hearing laughter. Mom and dad would have neighbors over for drinks outside. We had a lot of laughter growing up. My dad was a real practical joker, and poor mom took the brunt of most of them! I think I take after my dad I get myself in more trouble with my sick sense of humor.
Moving around a lot as a kid, I never had any real close friends. I would go to a new school and I remember the kids staring at me wondering what I was like. That was about every year and a half. We went to the schools by the base, so most of the kids had the same kind of life. I don’t ever remember fitting in. I always felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I had a bad skin condition, and the kids would tease me relentlessly about my pimple face!!
My brother was born in 1955 on Whidbey Island Washington. From there we moved to Southern California then to Hawaii. When I was 10 years old in Hawaii I was at school and told the teacher I didn’t feel good. I was sent home and the next morning I woke up with my ankle swollen about as big as a football!! Mom rushed me to the hospital, and they took a lot of blood tests. Mom cried every time they poked me in the arm!! I was admitted to Tripler Army Hospital with Rheumatic Fever and was in the hospital for three months. When I came home from the hospital I remember mom had fixed up our bedroom with matching pink and white bedspreads with ruffles!! It looked like a normal little girl’s bedroom!! Dad had made a dresser out of orange crates and mom made a ruffle to go around it. I felt like a princess!! Mom made most of our clothes. She made gathered skirts and put a waist band on them but never did finish putting a button hole and button on them so we used safety pins to hold them up. OUCH!!! Once in awhile a pin would pop open and poke us!!
We moved to Alameda California in 1959. That is when the laughter stopped. Dad had sea duty and was gone for 9 months. Mom went out to the bars a lot then and left us kids to fend for ourselves. Mom met a man and they were very close and she would be gone for a few days at a time. I remember writing my dad and telling him everything but I found out years later that he never received those letters. Mom didn’t mail them. I don’t want to paint the picture of mom being a bad person. She had her own demons to live with and I understand now that alcohol was the culprit!
More tomorrow………
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Day 1...My Alcoholic Diary…
What it was like:
This will be a nutshell of my life. I am not a great writer, but a few people have asked me to “tell my story”. I am not ashamed of anything I have done nor do I wish to shut the door on my past. Everything I have done has made me who I am today, and I like who I am now.
My mother was born in Oklahoma in 1923. Her family moved to California during the dustbowl days. My mother’s mother was in her 40’s and going through the change of life when she had mom. Grandma was put in a sanitarium for “mental illness” when my mother was very young. Mom was raised by her sister that was 20 years older than her. Aunt Margie and Uncle Bob had no children of their own, so mom was raised an “only child” in San Diego. Mom was raised in an upper middle class neighborhood and attended college in La Jolla. Mom met my father at a USO dance in San Diego. Mom was a classy educated city slicker, and dad was a farm boy from Oregon that dropped out of 8th grade and joined the Navy to see the world. Dad was drunk and asked mom to dance and she snubbed him, so he poured a beer over her head and a year later they were married. They had their first baby, my sister on January 11th, 1946 I came along three years later on February 4th, 1949 then my brother was born September 12, 1955.
Mom said I was a happy baby, and giggled a lot. Mom and dad would have a party and I would wake up in the morning and drain the “orange juice” from the glasses left on the tables. From the start I was an alcoholic. Mom and dad drank a lot as did most people in those days in the military. We traveled a lot in our young years. In 1950 we moved to Guam and then to Hawaii, back to California, back to Hawaii, back to California, to Whidbey Island, back to California, back to Hawaii, back to California, then finally back to Whidbey Island Washington in February 1961!! I don’t really recall how many times and the years we moved, but it was close to what I just said, I’m sure my sister recalls the years. It is not important, but it kind of shows that we were moving about every year and a half. I was 13 when we made our final transfer to Whidbey Island. I went from the 5th grade through my senior year graduating (barely) from Coupeville High School in 1967.
Tomorrow I will try to recall some of my teen years.
This will be a nutshell of my life. I am not a great writer, but a few people have asked me to “tell my story”. I am not ashamed of anything I have done nor do I wish to shut the door on my past. Everything I have done has made me who I am today, and I like who I am now.
My mother was born in Oklahoma in 1923. Her family moved to California during the dustbowl days. My mother’s mother was in her 40’s and going through the change of life when she had mom. Grandma was put in a sanitarium for “mental illness” when my mother was very young. Mom was raised by her sister that was 20 years older than her. Aunt Margie and Uncle Bob had no children of their own, so mom was raised an “only child” in San Diego. Mom was raised in an upper middle class neighborhood and attended college in La Jolla. Mom met my father at a USO dance in San Diego. Mom was a classy educated city slicker, and dad was a farm boy from Oregon that dropped out of 8th grade and joined the Navy to see the world. Dad was drunk and asked mom to dance and she snubbed him, so he poured a beer over her head and a year later they were married. They had their first baby, my sister on January 11th, 1946 I came along three years later on February 4th, 1949 then my brother was born September 12, 1955.
Mom said I was a happy baby, and giggled a lot. Mom and dad would have a party and I would wake up in the morning and drain the “orange juice” from the glasses left on the tables. From the start I was an alcoholic. Mom and dad drank a lot as did most people in those days in the military. We traveled a lot in our young years. In 1950 we moved to Guam and then to Hawaii, back to California, back to Hawaii, back to California, to Whidbey Island, back to California, back to Hawaii, back to California, then finally back to Whidbey Island Washington in February 1961!! I don’t really recall how many times and the years we moved, but it was close to what I just said, I’m sure my sister recalls the years. It is not important, but it kind of shows that we were moving about every year and a half. I was 13 when we made our final transfer to Whidbey Island. I went from the 5th grade through my senior year graduating (barely) from Coupeville High School in 1967.
Tomorrow I will try to recall some of my teen years.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
The sounds of Silence..
Well tonight is a big night on television, and I am overwhelmed with what to watch, so I decided to set my VCR and tape what I want to see, and I turned the tv off!! I really would like to see Frasier's last episode, but then I need to tape Kingdom Hospital, then the Season's ending of ER!! So I just tired myself out trying to figure which one to watch, that I am heading to the shower and then to bed to read!!
Tomorrow I go to the next County to be on the interview team for Operations Manager for their Transit. I was Operations Manager here, and now I'm the Service Development Manager. It is always humbling interviewing people that want a job!! I am so fortunate to have the job I have and work with the people I work with!! Whew!! I pray we have enough oil to last until I retire. What I heard on the news last night, we might run out of oil in 10 years. Swell!! I just bought a new van!! Time to look at alternative fuel, folks!! This could go into a big rant, and I am too tired for that now. Maybe later!
Until tomorrow.....
Tomorrow I go to the next County to be on the interview team for Operations Manager for their Transit. I was Operations Manager here, and now I'm the Service Development Manager. It is always humbling interviewing people that want a job!! I am so fortunate to have the job I have and work with the people I work with!! Whew!! I pray we have enough oil to last until I retire. What I heard on the news last night, we might run out of oil in 10 years. Swell!! I just bought a new van!! Time to look at alternative fuel, folks!! This could go into a big rant, and I am too tired for that now. Maybe later!
Until tomorrow.....
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Sick to my stomach!!
I am sickened about the last few days of the news!! What we have done to the prisoners....Shame on the people that did it!!! As for blaming the president, well....that is like arresting the parents if their kids are caught doing drugs!! I mean really, isn't it the parents at fault for raising dopeheads? (Not...well I guess some are). The guilty should pay for their crimes!! I feel bad for their families. Double shame on the news media for showing the pictures over...and over...and over...and over!! They are as guilty as the accused!! Now the terrorists are trying to put the blame on that for the beheading execution of Nick Berg. They were going to kill him no matter what. As far as the news letting the world know the murder is on the internet, well congratulations, the terrorists get their way after all!! That is what they wanted, notoriety for their deed!! I refuse to watch that movie clip.. I do not need to watch and hear the last screaming moments of a defenseless young man's life!! People are watching the video and getting mad as hell. That is what the terrorists want!! I refuse to play their game!! Enough of this!! I put the world in my prayers and trust in God now.
I think I will just post fun things from now on. I much rather smile than frown.
Well now I have to go look for some fun things to post!!
Remember.....There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.
I think I will just post fun things from now on. I much rather smile than frown.
Well now I have to go look for some fun things to post!!
Remember.....There are 2 theories to arguing with a woman...neither works.
Monday, May 10, 2004
You might be from the Pacific Northwest if:
Okay, enough of the serious stuff!! Here is some Northwest humor!!
Oh, I can so relate to these!!!
According to Jeff Foxworthy...You might be from the Pacific Northwest if:
1. You know the state flower (Mildew)
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.
3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. (YEP!)
5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners. (wHAT'S AN AIR CONDITIONER?)
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk"
Signal. (YEP!)
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is
not a real mountain. (YEP!)
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and
Veneto's.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon.(YEP!)
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, and
Willamette.(YEP!)
12 You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.(YEP!)
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark-while
only working eight-hour days. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.(DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and
"Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers."
17. You cannot wait for a day with "showers and sun breaks."
18. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
19. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
20. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see
through the cloud cover. (YEP!)
21. You notice "the mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can
actually see it.
22. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still
wear your hiking boots and parka.
23. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks
on. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
24. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
25. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. (YEP!)
26. You knew immediately that the view out of Frasier's window was fake.(YEP!)
27. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you can't find the old ones
after such a long time. (my persona1favorite!)
28. You measure distance in hours.
29. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day. (YEP!)
30. You use a down comforter in the summer.
31. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use
them.(YEP!)
32. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat(YEP!)
33. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still
Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).
34. You actually understand these jokes. (DOESNT EVERYBODY?)
Oh, I can so relate to these!!!
According to Jeff Foxworthy...You might be from the Pacific Northwest if:
1. You know the state flower (Mildew)
2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.
3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means.
4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. (YEP!)
5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners. (wHAT'S AN AIR CONDITIONER?)
6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant.
7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk"
Signal. (YEP!)
8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it is
not a real mountain. (YEP!)
9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and
Veneto's.
10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon.(YEP!)
11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, and
Willamette.(YEP!)
12 You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.(YEP!)
14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark-while
only working eight-hour days. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.(DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and
"Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers."
17. You cannot wait for a day with "showers and sun breaks."
18. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
19. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind.
20. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see
through the cloud cover. (YEP!)
21. You notice "the mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can
actually see it.
22. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still
wear your hiking boots and parka.
23. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks
on. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
24. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. (DOESNT EVERYBODY??)
25. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. (YEP!)
26. You knew immediately that the view out of Frasier's window was fake.(YEP!)
27. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you can't find the old ones
after such a long time. (my persona1favorite!)
28. You measure distance in hours.
29. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day. (YEP!)
30. You use a down comforter in the summer.
31. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use
them.(YEP!)
32. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat(YEP!)
33. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still
Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).
34. You actually understand these jokes. (DOESNT EVERYBODY?)
Friday, May 07, 2004
Dear Mom
Hi Mom, Happy Mother's Day!!
Just letting you know I love you.
How long has it been since we talked? January 30, 1993. That seems a lifetime ago, and yet it seems just like yesterday. I actually talk to you all the time, but I miss talking with you in person. I'm over the shock and anger of you leaving us at a much too early time for your death!! Of course I blamed your drinking and lifestyle for your death. I have forgiven you everything. I am actually very glad you are my mother, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did for us!! I read Leslie's site and cried for her because her mom and her did not have a good relationship. I count my blessings for you!! You taught me (or tried to) how to be a lady, taught me to respect my elders. I inherited your compassion for old folks. Two of my best friends are Hannah, 88 years old, and Florence 87 years old!! You dressed me in frilly clothes as a young girl and I ended up ripping the waist out of most of my dresses. I was such a tom-boy!!
Life doesn't come with a guarantee or a manual, and you did the best you could for us. I miss you deeply. I gave you a bad time as a young gal and I apologize for that. I was going through a tough time and so were you. I was mad at you as a teen and became a rebel. I expected a mother like Mrs. Cleaver and was disappointed. You expected a perfect smart daughter, and got me!! Ok, we're even!! I understand now what you went through. I understand the horrible disease of alcoholism and see what it does to so many families. We were the lucky ones. You loved us kids, and we all know it.
In my adult years we became best friends and drinking buddies. I sobered up in June 1987 and you told me not to try to pull you into AA with me!! Oh how I prayed you would come to sobriety with me, but it just wasn't in the big plan. When you had your Mastectomy we were going to bring you home and nurse you until you died of the horrible cancer you had! But God decided to give you a bleeding ulcer instead and you almost died of it! You were in a coma for a few days then came out of it and started recovering. Then God decided that you needed to die that night instead of suffering another 6 months in agony.
I gave you this prayer the day before you died. You read it and cried. I told you I love you and forgive you. I am so happy we had that exchange!!
PRAYER OF FREEDOM
I free you from my anxiety, from my personal idea of what constitutes happiness for you. I trust the spirit of God in you, to guide you, to show you the way that is right for you, your highest good, the way that means happiness and success for you.
I place you lovingly in the hands of the Father. I stand by in faith, I refrain from imposing my will on you. You are God’s child. You are here to fulfill your own purpose. As close as I am to you, as much as I love you, I cannot live your life for you. Your destiny, your place, your fulfillment is between you and God.
I know that we are one in God and that as I trust God in my life and trust Him in your life ALL WILL BE WELL!
Amen
I got a call at 8:00 the next morning telling me my mom passed away.
Thank you mom for being who you you were and giving me life. I am very grateful for it all. I love you dearly and miss you!!
AMEN!!
Just letting you know I love you.
How long has it been since we talked? January 30, 1993. That seems a lifetime ago, and yet it seems just like yesterday. I actually talk to you all the time, but I miss talking with you in person. I'm over the shock and anger of you leaving us at a much too early time for your death!! Of course I blamed your drinking and lifestyle for your death. I have forgiven you everything. I am actually very glad you are my mother, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did for us!! I read Leslie's site and cried for her because her mom and her did not have a good relationship. I count my blessings for you!! You taught me (or tried to) how to be a lady, taught me to respect my elders. I inherited your compassion for old folks. Two of my best friends are Hannah, 88 years old, and Florence 87 years old!! You dressed me in frilly clothes as a young girl and I ended up ripping the waist out of most of my dresses. I was such a tom-boy!!
Life doesn't come with a guarantee or a manual, and you did the best you could for us. I miss you deeply. I gave you a bad time as a young gal and I apologize for that. I was going through a tough time and so were you. I was mad at you as a teen and became a rebel. I expected a mother like Mrs. Cleaver and was disappointed. You expected a perfect smart daughter, and got me!! Ok, we're even!! I understand now what you went through. I understand the horrible disease of alcoholism and see what it does to so many families. We were the lucky ones. You loved us kids, and we all know it.
In my adult years we became best friends and drinking buddies. I sobered up in June 1987 and you told me not to try to pull you into AA with me!! Oh how I prayed you would come to sobriety with me, but it just wasn't in the big plan. When you had your Mastectomy we were going to bring you home and nurse you until you died of the horrible cancer you had! But God decided to give you a bleeding ulcer instead and you almost died of it! You were in a coma for a few days then came out of it and started recovering. Then God decided that you needed to die that night instead of suffering another 6 months in agony.
I gave you this prayer the day before you died. You read it and cried. I told you I love you and forgive you. I am so happy we had that exchange!!
PRAYER OF FREEDOM
I free you from my anxiety, from my personal idea of what constitutes happiness for you. I trust the spirit of God in you, to guide you, to show you the way that is right for you, your highest good, the way that means happiness and success for you.
I place you lovingly in the hands of the Father. I stand by in faith, I refrain from imposing my will on you. You are God’s child. You are here to fulfill your own purpose. As close as I am to you, as much as I love you, I cannot live your life for you. Your destiny, your place, your fulfillment is between you and God.
I know that we are one in God and that as I trust God in my life and trust Him in your life ALL WILL BE WELL!
Amen
I got a call at 8:00 the next morning telling me my mom passed away.
Thank you mom for being who you you were and giving me life. I am very grateful for it all. I love you dearly and miss you!!
AMEN!!
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Three Questions
Okay, Here are my three questions to y'all.
1. If you could have anyone in history over for dinner one night, who would it be?
2. What is your biggest fear?
3. What is your happiest memory?
Remember............Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
I can't help it, Joe's site is cute!! I love his grandpa!!
1. If you could have anyone in history over for dinner one night, who would it be?
2. What is your biggest fear?
3. What is your happiest memory?
Remember............Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
I can't help it, Joe's site is cute!! I love his grandpa!!
Busy week!!
Well this is a very busy week. I got home late on Tuesday, and Last night I didn't get home from work until 10:00PM and now I am heading back to work. I will post later. I miss reading everypone's blogs, so will catch up soon.
Remember.... Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
Later, folks!!
Remember.... Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco.
Later, folks!!
Sunday, May 02, 2004
I'm off to the mountains!
Well I am off to the Mountains for three days.
My chores are about done and I am off to bed. Church in the morning then leaving at noon. I will be back late on Tuesday, so you won't be hearing from me for a few days. I'm sure my sis will do something while I am gone. I can hardly wait and see!! HAHAHAHA Be kind everyone!!
My chores are about done and I am off to bed. Church in the morning then leaving at noon. I will be back late on Tuesday, so you won't be hearing from me for a few days. I'm sure my sis will do something while I am gone. I can hardly wait and see!! HAHAHAHA Be kind everyone!!
Friday, April 30, 2004
Some ramblings
Brent over at coptalk mentioned cars as money pits. I guess he's right. I just figured that my vehicle costing $30,000.00 will last me the rest of my driving life (30 years). I put in an average of $50.00 a month for fuel and carwash, and then figure in an average of $500.00 a year for maintenance preventative and otherwise. If you add it all up and put it in thirty years, I spend about $175.00 a month for my car!!
I am going to Leavenworth up in the Cascades Sunday for three days for an ADA (americans with disabilities act) conference. Dangit, I have all the luck, don't I? But we will be indoors all day learning how to deliver better service for person's with disabilities. But at night we will have to go eat german food in the quaint little cafe's in town!!
Well this is short. Gotta run back to work for an hour!!
TA TA
I am going to Leavenworth up in the Cascades Sunday for three days for an ADA (americans with disabilities act) conference. Dangit, I have all the luck, don't I? But we will be indoors all day learning how to deliver better service for person's with disabilities. But at night we will have to go eat german food in the quaint little cafe's in town!!
Well this is short. Gotta run back to work for an hour!!
TA TA
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
My sister said I needed to post something!
Well here it is almost Thursday and I haven't posted anything since this weekend. I have been working odd hours at work and have been too tired to think af anything wise to say. I train all the bus drivers and during their "rideshare" I need to be at the office when they come in off route. So I am there at 8:00 in the morning then sometimes I get home at 8:30 or 9:00 at night. I go home at 2 or 3 sometimes during the day and go back, but I get paid salary so I don't really punch a time card. I just try to average 40 hours a week. I love my job so there is no complaining from me!!
I think I made a biiiiig mistake!! I gave my blogsite address to a friend of mine to see the pictures of my yard. He is as disgusting as Dick, so if he figures out how to make comments on here I am in for big trouble!!
He calls me PhylUST because I send him dirty jokes via email. He and I love to hate each other, in other words we have this ongoing battle of the wits and people around us are shaking their heads.
Maybe he'll forget about my site. hehehehehe
I finally decided to take an aerobics class!! I bent, twisted gyrated and jumped up and down for an hour. But by the time I got my leotard on, the class was over!!
Well I am going to shower and go to bed. Later folks!
I think I made a biiiiig mistake!! I gave my blogsite address to a friend of mine to see the pictures of my yard. He is as disgusting as Dick, so if he figures out how to make comments on here I am in for big trouble!!
He calls me PhylUST because I send him dirty jokes via email. He and I love to hate each other, in other words we have this ongoing battle of the wits and people around us are shaking their heads.
Maybe he'll forget about my site. hehehehehe
I finally decided to take an aerobics class!! I bent, twisted gyrated and jumped up and down for an hour. But by the time I got my leotard on, the class was over!!
Well I am going to shower and go to bed. Later folks!
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Amazing stuff
Today is beautiful, sunny and expected to get to 75 degrees today. I will enjoy it playing in my new backyard!! I have nothing to blog, but would like to share these tidbits I received via email:
Who figures all this out???? (And on who's payroll??!!)
*If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)
*If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is
produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Hey, Mary Lou!!)
*The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!)
*A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)
*A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to
death. (Creepy.)
(I'm still not over the pig.)
*Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
(Do not try this at home...... No, Mary Lou!!)
*The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to
its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head! off.
("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!")
*The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes... lucky pig... can you imagine??)
*The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)
*Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
(I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)
*Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)
*The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmm)
*Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer
than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)
*Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)
*A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)
*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)
*Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)
*Polar bears are left-handed. (How the heck do they know??)
*Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)
Have a great Sunday!!
Who figures all this out???? (And on who's payroll??!!)
*If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)
*If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is
produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Hey, Mary Lou!!)
*The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!)
*A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)
*A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to
death. (Creepy.)
(I'm still not over the pig.)
*Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
(Do not try this at home...... No, Mary Lou!!)
*The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to
its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head! off.
("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!")
*The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes... lucky pig... can you imagine??)
*The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)
*Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
(I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)
*Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)
*The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmm)
*Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer
than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)
*Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)
*A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)
*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)
*Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)
*Polar bears are left-handed. (How the heck do they know??)
*Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)
Have a great Sunday!!
Friday, April 23, 2004
TGIF!!
Ahh, it has been a busy and hectic week. I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and getting the final touches done to my yard and relaxing!!
I washed my hair last night before I went to bed, and when I got up this morning my hair looked like gumby head!! It was sticking out all over and was all thick with dried gunk!! HUH??? What is up with this?? I was running late so I had to pull it back and put my wiglet on it and run to work. I realize now that I forgot to rinse out the cream rinse I put on it!! HAHAHAHAHA I am such a ditz!! I have been scratching my head all day!! Hope Y'all have a good Friday!!
'Til next time...
I washed my hair last night before I went to bed, and when I got up this morning my hair looked like gumby head!! It was sticking out all over and was all thick with dried gunk!! HUH??? What is up with this?? I was running late so I had to pull it back and put my wiglet on it and run to work. I realize now that I forgot to rinse out the cream rinse I put on it!! HAHAHAHAHA I am such a ditz!! I have been scratching my head all day!! Hope Y'all have a good Friday!!
'Til next time...
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Back to Reality...
Allrighty, now that Mary Lou had some fun giving us all a hint of what she wants for Christmas, I guess all I can say is.....HA!
She has 4 long haired cats, a dog, a long haired rabbit, and a bald fish. Sure, that's what she needs!! Another long haired cat!! NOT!!
But I know my sister. She will end up with one sooner or later. But those cats need more attention, so the less competition, the better.
I waved at the Space Needle for ya Wanda!! It was only a 2 1/2 hour trip one way. I never really think about the Needle being there, but I always look for it when I drive by. I see on Sunday May 2nd there will be a disaster movie about a 10.5 earthquake and the previews show the Space Needle falling!! I gotta see that movie!! I love disaster movies!! ok, so I'm a twisted person!! I always think I am the person with all the supplies and know-how on being the survivor!!
Everyone that knows me says they want to be with me if a big disaster ever happened, as I am always prepared!!
Well maybe not......I was on a passenger only ferry on a demonstration ride to Everett from Oak Harbor, when the 6.9 Nisqually earthquake hit!!
I didn't feel a thing, but a person behind me got a call from his wife in Seattle saying that they were in the middle of a huge earthquake!! We were all stunned, and looked to the shore and didn't see or feel a thing. All my supplies were home!! I didn't even have a cell phone with me. Great help that would be since all the airwaves were full and nobody could get their calls through!! The Mayors and County Commisioners were all on the boat and they all felt helpless!!
Well I have rambled enough!! Have a great tomorrow!
She has 4 long haired cats, a dog, a long haired rabbit, and a bald fish. Sure, that's what she needs!! Another long haired cat!! NOT!!
But I know my sister. She will end up with one sooner or later. But those cats need more attention, so the less competition, the better.
I waved at the Space Needle for ya Wanda!! It was only a 2 1/2 hour trip one way. I never really think about the Needle being there, but I always look for it when I drive by. I see on Sunday May 2nd there will be a disaster movie about a 10.5 earthquake and the previews show the Space Needle falling!! I gotta see that movie!! I love disaster movies!! ok, so I'm a twisted person!! I always think I am the person with all the supplies and know-how on being the survivor!!
Everyone that knows me says they want to be with me if a big disaster ever happened, as I am always prepared!!
Well maybe not......I was on a passenger only ferry on a demonstration ride to Everett from Oak Harbor, when the 6.9 Nisqually earthquake hit!!
I didn't feel a thing, but a person behind me got a call from his wife in Seattle saying that they were in the middle of a huge earthquake!! We were all stunned, and looked to the shore and didn't see or feel a thing. All my supplies were home!! I didn't even have a cell phone with me. Great help that would be since all the airwaves were full and nobody could get their calls through!! The Mayors and County Commisioners were all on the boat and they all felt helpless!!
Well I have rambled enough!! Have a great tomorrow!
Monday, April 19, 2004
Mary Lou's Christmas Present!
SHHHHHH Don't tell her, but this is what I am getting Mary Lou for Christmas... She has wanted one for a looong time. And since I am such a wonderful caring sister, I thought I would get one for her.
Ragdoll Kittens
Aren't I a GREAT Sister?
Ragdoll Kittens
Aren't I a GREAT Sister?
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Another week ahead..
Well this weekend sure flew right on by!! It is almost 8:00 Sunday night!! Time for the shower then bed. My sis came over for steak tonight grilled on my grill on my new "patio".
She took pictures and will post it later. It is just what I envisioined!! Now I have all summer to figure out what I want to plant in the whiskey barrels.
I am leaving for Seattle tomorrow after work for two days for a meeting, so I will be away from my blog. I do not have a laptop and refuse to get one!! I don't want to be that addicted yet. (give me time). I will be back Late Tuesday night. Then Wednesday I am going to Everett for a steering committee meeting at Boeing, so you probably won't hear from me until Thursday. Gee, I can hardly wait to see what my sis did to my blog!!! It is kinda scarey when she knows my secret password. If there is any weird postings between now and Fiday, it is her not me!! Now be nice, Mary Lou!! :-)
Later, folks!
She took pictures and will post it later. It is just what I envisioined!! Now I have all summer to figure out what I want to plant in the whiskey barrels.
I am leaving for Seattle tomorrow after work for two days for a meeting, so I will be away from my blog. I do not have a laptop and refuse to get one!! I don't want to be that addicted yet. (give me time). I will be back Late Tuesday night. Then Wednesday I am going to Everett for a steering committee meeting at Boeing, so you probably won't hear from me until Thursday. Gee, I can hardly wait to see what my sis did to my blog!!! It is kinda scarey when she knows my secret password. If there is any weird postings between now and Fiday, it is her not me!! Now be nice, Mary Lou!! :-)
Later, folks!
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Yard!
Well my yard was mostly finished today. They came and put the brick part in and the canopy is up. Now they need to finish along the side of the house and by the deck. I'm all excited!! I got a fresh cup of coffee tonight and went to sit in my rocker under the canopy and lasted 5 minutes!! I froze my ass off!! Oh well, in a few weeks I will enjoy it for sure!! I will get pictures when my computer is back to working right. Something is wrong with outlook express and I cannot receive email unless I use my server and get it through that. If I respond to sender, sometimes they get it, sometimes not. Hmmmm. I have XP update, but don't know if that is what I need to do yet. I think I will ask someone that knows what they are doing to come help me on this.
Later...
Later...
Good Morning!!
Well Good Morning!! All week long I have had to pull myself out of bed to make it to work on time. So this morning I have all day to sleep in and I wake up at 5:30!!! Go figure!!
I found this neat site for testing your color blindness. I only missed one.
Try it.
Have a great Saturday, folks!!
I found this neat site for testing your color blindness. I only missed one.
Try it.
Have a great Saturday, folks!!
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Bronchial crap!
I went to the doctor today and I still have a bit of a fever, and difficulty breathing. I have that bronchial crap that is going around, and it triggers my asthma which makes it hard to breathe!! Well FINE!
They are going to send me to respiratory therapy for a pulmonary rehab course to strengthen my lungs hopefully!! This time of year is horrible!! I came home about 3:30 and started visiting blogs. Blogspot was down so I was visiting others I had bookmarked and came acrossthis page a link to this funny dancing game!! I thought of Wanda!!! HAHAHAHA It makes a fun few minutes!!
Have fun!!
Blogger was down for a day, but I see it is back!!
They are going to send me to respiratory therapy for a pulmonary rehab course to strengthen my lungs hopefully!! This time of year is horrible!! I came home about 3:30 and started visiting blogs. Blogspot was down so I was visiting others I had bookmarked and came acrossthis page a link to this funny dancing game!! I thought of Wanda!!! HAHAHAHA It makes a fun few minutes!!
Have fun!!
Blogger was down for a day, but I see it is back!!
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
No TV!!
I went to work today and came home exhausted!! My breathing is getting bad, and this cold/bronchitis/whatever, is making it really bad!!
I have this nagging almost dry hacking cough now, so I came home and laid down to "read". HA! I fell asleep about 6:30, and my sis called me about 7:00. I went right back to sleep to try and get back to the good part of my dream and was woken at 9:00 by my friend calling to tell me she is going to bed. well now I am wide awake of course. I am sitting here with NO TV on!! It is nice, actually. Real tv has turned me off of watching the stupid thing anymore!! I am going to enter this and go back to bed to read some more of my book!! I started reading the "Left Behind" series two years ago, and got hooked on them. The final (I hope) book came out last week, and I am reading it now. "The Glorious Appearing" is about the coming of Christ. Boy, I cannot believe I am reading fictional Christian books. 20 years ago I would've rolled my eyes if someone told me I would be who I am today. BUT I am glad I am who I am today and not that lost, miserably married, lonely, pathetic drunk I was!! Whew!!
Goodnight folks.
I have this nagging almost dry hacking cough now, so I came home and laid down to "read". HA! I fell asleep about 6:30, and my sis called me about 7:00. I went right back to sleep to try and get back to the good part of my dream and was woken at 9:00 by my friend calling to tell me she is going to bed. well now I am wide awake of course. I am sitting here with NO TV on!! It is nice, actually. Real tv has turned me off of watching the stupid thing anymore!! I am going to enter this and go back to bed to read some more of my book!! I started reading the "Left Behind" series two years ago, and got hooked on them. The final (I hope) book came out last week, and I am reading it now. "The Glorious Appearing" is about the coming of Christ. Boy, I cannot believe I am reading fictional Christian books. 20 years ago I would've rolled my eyes if someone told me I would be who I am today. BUT I am glad I am who I am today and not that lost, miserably married, lonely, pathetic drunk I was!! Whew!!
Goodnight folks.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Age guage
I got this from Marti
Phyllis Brett
Today you are 55 years old and about:
32 years 3 months younger than Walter Cronkite, age 87
28 years 9 months younger than Pope John Paul II, age 83
24 years 8 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 79
17 years 4 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 72
15 years 3 months younger than Larry King, age 70
9 years 0 months younger than Ted Koppel, age 63
5 years 7 months younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 60
2 years 7 months younger than George W. Bush, age 57
2 years 5 months older than Jesse Ventura, age 52
6 years 9 months older than Bill Gates, age 48
11 years 7 months older than Cal Ripken Jr., age 43
17 years 5 months older than Mike Tyson, age 37
21 years 6 months older than Jennifer Lopez, age 33
26 years 11 months older than Tiger Woods, age 28
33 years 5 months older than Prince William, age 21
This also means you were:
52 years old at the time of the 9-11 attack on America
50 years old on the first day of Y2K
48 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
46 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
45 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
44 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
41 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
40 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
36 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
34 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
34 years old during Sally Ride's travel in space
32 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
30 years old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
27 years old on the U.S.'s bicentennial Fourth of July
25 years old when President Nixon left office
23 years old when Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot
20 years old at the time the first man stepped on the moon
19 years old when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated
16 years old during the Watts riot
14 years old at the time President Kennedy was assassinated
10 years old when Hawaii was admitted as 50th of the United States
8 years old when the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 was launched
4 years old at the end of the Korean War
Yikes, does this make me feel old!! Time for bed!!
G'nite friends.
Phyllis Brett
Today you are 55 years old and about:
32 years 3 months younger than Walter Cronkite, age 87
28 years 9 months younger than Pope John Paul II, age 83
24 years 8 months younger than George Herbert Bush, age 79
17 years 4 months younger than Barbara Walters, age 72
15 years 3 months younger than Larry King, age 70
9 years 0 months younger than Ted Koppel, age 63
5 years 7 months younger than Geraldo Rivera, age 60
2 years 7 months younger than George W. Bush, age 57
2 years 5 months older than Jesse Ventura, age 52
6 years 9 months older than Bill Gates, age 48
11 years 7 months older than Cal Ripken Jr., age 43
17 years 5 months older than Mike Tyson, age 37
21 years 6 months older than Jennifer Lopez, age 33
26 years 11 months older than Tiger Woods, age 28
33 years 5 months older than Prince William, age 21
This also means you were:
52 years old at the time of the 9-11 attack on America
50 years old on the first day of Y2K
48 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
46 years old at the time of Oklahoma City bombing
45 years old when O. J. Simpson was charged with murder
44 years old at the time of the 93 bombing of the World Trade Center
41 years old when Operation Desert Storm began
40 years old during the fall of the Berlin Wall
36 years old when the space shuttle Challenger exploded
34 years old when Apple introduced the Macintosh
34 years old during Sally Ride's travel in space
32 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.
30 years old at the time the Iran hostage crisis began
27 years old on the U.S.'s bicentennial Fourth of July
25 years old when President Nixon left office
23 years old when Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot
20 years old at the time the first man stepped on the moon
19 years old when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated
16 years old during the Watts riot
14 years old at the time President Kennedy was assassinated
10 years old when Hawaii was admitted as 50th of the United States
8 years old when the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 was launched
4 years old at the end of the Korean War
Yikes, does this make me feel old!! Time for bed!!
G'nite friends.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Easter Bunny
Ok, I'm sick (Really sick!) I was driving home today from Burlington and the traffic was horrendous!! 78 degrees and Holiday weekend, and Tulip festival!! And I decided I HAD to go to Burlington to Costco!! Well on the way I was watching the stupid idiots trying to drive like maniacs rudely on the road. I'd back off and someone squeezes in barely missing me!! I would back off again. I refuse to play their stupid stroke causing games. I was thinking funny thoughts. I then saw a dead bunny on the road and remember my father coming home on Easter eve telling us kids that he thinks he ran over the Easter Bunny!!! WAAAAAHH!!
I then thought of an e-mail from last year of a dead rabbitt and a squished easter basket nest to it with colored eggs laying around it!! I burst out laughing in the car all by myself!! If I had a basket and eggs, I guarantee you that I would've stopped and squished the basket and leave it next to the bunny on the side of the road!!! HAHAHAHA OH, and on Christmas Eve, I want to get one of those red flashing noses and put it on a dead deer laying on the side of the road!! (We get alot of dead deer here).
Ahhhh, I feel better now. Time for bed. I actually do have a horrid bronchial virus and need to get some sleep before sunrise services!!
Happy Easter all!!
I then thought of an e-mail from last year of a dead rabbitt and a squished easter basket nest to it with colored eggs laying around it!! I burst out laughing in the car all by myself!! If I had a basket and eggs, I guarantee you that I would've stopped and squished the basket and leave it next to the bunny on the side of the road!!! HAHAHAHA OH, and on Christmas Eve, I want to get one of those red flashing noses and put it on a dead deer laying on the side of the road!! (We get alot of dead deer here).
Ahhhh, I feel better now. Time for bed. I actually do have a horrid bronchial virus and need to get some sleep before sunrise services!!
Happy Easter all!!
Happy Easter
Tomorrow is Easter. The day Christians celebrate the "rising of Jesus".
He is risin!! I cannot imagine living in the times two thousand years ago. Jesus suffered ALL for us!! He died for our sins. I ask forgiveness nightly as I know I sin daily. I try not to, but cussing, thoughts, fibs, sexual jokes, lust are all sins. I read something and make assumptions.
The rant on one friends blog made me feel bad for him that someone upset him that much. Then I read another person's blog and heard that it wasn't really her that wrote what was sent. A friend of hers did it on her computer. Well this is getting rather confusing. First of all, shame on that "friend" for putting her in that position!! I personally like to hear other's opinions especially when they don't agree with each other and feel comfortable enough to be able to voice their opinions with each other. But that "friend" crossed the line by using her computer. I think the guy that was offended ranted rather loudly, but it is his blog, and he can post anything he pleases. Yes he has an anger problem, but posting it and getting it out on paper is VERY HEALTHY to get the frustrations out!! I'm sure it took the internal pressure out of him, and his family is thankful. Feelings were betrayed and hurt on both sides, and damage was done. I personally still like the both of them and feel bad for both of them. What the heck does this have to do with Easter? Probably nothing at all, but I hope they both can forgive each other and go on with the blogging!! They both are very caring people that can be hurt easily. I pray they both don't carry a resentment over this. Jesus forgives us. AMEN!
He is risin!! I cannot imagine living in the times two thousand years ago. Jesus suffered ALL for us!! He died for our sins. I ask forgiveness nightly as I know I sin daily. I try not to, but cussing, thoughts, fibs, sexual jokes, lust are all sins. I read something and make assumptions.
The rant on one friends blog made me feel bad for him that someone upset him that much. Then I read another person's blog and heard that it wasn't really her that wrote what was sent. A friend of hers did it on her computer. Well this is getting rather confusing. First of all, shame on that "friend" for putting her in that position!! I personally like to hear other's opinions especially when they don't agree with each other and feel comfortable enough to be able to voice their opinions with each other. But that "friend" crossed the line by using her computer. I think the guy that was offended ranted rather loudly, but it is his blog, and he can post anything he pleases. Yes he has an anger problem, but posting it and getting it out on paper is VERY HEALTHY to get the frustrations out!! I'm sure it took the internal pressure out of him, and his family is thankful. Feelings were betrayed and hurt on both sides, and damage was done. I personally still like the both of them and feel bad for both of them. What the heck does this have to do with Easter? Probably nothing at all, but I hope they both can forgive each other and go on with the blogging!! They both are very caring people that can be hurt easily. I pray they both don't carry a resentment over this. Jesus forgives us. AMEN!
Friday, April 09, 2004
My yard
Ah, phase two of my yard is going on right as I type!!
I am having white gravel where the grass was and lava rock where the raised beds were. I am having brick laid in a 10x10 corner then put up a 10x10canopy. YAHOO!! No more allergies and no more mowing!!
If I want plants I will plant them in pots or whiskey barrels. I have three empty whiskey barrels and wondering what I want to plant in them. Maybe some roses. I want climbing roses along the back fence. I am so excited!!!
Next I need to work on getting my laminate floors put in!! Then in a few years I will get a central heater/airconditioner put in.
I want it all done and paid for before I retire so I can worry about putting all my money to the doctors instead!! :-}
Well I need to go supervise the work. tee hee
I am having white gravel where the grass was and lava rock where the raised beds were. I am having brick laid in a 10x10 corner then put up a 10x10canopy. YAHOO!! No more allergies and no more mowing!!
If I want plants I will plant them in pots or whiskey barrels. I have three empty whiskey barrels and wondering what I want to plant in them. Maybe some roses. I want climbing roses along the back fence. I am so excited!!!
Next I need to work on getting my laminate floors put in!! Then in a few years I will get a central heater/airconditioner put in.
I want it all done and paid for before I retire so I can worry about putting all my money to the doctors instead!! :-}
Well I need to go supervise the work. tee hee
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
AURORA WATCH
I just received this message...
AURORA WATCH: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hurled into space by a solar
explosion on April 6th is heading in the general direction of Earth. Sky
watchers should be alert for auroras when it arrives, probably during the
early hours of April 8th UT (for North Americans, that means during the
night of April 7th).
Earth is already skirting through a solar wind stream flowing from a
coronal hole on the sun. Because of this, geomagnetic storms and auroras
are likely, off and on, for the next few days. The best displays will be
at high latitudes--e.g., Canada and Alaska. When the incoming CME arrives,
auroras could descend to lower latitudes, too.
Whooohooooo!! I'll be up all night looking for them!!
AURORA WATCH: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hurled into space by a solar
explosion on April 6th is heading in the general direction of Earth. Sky
watchers should be alert for auroras when it arrives, probably during the
early hours of April 8th UT (for North Americans, that means during the
night of April 7th).
Earth is already skirting through a solar wind stream flowing from a
coronal hole on the sun. Because of this, geomagnetic storms and auroras
are likely, off and on, for the next few days. The best displays will be
at high latitudes--e.g., Canada and Alaska. When the incoming CME arrives,
auroras could descend to lower latitudes, too.
Whooohooooo!! I'll be up all night looking for them!!
Spice Cabinet
I have no idea why I was inspired to clean out my spice cabinet, but last night I jumped up and did it!! Now what is the shelf life of the spices? I think I had some that were at least 20 years old!! What is tumeric??? And I wonder why I had 3 jars basil leaves?? I don't cook Italian and I have 2 of each of weird Italian seasonings! Cream of tartar=2. I think I buy pumpkin pie spice each year and use 1 tsp of it! Jamaican Jerk seasoning??? I don't even like the name of it!! I don't ever remember using that. And what I have glycerine for is beyond me!! Well I cleaned and tossed!!! I now have a cleaned out and pretty much updated spice cupboard!! Mary Lou, please do not let me buy any resataurant sized seaonings from Costco anymore!! Especially the Italian kind!! So what does your Spice cupboard look like?
Have a great day!!
>^..^< Phyllis >^..^<
Have a great day!!
>^..^< Phyllis >^..^<
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Watch out guys!
I just have to share this little funny I got today!!
A man left work one Friday afternoon. But instead of going home, he
stayed out the entire weekend, hunting with the boys and spending
his entire paycheck.
When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted
by his very angry wife and was barraged for nearly 2 hours with a
tirade about his actions.
Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him "How
would you like it if you didn't see me for 2 or 3 days?"
To which he replied, "That would be fine with me."
Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday
came and went and he didn't see her.
On Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye.
A man left work one Friday afternoon. But instead of going home, he
stayed out the entire weekend, hunting with the boys and spending
his entire paycheck.
When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted
by his very angry wife and was barraged for nearly 2 hours with a
tirade about his actions.
Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him "How
would you like it if you didn't see me for 2 or 3 days?"
To which he replied, "That would be fine with me."
Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday
came and went and he didn't see her.
On Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye.
Saturday, April 03, 2004
The frog Napping
I went to a retirement party for the Maintenance Manager at work. We have worked together for 15 years, and we have had our moments!! He would get grumpy and complain about the bus operators, and stomp around. I would ask him to get something for the buses, and he would tell me we don't need it. We went head to head alot. My boss told me to make an effort to get along with him, but it was really hard at times!!
He had a frog Beanie Baby on his computer. In early Spring 1998 I was in his office when a salesman came in and said "OMG, that is the first Beanie Baby ever made!! Will you sell it to me?" George said no, it was a gift. He was offered $300.00 for it. He said no.
Well.........my mind started working away!! George was grumpy, morale in the place was pretty poor. There was an initiative in the state to get rid of funds for transit, and we were all kinda wondering if we'd keep our jobs. I have always had a mischievious mind, and to get rid of stress I play stupid jokes on people. I went into the garage after closing and stole his frog.
About three days later I put a note in his mailbox saying his frog was frognapped, and more instructions will follow. I tied up and gagged the frog and placed him in front of a tire of a bus, and typed a note saying "help me daddy!! Help"
A few days later I took another picture of the frog sitting in a tupperware container floating in my toilet. The caption said "Please daddy help me, I can't swim!!"
Well George got into the fun and made a wanted poster with the notes on them and the photos. He posted them each few days in the office for everyone to see. Nobody had any idea who was behind this caper!! Everyone was looking forward to coming to work to see if there was a new note or poster!! The demand was for George to put out a notice that all Bus Operators are right, and Maintenance is wrong!! That Bus Operators rule!!
George was thinking it might be me or our boss. I wasn't ready to give the caper up. I had to go to Houston for a Training seminar, and told another Manager to take over the fun while I was away. If the pictures stopped while I was away he would know it was me!! Well I came back, and indeed the caper was still going strong!! There were pictures and notes everywhere!! It was hilarious!! This went on for a few months. We had a Company meeting, and George got up in front of the entire company and read a poem that more or less said he was forced to say this in order to get his beloved frog back, but all Operators are right, and Maintenance is wrong!
The Sunday following we were doing a trash pickup off the Highway. (We have a 2 mile stretch that we clean up every 3 months). I went out early in the morning with clues of where he could find his frog. I typed poemed clues on bright pink paper and placed about ten of them along the highway under rocks. We got back to the barn and he followed the clues and finally found his frog!! I made a casket about 4"x8" and lined it with red satin, placed the frog in it, and put a big straw through the top and buried it with the straw sticking out of the ground. Well someone else pulled everything off his desk and put it in the grave too!! We got pictures and all was happy!!
My boss made a scrapbook out of the notes and posters and pictures. We passed it around tonight at the retirement! Whew, little did we know it would become a legend at work!! It was soooooo much fun!!!
Remember...Growing old is inevitable, growing UP is optional.
>^..^< Phyllis >^..^<
He had a frog Beanie Baby on his computer. In early Spring 1998 I was in his office when a salesman came in and said "OMG, that is the first Beanie Baby ever made!! Will you sell it to me?" George said no, it was a gift. He was offered $300.00 for it. He said no.
Well.........my mind started working away!! George was grumpy, morale in the place was pretty poor. There was an initiative in the state to get rid of funds for transit, and we were all kinda wondering if we'd keep our jobs. I have always had a mischievious mind, and to get rid of stress I play stupid jokes on people. I went into the garage after closing and stole his frog.
About three days later I put a note in his mailbox saying his frog was frognapped, and more instructions will follow. I tied up and gagged the frog and placed him in front of a tire of a bus, and typed a note saying "help me daddy!! Help"
A few days later I took another picture of the frog sitting in a tupperware container floating in my toilet. The caption said "Please daddy help me, I can't swim!!"
Well George got into the fun and made a wanted poster with the notes on them and the photos. He posted them each few days in the office for everyone to see. Nobody had any idea who was behind this caper!! Everyone was looking forward to coming to work to see if there was a new note or poster!! The demand was for George to put out a notice that all Bus Operators are right, and Maintenance is wrong!! That Bus Operators rule!!
George was thinking it might be me or our boss. I wasn't ready to give the caper up. I had to go to Houston for a Training seminar, and told another Manager to take over the fun while I was away. If the pictures stopped while I was away he would know it was me!! Well I came back, and indeed the caper was still going strong!! There were pictures and notes everywhere!! It was hilarious!! This went on for a few months. We had a Company meeting, and George got up in front of the entire company and read a poem that more or less said he was forced to say this in order to get his beloved frog back, but all Operators are right, and Maintenance is wrong!
The Sunday following we were doing a trash pickup off the Highway. (We have a 2 mile stretch that we clean up every 3 months). I went out early in the morning with clues of where he could find his frog. I typed poemed clues on bright pink paper and placed about ten of them along the highway under rocks. We got back to the barn and he followed the clues and finally found his frog!! I made a casket about 4"x8" and lined it with red satin, placed the frog in it, and put a big straw through the top and buried it with the straw sticking out of the ground. Well someone else pulled everything off his desk and put it in the grave too!! We got pictures and all was happy!!
My boss made a scrapbook out of the notes and posters and pictures. We passed it around tonight at the retirement! Whew, little did we know it would become a legend at work!! It was soooooo much fun!!!
Remember...Growing old is inevitable, growing UP is optional.
>^..^< Phyllis >^..^<
Friday, April 02, 2004
Camping fun!
Txoceanlover said he doesn't like camping anymore because he had some bad experiences, and is too old!! Ha!!
The campgrounds are full of old people with their yapping Pomeranian fluffy doggies!!
The Monday before Memorial Day 1998 I was setting up camp and I heard a pop. I have a tent trailer, and the trailer was crooked. Someone said I broke a cable, so I found a 2x2 pole and used that to prop up the tailer. It worked!!
The next year again on the Monday before Memorial Day I drove up to the campsite alone. It was beginning to sprinkle. I was all alone in the entire campground. I was cranking up the trailer, and half way up I heard a series of pops and the whole thing collapsed!! So here I am 75 miles away from home and in the rain and cannot get into my trailer with all my supplies. I so love the solitude of relaxing in the campground all alone for two days before everyone else shows up. I sat down and started crying. Just then a ranger truck drove by and two young gals got out and asked if I needed help. I jumped with glee and said YES!! I had the mind to bring 4 2x2 poles in case I needed them for tarps or propping up one side of the trailer. We somehow (by the Grace of God) propped up the trailer and I camped out for 4 days like that! On the way home that Memorial Day I stopped by a trailer sales place and traded it in right there!! They had to have 4 people prop up and hold the roof up for me to clean out all my junk. They asked how in the heck I camped like that, and I told them the poles held it up. The guy said I was damned lucky it didn't collapse on me while I was sleeping. I have alot of guardian angels watching out for me that is for sure!!
The Labor Day weekend before that, I was again in that old camper and luckily heading to the campground on my Island here 15 miles away. I turned the corner and a car came zooming by and stopped me. They said they saw the crank from my trailer fall off a mile back. I thanked them profusely and took the trailer to the campground and headed back to retrieve the crank. It was getting dark, and I couldn't find it. I was exhausted and totally stressed out, so I headed home to shower and go to bed. The next morning I headed out looking for the crank again. I finally found it after an hour of walking the shoulder of the highway. I went to camp and set it up and enjoyed the rest of the weekend. I go camping alone, but friends show up and we all have a ball!!
It is usually raining and cold when I camp, and I have a great campfire going!! A friend of mine we call "tarpman" always sets up tarps and we sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows and talking and having a ball!! All of us sober!!
The best part of camping of course is the food and friends!! But then again I think the very best part is getting home and taking a long hot shower and wash the hair and crawl into clean sheets!!
I can't wait until Memorial Day weekend to go again!!
Yes, I am a glutton for punishment!! Life is an adventure, and every adventure brings good memories.
Does anyone else have some fun stories to share on camping?
The campgrounds are full of old people with their yapping Pomeranian fluffy doggies!!
The Monday before Memorial Day 1998 I was setting up camp and I heard a pop. I have a tent trailer, and the trailer was crooked. Someone said I broke a cable, so I found a 2x2 pole and used that to prop up the tailer. It worked!!
The next year again on the Monday before Memorial Day I drove up to the campsite alone. It was beginning to sprinkle. I was all alone in the entire campground. I was cranking up the trailer, and half way up I heard a series of pops and the whole thing collapsed!! So here I am 75 miles away from home and in the rain and cannot get into my trailer with all my supplies. I so love the solitude of relaxing in the campground all alone for two days before everyone else shows up. I sat down and started crying. Just then a ranger truck drove by and two young gals got out and asked if I needed help. I jumped with glee and said YES!! I had the mind to bring 4 2x2 poles in case I needed them for tarps or propping up one side of the trailer. We somehow (by the Grace of God) propped up the trailer and I camped out for 4 days like that! On the way home that Memorial Day I stopped by a trailer sales place and traded it in right there!! They had to have 4 people prop up and hold the roof up for me to clean out all my junk. They asked how in the heck I camped like that, and I told them the poles held it up. The guy said I was damned lucky it didn't collapse on me while I was sleeping. I have alot of guardian angels watching out for me that is for sure!!
The Labor Day weekend before that, I was again in that old camper and luckily heading to the campground on my Island here 15 miles away. I turned the corner and a car came zooming by and stopped me. They said they saw the crank from my trailer fall off a mile back. I thanked them profusely and took the trailer to the campground and headed back to retrieve the crank. It was getting dark, and I couldn't find it. I was exhausted and totally stressed out, so I headed home to shower and go to bed. The next morning I headed out looking for the crank again. I finally found it after an hour of walking the shoulder of the highway. I went to camp and set it up and enjoyed the rest of the weekend. I go camping alone, but friends show up and we all have a ball!!
It is usually raining and cold when I camp, and I have a great campfire going!! A friend of mine we call "tarpman" always sets up tarps and we sit around the campfire roasting marshmallows and talking and having a ball!! All of us sober!!
The best part of camping of course is the food and friends!! But then again I think the very best part is getting home and taking a long hot shower and wash the hair and crawl into clean sheets!!
I can't wait until Memorial Day weekend to go again!!
Yes, I am a glutton for punishment!! Life is an adventure, and every adventure brings good memories.
Does anyone else have some fun stories to share on camping?
Thursday, April 01, 2004
WHAAAA???
Hey, where did that Chick come from???
I see my sister is bored again!! HAHAHAHA Thanks Mary Lou!!
It is hard to believe that Easter is only 2 weeks away! Whew. I looked at the calendar and decided I better make reservations for my campsite and they are all taken!! Bummer. I think I will try and get in the South Whidbey State Park. It is only 15 miles away. This is for Memorial Day weekend. I guess I waited too long darnit!! I love to camp. Actually I love the food while I camp!! I love sitting around doing NOTHING for three days and stoking the campfire and napping!!
There are alot of friends that join me for the night, and we all have a blast!!! One time we were sitting around the campfire and one person got up and went to the trees and came back. Then another one did the same. Next thing I knnow it got quiet and we heard the guy by the trees fart. Well that started the "Blazing Saddles" contest! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (all of us!!) What a bunch of crude, socially unacceptable misfits we are!!! Ya gotta love it!!
I see my sister is bored again!! HAHAHAHA Thanks Mary Lou!!
It is hard to believe that Easter is only 2 weeks away! Whew. I looked at the calendar and decided I better make reservations for my campsite and they are all taken!! Bummer. I think I will try and get in the South Whidbey State Park. It is only 15 miles away. This is for Memorial Day weekend. I guess I waited too long darnit!! I love to camp. Actually I love the food while I camp!! I love sitting around doing NOTHING for three days and stoking the campfire and napping!!
There are alot of friends that join me for the night, and we all have a blast!!! One time we were sitting around the campfire and one person got up and went to the trees and came back. Then another one did the same. Next thing I knnow it got quiet and we heard the guy by the trees fart. Well that started the "Blazing Saddles" contest! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (all of us!!) What a bunch of crude, socially unacceptable misfits we are!!! Ya gotta love it!!