A "Fair" visit w/ Grandma

Jess, Bailee and I went over to see Great Grandma this morning.  The "girls" were all in the activity room/dining room playing a puzzle game on the white board. Bailee had fun and knew all the answers.  They chose letters and then tried to figure out the answer...just like Wheel of Fortune minus the wheel :-)  The answer was cotton candy !!! and Bailee knew before all the rest. Then they talked about the State Fair from it's beginnings in the 1800's to now.... The first fair was held in Syracuse too and then they tried other cities like Buffalo and Albany and NYC but Syracuse was in the center of the state so ......there it ended up... One of our neighbors from Locke is moving to Walden Place soon, Shirley VanNest.  Mom thought the last name sounded familiar :-)

For the halibut

They went to Homer fishing, just for the halibut!!!!! and boy, were they successful!  They had a great day at sea. They caught their limit and didn't throw up...That's a very good day on the ocean!  The great adventure is just that so far.  They enjoyed their stay on the Homer Spit and are heading to maybe Seward or Wasilla today.  I think Lee's hoping for a Sarah Palin sighting... They have their car until the 3rd and are still just winging it... moving around every couple of nights.  The cost of living (and vacationing) is pretty steep up there. I keep forgetting to ask the price of gas....You'd think it might be cheaper there but you'd also think halibut sandwiches would be too....NOT!  Bailee even received a postcard from the adventurers today... not me...Guess who Papa misses more? :-(  jk....Thank goodness for technology....We get to see the day's activities online each night.... if we can stay awake that long....When I'm ready for bed, they're just having supper.  I'm thrilled they're having fun and we're gearing up for Kindergarten here... I read am article in the morning paper that quoted a K teacher saying, "There are always some criers on the first day.........but once they get to their cars and head home, they're better!!!!" :-)  That will be me!
The pictures show their catch for the day and one that Lee just hauled in... along with a whale spouting off about something :-)

The Alaskan Adventure

Lee and Jeff arrived safely and exhausted.  Much too long a trip for one day.  Spent a couple of days touring around Anchorage and headed to Homer yesterday. They're out on the Homer Spit (the skinny, little peninsula you see in the photo) and are fishing for halibut this morning.  I'm hoping they don't get sick...I sent Dramamine!!!  They had a great ride down the coast. They saw Beluga whales on one side of the road and mountain goats standing on the snow capped mountains on the other.  They even went to the Anchorage Zoo on their first day. I can't even get Lee to the Syracuse Zoo!!!!  Train tracks also follow the coast so they got ahead of a train and Jeff ran and put a dime on the tracks.... I told him we did that for years when the train ran 25 feet behind our lake house... They have a car for a week and will then take the train to Denali to see the sites there. I'm assuming a sight-seeing boat will show them the glaciers sometime too.  I'm hoping the weather holds for them. They said it's actually getting a bit dark at night but only for a few hours. It sounds like they're enjoying their adventure so far....♥

And.......He'sssss Off !!

If he doesn't have it in his suitcase or his backpack.....he doesn't need it.. (or he can buy it there for 2x the $).  I seriously think it would have been easier to send Bailee off on vacation. I left more notes in his suitcase and backpack then my father wrote to me in 50 years... (yes, that's an exaggeration..sort of)  With the last 10 days ailments, he now has10 pills a day.... and his day will be all screwed up as it's still light there for almost all 24 hrs.  Jeff has instructions too, so hopefully he'll keep him alive to send back to NY.  He was most upset that he couldn't take his jackknife and his lighter.  He goes NOWHERE without them and his lucky quarter.  This morning he said, "What will I do if I need to start a fire?"  "On the plane?" I replied !   "You can always buy one when you get there and a knife too and mail it home"..... but of course, it's not the knife !  He no longer smokes but likes to carry his lighter.  My brother never smoked and always carried a lighter.....his reasoning...what if I see a cute girl and she needs a light?  
Hopefully Irene won't be a travel factor... Every flight is westbound....Charlotte - Phoenix - Anchorage.  It'll be a long day in a cramped, airplane seat as they won't be arriving till 12:30 a.m. tomorrow (4:30 a.m. our time).  Jeff was going to check into any available first class upgrades.... hopefully working for US Airways for 12 years may have a perk or two.
Jess will be helping to finish up Bailee's new play yard this afternoon, we have a wedding tonight and then a school shopping adventure tomorrow and Sunday followed by my Fantasy Football Draft Sunday night!  I'll need a vacation from vacationiig from Lee's vacation !!!

Whining

I generally only whine to myself (or my mirror).  Yesterday I missed a luncheon I was really looking forward to because of my darn IBS (tmi).  My bowels weren't the only one who was irritated.  It was a nice day for a drive and I was excited about making the mini road trip with my "old" friend Sharon.  Then the winds changed and the barometric pressure went piss-wacky and a nice headache set in. I relaxed on my porch in my comfy wicker, rocker and chilled with my Kindle.  I'm reading Danielle Steel's latest repetition.. (when her writing career ends, she could go to work in a glue factory.  She consistently beats a dead horse in her last few novels!) Anyway, my glasses have become scratched and foggy and I can't seem to keep the lenses worthy of these tired eyes.  My to-do list includes a trip to the optician...soon.  Today I awoke with another headache, in a different location, which makes my diagnosis even more relevant to the weather.  Stress...? and that's a factor too.  Lee has developed a sty that needs immediate attention as tomorrow is departure day (Thank God).  Stress..? appears to be turning both of us into insufferable whiners. Misery loves company is a true statement, at least at EIEIO. I hope, Irene (our latest hurricane) won't impede Lee's departure and their adventure... If you think I'm whining today, think what you'll hear tomorrow if his flight is delayed or cancelled.  If U S Airways can just get him to Charlotte, he's Jeff's for nearly 2 weeks!  Then maybe, just maybe, I'll drop the "H" and turn my whine to wine! Cheers!

One more thing!

OK... we're adding to our craziness.  On top of Lee's ailments in the past week, yesterday we "felt" an Earthquake!!!  WTH... It was a 5.8 and was centered in Virginia.  It was felt from Georgia all the way up the eastern seaboard to Canada.  I tend to stumble throughout the day so I'm not sure if I really felt it or just thought I did. I will use it however, to explain my bookcase clutter.
I'm heading out on a short road trip this morning.....all the way to Endwell (near Binghamton) to have lunch with some old friends. I've joined the crew once before and am looking forward to today's visit with Cindy Johnston Brigagliano and the gals.
Lee survived a short medicine tutorial last night. Tonight we'll discuss clothing :-) I hope Jeffrey has the patience to get through this adventure with his Dad :-)
Hurricane Irene is still threatening the U.S. with landfall in New England this week-end and possibly skirting the islands off the coast of N.C first.  Still not sure if we should be blaming Mother Nature or Global Warming...or are they the same thing??

Nice morning

It's a pretty, nice morning.  The thermometer dipped below 50 in the wee hours and that, mixed with the lack of humidity, has given everyone at EIEIO a burst of energy.  The birds are really flighty this morning too.. Many hummingbirds are dashing in and out of my big,white petunias while others are perusing all the feeders on the patio....none of which contain anything colorful or hummer friendly?????  The goldfinches are chowing down on lots of thistle and the woodpeckers are doing fly-bys in an effort to remind me that their lunchboxes are in need of suet. I've heard my pileated woodpecker's song up in the woods.....I'm hoping he'll come see me again soon....(I know, we need suet)  The chipmunks and squirrels are playing tag in the back yard and hoping that Lee will give them some more peanuts....Unfortunately, the centipedes are still here....The gal at the pest company said they were migrating.... Well just how the heck long does it take to get where they're going?  After all, they have 100 legs!!!!!! They are pretty irritating and beginning to crunch under our feet.  I sweep the garage and blow off the patios nearly every day so the perimeters of those areas are pretty crunchy.  I think these things only live a short time so that means the number of them is in the thousands.....for real. It does seem that a cooler morning gives me less to blow away.....I might just welcome a frost and the Almanac says that's "normally" still 8 weeks away.  I'm sure I'm the only one to be looking forward to a frost with the exception of allergy sufferers.
That energy I mentioned will wane if I don't remove myself from my perch and head out to hang the laundry, fill the feeders and fetch Jess some Draino. Bailee's new play yard is to be delivered today and then we're gonna need all the energy we can muster......I'm thinking maybe we should contract that construction project "out!" Three more days and Lee and Jeff's excellent adventure will be underway.  I hoping Irene doesn't get in the way.