Family Vacation II

Every experience should teach something to the participants and I want to share my learning experiences while on vacation with my family.


1. Any daughter who takes her mother on a family vacation is very brave. Add a husband and two daughters, ages 21 and 23 plus one daughter’s fiancé and I’d say she is VERRRRRY BRAVE. But my daughter handled it with ease and grace. Thanks D.

2. A man who takes his mother-in-law on a family vacation deserves a medal of honor. Thanks G. for the Gluten Free snacks and for cooking every meal while we were in the cabin. Excuse me, every meal but one. Kristin did the Elliott favorite, Taco Casserole one night.

3. Men don’t need to go the bathroom as often as women. Even after drinking 2 quarts of tea and not making use of the facilities at the previous stop.

4. Above mentioned S-I-L has a messed up sense of timing.
He: “We’ll pick you up at 4:30”
Me: “Are you serious?”
He: “Yep. Serious as a heart attack.”
Me: “I can’t leave without my coffee.”
He: “Take it with you.”
Me: “I haven’t been up that early since - well – I don’t know when.”
He: “If you’re going with me – you will see the sun rise over Kansas.”
His clock didn’t improve while on vacation either.


5. Grandmas don’t know everything. In fact they don’t know anything. They don’t understand the latest music, haven’t seen the latest movie, and don’t watch Youtube.

6. Grandmas tend to embarrass grown grandchildren with stories of when they were younger.

7. Grandmas get the best seat in the van. If she rides in the very back of the van. She’ll get sick and have to barf.

8. Grandma’s short legs are not created to climb into a 12 passenger van.

9. Don’t jump out of the van and run into the t shirt store, planning to catch the van on the next go around. Because you’ll forget your glasses and won’t know what you are buying much less the size.

10. Grandmas get the best bed in the cabin. It is close to the bathroom.

11. Grandmas should not expect to visit cemeteries on vacation, even Boot Heel is off
limits. No one likes to talk about cemeteries while on vacation.

12. Sometimes Grandmas who write get very good material while on vacation.
You will be seeing some on mine soon.

Family Vacation I

I just returned from a long driving vacation with family. My daughter, her husband, their two daughters, one daughter’s fiancé and me. All in a rented van, we survived nearly 4,000 miles to see the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone Nat’l Park, Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, The Big Horn Mountains and Deadwood. It was a fantastic vacation.

The endless drive across the Nebraska prairie by car made me appreciate the sturdy pioneers who trekked across our great land to settle the west. Then they were confronted with the mountains. Though the mountains are beautiful and greater than anything they had ever seen, they must has thought, “We came this far, how are we to cross these craggy peaks?" But cross them they did, settling along the trails or traveling on toward the great Pacific Ocean.

I would have loved to hear the conversation of the Mountain Men who wandered into the Yellowstone valley of geysers and hot springs. I wish I knew how they made use of the heat. The wild animals there are fabulous even now. Think how abundant they would have been in that far away time.

Herds of antelope along the way made us anticipate what lay before us all the more. The Grand Tetons are truly grand. Snow on the high peaks and cool breezes when we stopped delighted us.

We stayed in a storybook cabin just outside Yellowstone Park. The trek into the park each day was an adventure. Will we see a bear? Will we see a mountain goat? Will we see a buffalo or is it a bison? We saw a species of every animal mentioned in the guide except a mountain goat, a wolf and a black bear. Yes, we saw a grizzly bear and he was close enough you could see him with your naked eye. The bison grazed along the road, Great herds of elk dotted the fields. A nesting eagle along the road attracted motorists who stopped to take pictures in spite of the warning signs not to stop in the road.

Old Faithful is still being faithful and spewing hundreds of feet in the air to the delight of thousands of visitors. Other geysers, waterfalls, the clear rushing rivers and the bubbling mud pots all attracted our cameras eye.

The craggy beauty of the Big Horn Mountains was a wonderful side trip. A quick trip through Deadwood made us wish we could stay and visit Boot Hill, but time was short and there were other things to see. We saw Mt. Rushmore late in the evening, while a group of High School students was getting ready to put on a concert.

It was a beautiful vacation. Stay tuned for Vacation II blog about what I learned on this vacation and if this writer found a story while vacationing.

Notes and Piles

Is there anyone as disorganized as I? Well, I'm really organized, but no one knows it - not even me.

Does anyone leave notes to themselves all over the house? Notes on my desk. Notes on my kitchen table. Notes on the calendar. Notes on the other desk. Notes in my car. If I wrote the subject of all those notes here, the list would be endless.

And piles of paper. Does it never end? I thought computers were supposed to help the paper problem. I have a pile of paper for the computer. A pile of used computer paper to recycle. A basket full of papers and notes about my Jeremiah Bible Lessons. A pile of papers about writing. A pile of papers about geneology. A box of manuscript of the suspense novel I'm working on. Another box of manscript about another novel. Well, there are about three of those.

Don't tell me to file 'em. The file cabinet is full of more papers. I don't know if I want to publish this or not. If I do you all will know how disorganized I am.

Jeremiah - Lamentations Bible Study

I am happy (and relieved) to report, I have finished the Jeremiah Bible Study. I have about 600 more words to write on the Lamentations lesson. I WILL MEET MY DEADLINE- Wahoo!!!

While the study has been somewhat depressing, one thought comes through. God disciplines His children but it is for their own good. Hebrews 12:10-11. God never turns his back on us. He is always ready to forgive and forget our sin if we ask him.

Trivia

Just a quick note here before I get back to the 'stuff' that maketh the money. The 'want to write' list is heavy on the right side and the 'must write' list is waiting on the left side. Decisions, decisions.

Did you know there is an Ozark, Alabama. I didn't. I wonder how it got the name?

According to the recent issue of Garden and Gun magazine Moonshine is making a comeback. The article states that self distilled whisky began in the fall of 1620 when George Thorpe convinced Powhatan natives to part with a mound of corn. I wonder who tattled?

The article also stated that George Washington was the largest distiller in the colonies, producing 11, 500 gallons of corn whiskey a year at Mount Vernon. When the members of the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, every signer was known to drink home brewed whiskey. John Hancock, being the prominent distiller in Boston.

Moonshine, sometimes known as Hooch, Mountain Dew, White Lightning, Home Brew, Bathtub Gin, Stagger and Fall, Rotgut, Firewater and Tommyhawk, seems to be thriving because law enforcement is distracted by other concerns. This article targets East Tennessee as the most 'gettable' place to find moonshine.

One man named Chuck Miller claims to make the only legal corn whiskey since George Washington. It seems he makes it, sells it to the state, they put a tax on it and sell it. He makes Virginia Lightning and Kopper Kettle that is 150 proof watered down to 100 proof. His biggest market is Japan.

I found this article interesting because I grew up the boondocks of Missouri. It was well known in our area who had a 'still.' The first airplane I ever saw was flying low over our farm. Dad said they were looking for 'stills'. They didn't find any on our farm because my parents were teetotalers.

When I attended high school in West Plains one of my teachers asked me where I lived. I told him, west of West Plains on Hway 14. He said "Oh, I know the place. Siloam Springs. They are famous for moonshine 'stills. I let him know real quick I didn't live in Silaom Springs and my family didn't make moonshine.

I'm sure ya'all really wanted to know all this. Now Back To Work.

Answers to Comments

Hey thanks you guys for reading my blog and posting questions. I have not approached the local newspaper about writing a Book Review column since I first moved here. Didn't get a reply then. Maybe they would be more receptive now.

BookLoons get their books from the authors or publicists.

The manuscript is on hold while I'm writing Jeremiah. I have written the two stories needed for Sleuth's though.

Book Reviews

Wow! I'm wordy today. Beth asked how I became a book reviewer. Several years ago, I belonged to a writer's group in Enid, OK. The newspaper editor spoke at one meeting. He said, "If you have an idea for an article or a column, send it to me." I took him up on it. I sent him a column idea called The Book Report. Always a fast, avid reader, it was easy for me to come up with reviews on new books. The newspaper received books from people wanting a review of their book. Those were usually regional books. I reviewed them and made a small name for myself, eventually writing a few features for the newspaper.

When we moved here from OK, the Enid paper thought they needed a local reviewer, so they dropped my column. I now review for Bookloons.com. I do not receive money for the few words I write, but it gets my name out there. I only read and review books sent to me through Bookloons. As you know, I sometimes say a few words about other books I'm reading. I recycle to books from Bookloons by taking them to Sleuth's or donating to the library.

Right now I'm reading Maeve Binchy's newest book Heart and Soul. She lives in Ireland and writes about Irish people. She is my daughter's favorite author. I prefer suspense myself. I do have another book review to write, Dangerously Innocent, written by a woman in Australia.

P.S. I have another student enrolled in my Write Your Life Story online course on Coursebridge.

About the mosquitoes. Snopes said Listerine didn't work. It doesn't kill the mosquitoes but it does make them fly away. When you spray it, you can see them leaving the scene. That is worth something.