A bear, fish, moose and mosquito tale

July 12 Wednesday Sterling
We left Anchorage about noon after a quick stop at Costco for dog food. Got back to the river around 4:00 after making a couple of stops along the way. We purchased a TV Antenna and had it installed this evening…we now are back in the modern world with a TV! We get fairly good reception on the major networks and nothing on any others, which is fine. The man who did the installation is from Macedonia, but has been in Alaska for 30 years (and yes, he is a citizen of the U.S.) and we enjoyed talking to him. He has lived in this area all of the 30 years and was telling us about the great changes around here in the last 30 years. Fun to talk to.

The weather has finally turned warm and sunny and we are enjoying the 70+ degree temps. And yes, that is warm for this part of the world.

July 13 Thursday
After spending most of the day doing small chores around the trailer, we took off for Ninilchik this afternoon as we are halibut fishing again tomorrow. We are parked back on the beach at Deep Creek State Recreation Area. It’s really windy and the tide is very high this evening. We are going out early tomorrow, so it’s off to bed for all of us before 9:00 p.m.

July 14, Friday
Up early at 3:30 a.m. (yawn…there isn’t much that I will get up for this early in the morning) we were at the boat launch by 5:00 a.m. Ninilchik is a tractor launch, where the boats are put in the water with a tractor. Why aren’t the tractors running this morning? Hmmmm…why aren’t there more boats here? Where is the ButtChaser (our boat)? NO ONE IS GOING OUT! The wind is still blowing, but not as bad as last night, however, the surf is pretty rough. All launches are closed and NO boats are going out as there is a storm moving through Cooks Inlet and the seas are 6-10 feet waves…uh, no thanks, I don’t want to be out in that. We didn’t want to star in our version of “The Perfect Storm!” So we head back to the camper, load up and are back to the trailer by 7:00 a.m. By 7:05 a.m. we are all in bed sound asleep! So much for fishing today. And by the way, the reds still aren’t running in the Kenai, so we don’t have any fish here either.

Finally about 10:30 a.m. we get up for the second time today. Cortney and I decided to go do laundry (it has been 4 days since we saw a Laundromat…we are having with drawals!) And we needed to do some supply shopping, so into Seldotna we go. First of all we discover that the Laundromat there has a waiting line just to get in. Yup, all the fisherpeople are here. At this time of year, every year, thousands of people come to the Kenai to fish. We do our shopping at Fred Meyers, which is a battle since the store has all the aforementioned fisherpeople in it since the fish aren’t running! Finally we finished and found our favorite Laundromat in Sterling is empty…we did the chore and got home around 5:00 p.m. Bruce came down for a dinner of bbq’d ribs. He also tells us of a bear being spotted just up river from the campground. So we have decided the cats and dogs won’t go out on the leash for a few days.

As I sit and write this, I am looking out the window at the trees gently blowing in the breeze and the beautiful blue-green of the river below us. What a great place to be.

Sterling, AK July 15, 2006

This episode of our travels was going to be called "A Fish Tale" until early this morning when we had an interesting experience, with a bear.

Around 7:30 this morning we were aroused from a nice sleep with both dogs barking and growling....all three of us were telling the dogs to "HUSH" and they refused to be quiet. I asked Cortney (who sleeps on a futon in the living room) what the dogs were barking at. I thought it was the owners son or someone walking around outside and I couldn't understand why the dogs wouldn't stop barking, or why both cats were suddenly fluffed up and very scared. Cortney replies, very matter -of-fact to my question with "oh, its a bear in our garbage can". Wait, did you say BEAR???? BEAR!!! I came out of bed in a flash and went to look out the window and sure enough a grizzly bear was eating our garbage. I stood there and watched him in a pure stupor. I couldn't move! I was scared frozen! And remember, we are in a 33 foot camp trailer....with one swipe the bear could be in here with us. I was racking my brain as to what to do? I couldn't remember ever receiving any training on what to do if you encounter a bear in your garbage can right outside your trailer. He was close enough I could have reached out and touched him (I am assuming it was a him--I didn't check!) About this time I heard a growl, and it wasn't from our dogs, who we had finally succeeded in getting them to quiet down. THE BEAR WAS GROWLING AT ME! GULP!.. What to do? I know, I will call my nephew who has a trailer 4 spots from ours....he will know what to do. I wake up Bruce and he says "HUH??? Who is this?" -- Not funny! Finally I get through to him what is happening. Pretty soon the doctor who has a trailer next to Bruce and Bruce's friend Jamie come driving up in this old beat up pickup...they sit outside our trailer and rev the engine..the bear looks up from eating, looks around as if to say "don't bother me, I am eating" and goes back to pawing through our garbage. Obviously, that isn't going to work, and remember us? We are the ones stuck inside this tin can of a trailer. I have already tried my cousin Ted's method of scaring off wild animals, I have yelled "shoo- shoo" a couple of times from inside the trailer and the bear didn't even have the decency to acknowledge I had even said anything! I can see the headlines now "3 people held hostage in a tin can of a trailer by grizzly!" HELP! Finally, Jamie gets out of the truck and throws a couple of rocks at the bear....to which the bear looks around and goes back to eating. Ya, that worked! Finally Jamie and Doc get the bear's attention with a few more well placed rocks and the bear wanders out to the road..for a minute...but the temptation of tantalizing garbage for breakfast is too much for the bear, so back he comes. He decides this time to attack our barbeque....which in doing so the propane tank hits him on the head and he goes back to eating our garbage..much safer! HELP! HELP! Again comes our rescuers with their rocks...oh wait, there is another bear (bear #2) They are chasing the wrong bear.....our bear (as he is now known) is still eating...they chased away the wrong bear! HELP! HELP! HELP! Jamie comes around the corner of our truck (which is parked in front of our trailer) and sees our bear. Bear #2 has retreated into the woods. Finally, Jamie hits our bear with enough rocks that he trots off to the woods, for a minute. But, back he comes to eat more. After a couple more attempts, Jamie (My HERO) chases the bear off to the woods. Then Jamie shouts to me "Pick up the garbage or bear will return" and he walks off! WAIT...you want me to come out THERE and pick up the garbage????? NOT VERY LIKELY SINCE THERE IS A BEAR OUT THERE! We spend the next few minutes on bear watch (seemed like hours) and finally Doc comes back and I bravely go out and Doc and I pickup the garbage and stuff what is remaining of it into the back of his truck and he takes it to the other side of the campground (where I have now decided that is where we will put our garbage all of the time). And where is our camera's in all of this? In the truck! And I wasn't about to go get them. So I used my trusty cell phone to take pictures.....I can only hope I can get the pictures off the phone and on to my computer!

So now we are on bear alert! I finally got brave and took the dogs out to go potty....but we went the opposite direction of the woods! And everyone in the park has been down here to see where the bear WAS! Now, what's up with that? There is nothing to see but bear tracks! And the jokes have started..."oh, having bear claws for breakfast?" etc. HAHAHA--not funny! I need to take the dogs out, but I am sure the bears are lurking near by in the woods, just waiting to come back to see if there is anymore garbage (there isn't) for a mid-day snack. Everyone has assured me that the bears have probably moved on..wait? PROBABLY? Nope, not good enough for me! So for now the dogs have their legs crossed and I am not going out.


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July 15 Sunday
No more bears…thank heavens! Today dawned bright and sunny…but you notice I didn’t say warm! It got all the way to 70 today…will I ever be warm again?

Dick and Janice drove down for the day. We had a good visit…we bbq’d chicken and I made a macaroni salad. Had a fun day.

July 16 Monday
No fish running in the river yet…and the weather is crummy. Cold, overcast and I think someone stole the sun! We basically hung around and watched movies….not too much to do.

July 17 Tuesday
We were suppose to go out halibut fishing today, however, the charter was cancelled due to high waves and heavy winds on the inlet. So we drove into Soldotna so Al and I could get hair cuts – it was either that or dog tags! WOOF ! Had lunch in Soldotna and wandered through Fred Meyers with everyone else in the world. The parking lot at Fred Meyers was so packed we had a hard time finding a parking spot.

July 18 Wed
Cortney and I decided the heck with it, we were going to try our hand at fishing. We hadn’t come all this way to not fish! So Al rigged up a couple of poles and off we went. We had no idea what we were doing, so we just watched the others out on the bank and did what they did. Cortney hooked one, but we couldn’t get it landed. Finally after two hours we were cold, tired and disappointed …no fish.

July 19, Thursday
Laundry day today! Cortney likes this job just about as much as I do! Al went with us to town and we had Chinese food for lunch, then back to the Laundromat. We managed to get the laundry done in less than two hours this time!

Still cloudy, cold and rain off and on. Feels like Seattle on an ugly fall day! Where is the heat and sun? Oh yeah, everywhere else but here. Terrible storms in St. Louis and the rest of the country is baking…..except here!

July 20 Friday
We were suppose to halibut fish again today and we got blown off again by high seas and wind. I am beginning to wonder if we will ever get to halibut fish. So Cortney and I went back down to the river. Al, who has done nothing but talk about fishing for the last year seems to have no interest in fishing! That is worrying me. He says he just doesn’t want to fish, but he has gone up and down the 141 steps it takes to get to the river. So that isn’t the problem.

Cortney hooked 3 today, but didn’t land any. One of the doctors (Doc) took pity on us today and taught us how to fish for reds. We pretty much had it down, he just refined our technique! I have fished this river for 6 years and still haven’t landed a red. A bit frustrating.

Ray, the owner of Fish on Inn is very ill and not expected to live. We are concerned about what is going to happen to our spot here when he dies. His children are to take over, but the only one that has any interest in it isn’t who any of us want running it. He has a substance abuse problem (nice way to say he drinks until he is drunk) and we are all afraid he will let it go downhill. We can already see signs of things not being kept up like they were before. And since Al is showing no interest in fishing, we are wondering if we should cut our losses and sell this place. I love it up here tho…much more than I thought I would. I love just sitting watching the trees, river and the eagles fly over. It is truly beautiful up here and I love the peace and quiet.

July 22, Sat
Cabin fever struck today. Cortney and I went fishing for a while, but nothing was happening and my shoulder hurts to much to do much fishing. After we got back to the trailer we all climbed in the truck to do some sightseeing. Now, mind you, we have driven up and down the highway between here (Sterling) and Soldotna for the last month…but haven’t really stopped to check out any of the side roads. We wound up going up to Niskiki today. Not much there, but a pretty drive, however it would have been prettier if it wasn’t so cold and rainy. ARRRGGGG…give me some heat and sun! It was 106 in Odessa today and 104 in Tucson…..

July 23, 2006 Sun
FISH…finally! The reds are finally beginning to run in the river. Bruce brought up his limit for us today. Of course the limit went to 1 today! GRRRR the day they really start to run! What’s wrong with this picture? Anyway, the minute Bruce brought up his fish, Cortney was chomping at the bit to go fishing. As soon as we finished up breakfast dishes, on went the boots and off we went. The dock was crowded, but we found a spot and started to fish. After about 50 casts, my shoulder gave up. I reeled in and watched Cortney fish. She hooked 3 right off the bat, but couldn’t get them landed. After about an hour she finally caught her first red. She was so excited I was afraid she would fall in the river! Jamie helped us net it, get it off the hook and helped Cortney clean it. A nice 6 pound red. Bruce and Holly will have a great salmon dinner!

Weather is still horrible. A true Alaskan summer….I could do without it! It reached a whopping 63 today! I am frozen. We did see a peek of the sun this morning for about 2 minutes…and it left for the day. So I know it is out there somewhere….just not here.

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July 24 Mon
FISH…lots of fish. Not as many as in past years….but the reds are finally running. The counts are way down, and the state is closing red fishing on the Kenai as of midnight tonight. Of course, just as we are finally getting some fish in. Cortney and I went down this morning and beat the water to a froth, but didn’t get our fish. Had lots on the hook and off again, but didn’t get one landed. We finally came back to the trailer and I nursed a very sore shoulder and elbow. Later in the day, we went back down to the river with our neighbor and Cortney caught her fish….so one more in the freezer. Finally, I caught my first red! What a thrill! Now I know why everyone spends hours fishing for them! WHOOHOO! Of course, I caught my first fish about 3 hours before the state shut off the fishing on the Kenai. Oh well, the Kasilof and Russian river are still open.

Weather still cold, gray, cloudy and rain. ICK!

July 25, Tuesday
Halibut fishing today. Finally! Of course, my rotten luck has stuck with me and I got sick before we went out from a bad breakfast at McDonalds and I wound up staying in the camper watching it rain all day while Cortney and Al went halibut fishing. AND I LOVE HALIBUT FISHING! WHAAA! They brought back their limits, but they were very cold and wet when they got back as it has rained all day. But Cortney was happy, she caught her halibuts. She will be taking home some nice fish.

We drove home from Ninilchik in the pouring down rain. This weather sucks! I need sun!

July 26, Wed
SUN!!! FINALLY!!! We woke up to a nice, sunny day. Not exactly warm, in the mid 60’s, but sun. We spent the morning doing some cleaning around the trailer and doing some chores. Bruce and his nephew Zach got here about noon and they invited Cortney to go fishing for trout, kings or what ever they could catch out of the boat. So she went with them and Al and I went into town to dump the old futon mattress at Salvation Army and to get some parts we need to make some repairs to the trailer.

After we got back we did some more work, then Cortney came back and said they had caught 2 trout and Bruce had invited her for dinner and then they were going back out for more fish. She is really hooked! Don’t know where she is going to fish in Arizona!

I took the dogs for a walk after dinner and guess what we ran into. A mama moose and 2 babies! I usually walk the dogs up to the road, let them off the leash and let them run for a while. As I was getting ready to leave the park I looked up to see mama moose….uh…without having cousin Ted here to protect me from mama moose, I decided it would be wise to go back to the trailer. Especially after Beau got a look at mama and let out a WOOF! Mama did the “look”, lowered her ears and hackles came up…..we went back to the trailer as a pretty good pace! I got the dogs in the trailer, but I couldn’t stand it…I had to go see where mama and babies where. Sure enough, they were just off the road leading into the park. I stopped and chatted with the couple who have the first trailer and we moose watched for a while. Babies seem to be yearlings, and usually this is about the time mama is trying to break away from babies. These two seem to be sticking pretty close! If nothing else, we have seen plenty of wild life here…how exciting. It would have real exciting if mama had gone after Beau, however, we have already done that and don’t want to repeat it. What are the words cousin Ted? Oh ya, “HEE YAW” with a wave of arms! Got it!

July 27 Thursday

More sun! Whoo hoo! In fact it was an absolute beautiful day.

Cortney went fishing most of the day with my nephew Bruce and his nephew Zach. She out-fished them! She caught a 23 inch trout! Of course, you can’t keep any over 18 inches, but she had a blast catching them. She also caught more than they did! She has really turned out to be a real fisherperson!

Of course, I did the thing I do best today….laundry! UGH! I am on a first name basis with the owner of the Laundromat in Sterling!

July 28, Friday
We are in Anchorage tonight. We drove in today…which, by the way, was another beautiful day. The drive is so beautiful, but it is extra pretty when the sun shines. I can’t begin to describe the beauty of Alaska. The mountains are so pristine and the water in the rivers is what I would call in “icy” blue. Just breath-taking!

We are at my brothers tonight. We went to Sea Galley for dinner tonight so Cortney could have her promised crab legs. We promised her crab legs months ago, so we did that tonight. I ordered oysters, which I love, but these were horrible. I am having one heck of bad luck eating meals out!

We have a sick dog….our Beau dog is very sick. After dinner Cortney and I took him to the emergency vet. He hasn’t ate or drank for two days and is very lethargic. And he doesn’t want to play BALL…so we know he is very sick. The vet did an exam and ran some tests. Beau has Masticatory Muscle Myositis….translates into the muscles in his head and jaw have atrophied and he is unable to open his mouth without a great deal of pain. This condition is not cureable, however, it is treatable and he will be able to live a long, productive life with the aid of prednisone. Right now he is on a massive dose of prednisone and an antibiotic, since he is running a fever as well. A couple of years ago he had a horrible eye infection and our vet suspected he had Masticatory Muscle Myositis. She sent a blood sample to have tested for the disease, and the results were negative. However, she cautioned us then that as he got older it may present itself again, which it has. The vet here was wonderful and took his time to explain everything to me. Of course I was scared to death…my poor baby dog! We are having to feed him through a feeding syringe tonight, which he wants none of. And the antibiotic is a huge pill…how I am suppose to get this down him is beyond me! Needless to say, he will be in bed with us tonight so I can monitor how he is doing.

July 29, Sat
We did the “farmers market” thing today. We went to the South Anchorage Farmers Market which is truly a farmers market. Got some great veggies! Then Al wanted to go to the “Farmers Market” downtown – which is more of a craft fair than anything else. But, I really enjoyed it. I don’t know if any of you have ever read the comic strip “Tundra”….I LOVE IT…it reminds me a lot of FarSide by Gary Larson, which is my absolute favorite. Anyway, Chad Carpenter, the creator of Tundra was there and I got an autographed book. I have already read and laughed my way through the book once. And cousin Ted, he is as funny in person as the comic strip is! Visit: http://www.tundracomics.com/index.html for a great laugh.

The weather has turned cloudy again this afternoon and rain is forecast for the next ? days. Whoopee…

Beau is doing a bit better today. He drank some water and ate a little and his a little more active. Getting pills down him is still a struggle tho!

July 30, 2006 Sun
Up early to take Cortney to the airport…we are now Cortney-less. Sure is quiet around here. The dogs and cats are POUTING! They miss her.

It has rained almost all day. A constant rain, good for the yards, miserable for me! And the camper has developed a leak in the front right corner, so I spend a lot of time mopping up water….Denise and Gordon take note….a repair coming your way when we get home.

Beau is doing much better today – he is so smart tho. He KNOWS when I get his pills out and he goes and hides! I have to find him, then convince him to take his pills…I have hidden them in a bite of hot dog…he eats the hot dog and spits out the pill; in cheese which he does the same thing. We tried peanut butter and just butter and to no avail. Tonight I am trying a piece of ham….

Schuster has been so funny during this whole thing…he watches over Beau like a mother hen. Today he has not left Beau’s side and I think he is getting on Beau’s nerves! Beau growled at him this afternoon as if to say….”leave me alone”!

We are going to stay in Anchorage until at least Wednesday morning. Jerry (Al’s son) is flying in on Tuesday for a week stay with us. We are really looking forward to having him here. OF course, we are going to do the halibut fishing routine again, and hope to get him out on one of the rivers that are still open for red salmon fishing. And my nephew is going to take him out silver salmon fishing as well.

Alaska Update

A few pictures to include with our daily log. We are really enjoying our time here and being with Cammie and Cortney...however, I would not want to go through the teen years again! ugh!

We are slowing getting the trailer the way we want it. Still have some work to do however. And the park we are in has to cut a new road in to it, so we have the wonderful experience of listening to the road construction. The acreage next to our park has been sold to a developer and they plan on putting houses on it....which doesn't make us happy. That will bring more people and more noise, to our quite little retreat, plus we will have to listen to more construction for the next couple of years since construction time here is April to Sept. usually. AND I am sure it will run off all of our wildlife we enjoy; at least during construction. OH well, life goes on.

July 3, Monday

Off to Anchorage today. Jean, Bob and Mary will leave on Wednesday, so we wanted to spend some more time with them before we left. We got into Anchorage in the late afternoon after a quick stop at Walmart to pick up supplies for the river.



July 4, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY, Tuesday

We visited most of the morning; then Bruce came over about noon, as did Janice. We had a bbq this evening with friends Jamie and Julie Brophy joining us. Jamie did Panko Halibut (yum) and Bruce bbq’d wonderful steaks. We also had the required potato salad, watermelon, baked beans, etc. Great 4th of July bbq!



Bruce took Bob and Mary to the airport late tonight as their flight is a 1:15 a.m. The rest of us just collapsed. Finally about midnight we heard some fireworks going off…remember, it stays light up here a long time this time of year!



July 5, Wednesday

I took Jean to the airport this morning at 10:30 for her noon flight. When I got home Al, Dick and I just looked at each other and said “boy, where did everyone go?” I did some errands today and Al and I went to buy an TV antenna for the river, hoping to get some reception for a least a couple of channels.



We cooked Moose steaks for dinner…the girls loved them. I was betting they wouldn’t touch them, but they surprised me and asked for more!



After dinner, Al, Dick, Cammie and Cortney went out to Elmendorf (Dick is retired Air Force) to look for moose. They saw a yearling bull and the girls got plenty of pictures.



July 6, Thursday

Back to the river today. It sure is a beautiful drive from Anchorage to the Kenai. Majestic mountains, glaciers and glacier fed rivers and lakes. Really impressive! I never get tired of this drive.



After we got back and unloaded, we were sitting outside when our eagles made an appearance. They are so impressive and beautiful. Cammie and I watched them a long time and the eagles were putting on a show for us, swooping down low and soaring high above the trees and river. Cammie got some good shots with the camera.



The weather has turned cool and cloudy today and we are suppose to have rain tomorrow. This is a typical Alaska summer, which reminds us of Seattle. I spend a lot of time with the mosquito zapper...waging my never ending war on mosquitos!


THE WROAMIN' WRASPIRS
AL, JO, DOGS, CATS AND
CORTNEY AND CAMMIE

http://wroamin.blogspot.com

Anchorage to Kenai River

From our daily log..........................................



June 20



We arrived in Anchorage around 3:00 p.m. Bob, Mary, Dick and Jean were here to greet us. The travel from Glenallen was uneventful, beautiful though as we pass by Matnuska Glacier. It is receding rapidly.



We are parked in the back yard at Dicks. The camper and trailer fit perfectly. The dogs are loving being able to run in the back yard. Had the cats on their leash, not liking it, but if they want out, they have to be on the leash.



June 21

I did 9 loads of wash at the Laundromat today. Cortney and Bruce washed the truck, camper and trailer….they were so dirty, I wasn’t sure they were ours. It is cooler today…and kinda tried to rain.



June 22

We spent most of the day cleaning the inside of the camper and then doing nothing except enjoying each others company and visiting. Cammie is suppose to come in at 11:45 p.m. however, her flight is delayed by two hours. Cortney and I will be up late.



June 23

Cortney and I picked up Cammie at 1:45 a.m. I managed to have two naps today. We really didn’t do much today.



June 24

The girls, (Jean, Mary, Cammie and Cortney) and I went shopping today at the Dimond Mall. Had a good time. We stopped at Sam’s and bought a couple of broasted chickens and had them for dinner.



June 25

We went bbq hunting today and bagged one at Walmart. We managed to stuff it in the back of Bruce’s Mercedes SUV. It rained off and on all day.



June 26, 2006

Cortney, Cammie and I did another 5 loads of laundry today at the Laundromat, then to Costco to get supplies for the trailer at the river. Had a roast pork for dinner. It has been cold and rainy off and on all day.



June 27

Today we came down to the river. “The River” is the Kenai River, just out of Sterling. This is where our trailer is located…right on the river, 130 steps up…it is definitely a HIGH BANK site. I drove Bruce’s motorhome with Jean, Mary, Cortney and Cammie..or the “girlmobile”. The guys (Al and Bob) drove the truck and camper with all of our "male" animals...the "boymobile". Dick was planning on coming, but he has been having several episodes with his heart on a daily basis and his pacemaker has had to bring him back into sinus rhythm so his doctor didn't want him to come down to the river and be that far away from the hospital.



The trip down was beautiful, as only Alaska can be. The weather was perfect…sunny and not to hot. We got here around 5:30 p.m. and everyone pitched in to help unload the cargo trailer. Now, the dilemma was where to put things in the trailer. I will be hunting for things for the rest of the summer, and then some. At some point in the near future, Cammie and Cortney are going to do an inventory for me! We finally got things put away and had sandwiches for dinner and all of us fell into bed. Bob, Mary and Jean are staying in the motorhome and it is parked right next to us. The cats have already explored every inch of this trailer and I think they are glad to have a little more room to roam!



The owner of this park is in the hospital and not doing well. His son helps him here and he stopped by to help us get the hot water heater going and to check and make sure everything was okay. We will have to re-level the trailer at some point in time. And to my delight we have wild Iris blooming behind the trailer!!



June 28

Last night was COLD. And the beds that Al and I slept in were as hard as a rock! So today we were off to Fred Meyers for mattress toppers and other supplies for the trailer. We spent the majority of the day in Soldotna. Sterling is a smaller town, with not much in the way of stores, having only a small “mom and pop” grocery store (matter-of-fact, that is the name of it) and a few fishing tackle stores and a furniture store. Soldotna is 17 miles from us and is a larger town, and has Fred Meyers, Safeway and a small mall with Penneys and Sears.



After we got back from town we all collapsed for a few minutes. We got the mattress toppers on the beds and put all the supplies away and then we down to my nephew, Bruce, trailer for steaks. Bruce’s trailer is 5 spaces down from us.



The girls discovered Bruce’s collection of DVD’s and we borrowed several. We don't have any TV reception here yet. and we haven't made up our mind if we want to go satellite or just put up and antenna. Also, we have no Internet here and can't get wifi either. We are trying to decide what to do about that, whether we put a phone in just for internet, or go to town once in a while to do email. Fortunately, the cell phone works...some of the time!



June 29, 2006

Do you know what ‘glacier flour” is? We do! Today we took a 4 ½ hour wild life boat tour on Resurrection Bay out of Seward. Seward is about 90 miles from where the trailer is. We boarded at 12:30 p.m. on the “Star of the Northwest”, a 100 foot vessel booked through Majormarine…a good tour company.



Glacier flour is what is in the water and it comes from the glaciers crushing the rock to a fine powder as the glacier moves. When the glacier melts, this “flour” mixes with the melt and flows into the bay/stream, etc. It is an ugly gray color. At the beginning of our tour, the water in the bay was this ugly gray, however, after getting away from where the glacier melt is the water turned a beautiful blue/green.



We saw a lot of wildlife, eagles, puffins, jelly fish, Stellar Sea Lions and a humpback whale that came right up to the boat and put on a real show. The ranger on board the boat said she had never seen a whale stick around as long or put on a show like this one did. It passed under the boat several times, surfacing and blowing, rolling over, etc. and stayed around for over 30 minutes. Everyone got shots of it. And have you ever smelled the water from a spewing whale? Not very pleasant! However, all in all was wonderful experience and we all enjoyed it.



Mary and Cammie decided to get a little sick while on board. They just had queasy stomachs for a while we were out on open water, but once we got back to the bay and the water was calmer they were fine.



The meal on board was so good….copper river salmon and prime rib, plus all the trimmings. The prime rib was some of the best we have ever had!



We got home around 7:30 and bbq’d hamburgers for everyone and just sat around and visited and talked about our day. Did you know that Alaska has about 25 earthquakes a day! Most of them are too minor to feel, and Alaska has over 50% of the US earthquakes! The reason for this is the Pacific plate is slipping under the North American plate, dragging the front edge of the North American plate with it. Now you have had your science lesson for the day!



The Kenai River is so beautiful…and blue green color that I can’t even describe. I will try to send pictures later of it. The Sockeye salmon first run on the river is over, and everyone is waiting for the second run (the best run) to start, which should be in a couple of days. That is when true “combat” fishing will begin! And this park will fill up with all the people who own trailers here and come once a year for 10-14 days to fish. Right now in the park there are just 3 trailers occupied, but that will all change in about a week. This place will be busy, busy, busy and so will all the stores, etc around. The Kenai peninsula will fill up with more people than one can believe! Kind of like Tucson in January. J



June 30 – Happy 13th Birthday Lori!



Can’t believe our youngest grandchild is 13! Where does the time go?



It is raining today, a nice, Seattle type rain. Locals say this summer will be a true Alaska summer, wet, rainy, cloudy and buggy! So far they aren’t too wrong, especially about the bugs! Mosquito’s out number the people a million to one! And over half of them have bitten me! My mosquito bites have mosquito bites! I have tried everything and nothing seems to do much good….Muskol is the best so far -- the rest of the stuff the mosquitoes just gargle!



Bob, Mary, Jean are on their way back to Anchorage in the motorhome. Bruce is taking them back and he will stay in Anchorage until they leave. We will probably go to Anchorage on Monday and stay until they leave on the 5th and then come back here.



I think the girls are getting a little bored, however, they have plenty of DVD’s to watch and books to read.



THE WROAMIN' WRASPIRS
AL, JO, DOGS, CATS AND
CORTNEY AND CAMMIE

Glenallen to Anchorage

From our log-- we are finally in Anchorage~

Anchorage June 21
Longest Day of the Year...and we in the land of the midnight sun!

We arrived in Anchorage yesterday afternoon after a long trip from Glenallen. The road was a bit better, but very narrow and windy....so it took a long time.

Both Jo's brothers are here, as well as her sister and sister-in-law. We are all having a great visit. Bruce, Jo's nephew was here last night for dinner and came back over today to help clean the very dirty truck, camper and trailer. They actually look like our rigs again! Bruce also lent me his car....a Mercedes M SUV! Now, of course, I want one! Fat Change.

I spent the day doing laundry, cleaning the inside of the camper some what, and visiting with my siblings. The weather is cool and cloudy with some rain this evening. The sun did come out for a few minutes this afternoon. We are going to be busy for the next few days and probably won't go down to the river until Monday. Bruce plans on going down this weekend so we will get a report on the river level.

The dogs are very happy to be here and out of the camper.....they are enjoying running in the back yard. The cats are still on their leashes however...and not happy about it.

So, until next time, we are here, happy and glad to be off the road for a few days!



Al & Jo
http://wroamin.blogspot.com

Toad River to Glenallen, AK

From our daily log...



June 17 Testlin, YK

We got out of Toad River about 10:30 this morning after having breakfast in the cafe and saying goodbye to everyone who was so nice to us. It kinda’ felt like we were leaving old friends!



Fueled in Watson Lake and had lunch there around 3:00 p.m. We really had a head wind today, and a very curvy road.



Stopped for the night at Dawson Peak RV Park, 8 miles south of Teslin. Nice park, but lots and lots of mosquitos! We finally had the stew I cooked a couple of days ago for dinner, then Cortney and I took a walk with the dogs to the lake and back. Not sure what lake this is.



We are seeing lots and lots of RV’s. I would say 10 RV’s to 1 car/truck. There are lots of RV parks along the way and so far we haven't had any trouble finding one. I did make reservations for our RV park last night as we wanted a pull through (quit laughing Jeannette!) and I am glad I did, we got the last one! This place we are in says it is famous for it’s homemade Rhubarb pie, so of course we bought a piece, but haven't tried it yet as we were all too full.



The guy parked next to us is from LA, and is retired LA City Fireman. Of course, I had to ask if he knew Dan, but he didn’t – he retired 14 years ago!



Critter count: 1 bear, 1 deer and 2 wild buffalo!



June 18, 2006 Happy Fathers Day!



We are still having trouble getting used to the daylight hours. It was still very sunny and bright at midnight (land of the midnight sun!). I woke up at 2:30 and it was kind of dusk…then I woke up a t 4:00 a.m and it was bright and sunny again!



The dogs and I took a walk to the lake again this morning. It’s a nice walk and they could get off the leash for a while, until another man walking his dog started down the road…then I leashed up the boys and it was a good thing I did, they really didn’t like this other dog. First time I have seen that!





We left Dawson Peak Campground at 9:15 this morning Stopped for fuel in Teslin at 3.61 a gallon. We are beginning to consider that cheap! Al fueled in Ft. Nelson at $4.34 per gallon! OUCH! Then at Watson Lake it was cheaper, it was $3.91 a gallon.



Teslin Lake is so pretty … but then every lake up here seems to be! I just realized we haven't seen any Caribou yet…well, let me rephrase that, and LIVE caribou. We did see a dead one along the road yesterday. Right now as I write this we are between Teslin and Whitehorse. We will stop in Whitehorse to get some groceries…we are running low or out of a few things.



After stopping in Whitehorse for groceries, we were pulling out of the parking lot and guess who we ran into AGAIN! Yup, Don Miller, my ex! Apparently the U.S. is big enough for us not to run into each other, but Canada isn’t! He had been in Whitehorse for 3 days fishing and was heading towards Seward….and we aren’t!



We had lunch at Klondike Rib and Salmon BBQ House…great halibut fish and chips. We tried to go to the Edgewater, however, since they serve liquor, you had to be 19 to get in and we couldn’t get in with Cortney. Finally let Whitehorse around 2:00 p.m.



Stopped in Haines Junction for fuel and an ice cream. Road is still pretty good, some frost heaves, but not bad. Drove along side Lake Kluane (pronounced Klew-aw-nee) –lots of road construction. We were stopped for over 10 minutes. Fortnately, this is a beautiful, blue green lake, so the view was great. We finally arrived at Cottonwood RV Park, 16 miles south of Destruction Bay for the night. BIG MISTAKE! First of all, it was the most expensive RV park we have had so far. Granted, it was right on the lake, however, they have no electricity, so everything is ran off generator and we only had 15 amp service. Secondly, because of the bear problem, you have to take your own trash out with you when you leave and dispose of it elsewhere. And there were more mosquitos here than anywhere else we have been! Fortunately, I had bought some heavy duty, what the locals wear, mosquito repellant and it worked well. On the plus side, the showers were very clean and lots of hot water and they were free! Most other places the showers were either metered (25 cents a minute) or $2.00 per shower. We bbq’d pork steaks for dinner along with a baked potato and asparagus. Cortney and Al watched a movie, Jo read and the dogs slept in the evening. Very windy and cold at night….brrrr!



Critter count: 1 porcupine, 2 deer and a coyote.



June 19, 2006

We left Cottonwood around 10:30 this morning after a leisurely morning. Some road construction to Destruction Bay. After that pretty bad road with lots and lots of frost heaves and rough patches, travel is very slow…..about 40 mph at the most. Cool today.

After crossing back into the USA at about 1:00 p.m. we finally arrived at Tok, Alaska at 3:00 p.m. Since it was still early, we decided to go on to GlenAllen, AK on the Tok Highway Cutoff. Now, this road was destroyed 4 years ago by an earthquake. Apparently, they are slow at road repairs…we drove 87 miles of HELL…the road was gravel and very slow and rough and a lot of frost heaves…frost heaves are wonderful things! If you have never experienced them, they are road heaves…that’s the only way I can explain it. It was very dirty and muddy in spots as well…our white trailer is now brown, as is our black truck! It will take a lot of work to get rid of the grime! We finally arrived in Glenallen at around 8:00 p.m. Alaska time (1 hour behind PDT). At the first campground we stopped at they were completely full…oh oh….however, about a mile down the road we found another campground…well, it is a place with somewhat level spots and full hookups…I can’t really call it a campground, but it does have WIFI service!



One we looked in the trailer, it looked like someone picked it up, turned it over and shook it…what a mess. Also, the camper wasn’t in much better shape. However, since we will be in Anchorage tomorrow, we will leave the mess until we get settled.



Critter count: 1 beaver

Still in Toad lake

Toad Lake, BC June 14, 2006
We are still here. I just talked to Al in Ft. Nelson and the part for the truck won't be in until tomorrow afternoon and he should be back here tomorrow evening. With any luck we will be back on the road by Friday.

The tow to Ft. Nelson cost $500....yikes! That's like 3 tanks of gas! Thank goodness we have insurance to cover that.

Today Cortney and I did laundry, cleaned the camper and trailer and hooked up the TV to satellite service. At least here we have Satellite TV and Internet. We are parked close to the laundry and restrooms and they just hooked up the Internet in the laundry room today.

There is a forest fire burning across the lake and ridge from us. We can see the smoke and we just hope the wind doesn't change,....that won't be good if it does. We haven't heard any planes or helicopters dumping water on it yet either. It makes the sun that weird color of red...fire red.

Tomorrow cortney and I plan on taking a short walk. We are still seeing a lot of moose in the lake and enjoying just sitting out side and enjoying the scenery and watching the mosquitos eat me! I have on the strongest deet they sell and I am still getting bit! I GIVE UP>

More later..............................
Al & Jo
http://wroamin.blogspot.com

Dawson Creek to Toad River

Hello All....
We are currently in Toad River, BC, population 100 or less. And by the looks of it, we will be here a couple of days. But let me start at the beginning of yesterday.

We left Dawson Creek and made our way to Ft. Nelson. Saw 6 deer, 2 black bear (one was a cub) and a healthy coyote. Got into Ft. Nelson and decided to stay at a motel last night....a break from the camper. All of us got a good nights sleep and the dogs got a good run last night, so they slept well, too.

This morning we went to breakfast, then filled up with diesel at $3.94 a gallon!!! Yikes, the most we have paid so far. And back on the road....drove through some beautiful scenery, and after about an hour on the road, we began smelling raw diesel fuel. Hmmm....but since we were going up and down we thought maybe it was just a bit of an overflow from fueling. But then it started to really smell and the gas gage was sinking fast! About 50 miles out of Toad River (the nearest place in the middle of nowhere).....we kept on going to Toad River. Now, Toad River consist of a gas station, Cafe, Cabins, RV park and an emergency air strip. We get out of the truck and look under it and diesel fuel is POURING out! Our $3.94 per gallon diesel fuel! ARRGGG! I wanted to get a bucket and catch it! We asked if there was a mechanic here and yes, there was. He came out, looked and looked, and looked, scratched his head, and looked some more! Finally found that the fuel was leaking from the place where the fuel lines split into the injectors (I think)...anyway, he couldn't fix it. He called a tow truck from Ft. Nelson to come get the truck. In the mean time (it took over 3 hours for the tow truck to get here) we unhitched the trailer, took the camper off and and settled in for a day or two. Well, at least Cortney and I settled in here....Al went with the truck back to Ft. Nelson (122 miles back!) We are hoping it will get fixed tomorrow, but if they have to order parts it may be Thursday before we are back on the road.

While we were eating lunch here this afternoon, an RV pulled in and this man came in the cafe. I about choked on my water....it was Don Miller, my ex-husband! Now, I ask you, what are the chances???? He is on his way to Alaska as well....but stopping at the same place?
Strange things do happen.

In the mean time, the people here are so nice to us and very accommodating. The cafe has great food (Cortney and I had dinner here tonight) and have a satellite Internet hookup and satellite TV! If only Cortney and I can figure out how to hook it up! We are parked with a great view of the mountains, a lake and today saw 7 moose (yes, I GOT TO SEE MOOSE -- more than one!) feeding in the lake. Of course the mosquitos are as big as horses and my new cologne is DEET...unfortunately, it doesn't stop these mosquitos! They are a hearty bunch!

By the way, before I forget to mention this again.....the rock and roll has finally been removed from the truck and camper and I am no longer hanging my head out the window turning green from motion sickness! THANK YOU SUN COUNTRY RV!

We did see 17 stone sheep on the way to Toad River...one was a baby! We also saw two buck deer this morning. Al was salivating!

Ted and Shirley, you will remember Toad River...it's the cafe we stopped at that has all the caps on the ceiling...over 6887 of them! Pretty cool!

So, until next time.....we are the

STUCK, UNWROAMIN' WRASPIRS
Al, jO, cORTNEY AND VARIOUS ANIMALS!
http://wroamin.blogspot.com

Odessa to Dawson Creek

From our daily log)
Alaska 2006



June 9

Left Odessa around 2:30 P.M. Stopped in Omak at Walmart for a few supplies, mainly mosquito spray…we are heading into the land of Mosquitos….GIANT mosquitos. Crossed the border into Canada at Oroville at 6:00 p.m. It was a little wait in line and we had rain. Finally stopped for the night in Osoyoos, BC at NK’Mip Campground. It was a nice campground, right on the Osoyoos Lake. However, it rained all night. We decided instead of cooking we would go to the Elks for dinner. We hauled the camper and trailer over to the Elks only to find out no food was served, it was Bingo night! They recommended the Diamond Steak House and it was very good. The steak house was also a Greek restaurant, and while Al had prime rib and Cortney had Chicken Parmesan , I had Mousaka, which was the best I have had since being in Greece! YUM!

Critter count: 1 deer in WA



June 10, 2006

Left Osoyoos around 10:45 a.m. --- we all slept until 8:30! Even the dogs and cats! I think we were tired. And, while I think of it, all animals are on this trip, included Jose! It rained all night, pitter-patter on the roof, sounds like popcorn popping when you are in a camper. Headed north on Hwy 97. This is absolutely beautiful country…lots of lakes and mountains. Took Hwy 97C from just south of Kelowna to Merritt, BC…very high pass and beautiful. Fueled in Penticton, at $3.66 per gal for diesel, which is cheaper than regular gas! OUCH! Rain off and on to Merritt. Had a horrible lunch at Woods Restaurant in Merritt…won’t do that one again! After lunch I took over driving…narrow and curvy roads to Cache Creek then we hit Hwy 97, nice road. Lots of wild flowers along side the road, lupine and black eyed Susan’s. We also saw a moose and 2 deer today. The moose was in the middle of a green field eating….she was very big and a dark brown color. Needless to say, I was very excited. We are in Clinton BC tonight at the Gold Trail Campground…same one we stayed at 3 years ago. Had dinner at the restaurant here…they guy who owns the campground and restaurant is a real character. Rain finally quit and it was very nice to sit outside and have a drink and relax. Cortney and I played ball with the Poodles and the cats got to get out on their leashes. Jose loves to get out (go figure) but Juanito could care less.



We only traveled 233 miles today…we must get going earlier and travel a little more miles if we plan to make Alaska this year!



June 11, 2006

We left at 9:00 a.m. this morning. Hwy 97 is the “Gold Rush Trail”….I can’t imagine traveling this route years ago during the gold rush. We stopped in 100 Mile House for fuel (3.44 this time) and did a grocery stop at Safeway. It’s fun to check out the different brands they carry. And Cortney was amazed that a lot of the items are in English and French.



Saw a deer just north of 100 mile house. Weather is perfect….blue sky with some clouds, temperature is in the high 70’s.



Stopped at McLeese Lake and had a picnic lunch next to the lake. The weather is beautiful, about 75 degrees. Met a couple from Scotland here. They were traveling from Vancouver, BC to Prince Rupert, then back to Vancouver Island.



Arrived in Prince George to early to stop for the day. We fueled up and then headed on, relying on our trusty travel guide book “The Milepost” as it said there were campgrounds along the way. Which was right, however, either they weren’t open or had no water and electric.



About 80 miles south of Chetwyne we came across a pickup and boat stopped dead in front of us, there were two motorhomes we were following, they managed to get around the pickup, however, we were met with a huge truck coming the other way---we couldn’t stop as we came up on this hazard so quickly, (he was on a curve) but we managed to get by him and the on-coming truck pulled right to help us get by. WHEW! Then, about 70 miles south of Chetwyne, we were approaching a bridge crossing a creek, the on-coming car was stopped on a curve to let a duck and her babies cross the road….however, the car behind them couldn’t stop, swerved into our lane…Al did some real good driving here, he missed the oncoming car and the bridge abutment by inches. Needless to say we were glad the motorhomes had pulled off about a mile before this, or we would have all been in an ugly situation. Our hearts were beating pretty fast after this! People who stop IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD FOR DUCKS ON A CURVE ARE BLOODY IDIOTS! We finally stopped about 10 miles south of Chetwynd at Caron Creek RV.; By the time we stopped it was 7:00 pm and we had traveled 428 miles.

Critter count: 1 deer and 2 squirrels and 1 dead duck and ducklings



June 12, 2006



Left campground at 8:30 am and stopped in Chetwynd for breakfast. We are now approaching Dawson Creek and we will begin the Alaska Highway (ALCAN)…from Dawon Creek to Tok, Alaska, 1280 miles. Beautful weather and scenry.


Al & Jo
Cortney, Juanito, Jose, Schuster and Beau
http://wroamin.blogspot.com

Alaska or Bust?

And we are off....well almost. We have a few minor details to take care of but we are trying to be heading north sometime on Friday. Have all the "house sitters" in place, the cats and dogs have their beds and food dishes packed and hopefully we will take BOTH cats this time! In other words, we are just about ready to make our trek north to Alaska. We figure it will take us eight days, just like the last time to go from here to Anchorage. However, knowing us, it could take a bit longer. We like to stop and see things along the way and we have no idea how much road construction we will encounter along the way. There are two seasons in the great north of BC and Yukon, winter and road construction!

I am armed with the required mosquito repellant....industrial strength size! The mosquitos are as big as house boats up there! The pets have been to the v-e-t to get their shots and health certificates, so I can't think of much more we have to do before leaving. Oh wait, I still have to load the food (and if you know Al, there will be a lot loaded!!) The camper is almost packed to capacity, the trailer getting very full, so we have to be close to being ready to leave! NO MORE ROOM!

I am beginning to feel like all I do any more is pack, unpack, repeat! I swear I just finished unpacking....oh, right, I did! We have been home less than a month and we are off again! Never let it be said we let an grass grow under our feet!

Since my last blog, we have been busy bee's. We had company for a week from Tucson. We took them on the requisite trip to Seattle where they enjoyed the Space Needle, Pikes Place, and downtown. We enjoyed the doctor and dentist office! We did do the Boeing Tour with them and must say, I was very impressed. I have been away so long a lot has changed and the new 787 sounds like it is going to be wonderful! Wonder how they are going to move those engines???? The old Traffic coming out in me? Nope, I am done with that life!

The weather around these parts has been strange, very hot one week, very cold the next and rain, rain, rain! The last few days have been a mixed bag of rain, wind, sun, heat, cold, you name it!

Cortney, is here and is going with us to Alaska. Now, how do I explain Cortney's relationship to us? Well, Cortney is actually Al's 2nd cousin...I think. I get the cousin's way too confused. Anyway, she is daughter of Bruce and Al's cousin (1st cousin once removed) Holly. The live about a mile from us in Tucson and we are very fortunate to have them as not only relatives, but close friends. Cortney is 15 and a truly wonderful young lady. AND, on the 22nd of June, Granddaughter Cammie will be joining us in ALaska for 3 weeks as well. Cammie is 16, so I will have two teenage girls on my hands....and no, I am not questioning my sanity....yet.

We have had some sad new since our last blog, AL's Auntie Anne (Cortney's great grandmother) died last month. She was AL's fathers sister and lived to be 96, almost 97. We have visited with her in South Dakota almost every year since retiring. She was such a wonderful lady and we will miss her.

When we bought our trailer in Alaska everyone said they were coming up to visit. At first we were booked solid for the summer, and as of today, NO ONE IS COMING! Everyone (Including Dan and Billie) have bailed on us! WELL!

Never the less, we are on our way tomorrow. AL has the garden in (yes, he planted tomatoes, and we have a caretaker for the garden) and I think everything is ready to go. Al seems a little hesitant to go, which I can understand since he has been having problems with his back and knees again. I can only hope it gets better, or we may be back sooner than planned. THe plan is to be in Alaska about 2 months, pestering my brother, nephew and niece and spending time at our place on the Kenai River, near Sterling Alaska. We will be on our cell phone once we reach Alaska (but now while in Canada) and we will try to check email every night. Let us hear from you!

So until next time.....adios,ciao, auf Wiedersehen or so long, or what ever. We are once again...


THE WROAMIN' WRASPIRS AND ONE SANDERSON
AL, JO JUANITO, JOSE, SCHUSTER, BEAU AND CORTNEY!
(See, Juanito got first billing this time!!)

Water, no Water?

I feel as if I am playing that game show "Deal, No Deal?" with our water in the house...."Water, No Water?" But I am getting ahead of myself. Like I said in my last blog, we arrived home and after figuring out where and how to turn the water on, we were in business! WATER! Well, that is until last night. Last night was just plain weird...all night. IT was a hot day yesterday, and kind of cloudy all day. Around 6:00 it started to blow and we got a few drops of rain. Then, we had a thunder storm that lasted over 2 hours of rumbling and rain. A nice rain that makes the wheat farmers here very happy. About 9:30 p.m. we lost power. Total blackness --and this house is DARK. Hmmm...where are the flashlights? After a scramble and stumble over a couple of dogs, I found one flashlight. And then located the candles. We sat in the dark for about 45 minutes, then decided to go to bed. Just as we were drifting off to sleep the power came back on and every light in the house was on! We got up and turned off lights and went back to bed, thinking we were going to have a good nights sleep. But, it was not to be. At 1:30 a.m. we were jolted awake with a "POP" then the sound of gushing water (sounded like Niagara Falls under the house). Now what????? We climb out of bed, put on some shoes and go looking for the cause of the noise. We discovered a water leak under the house...gushing water. Now, haven't we been here before? What the he--????? Oh, by the way, it was raining outside as well. I go out and locate the water shut off valve (the very same one I couldn't find last week...I am becoming way to familiar with it now), shut the water off and think "plumber, first thing in the morning." We get back in bed, start to drift off, when a thought goes through my very soggy brain, "Water heater?" Al, do you think we should turn off the water heater? Yup! So back up out of bed and back into our shoes and back outside in the rain to turn off the water heater. GRRRR! Finally, back to bed...only by then I was wide awake and a million thoughts going through my brain. I finally was lulled back to sleep by the rain about 4:30 a.m. We called our plumber this morning and he came out and discovered the source of the problem, a fitting had popped off one of the connections. Sure hope we don't have to make a habit of this! At least we now have water again. And we sure are sleepy today!

Since getting home we have been busy, just getting unpacked, (well, kinda' getting unpacked -- have several things that are taking up permanent residency in the trailer right now) cleaning the 6 months of dust and dirt out of the house, and trying to get ready for company at the end of the month. And then throw in a couple of trips to Moses Lake for supplies for the garden and house, etc. Actually, when I look back on the last week, we have packed a lot into it! And, here I felt I hadn't done anything!!! And it has been hot here....not just mildly warm, I am talking record breaking heat. 97 one day, 96 the next. This is May, right???? Feels like Tucson, looks like Odessa! I am confused. (no comments from the peanut gallery) And the S-s-s-n-n-n-a-a-a-k-k-k-e-e-ssssssssssssssss are out! Our neighbor up on the hill killed two (yup, TWO) rattlers on Thursday. GULP! On our way to Moses Lake yesterday I saw three dead snakes (the way snakes are suppose to be) on the road. So, I am really on high snake alert!

The truck and camper are at Sun Country RV getting the rocking and rolling taken out of them! Also a few minor maintenance things taken care of so that part will be ready for our big trip to Alaska next month. I have piles everywhere of Alaska bound stuff -- plus some stuff in the garage we will have to load before we leave. I am beginning to feel like I am in the moving business....oh wait, I AM in the moving business! From Odessa to Tucson; Tucson to Odessa, and repeat....and now throw Alaska in the mix! No wonder I never know where anything is...and I attributed that to my age!

Al is busy planning his garden. He got the rotatiller out Thursday and tried to start it and of course, it would start, but wouldn't stay running (I think these things get together during the winter and plan out revenge on us.) So the rotatiller is in for repair, then hopefully, he will get the garden in. Garden, you say??? Aren't you gone for the summer? YUP, but some how, some way, we will still have a garden...thanks mostly to the wonderful people who water our lawn for us while we are gone...they also get the garden. But this year, they will also share in the crops from the garden, which will mainly be, yup, you guessed it, tomatoes. Anyone who knows Al knows that tomatoes are his favorite. There will also be some zucchini planted....just for fun!

Well, that just about brings us up-to-date for now. The dogs and cats are loving their wroaming space....and the dogs LOVE the grass. Whoopee...nice, soft, green, grass to play on! The cats are on mice patrol outside and climbing the trees...yipee, these trees don't have stickers and bite! Hope they enjoy their freedom, because come next month, it's back into the camper and off we go again!

For now, we hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying life. Until next time...Happy Trails to you.

The UNWroamin' Wraspirs,
Al, Jo, Beau, Schuster, Jose, Juanito

ODESSA, FINALLY!

May 12, Happy 17th Birthday Victor!!!!

We are finally in Odessa! We got home last night around 10:30p.m. All of us tumbled out of the truck/camper (for the cats -- and yes, Ted, Juanito made it all the way!!!) and the dogs ran and ran, we wandered to the house. We were almost incoherent we were so tired. But I am getting ahead of myself here!

We finally got out of Utah on Wednesday....we were beginning to think we had taken up residence there! We made it to Twin Falls, Idaho before stopping. The truck and camper weren't rocking so bad after having the shocks turned up to the highest they would go and the tire pressure a pretty much the highest we dared! However, the wind is not our friend and it was with us all the way up I-15, blowing, of course, across the road. Al's shoulders and back hurt just from holding on to the steering wheel so tight! We finally stopped at another KOA (now, this is unusual for us, we usually avoid KOA's, or Keep On Adding as we call them, as we have had some bad experiences in the past with them) and this one was very nice as well. The wind stopped blowing after we stopped, so we sat outside and just relaxed.

Yesterday we got on the road about 10:00 a.m. and decided we would probably go to Pendleton, Oregon and then stop. The wind was still with us and it was getting a little on the cool side as well. Still lots and lots of snow on the mountains all the way up through Utah, Idaho and Oregon. We reached Pendleton at 4:30 and decided to heck with it, lets go on to Richland/Kenniwick/Pasco. Well, once there, we were only 100 miles from home....so we decided to just go home. But, not before a stop at a Home Depot for toilet seats (we have new toilets in Odessa, but no seats?) and then a stop at Costco for needed supplies. After that and a quick bit to eat we hit the road at 8:30 p.m., hoping the wind would have died down, but no luck, it was blowing just as hard! MAKE IT STOP!

Now, we are home, anxious for a good nights rest. I come in the house and flip on the water faucet and get NOTHING! NO WATER??? What the??? Then I remembered Denise had said the water was turned off under the house. What I didn't remember is where the new shut off valve was and how to turn it on! And I wasn't about to go looking for it at 11:00 p.m. (remember, there are snakes here...and they could just be waiting for me!!) At this point, we were so tired, we didn't care. We went to bed! No dogs in bed with us either.....well, Beau tried, but was quickly put back in his bed! The cats even stayed out of bed....I have no idea where they slept, nor did I care!

Up this morning, refreshed and ready to tackle the day. The damn wind is still blowing a minor hurricane outside. Al took the dogs for a walk and he said they ran until he thought he was going to have to carry them home. I walked over to where the T-Bird was stored and brought it home, after picking up 2+ weeks of mail. I sat down and went through the mail and Al installed toilet seats. YEAH! IT takes very little to make me happy anymore apparently! Oh, and the very first thing we did was turn on the water! Water....we have water! Thanks again Denise and Gordon....wonderful job! Haven't gotten much more accomplished today. We both decided to take it easy today and tackle unloading/unpacking tomorrow. I have a lot I want to do before our company gets here at the end of the month, but I don't know how much I will get done. I seem to have a lot of ideas of what I want to get done, but the mind is willing and the body says "NO WAY!"

We are both glad this trip is over! As I sit here I see storm clouds gathering to the north of us....but if the weather holds true to pattern, they will pass to the north of us and we will get no rain. Good thing, we have things scattered from here to there and I don't feel like hauling them in!

IF you are in the Odessa area, stop in. We may be here! We plan on leaving for Alaska probably around June 6-7ish. Of course, that is just the plan. We could leave earlier, or later, we finally, after all of these years, have discovered we leave when we leave!

So, until next time.....happy trailers, er, trails, to you.

The Wroamin' Wraspirs,
Al, Jo, Beau, Schuster, Jose and Juanito (pffttt to you Ted from Juanito!)

Wroamin' North

May 9,2006 10:30 a.m. Kanab, Utah

You say, “Where in the heck is Kanab, Utah?” Well, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but this is where we are. We left Tucson about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, heading north on our annual trek to Washington. We stopped in Camp Verde, AZ at the “Distant Drums” RV Park for the night. This was a very nice park and had a large area for the dogs to run….which they loved and so did we!

We took off from there yesterday and made it to Flagstaff. We stopped there because, once again, the camper is rocking from side to side when we drive. We had hoped that putting the new shocks on would end this nightmare, and they do help, but it still rocks and Jo gets motion sick! Now, Jo has NEVER had motion sickness….she can usually ride the wildest rollercoaster, rocky seas, worst roads, etc. and be fine. But this movement from side to side makes her sick in an instant. And this is no damn fun! We put more pressure in the tires in Flagstaff and talked to several different mechanic’s and they all scratched their heads and said “I don’t know!” Finally we found a RV place, and they recommended air bag susupension, but of course, they had none in stock and it would be 4 days before they could get to it. So, finally, off we went, and when the rocking starts, we just slow down until it quits and then off we go again. This is kinda’ like going forward, then slow down, and then go again. And it is the strangest thing, sometimes we can go for miles and miles with no problems, then we will hit a patch of road (not necessarily a rough road either) and it will start to rock. We figured we MAY be home for Mothers Day, then again, maybe not!

We made it to Kanab last night….we have a little RV park here we have stayed before and it is really nice. We thought we would stay at Lake Powell at Wahweap, however, they have raised their camping prices to $40 per night…..I DON’T THINK SO! So, we decided to just push on to here. Now, you ask, why aren’t you on the road now? Well, one minor problem. When we stopped yesterday at Wahweap, I noticed the right rear tire had a big crack in the sidewall. So, this morning we found a tire shop, un-hitched the trailer, unloaded the camper, and Al is now getting the spare put on. Nothing is easy anymore! Maybe we will leave Kanab today, and then again, maybe not! It is raining as well, so doing anything outside (like hitching/unhitching, loading/unloading) is miserable. Oh well, so is our life!

We had a nice few days in Tucson before we left. It was getting pretty warm and Al was definitely ready to head north. A friend of ours, Bob Grabow took us to dinner one night at a restaurant called Lil Abners. Now, I have to tell you, we had the best steak we have ever had in a restaurant! Why we haven’t been to this place before is beyond me! We also had dinner one more time at Café Poca Cosa with Jack and Sue Waddick and it was good, but not as great as before. However, the restaurant has just moved into it’s new location and hopefully working out the problems with the new location/moving, etc or, we just hit it on a bad night. It has always been one of our favorites.

The plumbing in the Odessa house is finished, so we can have water when we get home. Thanks to Gordon and Denise at Sun Country RV. I tell you, if you ever need any RV work done, and you are anywhere near Moses Lake, they are the ones. They are also very good friends of ours and we really appreciate their efforts.

A few observations we have made in the last few days. Some rives actually have water in them! Now I know this isn't a revelation to most of you, however,if you live in Arizona, where the rivers usually are dry, it is nice to see rivers with actual water in them! While we were in Missouri we were actually surprised to see water in rivers! We have been in Arizona too long!

Utah is beautiful. Especially around Kanab and the southeast part of the state. Of course, Zion and Bryce Canyon are here, as well as that other big canyon is close by...you know, the Grand Canyon. Lake Powell still needs more water...still really low.

As I finish this blog,(10:00 p.m., mdt) we have managed to get the tire fixed, camper reloaded, trailer hooked up and made a whopping 200 miles today. We are currently in Fillmore Utah in a very, very nice KOA. If you ever are traveling I-15 and need a place to stay in this area, this place is very nice. It has been really windy, and slow going for us today. We did get the shocks turned up (apparently the new shocks have adjustments on them) as high as they would go....and it has helped some with the rocking. But it will be air bag suspension for us before we go to Alaska!!!

The dogs, cats and Al are all in bed, so guess I will close this and join them. We hope this finds you all happy and healthy....until next time, we are,

THE WROAMIN' WRASPIRS
Al, Jo, Beau, Schuster, Juanito and Jose (yes, Jose is with us....)

Great Letter...a Must Read for everyone!!!

I just received a copy of this letter....it pretty well sums up my feeling regarding the immagration issue.

This letter sent to Tennessee Senator Bill Frist from a retired border
> patrol agent, and it has more common sense than all the bull being
> spewed from the Senate, with the exception of a few sensible
representatives.



> Dear Senator Frist:
>
> There is a huge amount of propaganda and myths circulating about
> illegal aliens, particularly illegal Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan
> and Honduran aliens.
>
> #1.
> Illegal aliens generally do NOT want U.S. citizenship. Americans are
> very vain thinking that everybody in the world wants to be a U.S.
citizen.
> Mexicans, and other nationalities want to remain citizens of their
> home countries while obtaining the benefits offered by the United
> States such as employment, medical care, in-state tuition, government
> subsidized housing and free education for their offspring. Their main
> attraction i s employment and their loyalty usually remains at home.
> They want benefits earned and subsidized by middle class Americans.
> What illegal aliens want are benefits of American residence without
> paying the price.
>
> #2.
> There are no jobs that Americans won't do. Illegal aliens are doing
> jobs that Americans can't take and still support their families.
> Illegal aliens take low wage jobs, live dozens in a single residence
> home, share expenses and send money to their home country. There are
> no jobs that Americans won't do for a decent wage.
>
> #3.
> Every person who illegally entered this nation left a home. They are
> NOT homeless and they are NOT Americans. Some left jobs in their home
> countries.
> They come to send money to their real home as evidenced by the more
> than 20 billion dollars sent out of the country each year by illegal
> aliens. These illegal aliens knowingly and willfully entered this
> nation in violation of the law and therefore assumed the risk of
> detection and dep ortation.
> Those
> who brought their alien children assumed the responsibility and risk
> on behalf of their children.
>
> #4.
> Illegal aliens are NOT critical to the economy. Illegal aliens
> constitute less than 5% of the workforce. However, they reduce wages
> and benefits for lawful U.S. residents.
>
> #5.
> This is NOT an immigrant nation. There are 280 million native born
> Americans. While it is true that this nation was settled and founded
> by immigrants (legal immigrants), it is also true that there is not a
> nation on this planet that was not settled by immigrants at one time
> or another.
>
> #6.
> The United States is welcoming to legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are

> not immigrants by definition. The U.S. accepts more lawful immigrants
> every year than the rest of the world combined.
>
> #7.
> There is no such thing as the "Hispanic vote". Hispanics are white,
> brown, black and every shade in between. Hispanics are Republicans,
> Democrats, Anarchists, Communists, Mar xists and Independents. The
> so-called "Hispanic vote" is a myth. Pandering to illegal aliens to
> get the Hispanic vote is a dead end.
>
> #8.
> Mexico is NOT a friend of the United States. Since 1848 Mexicans have
> resented the United States. During World War I Mexico allowed German
> Spies to operate freely in Mexico to spy on the U.S. During World War
> II Mexico allowed the Axis powers to spy on the U.S. from Mexico.
> During the Cold War Mexico allowed spies hostile to the U.S. to
> operate freely. The attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 was cheered and
> applauded all across Mexico. Today Mexican school children are taught
> that the U.S. stole California, Arizona, new Mexico and Texas. If you
> don't believe it, check out some Mexican textbooks written for their
> schoolchildren.
>
> #9.
> Although some illegal aliens enter this country for a better life,
> there are
> 6 billion people on this planet. At least 1 billion of those live on
> less than one dollar a day. If wanting a better life is a valid excuse

> to break the law and sneak into America, then let's allow those one
> billion to come to America and we'll turn the USA into a Third World
nation overnight.
> Besides, there are 280 million native born Americans who want a better

> life.
> I'll bet Bill Gates and Donald Trump want a better life. When will the

> USA lifeboat be full? Since when is wanting a better life a good
> reason to trash another nation?
>
> #10.
> There is a labor shortage in this country. This is a lie. There are
> hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American housewives, senior

> citizens, students, unemployed and underemployed who would gladly take

> jobs at a decent wage.
>
> #11.
> It is racist to want secure borders. What is racist about wanting
> secure borders and a secure America? What is racist about not wanting
> people to sneak into America and steal benefits we have set aside for
> legal aliens, senior citizens, children and other legal residents?
> What is it about race that entitles peop le to violate our laws, steal

> identities, and take the American Dream without paying the price? For
> about four decades American politicians have refused to secure our
> borders and look after the welfare of middle class Americans. These
> politicians have been of both parties. A huge debt to American society

> has resulted. This debt will be satisfied and the interest will be
> high. There has already been riots in the streets by illegal aliens
> and their supporters. There will be more. You, as a politician, have a

> choice to offend the illegal aliens who have stolen into this country
> and demanded the rights afforded to U.S. citizens or to offend those
> of us who are stakeholders in this country. The interest will be steep

> either way. There will be civil unrest. There will be a reckoning. Do
> you have the courage to do what is right for America? Or, will you bow

> to the wants and needs of those who don't even have the right to
remain here?
> There
> will be a reckoning. It will come in November of this year, again in
> 2008 and yet again in 2010. We will not allow America to be stolen by
> third world agitators and thieves.
>
> David J. Stoddard
> U.S. Border Patrol (RET)
> Hereford, Arizona
>

NO WATER!

We are currently sitting in the Microtel just outside of Spokane airport as our flight for Phoenix leaves tomorrow morning. We have had a few stressful days in Odessa.

It all began to go "south" when the plumber finally arrived in Odessa. Now, you know that Odessa is a very small town. Well, the plumber got lost in Odessa...that should tell you how the rest of this goes. At any rate, he arrives finally and goes under the house, turns on the water, turns off the water and goes to his truck to make a phone call. Hmmmm-- I say. A few minutes later he comes into the house and says, "I have some bad news for you"....well, duh, what else do plumbers say???? Well, the bad news is that for the next few days we will have no water. YIKES! Apparently, we had a bad freeze and all the plumbing under the house needs replacing. Yes, ALL. AARRGGG! AND, all of the insulation under the house is wet as well, so it has to be removed and replaced and of course, someone else has to do that. Al and I look at each other, both thinking, this house isn't worth the amount this is going to cost us! Plumber estimate is over $8,200....and that doesn't include the $2,500+ for the insulation. double AAARRGG! So now what? Al says "bulldozer" about the same moment I say "Match"! We both were just sick. This is an old manufactured home...we have put some money into it, aka, new windows, painting, etc. However, how much more do we really want to dump into it? Finally Al has an idea...call our insurance company...maybe this is covered. So, being ever doubtful, I call and lo and behold, yes, freeze damage is covered! HUH? REALLY??? DID YOU SAY IT WOULD BE COVERED??? After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I got all of the details, etc. Adjuster will call on Monday, but go ahead and get the plumber scheduled. YEA! First RIGHT thing to happen since we got home. Whew! Then this morning the adjuster called. He will be out on Wednesday to assess the damage and yes, it will be covered, however we need to get another estimate (he feels this estimate is very high, and we agree!) But he is definite that we need to get the insulation removed TODAY if possible so no mold will grow! Got it! Call the insulation people and they were out in 3 hours to start the project. Now, all I have to do is find a plumber to give us another estimate by Wed. And we will be flying all day tomorrow. UGH! At any rate, hopefully, by the time we get back we will be "with water" again. Never a dull moment!

The funeral for Al's brother Gene was beautiful on Saturday, if you can describe a funeral as "beautiful". Gene was truly a gentle giant. Gene stood 6'4" tall and weighed 230-240 lbs. His hands were the size of Texas...I have never seen anyone with such big hands. And his heart was as big as Texas as well. He was the type to always lend a helping hand to neighbors, friends and family, sometimes to the detriment of his own family. He was generous to a fault at times, but EVERYONE loved Gene and could count on him for help. He was truly a gentleman, and a gentle man. I will never forget seeing him hold his grandson, those huge hands practically covering the baby! We will miss him terribly, but at least he is at peace and no longer suffering. I have not just lost a brother-in-law, but a brother as well.

Yesterday was Al's birthday and we celebrated by doing nothing most of the day (what can we do with no water???) and later in the day we went to Jerry and Ardis' for dinner. Baked a chicken and Ardis and I made a very lopsided white cake with peanut butter frosting....but it tasted great. Ardis and I have had several "kitchen" experiences together and we laugh and giggle about them frequently. I love that girl!

We stayed at the La College Motel (formerly the Odessa Motel) after the plumbers news on Friday. Jennifer and Kristine also stayed there. The motel is old, but clean and alittle on the funky side. Each room has a theme...we were in the "Australian Outback" room; Jennifer and Kris had the "Italian room". The rooms are decorated in the theme and have murals on the wall...very different. But it served the purpose well...someplace to stay with running water and a bed! However, Odessa is a desperate need for a restaurant that isn't fast food. We have the Coffee Haus, that serves a great breakfast sandwich and a good lunch, but no dinner and there is NO PLACE to get breakfast on a Sunday. We survived, but it sure showed what is really needed in Odessa!

Back to Tucson tomorrow, we will pack up and head north probably around May 4-5. Depends on when the plumbing project will be done.

Until the next time...........we are still
Wroamin' Wraspirs...kinda

Popsicle juice/Ice Cream Man and a deep sadness

We are currently at our home in Odessa, Washington. HOW DID YOU WIND UP THERE you ask. Well, its a sad story.

We left O'Fallon, after a wonderful visit with Mike, Bev, Sarah and Natasha and headed to Kansas City to visit with Grandson David for a few hours on Monday. We had a wonderful visit with him. He has grown into such a nice young man (he is 23) and we are so proud of him. On Tuesday we headed to Lake of the Ozarks to spend some time with our friends, Carl and Ruby SKidmore, but first we stopped in Clinton, MO to have lunch with one of Al's cousins. We has a good, but very short visit with them. After leaving them, and in the middle of no where in Missouri our cell phone rings and we are informed that Al's brother, Gene has died. Gene is 4 years older than Al and has been in poor health for a few years. We are very saddened by losing him, however, we know that he is in a much better place and is at peace. At any rate, we continued to the Skidmores for the night.

So now, we have to scramble to get flights to Spokane. We finally, after a long search book flights from St. Louis to Spokane, via Phoenix. Yes, Phoenix. IT was the most DIRECT flight we could get! We could have gone from St. Louis to Chicago to Denver to Seattle to Spokane....uh, no! That was one of our options! At any rate, I cancelled our return flight with American Airlines to Phoenix on Friday and rebooked with America West/US Airway for flight on Thursday to Spokane. We arrived home last night to NO WATER (have a couple of broken pipes, currently waiting for plumber to arrive) and NO PHONE. GRRRR! But we are home. It is kinda' like camping! And no RV in sight to stay in....so we head out to Jerry and Ardis's and spend the night. What a trip! Thank goodness they had the room for us or we would have wound up in the Odessa Motel, which would have been okay. At any rate, we are here until next Tuesday, when we will fly back to Phoenix and go home to Tucson for a few days. Gene's funeral is tomorrow. Jennifer is due in today. Sad way for family to get together, but like most large, spread out families, we get together for funerals and weddings!

While at Mike and Bev's, I learned a few things from our precious great grand daughter, Natasha, age 6. I learned that it is hard to catch the ice cream man. We heard him twice, and twice we scrambled out the door, only to see his tail lights going down the street. Poor Natasha was crushed both times! I also learned what popsicle juice is! Do you know? It is a Natasha recipe....melt a popsicle, add water and an ice cube....presto, popsicle juice (it calms an upset 6 year old when she has missed the ice cream man). ANd yes, I drank it....after all, what are great grandma's for? (and yes, it was icky.) And I have to add here, Sarah, is doing a wonderful job raising Natasha. Sarah has recently moved out into her own apartment and is doing wonderful. We are so very proud of her. We also met her boyfriend, Chris and like him very much. He is very nice, shy, and very kind to both Sarah and Natasha.

Both of us were amazed at how lush and green Missouri is. It was absolutely beautiful. I love the little towns, and some of their names, i.e., "TIGHTWAD, MO." We laughed for miles over that one! Not as good as BOOGER HOLLER, but close. We were sorry we didn't get to stay at the lake for a few days...AL was looking forward to mushroom hunting and fishing for croppie. Oh well...another time perhaps.

It is cold here! I am glad I left a few clothes here....as I was not prepared to come north just yet! The weather in Missouri was warm with no humidity and we really enjoyed it, along with a few great thunder storms. Bev took me to a great restaurant for lunch in the little town of Kimswick, MO called the Blue Owl. Boy, was that ever good. The town was really cute as well....we will have to go back there. I told Al I would like to spend a month in Missouri some time in the RV, just so we can poke around the state. There is a lot I would like to see.

Well, the plumber should be here shortly, so I will cut this off for now. We hope this finds you all happy and healthy. Until next time, we are....

THE WROAMIN' WRASPIRS, minus all animals.

PS...we got to play with Simon last night....he is such a great dog.

St. Louis Louie....

We are currently in O'Fallon, MO (near St. Louis) visiting our son Mike, wife Bev and our grand daughter Sarah and our beautiful little Natasha! Natasha is 6...what a fun age! She is a real kick....busy as any 6 year old can be. I'd like to be 6 again...at least for a day. Just think about it...no worries! The biggest worry would be "when do I get to play again?" "What can I explore next?" Of course for me, I would HAVED to worry about something....I am a worrier. Oh wait, at 6 I probably wouldn't worry...I wouldn't be a Mom yet. As a Mom, it is my job to worry. Even though all of our children are okay, successful, happy, etc., I still have to worry abou them. AND, our grandchildren...yes, I definitely have to worry about them. It's my job as a grandmother!

It is beautiful here! The weather is in the high 80's and wonders of wonders, no humidity -- yet. And it is GREEN here...that color we don't see very much of in Arizona. It is LUSH GREEN! Mike and Bev live in a wonderful area and it is so pleasant to sit here and relax and not worry! (well, I am a worrier, so I worry when I don't have anything to worry about...don't go there!) At any rate, we are truly enjoying our visit. We will be here until Monday after Easter. Then we will head to Kansas City to visit with David, our grandson. From there, we will go to Clinton, MO to visit one of Al's cousins, and then to Lake of the Ozarks to pester the Skidmores for a few days before flying back to Arizona on the 21st.

Once we get home, we will be packing up and heading north..yup..it will be time for our annual trek to north to Odessa. Can't believe time has gone so fast!

Just really wanted to say Happy Easter to everyone......

Just Had to Say This

I can't refrain myself from a few comments on the Katrina Hurricane and the recent wave of tornados that have devastaed the south east. I have noticed a lot of difference in the way the news media has covered them. Katrina is all you heard about from every news portal.....and more than you could take at some times. We were saturated with it. (Pardon the pun!) Now, the southeast has been hit hard by several killer tornados. Do you hear people crying on national TV, "Help us, Help us"? Or even much of a coverage from the major networks on the tornados? There is usally a blurb during the national news, and that is it. No Brian Williams, Dan Rather (or his replacement) or anyone else rushing to cover the tornados and devoting hours to the devastation. I don't understand. WHY???? Yes, Katrina was horrible, but aren't these tornado's just as horrible? People were killed and lost their homes...and THEY HAD NOT MUCH OF A WARNING! THEY DIDN'T HAVE 2-3 DAYS OF WARNING TO GET OUT OF TOWN! Why the difference???? I know the Red Cross is there, but I sure don't see them begging for donations on National TV. I know other relief coverage is there, as well as possible FEMA (I am not betting on that one!); but where is the news coverage. I just turned on the TV and I couldn't find one single major network covering the tornados! Maybe the government could take some of the mobile homes they bought for Katrina victims that are not being used (not good enough?) and take them to Tennesse or Alabama or Georgia to help house the tornado victims. Oh, wait, not a good idea. Mobile homes are tornado magnets (Even tho I live in one at times). Another question, if there were no mobile homes, would there be tornados?

1,2,3,4,5,6 NO MORE

Okay, let me get this straight, tomorrow morning (April 4) at 1:23 a.m., I am suppose to get up and do what???? Oh yea, it will be a hundred years until the sequence will be repeated...and I think I will just wait for that one! I bet 100 people have sent me the email telling me to get up at 1:23 a.m. tomorrow and enjoy the moment. Personally, I would rather see the re-run!

Legal??? Illegal????

I normally don't spout off about politics, and the current news/issues, however, this business of all the protesting because of immigration policies has finally got me going and I can't leave it alone! What really got to me was the front page of today's Arizona Star Newspaper. The headlines read "Immigration Measures, Student throngs here walk out for 2nd day" HUH??? And then accompanying this is a picture of a young lady, Hispanic, waving a Mexico flag in one hand and wearing a Mexico flag as a scarf/bandanna on her head. HIGH SCHOOL students have walked out of class for the 2nd day in a row. In my day of school, that would be called "Cutting class". And there would be punishment for it. I doubt seriously 99% of these kids care about immigration issues, it is just "the thing to do" and it gets them out of school! Now I have to ask, isn't this still America? If the young lady waving the Mexican flag is loyal enough to Mexico to wave their flag, and is so unhapppy with American polices, why isn't she in Mexico???? Why the hell is she here? But I digress......

First of all, we are all immigrants from some where if we are not Native Americans. Our forefathers came to this land to make a better life for themselves and I have no complaint with that. However, MOST CAME HERE LEGALLY! Yes, they came over by whatever means, boat, walk, run, wagon, etc. across the borders LEGALLY. They obeyed the established laws of the United States (or they established the laws.) They didn't SNEAK across a border somewhere, and then either 1.) take a chance of dying in the hot desert; 2.) run from authorities and get shot/killed 3.) get caught and sent back to try it one more time; and finally, 4) STOP THE SMUGGLERS FROM BRINGING ACROSS ILLEGALS, who pay them hugh amounts of money, and are treated inhumanly. Our forefathers, the ones who made this country what it is; came here to make a better life for them and their families (to which they either brought with them or sent for their family when they could.) Those who are protesting now say we should let the illegal ones stay...and NOT punish them. Well, okay, WHY???? Why don't we send them back and let them come to America the legal way? Takes to long you say? Yes, that might be true. But maybe there is a reason for that. Has everyone forgot 9/11??? And the terrorist were here legally (or kinda)...and look what they did to us. How do we know that the illegal immigrants coming across our borders aren't terrorist??? Again, they should be made to come across legally.

Now, haven said that, I do think that a "guest worker" program could work. When I say guest, I mean, they could come here as a guest (defined as someone who doesn't reside here) and work doing the work us spoiled Americans won't do (that is a whole different topic that I won't belabor now). Immigrants could come here for a specified time limit (6 months, year, 2 years) and be given the opportunity to work AND PAY TAXES, JUST LIKE THE REST OF US POOR WORKING SLOBS DO! During their "guest" time they would also be given the opportunity to learn our language (what a novel concept THAT is) and study to take the test and become an AMERICAN CITIZEN! They possibly could even bring their immediate family here after becoming an American Citizen, (unless the entire family comes to work, then the aforementioned opportunity would apply to the entire family.)

That leads to the next idea....let them work legally and pay taxes --- perhaps we could actually lower our taxes! (Now, quit laughing and stay with me here!) THe majority of the illegal immigrants don't pay U.S. taxes, work under the table for wages a bit higher than if they had to pay taxes and are taking jobs away from perhaps the unemployed Americans. Most of the illegal immigrants are here putting their children into our schools and overcrowding our schools, forcing us to teach in different languages, and lessening the education our children are getting. AND most of the illegal immigrants are getting better medical care that we are -- and for free. Who pays? WE DO. In higher medical costs. Now, if they were here legally, we could build more schools with the tax dollars they generate and PAY, we could build more clinics for medical needs that they could use AND PAY FOR. If they had to send money back home to Mexico to support family, that is fine, however, they would have paid U.S. taxes on it first! I,personnally, am tired of everyone coming to this country thinking WE OWE them something! They can EARN it, just like the rest of us do and our forefathers did!

To wind up this rambling, let me say that I know some of you won't agree with me, and I don't expect you to....and you have the right and the freedom not to...that is what this great country is all about. However, I will bet you and your forefathers came here legally, and you pay your share of your taxes, and are proud to be called an American. And the immigrants today can do the same.....IF they do it legally! Enough is enough, we don't owe them anything, let them earn it just like we do/did!

Spring????

Spring in Tucson can be interesting and this one is no different. Last weekend, we had rain, snow, wind (a lot of wind -- blew down our neighbor's shed, rearranged our patio furniture); then it was nice, warm for the rest of the week. Now, today, it is repeating last weekend, wind, rain, snow, repeat. The weather just can't seem to make up it's mind. And the saying "March comes it like a lion, it will go out like a lamb" or visa versa, well, I think the weather is PRACTICING for the end of March, since it came in like a lamb! We are very thankful for the rain/snow/rain. Our cactus are really starting to thrive, our Octillo is starting to bloom. For those who don't have a clue what an Otcillo is, it is a plant that looks like dead sticks sticking straight up in the air, and once a year, if and when it gets enough moisture, it gets really green and has beautiful red blossoms at the end of the "Sticks"....it is one of my favorite desert plants. Oh yea, it also has stickers on it, just like everything else in the desert!

For the past couple of weeks we have been laying low. AL has been battling pneumonia since March 6. He is much improved now, however, still has to take it easy as he tires very quickly. There for a while, he was pretty darn sick. The doctor has been wonderful, especially since he kept him out of the hospital. However, some of the antibiotics he has prescribed wasn't much cheaper than a hospital stay! Needless to say, I let out a yowl when I went to pick up the prescription and it was $197 for 10 pills, and that was after the insurance had picked up their share. These pills were $40 a pop! No wonder the USA is in such a mess over prescription/medical care. How do people who have no insurance do this???? Thank you Boeing for your retirement insurance coverage!

Have you ever been to a Renaissance Fair? We have never been, so on the 4th we made the trek to Phoenix to attend one. We went with Holly, Bruce and Cortney and we had a great time. I really didn't think I would enjoy it since I am not into the "mid-evil" thing, however, I really had a good time. We all enjoyed the entertainment and the huge turkey legs that we bought for lunch. There was no way I could eat that huge thing! WOW! But they were good. It was fun seeing all of the people in costume, and most attendee's were even in costume (except us, of course!) It was a good day and we were glad we went.

Well, that is about it from this end of the world for now. We hope this finds everyone doing well and living life they way they want. Life is too short to be miserable -- live it to the fullest...there is no second go around.

Until next time we are --

The UNwroaming Wraspirs!

RAIN!!! Finally!

It's RAINING!!! Finally, some moisture! Now, granted, it isn't a lot of rain like Seattle gets, but more than 10 drops all together here is worth celebrating! Our deck is wet, wet stuff is running down the windows, and the road is wet and best of all, IT SMELLS LIKE RAIN! Of course, the weather guessers (now, wouldn't I love that job! Where else could you be wrong 99% of the time and keep your job???) said the rain would miss us. HAHAHA...they were wrong. Given, it isn't much rain, but when you have been as parched as we have been for 136 days, we will take what we can get! And wonders of all wonders, it is a nice, gentle rain. Unlike when we have the monsoons and we get all the rain for a year in an hour! And this rain won't wash out our private road!
We attended Tucson's Rodeo last week. What fun! We like to go to the Rodeo's where ever we are and this one was a great rodeo. One bull wasn't quite ready to leave the arena, so he just layed down in the middle and refused to budge! It was very funny watching the cowboys try to get him to move. They would get him up and head him towards the gate and at the last minute, the bull would turn around, go back out to the middle of the arena and lay down again!
Question of the day for me. Why, would the U.S. even consider letting Arab's run some of our ports???? Didn't we learn from 9/11? Are we trying to set ourselves up for letting terrorist into the country??? What about terrorism doesn't Bush understand? Now, I have been a Bush supporter, and I haven't hidden that fact. But I seriously disagree with his thinking on this port deal.
Until next time.................