Yes I got a shower

Don't want ya to miss out on all the fun we are having. So we wake up yesterday, Sunday wouldn't ya know, and I go to do up the dishes from a lovely brunch I had prepared and I say "Oh Mr Doodles guess what, we have no hot water". I hear this grumble, grumble. Guess those were not the words he was hoping for on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Now many of ya know how handy this man of mine is. He gets out all the manuals and reading stuff you must go thru before finding the danged screwdriver and lifting the lid to see what's going on here folks. Oh I shoulda just got in the truck and went shopping but noooooooo I had to stick around and see the outcome.

I am also quite happy with myself that I keep good records and a neat file system for Mr Doodles to find exactly what he is looking for. This is the same man that opens the fridge and says "where's the butter?" I digress a bit sorry. I am able to put my hands on everything that was needed, well with the exception of a guy to come out right then and there to repair the dern thing.

When we purchased our RV, Grace as I affectionately refer to her as, we purchased a roadside assistance policy, actually they gave it to us when we purchased our sweet thing. So you call this number and a technician calls you right back, walks you thru all the steps that may help repair the problem. That's nice but hell it didn't help us one bit. My I sound crabby.......well I have a sink full of dirty dishes and haven't had a shower. Cause we needed a service guy to fix it and it's SUNDAY!!!

Ya know I think about all the older, even older than us, folks that have these big RV's and coudn't find a screw driver or much else how the heck do they manage. Oh well I guess they must cause there is a large amount of those very same folks on the road..........Lordy help us!!!

Back to the water heater that isn't working. We are lucky, HAR!!!, that we are in an area where there are several RV dealers to work on all of us RV'ers. And three of them service our manufactured model.

Now it's Monday morning and we must hook-up and drive to said RV fix-it place. Yes I called ahead to see if they could fit us in on such a short notice and oh by the way this is warranty work. Bless their little hearts they say "oh yes mam we will swueeze you in as soon as you get here". Okey dokey we will be there shortly. I turn to Mr Doodles and say this I do not believe.

Well folks believe it!!! They got us in ASAP fixed the dern thing and off we went before the traffic got bad on the freeway. I was and still am amazed.

So thank you Beaudry RV Service Center in Tucson, AZ you have made Mr Doodles and me a very happy customer. We have hot water and back up for when it should ever happen again. And also happy not to have to pay since it was warranty work.

I would like to take a moment

to thank the person that invented the DVR aka digital video recorder, or if you have one the TIVO.

Lordy, lordy TV has never been the same since we have gotten one with our satellite system a few years back. Going from our traditional VCR to the DVR was actually easy. We are TV watchers and have quite eclectic taste between the two of us. So recording our favorites is a wonderful invention

Sister and I were discussing this very topic just the other day. How many commercials have you seen lately? Actually none or very few and ya know what I don't miss them at all. Zip thru all the BS and now all those political commercials. Oh my their is a GOD!!!

So I bow to you and thank you dear person, whoever you may be, for inventing this wonderful piece of electronic equiptment I now value as much as my blow dryer or my electric tea pot.

A hike with a few animals to visit.....

Took off early the other day, well early for us, and went on a ten mile hike and then on the way back stopped at the Tucson Zoo. Not the showiest Zoo, but quite sweet with just a few animals. I spotted the tiger cage the minute we walked in, BUT resident tiger was napping. Dang no pictures of tiger. As we were making our loop around the park I heard someone say "the tiger is up and walking". Hmmmmm let's hope the guy is still behind bars. Off I go and look there he is. Bars get in the way of the photo but in a good way don't cha think?!?!!! Such a pretty boy......he was pacing quite a lot and scared the beeeejeeezus outta me when I first walked up and this bad boy jumped up on the cage. Mr Doodles said "he likes you". Let's see if I can find some pics Mr Doodles took. Think he's practicing up for our photo adventure trip to Alaska.
I'm quite fond of giraffe's. One of my all time favorite photo's I have ever taken was of a giraffe at the Washing DC Zoo many years ago.



Llama's are just comical aren't they?










And Zebra's are strickingly beautiful.









But these big guys are King of the Zoo. This old boy was waiting for his sweetie to wake up from her afternoon nap. And I think he was getting a bit impatient cause the growl could be heard all over the zoo.

Paper or Plastic

Referring to gift cards. You may have received some as a gift during the holidays.

California has put in a new law (SB 250) effective January 1, 2008 that require retailers to give cash back for the balance of any gift card worth more than$10. Prior to that no matter whether it was ten cents or ten dollars it remained on the card.

If you are like me I use the card and then any remaining amount I never remember and the card goes back in my wallet. The retailer has already received their monies. Many of these retailers exist on unclaimed discarded gift cards.

Once California does this and it is successful I sure do hope that other states follow. I must admit I don't know of any other state that does this. If they do let me know.

Awwwwwww come on

do we really need the dopes in Washington to tell us we are headed for a recession. Any half-way intelligent adult could have told ya that months ago.
Instead of talking about a stimulus package (I always thought a stimulus package sounded kinda like something that should be on a porn site) shame on me cause this was not meant to offend anyone. Anyway, instead a talking about it.....do something for God sakes. You folks in Washington caused most a this mess..................... now fix it.

Oh wait this is an election year, so now the present government is gonna just talk about it and the candidates are gonna bore us to death about the economy cause they know what to do about this mess we are in. Meanwhile, fuel prices, credit card debt, health costs, to name a few, are skyrocketing. Have you noticed in your city how many people are on the streets pushing shopping carts with all their earthly belongings in that cart. Listen to the news and the new homeless are families with children. Lord what have they created?

If this is my fault tell me now. Did I not spend enough $$$ last year heavens Mr Doodles thinks I did.

Now your job is to read about these candidates. Don't just form an opinion thru sound bites on TV. We cannot allow the media to run the election turnout. And remember just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's true.

I don't care who you vote for just be an informed voter PLEASE!!!

Gypsyies on the move again

Definition of GYPSY = gypsy One inclined to a nomadic, unconventional way of life.

I guess you could call us gypsies, nomads, or even bohemians. All would certainly apply.

Thanks to my friend Bee and her love of quotes, I found this quote I really like - The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

We have been in Southern Arizona for a few months, and have seen enough to know that we would come back here to build a house someday. That is once we get the gypsy in our soul on to another plane.

So since we need to be heading West to start our trip to the great state of Alaska. Why not head that way now. Plus will be closer to family. I miss Buddy the dog.

I have posted about many of the highway travels over the past few months. We have visited some wonderful towns and cities. Met some fantasticly wonderful people. That said we have not found a town or area we would live in but Tucson. But this city is not for everyone. Oh it has all the amenities Starbucks, shopping, culture, terrific weather, a Zoo, a large University. And speaking of that I get dirty looks when I wear my UCLA shirts. But the weather on a hole is quite nice, well not now cause it's a whopping 27* outside. The weather is wonderful most of the time. But as I said it's not for everyone. Not a lot of greenery unless you consider the cactus as the greenery. Lot's a dirt, little grass.

But there are so many things it doesn't have like hurricanes, mosquitoes, humidity. Now because of the drier climate I am spending a fortune on body lotion.

Like I said this could be the place to hang our hats when the time comes to build. Tucson could just win the lottery for us to set up residency once we get that gypsy outta our souls.

So in the meantime we are going to California in a few days. Just saying that puts a smile on my face and makes my heart very happy.

As always, stay tuna'd..................

Dog Park Buddies

I'm sure y'all know by now my sweet sister and her sweetest have a wonderful dog by the name of Buddy.

Every once in awhile Buddy has his Masters take him to a favorite spot the dog park. I had never had the pleasure of going along for the ride. But this last trip Buddy included me and I got to see what all he was raving about.

It's about 15 minutes away and the closer we get to the Park old Buddy knows just by the turn and corners. My he does enjoy the adventure and can hardly wait to get out of the car to get his leash and go see his Dog Park friends. And many friends he has.



Buddy and two new friends
This young lady was always smiling

Nice to meet ya! Come here often?

This is just a wonderful park. Divided into two sections, one for the under thirty smaller dogs, which Buddy is, and the other side is for those larger animals. You go thru two gates as a security process and then off they go running helter skelter to meet old friends and then of course there is always new friends to hook up with. This place is huge and you would never think there were that many dogs in there. Sometimes they get to running like a freight train. It is very enjoyable to see these animals enjoying themselves. And ya know there is rarely ever a problem.

Take a look at some of these photos and see the smiles on these sweet pups faces


This little fella is just too cute and well dressed.


These boys are jumping for joy!

And thanks Buddy for inviting me on your adventure...................I really enjoyed myself.

Some changes coming up...........in the Tombstone

community.................so stay tuna'd

However I wanted to share this with you.............pee'd me pants when I read this email from a friend. Please feel free to use this on any voice mail you choose.

I dialed a number and got the following recording:
"I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes."

My bus riding skills

They have not been tested in eons, literally eons.

When visiting sister we tend to gas ass a lot. Being the good souls we try to be, sister thought it was a good idea to utilize the Los Angeles transit system. Now some of this she has done before, BUT not this particular trip.

Our one destination was to be Olvera Street Downtown Los Angeles. It just so happens that Los Angeles Union Station is directly across the street from our destination. How Lucky is that. So we travel from sister's house to the Valley to pick up our first leg of the journey. Guess where it takes us. HollyWEIRD!!!! Walk off the train go up the escalator to the famous Hollywood Blvd and there it is the Kodak Theater and right next door to the Grauman's Chinese Theater. You know that place where all the stars have there feet and hands in cement in the entry way. I remember going there as a kid thinking how cool it was to actually witness the foot and hand prints of the likes of Clark Gable and many others. Don't know how they pick and choose who gets to lay their hands and feet in cement but there happened to be some new ones like Will Smith and others like, yep kimmy George Clooney.

Anyway it was pretty cool years ago and just as cool now I guess cause Hollywood Blvd was mobbed with folks. Kodak Theater....very interesting. When watching those award shows I will now look at that red carpet a bit differently. It is a VERRRRRRY long way from the Blvd. to the entrance of the theater. You are not allowed in the Theater unless you pay for a tour...NOT ME!!! But the surroundings are quite unusual, it's an upscale Mall, so we shopped and had a snack.

Back to the train we go and head to Downtown Los Angeles.......look out Olvera Street.
Most of the riders on the Metro are your everyday working people. Sometimes you get a bonus of entertainment with some (how do I put this) street folks. We were entertained and stunned all at the same time. Suffice to say these young people are not the future of this country, THANK GOD!!!

Get off at the absolutely gorgeous Union Station. Have some pictures that I took and I'll post over on my flickr site. But I do love going to Union Station cause I know the next stop is Olvera Street and those tasty taquitos. We, as a family, have been going there since we were younguns. Niece was at Olvera Street a few weeks back and happened to call me from there just to tease. It's one of those places.

Needless to say we did the Olvera Street walk which consisted of popping into a few shops and the small purchase of some wonderful candy another added memory.

OK back to Union Station for the return trip which I must say was quite sane.

Next trip to be Pasadena and the Craftsman Architecture tour....stay tun'd

Neither rain, nor snow or

whatever it is the United States Postal Service says.......I have been really bad about blogging.

It has rained and not rained and rained some more the last few days here. Not only that the weather is truly shitty, bone chilling cause it is so damp. BLEEEEECH!!!

Blogging for me is sort of cathartic, medicinal journey of words. Writing at the end of your day, putting your thoughts together of the last day or so. Well hell sister and I have been just way to busy to do any of that.

stay tuna'd.........

Let's wrap it up...

2007 that is.

It's been a wonderous, special year here for the Doodles trio. Travel was at the top of the agenda, well of course since we sold our house in the blue tarp state.

Here is a quick time line......

• April sold above referenced house Hooooray only on the market 11 months
  
• Purchased Big A$$ truck and RV also in April
• Left the blue tarp state May 17th and never to return another Hooooooray
• Upon completion of above referenced trip of 18,000 + miles and two countries, we landed in Tucson mid November.

Yep we put that many miles on the first leg of the Doodles RV journey. And Buddy, the cat was an absolute wonderful terrific traveler. I am so happy to be able to say that because I know he could have made that trip and absolute nitemare. So extra treats for my Buddy cause he was so good.

We have had some just wonderful memories, met some new friends, met up with some very old friends, and it is unfortunate but lost a few friends along the way.

We both took some memorable photos, saw some new sites and a few old sites, went to several races, had some memorable lip smacking meals and even awarded the worst roads citation to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a side note I wrote to the Governor regarding his road conditions, I received a form letter as a reply. Shame on him.

Best part was being able to be with sister and family three times this year....that's a huge wahoooo!!!

Now 2007 is coming to a close, I look back and think what a fun ride, literally, it was personally. I'm not going to get into the political aspect of the year cause the dopes in Washington give me a headache.

My hope and wish for y'all is to enjoy 2008 as much as we enjoyed 2007!!!

Peace, prosperity and health for you in the coming year.

Now for me let's hope I get boots and a warm hat cause we be going to Alaska.......so stay tuna'd.

ps - thanks for all that stop by you make it fun

From me to you

Now to driving fools

Now remember, if you will, I have a Big A$$ Truck that I drive.

So, you're waiting at a stoplight in a left-turn lane. The light turns green, so you inch out into the intersection. A truck is in the left-turn lane going in the opposite direction, directly in front of you. All's well and good ... except that the truck's blocking your view of oncoming traffic. You can't be sure that a vehicle or three isn't coming, so you--not wanting to get T-boned--decide to wait for either the truck to turn, or for the left-turn light to turn green.

Then the cretin, (I haven't used that word in a very long time) in the car behind you starts honking. Apparently, he, she must certainly be in a hurry, and doesn't care about your hesitance at blindly meandering into oncoming traffic. I could be the truck blocking someones view because of the size, but I doubt it.

These impatient, uncaring, ignorant fools are the lowest of the low. And if they're male, they almost certainly have small whatchacallit. Shame on me for saying that.

These people need to get a life because there's not enough room in in the world for these fools.

Miracles of Miracles

OK I understand that some things are miracles and I accept that. Take for example the miracle of finding the father and his three children after three days of being out there in Northern California where the weather had turned to crap. Story goes that Dad took the kids out to get a Christmas tree and ended up building a snow fort in a culvert cause they got lost, totally lost and stayed warm by hugging for warmth while lost in the wilderness. Now cut to three days later and the news media is having a field day interviewing the rescued family. Man they were so happy to be home and so was their Mom who was waiting for some word from the authorities. As you probably heard the reporters were all over this story BUT asked the most asinine questions. However when speaking with the dudes that finally rescued this fortunate family, a question was asked about "how to avoid having this happen to your family"? The rescue paramedic listed the usual assortment, like cell phone, water and such but when he said carry a GPS, I stopped dead in my tracks. WHAT did he say!!!!!! Now you know a lot of folks right, maybe some of them went trompping thru the woods in search of the perfect Christmas tree. What do ya spose anyone of them had a hand held GPS unit? I am not making fun of this serious event. The freak snow storm that kicked up while they were out caused that family to go thru hell and thank you very much their Christmas will be very Merry. What ya spose Dad might find a GPS under the tree.................NOT!!!

Drive thru fools

One would think it would have been the second coming when an In-N-Out-Burger opened recently in our area.

With much buzz about town and long waits both inside the store and in the drive-thru lane, residents in our area finally had their very own In-N-Out. On the day of the grand opening, the town had to have extra cops on duty to direct traffic, all for a danged hamburger.

For some strange reason, the craze has barely let up. I have no idea how long the wait is, but if the pace inside is any indication, the wait time is tooooo long. The young ens that work there work their butts off I'll tell ya. You don't see workers like that at Mc Donalds or Burger King. No offense if your child happens to work at one of those establishments

I'll admit the burgers are good, actually better than good, but why anyone would want to sit in a line of cars, breathing toxic fumes and with the price of petrol these day for a stinkin' hamburger, is way beyond me. Think of the pollution that is created. I'm no rocket scientist, but it surely has to be a whole buncha polutin.

But it does remind me of when Krispy Kreme doughnuts opened and they turned on their done sign and out of nowhere cars were lined up around the block.

Edited to add: for those of you that live East and North of me you are missing out on a tasty burger.

Southern Arizona

Now when you read that the first thing to come to mind is nice warm temps right.....well not right now. Eeekkk!!!

So we are sitting outside the other afternoon watching the news, local news and the weather dude comes on and says "bundle up Tucson", get our your woolies cause you are gonna need them. Mr Doodles looks at me and says huh? I thought it was gonna go down to the 40's. Guess that's an OK temp for Mr Doodles. Nope 36* my sweet. And rain. Now you know what happens when the temps drop and it rains the cold goes right thru ya.

Well in fact we did wake up to rain in the nite and sure enough it did dip down to the mid 30's, with sleet, a bit of hail and a lot of snow on the mountains that surround us.
Using a fair amount of propane to heat our sweet RV, doubt that this cold snap will last thru February. We'll see how Mr Doodles handles this. One thing I cannot convince him to do is use body cream. He calls it slimy stuff and is convinced I am getting a commission from these lotion companies.....I wish!!!

Mt Lemon is about 9500ft so they got a ton a snow. Makes those skiers here happy, BUT it didn't last long. But it sure looked pretty from a distance. My photo's didn't do it justice. So I think I'll go see some Christmas decorations and see what the dessert looks like deorated for the holidaze..................stay tuna'd

It's called the Storm of the Century

And from what I understand Oklahoma east and north it is brutal. I just pray that there are no deaths or injuries.

Just got a few photos from our friends, the Nutz who live just west of Toronto in Canada.

I can just see the sweet Mrs Nutz standing on the porch in all her warm winter clothing being the good wife and documenting this event. Then running in and fixing the cold soul a nice hot cuppa cocoa.......hahahahaha!!! Don't forget the marshmallows!

Mr Nutz is in there somewhere, but damn he looks cold. And to think all we had here was some heavy frost this a.m.

It's only mid December Sooooooooo, stay tuna'd ; )

Happy Birthday to you

Lorna

December 15, 1922
to
February 5, 2002

We miss you momma!!!

Heard this on NPR

Good site for those that care and one would hope it is each and everyone of you. As they mentioned this is not a doom and gloom but more of a public service to make us all more aware. But being informed is half the battle. What I like is the list of companies that are trying to make a difference. Support those companies once you become more informed.

Go over and read up because maybe, just maybe there is one thing you can do and leave a better world for your family.

http://www.climatecounts.org/about.php

PS..............Mr Doodles was quite happy that his favorite beer company made the top three

Now it's on to Christmas

and I have yet to come in contact with the Christmas spirit. Where does one find that so very important tool?

Maybe I'll get in the truck drive around Tucson in the 75* plus heat, turn the radio to the Sirius station that is playing at Christmas music all the time. Well they did play a few of my favorites such as Johnny Mathis singing my mommas favorite tunes of the season. There's a story to that and I will share it later. Also they played Brian Setzer's very wild Christmas tunes. If you haven't heard his music go pop on over to Amazon and listen to snippets. His music will put ya into the Christmas spirit sorta.

Well the music didn't really send me over the top with the spirit of the holidays BUT I did get an idea!!! A couple of years ago I volunteered at the library to read to little ones. Most of which were pre-school age. And if you have never had the opportunity to read to oh maybe eight or ten preschoolers go do it just once, cause it's a hoot.

So I went to the local library, asked if they needed readers for the little darlings during the day. Well you would have thought I was giving them a winning Lotto ticket. The conversation went a little like this....... "Yes, yes, yes, please when can you read, coulda ya come Monday morning at ten and Wednesday afternoon at three. Well, a I guess, but don't ya wanna know something about me like my name and a little background. Sure go ahead she said, here write down your name and phone number. Do you have a Christmas sweater or a shirt that's festive? We want to read some Holiday stories during the next few weeks. Sure I have something festive I can wear. Good we'll see you on Monday, come early so you can meet the other volunteers and we can have coffee. OK I'll see ya Monday.......thanks."

Now I'm not sure how to take that conversation. I don't want to over analyze so I am keeping an open mind till after Wednesday. I'm gracious, I'll give them two days, actually I'm only giving them a couple a hours..............so stay tuna'd I might just be finding the Christmas spirit within those little pre-schoolers.