Category Archives: Uncategorized

They’re very small in OK, KS, CO and not in WY as we’re only 12 miles in. Very small and with a lot of verbiage. “Make sure you don’t do this because it’s against state law.” When you’re 1/4 mile away you see the sign, try to read it and miss most of it because you have to keep your eyes on the road.

Signage is bad, as in none from TX to I-35 North to OK City, and none whatsoever guiding one to true I-70 to Denver. I did pass one sign that said the next three exits would take one to the Pike’s Peak area, an area that my Aunt Lorna explored as a twenty-something en route from SF, in her Mustang. I thought of her today.

We had no time to loiter, however, as we need to get to our destination and find a place to live.

I had a dream last night that we had an additional box to pack, not a box, a drawer, a shallow drawer. And I needed to pick up jigsaw puzzle pieces. Think what a shrink could do with that one. There were other things in the drawer but I don’t remember.

I enjoyed driving a checkerboard state, as I’ve only seen them from 35,000 feet. As for Denver, we were tolled $7.50 each car to drive five miles. Smog, yuck, I never saw the City but what people go through to work there looks abominable and we hit the outskirts at 4:00 p.m. pre-rush hour.

Wish we could spend a bit of time in Cheyenne but we really do need to finish this endless journey. We did great on the driving, the packing and moving fell behind.

This hotel is lovely, and for the weekend it is populated by beauty pageant contestants and the “Border Queens” of the Ms. Wyoming Pageant. The Border Queens are here at the hotel tonight and it’s a sight to see. There are a few people I know who would like to take that title, but not in this venue.

It’s quiet, Jim and Zoe are sleeping soundly (it makes a difference when there are actual walls between rooms, which folks understood when this was built in 1911). Otherwise Zoe protects us from every voice, door opening, etc. in a hotel because she’s not used to the sounds.

Off to bed now. More at our final destination, no not THAT one. Dee

We’re moving. Two full cars, two adults, one dog. Not only do we need to watch our cars full of stuff, drive separately and travel in tandem, we find it difficult to find a place to stay that will allow our dog. Our places have run the gamut from a crummy place in a swanky part of Houston; to the best hotel of all, Jim’s parents’ farm; to a dismal Holiday Inn Express (we thought that brand was a standard but it’s not, at least out west); and tonight, a lovely 1911 hotel in historic Cheyenne, WY overlooking the Union-Pacific train station and Cheyenne Depot.

It has been an adventure, but too often as dog owners we’ve been placed with a view of the dumpster, and between the elevator and ice machine. So these hotels pretend to have a pet-friendly policy but have their worst possible room available for the sucker who dares take it.

They always say “We’ll put you on the first floor so it’ll be easy to take the dog out” and in code that means “Stay off the elevators and out of public areas. Stick to the back where no-one can see you.”

Forget about eating. We’ve had more delivery pizza and drive-in Sonic burgers than one should eat in a lifetime in the past week. No-one will even serve us on a patio. It’s been too warm to leave her in the car, and she freaks out being left alone in a hotel room.

Tomorrow, as we reach our final destination, we’ll have a good place to stay, I hope. It’s been booked and we look forward to a relaxing evening before finding a place to live and starting work on Monday.

For those hotels that treated us well, you’ll hear from me. The opposite is true as well. Gone is the day when a hotel lives in a vacuum. I’m fifty and have my first blog. I have a plethora of electronics that connect me to the world for free. Does a hotelier really think that pretending to have a pet-friendly policy will make it these days?

Pet owners spend a lot of money in the US. When only 2.5 star or lower hotels are available to us that’s an insult. We’re used to staying at three-star or better and are willing to pay the price, but not to be treated as “steerage” once we get there.

I walked Zoe tonight, while Jim ordered take-out because we weren’t allowed near a restaurant. I actually wish we could spend some time here because it seems like it has an interesting history. But we have to go on. I arranged for a six-hour travel day tomorrow so we can finally rest.

Zoe doesn’t know who I am anymore. I’m just the lady that feeds her and follows her place to place. And tells her to be quiet as she humpphs and growls whenever anyone opens their hotel door. Jim pulled up by me today and Zoe looked at me and knew me and the car. All I can think is that she and Jim are running away and I keep catching up to them every evening! Hey, I never got the Aerobed/vacuum cleaner connection in a dog’s mind…

Cheers, Dee

First, thank you WordPress, for giving my entries top posts on the Editorial blog. Also thanks for creating new blogs just because I wrote something esoteric that you thought fellow bloggers and readers might like. You just created one for my Aunt Lorna’s Smith-Corona portable electric typewriter, and others. It’s not an Oscar, but a reward for work whose only remuneration is the work and readers and that is much appreciated.

As I sit at a small typewriter return desk already packed for moving, with a book reader lamp as my light, there’s another topic I’d like to cover.

Pyrex. Of course I’ve a couple 8X8 baking pans and lasagne pan. But it’s the bowls. Aunt Lorna gave me the blue bowl, the smallest one that always breaks, from her grandmother. Then Jim’s mother gave me one from her family, yes we have two blues now.

Then it steps up to a red, a green and a yellow is the icing on the cake. If this set fits into the cars that would be fantastic. I love these bowls and may have written about them before. Jim’s mother got me everything but the blue for a great price at a country antique store. As Dallas moves into those areas I hope they raise their prices!

I don’t have a photo for you but may get you one shortly as it’s very late and Jim and Zoe are asleep and I don’t want to use a flash because everything’s pretty open here.

I believe the bowls were made in the fifties, perhaps before then. They are a joy to have and know their history and the people who used them. These things matter to me. Anything that came from family matters to me, like the cutting board I used tonight to cut up a pot roast of Wobbly, the fattest calf on the farm who became dinner. It was tasty, with egg noodles. The bowls, Wobble and a lot of stuff we have are family legacies, like the cutting board made from the grandfather who died two weeks before I was born.

A box from my mother arrived today. I don’t have time to open and close it again so its contents will remain a surprise for 1-6 months. It’s quite light and I hope it contains her 1950’s Revere Ware potato masher. Will let you know when I open it.

Probably 2-3 days packing left then movers to storage. Then we get on the road, visit Jim’s folks and Nanny and head out with both cars, the dog and fully-packed cars.

I don’t think my putting a label “CAR” on the Pyrex would work. We need too many other things but it’ll be well-packed and safe in storage. Just looking at them makes me think of days past when we ate cherries from the farm stand down the street or baby strawberries down the path to the creek.

The midnight hours when I’m sweating the move and all is the only time I can write and writing helps me get tired enough to go to sleep, so that’s what I’ll try to do. You take care now, Dee

The rest of us don’t. Obama talks about pain then the papers talk about David Axelrod’s home Wednesday meetings at his place overlooking the Washington Monument and all the new suits he bought to be a presidential advisor. Yada yada yada.

People are losing their jobs and homes and all the new government can do is hand out billions to the people who have put us into that situation (granted, banking rules were pretty laissez-faire under Bush). Let’s say one only needs 10K to get out of a hole, do you think a bank or insurance company or car manufacturer believes in trickle-down? No way! The banks ate all theirs and said basically that they had it in a vault not accessible to anyone but them. That’s because Congress never required use for specific purposes or reportability standards of how the money was used. Shame on us, taxpayers, for allowing so many inept people to represent us! Forget $10K, just ask for a billion and they’ll hand it over. How about we collectively ask $430 Billion and share it. They care more about their hair and how they look on TV.

If you’re out of work now I’ll start doing recipes that require more effort but little money. It’ll take some research. But you need to write in and tell me what you need. Tell me what your family likes and I’ll try to help you out. It may take a week or two because this economy is making us move and we’re packing boxes for the next few days.

I am so upset at this economy, how the Feds allowed the banks, insurance companies and Bernie Madoff and his ilk rob the people. Every billion the government spends “fixing” the economy comes out of our pockets. We’re paying the mortgages that weren’t paid on homes foreclosed. We’re paying AIG and the big banks for being greedy. Pay them once, pay them twice. Keep saying that and I’m switching to the GOP! More likely libertarian.

The have-nots have not. Always. I wish I had the answer to poverty. Mother Teresa simply served the needy and gave them hope. She did great work during her lifetime. Without jobs, I don’t know the answer.

As we drive across country I’ll know the state of the nation, like if I see a recent Ferrari or Porsche parked at the $39 Super 8 motel…. they’re just conserving their last bonus and looking for work.

I wish you well in this economy. If you have a job, try to keep it. It’s he!! out there on the streets. Cheers, Dee

ps And stop talking about Michelle Obama’s biceps.

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Dear Government:

We request $430 billion because we need the money. We are out of work and can’t get work and are being thrown out of our houses. AIG has cancelled our insurance and our 401(K)’s have gone kerflooie. Our insurance is toast as well, as are our stocks. Your dismal efforts to assure the futures of the companies that exist to take our money have failed. Yet you continue to pour more billions into these morally bankrupt institutions.

We suggest you give it to us. We gave it to you and you’re giving it back to the corporations that let us down. In the end, who is more trustworthy? Us or them? The number came out of the sky, no, not God or anything. I just wanted to shake a head or two. While you’re at it please beef up the FDA (peanut butter) and the SEC (who let Madoff and his ilk have their day in the sun). Thank you from our vast constituency of readers, Dee

[I’ll work on it some more between packing boxes]

I am trying to cook frugally in this economy, and my mind says that anything that’s in the frig or pantry is essentially free. So for the past week I had 1/2 red cabbage and a few carrots and scallions so I made cole slaw, but we’ve already had that twice and there’s enough for a third side dish for both of us but we can’t eat it every meal.

Today I bought a small sliced grocery store Cure 81 ham, 1.75#. I crusted it with dijon mustard and honey and baked it along with scalloped potatoes (free), and had nearly everything I needed to make this corn salad at the last minute, instead of using cole slaw.

So Jim ran to the store for Dr. Pepper and frozen corn and I really messed with this dish and in order to get it to near room temperature I had to place the entire pan into an ice bath. It was good, but the flavors have to marinate in the frig overnight and we’ll see how it tastes tomorrow before I even try to re-create this adventure for you. The vinegar smell has permeated our place and still does even with a fan taking it out the windows.

The ham plan is to do a quiche for lunch tomorrow, with ham and fontina. Then we have a sirloin steak for tomorrow night and I still have some chimichurri for that with some home fries, corn salad and cole slaw for dinner. Nearly free! Perhaps ham sandwiches for lunch on Sunday with “free” rolls I froze a couple of weeks ago.

I’m even making Zoe’s own homemade chicken stock from our chix bones. At least it’s cheap to make but I can also control the salt as I steal from her stash for our meals.

This past year has been a very challenging one especially with the loss of my mom. Even though it’s a bad economy we hope for a better year in 2009 and thank friends and family for being with us on our shared journeys. Cheers, Dee

There’s been some interest from Chicago. Now an ex-gov Blago isn’t a problem anymore. He blamed it all on his “friends.”

If the Feds bugged my phone they’d have a wonderful time listening to me ordering dog food, saying ten words to my husband or talking to my mother-in-law about new goats.

Perhaps living in Chicago isn’t a bad thing after all. Except I’m sure Jim will require more foul weather gear. Dee

Q: What are you doing with our money (taxpayers)
A: We stuck it in the vault. (banks)

Q: Are you lending to homeowners and car buyers?
A: No way! This is our money.

Q: Aren’t you in the business of taking our money, making investments and lending it to homeowners and such?
A: Yes, but not right now. Now it’s all ours and we’re taking it and using some of it to pay bonuses to top earners, who took even more of your money.

Q: So if I want to buy a house or car, I can’t get money to do so.
A: Right.

Q: My money is in your bank and I can’t get a loan.
A: Right again.

Q: So my money is with you and you won’t lend money. We taxpayers just gave you billions so we’re lending/giving money to you?
A: Right again.

Q: Have you ever given money to a loan applicant?
A: That would be a no, sir.

Q: Do you charge interest on your loans?
A: You bet. As much as we can get, and even more on credit cards, those suckers don’t care if their 42″ plasma TV cost $3,500 and ends up costing $8,000.

Q: Do you consider these billions from us taxpayers a loan or a gift? If it’s a loan, what is our interest rate?
A: Surely it’s a gift. After all, we deserve it. We just gave $18.4 billion of your money out to buy Ferarris and pre-war six-room condos overlooking Central Park. We’re just looking out for the interests of, well not our clients or shareholders, just us. And we think that’s just peachy keen in this economic environment. Sorry, gotta go, my wife’s new Mercedes is about to drive up with a big red bow on it and the kids need to come out to show their appreciation.

That’s all, folks, thanks for listening.