Feeling hot, Hot, HOT!

It was another scorcher here today in the Midwest. Reached a high of 91 degrees with high humidity. The kind of day that makes it seem like you never put on any deodorant  and your underwear sticks to your butt. YOU know what I'm talking about.

The kind of day that our air conditioner can't possibly keep up, even though we're only living in 400 square feet of space. What can I say? I'm a hot MOMMA!

So Jim and I decided to go to an afternoon show. Usually we take turns between seeing "Chick" flicks and "Dick" flicks.

But this time I made a bold move. I saw a movie on my own. I wanted to see "Bridesmaids" and Jim wanted to see "Pirates of the Caribbean". Although I love Johnny Depp, I didn't care to see another one of those pirate movies. So I suggested we go our separate ways in the theater. Both movies conveniently started at the same time.

I think I've gone to the show by myself once before. It was fine. I would NEVER go to a scary movie by myself. Who would hold my hand?

I was looking forward to munching my own popcorn at my own pace. I like to savor each piece of popcorn. Jim tends to gobble, gobble, gobble. That means I have to eat at the same pace so I can get my fair share. I know, sad, right?

Anyway, there was a long line and the movie was about to start. Jim said, "I don't need any popcorn. We just ate lunch. I'm going to my movie."

Well, geez, he NEVER says that when we see a movie TOGETHER.

I said, "Fine! I guess I don't need popcorn, either!" So we walked to our respective movies, which happened to be showing right across the hall from each other.

I stumbled into the darkened theater; the commercials were already starting. I tried to judge what was the center seat and plunked myself down. (You KNOW I have this thing about sitting in the exact CENTER of the row!) I tried not to panic figuring if it was, indeed, the center seat, and waited till the screen got brighter to actually count the seats. (I know, I'm weird.) I was exactly in the center. Gosh I'm getting good at this.

There was a total of four people in the audience, including me.

All of a sudden the screen went totally dark, but we could hear the sound. The previews had started.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I love watching the previews. I want to know about the upcoming movies and if there are any that I really must see. Just when I was about to get up to complain to management about the problem, someone else stood up and said, "I'll go tell someone."

By the time the problem was fixed, we missed two full previews. Of course the "film" or whatever wasn't rewound  because time is of the essence, right?

Finally the movie started. It was pretty funny from the beginning. Kristin Wiig is a very talented actress and comedian. You may know her from Saturday Night Live.

image from Google

She co-wrote and starred in the movie. She has great comedic talent and reminds me of a young Meg Ryan.

But I have to say, the real scene stealer goes to Melissa McCarthy.

She is downright HILARIOUS in this movie! I don't know if you watch her on "Mike and Molly",

but she is so sweet and attractive looking on the show.

In this movie she doesn't wear any make-up, her hair is pulled back in a severe pony-tail, and she always has on pants with a shirt tucked in. The one thing that is the same is that she has a heart of gold in both the movie and the TV series.

I'd give this movie 3 out of 4 stars. It's funny. There is some slapstick humor in it, and it can be raw at times, so beware. It is rated "R".

We came home and although it felt cooler in our trailer, our thermostat read 86 degrees! Looks like we should have seen a double-header!

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Funny Gas Station Names

One thing that I notice in our travels are the funny names for gas stations.

The first place sounds like someplace "Larry the Cable Guy" would visit!

photo courtesy of google

It's called the "Git 'N Split".

You can also browse in Doctor John's lingerie and novelty store while getting gas. Kind of like one-stop shopping!

What man thinks, "Mmm, I'll fill up the tank and pick up a sexy nightie for the little woman?"

Then there is the ever popular "Kum & Go". Seriously?

Here's the "Pump and Pantry", an affiliate of Sinclair.

This is the "Loaf 'n Jug".  Oh yeah, they DO have gas there, too, by the way!

photo courtesy of www.loafnjug.com

The following are gas stations that I have not personally visited, but are worth mentioning.

This is the ONLY gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The gas station is located in Cloquet, MN.

photo courtesy of roadtripamerica.com

Here are a couple of short videos about the gas station. They are worth watching!




This second video shows that it is 3 minutes long, but it actually goes black after about 1.46 minutes.





How about this shell-shaped gas station? 

photo courtesy of  Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, "This single story Shell station, in the shape of a giant scallop shell, was built in 1930 at Sprague and Peachtree Streets in Winston-Salem. The owners of the oil company decided to attract customers through a series of shell-shaped service stations. They built at least eight in the Winston-Salem area, but the station at Sprague and Peachtree is the only one remaining."


And finally, how cute is this Teapot Gas Station? It is located in Zilla, WA. It is no longer in use. 

According to Wikipedia, "The Teapot Dome Service Station was built in 1922 on what later became U.S. Route 12. The station was intended to be a reminder of the Teapot Dome Scandal that rocked the presidency of Warren G. Harding and sent Interior Secretary Albert Fall to prison for his role in leasing government oil reserves in, among other places, Teapot Dome, Wyoming. The unique service station continued operation as a full service gas station for some years. When Interstate 82 was constructed near Zillah, the station was relocated less than a mile down the Yakima Valley Highway. It is no longer in operation. In 2007, the town of Zillah purchased the station, and is attempting to raise money to keep it operational."

How about you? Do you have any funny/interesting gas stations near you?

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World's Largest Truck Stop

Driving through Iowa on our way to Illinois, we just HAD to stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa.

photo courtesy of Eric B.

As soon as I walked inside, I saw this pick-up truck right smack dab in the middle of the floor!

To the left was a food court and a large sit down area to eat.

The bathrooms were off to the right. I don't know about the men's bathroom (I didn't ask Jim!), but the women's was quite interesting! Of course it kept with the whole "trucking" theme, with the stalls made out of diamond plated sheets.

It actually seemed kind of "manly" in there, you know? The hand dryer was REALLY powerful. Look at the way my skin was blowing around on my hand!

Okay, we're done with business there! Exiting the bathroom we come upon a gift shop.

There are many, many different items to browse through. One item that caught my eye. Hmmmmm....is this why I don't golf?

Continuing through this shop, we come to a stairway leading down to a huge showroom.

This was a Trucker's Paradise. Heck, you didn't even have to be a trucker to enjoy this place. But more than likely you had to be a man. Look way in the background of that picture above. Why, yes, yes indeed, that is a SEMI parked in the store.

Here's a better look: (That's JIM behind the wheel!)

Here's the long, long, long trailer!

Behind the wheel:

The back seat (bunk beds) of the truck. This is what I need for OUR truck!

This wasn't the only truck in the store. Nosiree Bob! There was this nice blue one, which puts our Big Blue to shame, I'm afraid!

AND this spiffy looking yellow one!

After I was awed by the semis, I just started having fun taking photos. Take a gander and see what I mean:

Word of advice: You never want to be THISCLOSE to the grillwork of a moving truck.

Doesn't this look like it belongs on a James Bond car instead of a semi truck?

Smile pretty for the camera!

I was amazed to see this sign in the store:

Those are a LOT of amenities for the truckers!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the

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A Sign of the TImes?

I found a fun new meme to jump in on called, "Signs, Signs" sponsored by Lesley.

I saw this funny sign at a Walgreens, although I don't THINK it was meant to be funny!

That flu shot might be a bargain for a buck, but I'll take mine without bleach, thank you very much!

Click here to see more signs.

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Rain, Rain Go Away

Sunday morning we heard a strong rapping on our door. I opened it up to find Sandy, the campground owner, standing there.

"Just wanted to advise you that there is a severe storm heading our way. The police just stopped by to warn us. There will be 70 mph winds, possible hail and heavy rains. So you might want to 'batten down the hatches,'" she said, glancing up at our Yogi antenna.

"Thanks for letting us know," I said, and shut the door.

Immediately I wanted to puke.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

I'm not good in storms.

And living in a trailer just adds to the drama.

Jim, of course, is never phased by any storms. "Ah we'll be fine!"are his famous last words.

Meanwhile I'm sprinkling each room with holy water and mumbling Hail Marys.

You know, it wouldn't be bad if we had a storm every ONCE in AWHILE, but geez-louise they are happening all the time now!

So Sunday we got the HELL out of Dodge. I called up my daughter, Jessica.

It was only 10:30 am.

"Yeah, hey, uh, we're coming over."

"Ookay. We're still in our pajamas..." Jessica said.

"I don't care. I don't care what your house looks like either. There are bad storms coming and we are LEAVING now!"

I grabbed my computer, camera, flashdrive, purse and raincoat. Jim just grabbed the hard drive with all our photos on it. I think he was just humoring me.

We spent the day at Jessica's. One storm came through with heavy rain and some lightening and then moved out. That was it.

We came back to the campground around 7:30 pm. The sun was just about setting. People were sitting around campfires; the campground didn't look bad at all. There were no leaves or broken tree branches on the ground. I asked our neighbors how bad it had been and they said that a couple of heavy storms had moved through the area, but the winds didn't get as high as expected.

Our trailer was fine.

These are photos from a storm a few days ago.

The clouds are starting to gather.

Looking out over the farmer's field behind our trailer. Look at the band of clouds rolling in!

Things are stirring up more.

Yikes! I'd better get inside!

On Monday, Memorial Day, the sun ACTUALLY came out and there was NO RAIN in the forecast. I sat outside for a few hours and read. It was wonderful.

But today, back to the same dreary, forecast. Actually here's our 5 day forecast.

Scattered Strong Storms / Wind	Mostly Sunny	Scattered T-Storms	Partly Cloudy	Isolated T-Storms
88°F	85°	84°	94°	87°
High	High	High	High	High
60°	62°	66°	68°	63°
Low	Low	Low	Low	Low
Chance of Rain: 50%	Chance of Precip: 10%	Chance of Rain: 50%	Chance of Precip: 10%	Chance of Rain: 30%

I wonder if our trailer can float?

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Ready, Wi-Fied and Able

As you heard me complain here more than once, the Wi-Fi at our campground wasn't working properly. Okay, so lightning STRUCK the antenna that is near our trailer. That was LAST summer and it still wasn't fixed. Probably nobody complained as much as WE did because  a) people are here usually for only the weekends and probably don't care about the internet, or b) the big motor coaches that pull in usually have their own satellite internet and don't use the campground's Wi-Fi.

There IS another antenna nearby, but it faces in a totally different direction. We barely get a blip on our computer to hook on.

We also have an "air card" that we use to connect to AT& T for internet services when we travel . As long as we have cell service - we have internet. We were as happy as a pig in mud - UNTIL AT& T put the kabash on our unlimited service! The nerve! Now we are allowed only 5 GB per month; if we go over that amount we get charged dearly. I'm not a computer geek, and I'm not really sure what a gigabyte IS, but let me tell you, with Jim and I SHARING the air card here, we almost surpassed that amount within a week.

Yeah.

So Jim said, "That's enough of that!"

I was about to die. This is what I discovered.

The internet is my CRACK. 

I want NEED it EVERYDAY!

But there were days I had to do without it.

I was pretty cranky.

I will be the first to admit it.

The campground store had a strong signal and the owner said that it was okay for me to come down and sit there.

She probably didn't realize that I'd be there for 3 hours at a time! And even then I didn't get to all your blogs to comment. Once in awhile I'd post to Facebook, check my mail, and try to write my OWN blog.

It was rough.

One day when I was pedaling my butt down to the store (with my computer in my bicycle basket!), Jim said, "Ask at the store if I got a package."

"What are you expecting?" I asked.

"I ordered a Yogi antenna to see if that will help us get a signal."

So the first thing that came to my mind was this:

And I'm thinking, "Is there room for Boo-boo?"

And weren't we humiliated enough with the "cantenna" on our roof without putting a couple of dancing bears up there?

I guess not.

You might ask what happened to the cantenna. Well, it worked well in AZ, but here in IL it just wasn't strong enough to pick up a signal. It looks pretty rough, too.

The Yogi antenna DID come in that day and it wasn't a very large box. Unless Yogi was a blow-up bear, I was mistaken as to exactly what this antenna looked like. Here it is.

You can barely see it against those gray skies! The only problem we have with it is that if it is real windy, that antenna whips around and then Jim has to go back outside and adjust it.

So after I plunked my big ole butt in the office a few times and for several hours, the campground took the hint and got the Wi-Fi repaired.

A couple of weekends ago we had full service (5 bars!) and I did a happy dance. I called the office and told them that the Wi-Fi was up and running and that I was a HAPPY CAMPER!!

But, alas, that was the LAST weekend we had FULL service. We're down to only a few bars, but at least we still can connect.

It's pretty bad when Jim walks into the kitchen and the first words out of his mouth are "How many bars do you have?" instead of "Good morning, hon!"

What can I say?

I guess we're both crackheads.

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And the Award Goes To.......

It's Award Time! This past week I was lucky enough to receive two awards! Coincidentally they are the same....."Good Bloggers Pay it Forward Award", (does that mean I REALLY deserve it?). The first comes from David Waters at Alokoli. His blog is a wonderful mix of poems, stories, recipes, movie reviews, photos, and just about anything else you can and CAN NOT think of! In fact, you never know what David will write about! And that's the fun of visiting his blog!

The second comes from IWASNTBLOGGEDYESTERDAY, who hails from Australia. It's interesting to read about her corner of the world and I like her sense of humor!


So here are the rules:

Our fellow bloggers present us with a lot of opportunities for furthering our blogs and gaining followers. Here is a way to Pay It Forward to them. When you have been bestowed with the honor of the Pay It Forward Award, insert this award at the top of a blog post, along with these rules, and find FIVE fellow bloggers to bestow it upon. Thank the person who awarded you, mention them in your post, along with a link to your favorite post on their blog, and a short  blurb about why you like it. Next comment on their blog to let them know you are bestowing the award on them, and that they should do the same. And remember: Good Bloggers Pay It Forward!

Whew! Well, that seems like an awful lot of rules. I'm changing it a wee bit. Here are five bloggers that I think you will enjoy! Go ahead and click over to them! I'll wait!

1. Eva from Wrestling with Retirement - This blog is one of the funniest out there in Bloggerland! If you aren't following Eva, you should be! You will instantly feel good EVERY morning, once you read her post! I guarantee it!


2. Wendy from On the Front Porch. A mom of two, Wendy is funny, sarcastic, and a wonderful writer. You will truly enjoy her blog.


3. Gail from At the Farm. Gail lives on a working farm with her husband, 2 sisters, I believe her daughter and 2 grandchildren. Throw in several dogs, cats, cows, horses, and chickens, and you know there's going to be excitement! Add to that Gail's wicked sense of humor and you've got one fun blog!


4. Richard from Boehmcke's Human Condition. This young man hails from New York and is HILARIOUS with a capital "H"! I love his stories about New York City, and his stories about "nothing" in particular. He reminds me of a young Seinfeld. He is a very talented writer and has written and produced two plays and has won a few video contests. Try his blog out. It is thoroughly entertaining.


5. Sharon from A New England Life. If you ever want to see beautiful photography, this is the place to go! Sharon's photos make me long for the beach. She has such a knack for spotting the perfect photo op. Go and visit her blog and see what I mean.


Okay. Whew! I picked 5, I know I probably should have picked 10. But this is a lot of hard work. I am truly awful at passing on awards. I really, REALLY appreciate receiving them. Don't get me wrong. I received about 5 of them over the last year and I never passed them on.


So I have decided from this point on to make this blog a no awards blog. I love you all, really I do, but I can barely keep up with all you prolific bloggers, let alone follow rules and pass on awards. I hope you all understand!

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He's Baack!

You know what? I'm getting awfully tired waking up to someone (or someTHING) knocking on my kitchen window at the break of dawn. Or should I say "pecking?"

We had about a week or so reprieve from this guy:

So when the "pecking" began last week,  that's who I expected to see when I opened the blinds.

But, SURPRISE!

This is who was staring back at me.

He flew to the bottom of the window and clung to the one inch ridge and stared me down. I have to admit that I blinked first. It was kind of creepy.

Then he flitted up to a branch. Stared a minute.

 

Put on his angry face,

Got ready for take off,

and he's off like a bullet!

and then he was at the window!

He did this over

and over again.

Sometimes he just hovered by the window.

Here he is in all his winged glory!

I really don't understand the attraction birds have with my trailer, but I'm beginning to wonder what will be coming next. Thank God these are extinct!

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