Looking for Mud

Several years ago, like 10, Mr. Lucky and I strolled into the local motorcycle shop and bought two brand new, shiny 4-wheelers. Ok. Mr. Lucky bought two brand new, shiny 4-wheelers. Mine is blue. Mr. Lucky settled on camouflage. (Some Californians refer to them as "quads".) Four Wheelers are what you graduate to when motorcycle riding is no longer a real good option. My last ride on my Yamaha 175 Enduro resulted in me on the ground somewhere between a rock and a hard place.  Mr. Lucky wisely

thought maybe my motorcycle riding days were behind me.


An interesting point is that our wheelers are just now nicely broken in and some of our cronies are upgrading to side-by-sides....or as I like to call them "baby jeeps". They come equipped with heaters, sound systems, radial tires, and a host of other options. Did I mention doors and windshields?

It would follow that we like to ride our wheelers once in a while. I sort of lean toward riding in what I like to call "perfect weather".  That would be a nice morning following a rainy night.  Not too hot...not too cold.  Rainy nights equal mud. If there is an abundance of mud there is likely to be lots less dust.  Dust, of course, is the enemy.

So...a few weeks ago we loaded our wheelers.   Ok. Mr. Lucky loaded our wheelers, along with the necessary sandwiches, water, soda pop, Vienna sausages, and spare clothes/coats. There may have even been a cold beer someplace.   Off we went to meet some of our buddies.... in search of mud.

We found some. We went so far as to test it for depth. It was adequate. While poking around with our sticks (not our wiener-roaster sticks) we were unable to locate any lost treasures, dead things, or riding partners.

Our riding adventures sometimes are rich with wildlife sightings. One of our cronies caught a glimpse of a moose. Luckily none of us had Moose Burgers in our lunch packs. It’s hard to explain to an 1800 pound moose why you are eating their cousins.

Some things we just can’t seem to get away from...even in the woods. Like road construction. Do the road construction folks just set up their clever little signs when they suspect that Mr. Lucky and I will be coming along? Makes me wonder.




How about a cabin in the woods? We found one of those, too. I am not ready to move to far away from a grocery store. What if I ran out of milk?

So if you happen to be in the woods. Look for me. I’ll be the one stuck in the mud wearing a burgundy colored helmet.

　

Change is Good

Change is Good

I have noticed that some folks buy, trade, sell, and otherwise obtain automobiles with much more frequency than Mr. Lucky and I do. I have cars that I have owned longer than some of my shoes....and I’m a shoe nut.   

Because we have plenty of places to park cars, pickups, motor homes, motorcycles, and 4 wheelers I decided it was time to buy yet another car;  one of those ever-popular SUVs. This one will tow nicely behind the motor home and has comfortable back seat for Bonnie. The most important thing to consider is the color. Well that, and Bonnie’s comfort. The tow vehicle must, (I repeat MUST) match the color of your motor home. We have been towing a blue pickup behind the blue/white motor home, so a white Tracker will do quite nicely. Now I have to take back all those things I have said about white vehicles. Never mind that I said that people who favored white cars didn’t have much, if any, imagination. Forget all that. I once made similar comments about vests and wearing vests. Then I got one. Needless to say I like vests.



Anyway, back to the subject...automobiles and the like. Let me tell you there is nothing more unsavory than a $250,000 motor home towing a BMW that doesn’t match. It’s just plain unacceptable. Fortunately Mr. Lucky and I don’t have to be bothered by that. No $250,000 moho or, for that matter, a BMW. But if we do find ourselves in that situation you can rest assured the BMW will match the motor home.

Moving along, meet my newly acquired, color coordinated Geo Tracker. I usually name most stuff I buy, build, or otherwise acquire. I started to call it "Bentley". That just didn’t fit. Maybe it’s because one of my cronies has a doxie named Bentley. Mr. Lucky refers to it as "Tracker". Not really catchy and hardly original, but when I call it by that name, it comes. What more could you ask for? So "Tracker" it is.

Speaking of vehicles and their colors, Tracker is the first non-red or reddish car I have purchased since 1973. That was a Buick Skylark. A muscle car.... and a thing of beauty. Two door, hardtop, V8 350. The ashtray got full so I traded it off for a really red Toyota Celica. Since then we have had 2 more Buicks, both red, and a reddish Firebird. Change is good, but I have come out of two different grocery stores looking for a red car only to have a head-slap moment and then I grasp onto the idea that I wasn’t looking for a red car.

Now that the spell has been broken, I might be able to buy more non-red cars. I won’t let anything but common sense stand in my way. Oh, yeah. And money.

　

　

　

Let Me Tell You About My Ma

     
Just before Father’s Day (like one day before) I was scrambling to get the "perfect" Father’s Day card for Mr. Lucky. The tireless father to our two sons certainly deserved more than a card that read ‘For my best friend, my lover, and my everlasting soulmate’ on the outside. On the inside ‘and occasionally all three of you piss me off.’ So, I opted for a nice sentimental card, just on the fringes of being too gushy. The other one is still tucked in my desk drawer waiting for the perfect occasion and, of course, the misplaced envelope.
Moving along....while perusing the FD (that’s Father’s Day) cards I noticed one that honored a mother for being both a mother and a father. It occured to me later, as things often do, that this would have been perfect for my mom. She was widowed at the age of 31 with three kids to raise. Looking back I don’t have a clue as to how she managed it. She didn’t drive. The upside of that was that we/she didn’t have car expenses. The price of gas was of no concern to her. Groceries were, however. They were always there, too. She raised a vegetable garden which was rivaled by her beautiful flowers.  I could go on and on about her cooking skills.

She had a way about getting her point across that didn’t require lectures, spanking, or curfews. If we, my brother, sister, and I fought we were required to sit on chairs, back-to-back and watch the clock. And no talking. I don’t recall the time frame. At the time it seemed like 2 hours, but it was probably closer to 10 or 15 minutes.
One time I complained about the way she put the clean sheets on my bed. Well, guess what! The next week on change day the sheets were removed and the clean sheets were waiting for me to make up the bed. I think I was about 8 or 9. Then there was the morning that I neglected to eat my oatmeal. It was waiting for me at lunchtime.  (That was back in the day when town kids were expected to go home for lunch). Have you ever had cold oatmeal? Later when I was "allowed" to take a sack lunch I fussed about the way she made my sandwich. Too much butter. That was the end of her lunch making.  After that I was on my own..

Mom, or Ma, as I called her–much to her chagrin, had grit. When I was 6, my brother 9, and my sister 11 she packed our suitcases, left the family dog with Grandma and off we went to southern California to visit her father–on the train, of all things. Can you image? Three kids on a train for 1500 miles? One of our train changes was out in the proverbial middle of nowhere in the dark of night. The ‘depot’ was closed so we sat on our suitcases outside waiting for the train. Things were different in the 50's. She had not been much further than Lewiston, Idaho herself at that time. We made it down and back just fine. I have witnessed people who have trouble taking their kids to K Mart.
One fine summer evening she and my Aunt Margaret sent all of us "kids" to the movie....the three of us and four cousins. While we were gone she and Margaret laid new linoleum in the kitchen. All in an evening’s work.
I’m not sure but I think Nike got their slogan from her. You know..."just do it".

She had outlived two husbands, one son, her parents, and most of her friends, before she went to the great garden in heaven. I miss her every day. Anyway to make a long story short she was the best Dad in the world too.  

I have a book called "Oh, No! I’ve Become My MOTHER". I should be so lucky!

This picture was taken at her 90th Birthday Clebration.  On the right is my beautiful sister, Judy.  Some people say we resemble one another.

The First Saturday in May

So on the first Saturday in May I have a bit of a ritual. I peruse the local paper, the internet, place my meager bets,  and get all ready to enjoy the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.

There are many things to consider when betting 20 to 25 dollars on some horse you have never seen run. You would think the most important thing would be the jockey. Make that the second most important thing. The horse should maybe be your first consideration. Things like his bloodline, his win/loss record should come into play. Then you might want to think about the track. Has the horse raced on dirt like the Kentucky Derby track or is he more of a hard surface track kind of horse? Then you have to think about the starting position. No one likes their horse to be in the number one spot. (Bear in mind, I’m no authority on race horses, but I read this on the internet. That makes it gospel). Traffic is too heavy there. Historically more horses have won the derby from the middle of the pack.

Now you have a good idea of where to start. I don’t mess around with any of this stuff which could be why I am not a big winner. My first consideration is the horse’s name and why he was named that. Several years ago a horse by the name of I’ll Have Another was in the lineup. I thought the name was kind of catchy and more so when I discovered the owner liked cookies and would ‘have another cookie’. A horse called Wicked Strong appealed to me last year. New England owners came up with that one.

This past Saturday after throwing darts at the lineup list rather than going with some logical selections it occurred I needed the proper attire. The next step was to create a proper and fitting hat. I have lots of hats (one of my many fetishes) but none proper for the Kentucky Derby. Lucky me. I just happened to have a wide brimmed straw-looking hat. It was sort of scrunched out shape but that was part of the appeal. All it took was some silk flowers and a bit of ribbon. Was I stylin’?

I might add that none of the horses I wagered on did anything. I’m pretty sure the three I bet on did cross the finish line. But Bonnie, our canine princess, looked better than any of the horses with her not rose wreath.

Now on to the Preakness.

Snowbirding for Fun and Definitely Not Profit....(chapter one).

As some of you might know Mr. Lucky and I do the ‘snowbird’ thing. We try to escape to warmer weather for a while in the winter. Countless hours are spent loading the motor home with enough food to feed a high school football team for a couple of months, a supply of clothes for cold weather, rainy weather, snowy weather, and of course warm weather. It could happen that we would not be able to find a grocery store or a place to buy a sweatshirt or tank top. (Ha)

Our first night was spent in beautiful downtown Emmett, Idaho. I used to say that there was not much of anything more unpleasant than snow on a Firebird, but I have since changed my mind. Snow on a picnic table in your RV park is not at all pleasant or pretty.  
 
Our first final destination was Bullhead City, Az. To get there one must white knuckle their way right through the freeway traffic in Las Vegas or attempt to skirt around it. Our previous navigator, which we affectionately called Helga, directed us right through through Vegas. (Helga speaks with what appears to be a Swedish accent). Oh, yeah. We don’t always call her Helga. Sometimes Mr. Lucky will ask "What did that bitch say now?" Well, Helga had to be replaced. As yet the new one remains nameless, but I’m sure that will change as we become better acquainted with her. She didn’t take us through downtown Vegas, but on our way to Emmett she allowed us to tour nearly every barn and farmhouse from the Oregon/Idaho state line to Emmett. I did not know that so many rusty tractors existed.

When in Bullhead City we like to take in a few of the local attractions. One of them is a wild animal rescue place called Keepers of the Wild. We opted for the guided tour which was on an old Austrian military transport truck, circa 1953. It was a 6 cylinder job running on at least 2...sometimes. Uphills were a bit of a challenge. However, our driver/guide didn’t ask us to get out and push. I don’t recommend taking pictures through a chain link fence but the options were somewhat limited..

Another hot spot near Bullhead City is a little town that refused to die. Oatman. It is noted for its burro population that wanders about the streets and into the stores, looking for a handout. One of the several eateries in town staples $1.00 bills all over the place. I’m not sure why, but it tends to make me crazy thinking about how many pair of shoes I could buy with those bills if they were all stacked up neatly in one pile. Rumor has it that there is in excess of $40,000 stapled about on the walls and ceilings.

Then there is the car show held every January in Laughlin, NV. For the second straight year we have had the pleasure of seeing a 1960 Studebaker Lark like the one Mr. Lucky had when we got married. The young man who owns and loves it has worked diligently on the nearly complete restoration. Kudos to him.

We have been told many times that if you are going to go to Arizona you must "see Quartzsite". It is billed as the biggest flea market in the world. Ok. Last year we decided to check it out. You can see that someone from 3/B Idaho gave it look as well. In Quartzsite it is likely that you can buy just about anything you might want. True to form I bought a t-shirt. It’s Amazon.com in real life. One thing I missed was a book store which is owned and operated by a part time musician who generally wears nothing but a sock on his, well you figure it out. He did have the book my friend was looking for when she happened in there. Hmmm. I like books, too.

And once in a while you’ll see one of these...Beep Beep!





To be continued.....keep checking....piecefromthevalley.blogspot.com. for more of our RV adventures.  Better yet...add your name to the "follow by email" thingy. You’ll never miss one of these exciting and thought-provoking blogs.

Creatures of Habit

As a teenager I worked in our local theatre–popcorn girl–as did my sister, my cousin, and my aunt before me.  When someone would come in and ask if Jane Doe or Joe Blow would happen to be there I knew a.) If they were there and b.) where they were sitting.  Obviously since I was the popcorn girl I knew what sort of refreshments they bought.

"Tom? He’s in the balcony, left side, about halfway down. Hilda is midway down, right hand side, near the wall." And so on. Tom usually got a dime bag and a large root beer.  Back then a dime bag was popcorn.

The same seating scenario applies to church goers.  Oft times whole families will occupy the same pew each Sabbath.  The Hatfields will be in the third pew from the rear on the left. Meanwhile the McCoys will be in the fifth row from the front on the right.

And Bingo players.  Let me warn you about them. One time Mr. Lucky and I were enjoying a breakfast buffet that was used later for bingo.  Apparently we lingered over our coffee a bit too long.  A couple of bingo players made it abundantly clear that we were occupying THEIR SPOT for bingo.   It must have been their lucky spot.

Don’t get the idea that you’ll be allowed to sit just anywhere at a Senior Citizen’s hangout. Oh, no.   Think again.  Some seniors make bingo players look like whimps.  For that reason Mr. Lucky and I don’t play bingo, especially with senior citizens.  We're afraid to. 

Because we don’t have a 45 foot motor home complete with a washer and dryer set up when we are on the road I require the use of a laundromat.   Interestingly the same "spot possessiveness" occurs in laundromats.   I use 3 or 4 washers and I want them to be all in row with dryers in close proximity. None of that skipping about all around the room.  If fact, if there doesn’t happen to be the required number of washers all lined up like I want them to be, I’ll skip laundry for an hour or so and wait it out.  I have noticed this to be the case with most everyone else.

It’s been years since we have been to a drive-in movie but thinking back we always seemed to park in the same area. Close to the snack bar and in a spot with good speakers....not those scratchy sounding ones.
So the next time I have to attend a funeral I am going to switch it up a bit and sit somewhere other than the first available row in the back of the chapel.