MERRY CHRISTMAS, FELLOW RIDERS....:-)

I would suppose that everyone is gearing up for the holidays with only 2 more days before Christmas.  We have been very busy here and in the middle of the busyness, we were able to make a quick trip out of town and get a few other things done; like watch my secretary throw up a couple of decorations.

Here is a picture of a nativity scene sitting on the floor in front of a room divider.

And a tiny Christmas tree sitting on the electric fireplace in front of a window.

Off to the mall we went.  Out of town was the best option seeing as I had been under steam and meat for several weeks!  It was time to hit the road and do a little Christmas browsing.
 

I was on the hunt for some new jeans for the guy whose legs seem to go on forever.  He was smiling like an expectant mother.....:-).

Well, time to eat!  You know how we are by now......:-)

There is a potato under all of that ranch and cheese.......:-)

But I gotta tell, you nothing made me drool like this double over stove display in a window at the mall.
If  I was 10,000 richer, I would snag it in a minute!

After a loooooong search for pants that would accommodate the legs that stretch into never land, we finally found the right size at the Men's WearHouse.

He's gonna like the way he looks.....:-)

I really enjoyed sitting down for a spell and listening to different people sit down and play different songs on the piano across the hallway.

After a stint about town, we decided to make a run past the theater to see if anything interesting was playing.  NO.  We headed home.

When we got back to town, we made a run through a light display that was located in the city park.

I remember when they started doing this a few years ago.  It used to line one of the main streets in our city and went almost for three city blocks.  Now, everything looks pretty spread out.

My lens is not a good one for night shots, but I had to get a picture of that tree......:-)

And the wooden soldiers.......

Several days later we had a Christmas party at our house and dinner was included at a restaurant of choice for our SW team members of our ministry.  We have done this for a few years now as sometimes we are still in Canada when Christmas comes around.  This time we got to go with them.....:-)

And went back to the house to open gifts.

It has been a full few weeks and Christmas is just two days away.  It is hard to believe that in just a little over a week we will be in 2015.....wow....  When I was 5, I was sure the world would have ended by now!  hahaha.....

Anyway, "Raspberry" and "Rascal" are asleep while Ruby turned into the Christmas Scooter; courtesy of Scootard.....:-)  I hope to get a little rest before this year is out.  Who wants to enter another year...tired?!  haha.

Thanks for traveling with us and doing life with us throughout this year.  We look forward to seeing all of your again in 2015.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

We Be Chillin!

Living in the Southwestern part of the US can be very unpredictable in regard to weather.  We had been enjoying a couple of days that landed the temperatures in the 70's.  Nothing like 70 degree weather in late fall.

Chris was anxious to go for a ride.  I, on the other hand know the weather patterns in this part of the country and was not too keen on the idea of going.  Nevertheless, I geared up and got ready to head out for our ride.

  It was already 2:30 in the afternoon and the sense of "foreboding" was getting heavier as we traveled toward the gas station.   Rascal needed a "drink".....:-).

We hit the highway and no sooner than we did, the wind shifted, the temperature dropped and that sick, sinking feeling of "this is a mistake" took over my brain!  Fortunately, once we were able to come to a stop on a side road, I was able to put my insert into my gear. Chris seemed to be doing well as he has a stronger tolerance for the cold than I do.

I got my jacket a bit more insulated  That helped a bit in regard to the shiver I was starting to experience.

Before pulling off again, I took a quick look in the mirror to see if I was "still there" or if I had turned into a fudge sickle yet!  Misery was slowly creeping into my bones and the wind was sucking the heat right off of me.  We had gone about 15 miles at that point.  The plan was to ride for a couple of hours.

The plan was to ride to and through the wild life refuge.  We made it to the back gate and snapped a quick picture.

After another several miles of shivering and misery, I made the announcement....." I'VE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE! I'M FREEZING!"  yep, that's me...making a run for it! I was soooo cold, that I was starting to "get warm" which is the first signs of hypothermia.

 We headed back toward town which was close to 25 miles away.  By now, I can't feel my hands. We headed for a dollar store to snag some hot cocoa mix.

Well, a fictitious form of hot cocoa.....  No real cocoa powder to be found at this store and it was too cold to go on a hunt for any.

Rascal was put in the house in the storage room next to Raspberry.......

And Ruby was put in my office inside the house........:-).

I never did drink the hot chocolate.  All I wanted to do was get into some warmer clothes and thaw my feet out.  Now, I can start to thaw out!

Two days later, I'm still thawing out!  I guess I could have put some lotion on those legs before posting this! haha .  Anyway,  I think I'll pass on that kind of adventure in the future....:-(.

See you next time!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! -Breaking with tradition

I'm not much on turkey in any form for several reasons.  But I do like the holiday season when it comes around.  Today was Thanksgiving day and as I was thinking of all of the things that frustrated me this year.  It had been a difficult week with projects and people that sorely worked my nerves.  But I took a few minutes, stilled myself and thought of the things that I was thankful for.  God, country, family, "true" friends and providential care are just a few things that I reflected on.  It was what I needed to do to turn the day around.

I was thankful for all of the food that I have learned to can in the past 2 months although I did lose about 4 jars out of the 60 jars I had.  The last thing to be done before venturing out for my holiday meal was the washing of the last few jars I had completed the night before.  I pressure canned five pints of corn and 4 quarts of sweet potatoes.....:-).

After washing all of those jars, we headed out to one of our favorite US restaurants named Golden Corral.  After having cooked everyday for almost 2 months, I wasn't about to cook for Thanksgiving.  Having no family here in Oklahoma equaled no real reason to cook a large meal when somebody else could do it for us........for cheap!

We arrived about 2 hours after they started serving and the line was out to the parking lot....haha.  Now, I was not annoyed by this because having worked in the food service industry as a professional, I knew that last night's left overs would be the very FIRST thing out on the line.  By the time we arrived, the food was "fresh".....:-).  If you look closely you will see me.  I'm the dot at the very near corner of the building.

and it wasn't too cold for me to be out.  I figured we would hit the register in 30 minutes.  

And so we did!  ahhhhhh, when I survey the wondrous buffet..........:-).

 Every bite I took, I groaned and sighed.  It was THAT GOOD.  haha.  Now, I'm not sure if it was because I could have all I wanted, of what ever I wanted for............wait for it...............(drum roll)........
 $12.00 BUCKS a person (plus tax of course).

 That's right, folks.  GOD BLESS THE USA is all I can say.  haha

And "Sir Scraggle McSquarley" wasn't having any problems piling on the goods.  I just don't know where he puts it all!

Having successfully devoured "round one"........(he looks far too happy right now)........

He headed back to the food bar for "round two".........and three......I watched in amazement as he ascended onto the food bar once again!

He emerged with the booty of the spoils.......complete with new "eating irons"......:-).  smh..

I was stuffed after my "one plate" and ready to head to the house to sleep off the food I had just consumed.
Thankful for the blessings of much when so many have so little.  Twenty eight bucks and some change for a wonderful meal with my wonderful man.   Who could ask for anything more.  At least not today.....:-)

     HAPPY THANKS GIVING, AMERICA!!

Getting My Kicks On Route 66!

After having a freezing past four days, we decided to venture out and visit a museum that we had never been to. The trip was going to take an hour and a half to get there and I decided to take a couple of pictures along the way.  This was a homestead that we came across in our travels.  The earth was re-claiming the tractor that had been left by the previous owners....

It was a good size of land that had an out building and barn on the property....

In the out building there were old gas pumps and things dating back from the 1970's.

It was hard to see the house, but from what I could see, it was a beautiful house at one time.  I wondered how much it would take to restore everything?

We traveled on and made our way to Cordell, Ok and made a quick run through town to see what was there.

Nothing, honey! The biggest thing was the Washita County courthouse.

they were busy doing repairs on the main building in town and the water tower was standing proudly in the background.

The county courthouse was bigger than the city hall.

And bigger than the police department!

That was it for Cordell.  On to Clinton, OK!

As we entered the town, there were tell tale signs of the historic route 66 beginning to pop up......

 We were headed in the right direction to the museum....  I was getting excited!

This is not a good shot, but there were these huge number 6's on the ground that made the number "66".

We were about to get our kicks.....om route 66!

The wind was howling and Sir Scraggle stopped to get pictures.

It was cold too, but not too cold to snap this one before going inside.  A $4.00 entry fee was not too bad....:-)

Hey!  I know her! haha

As soon as I walked in, history hit me in the head!  It was almost shocking to see some of the things I had seen as a girl growing up, but had not seen since.

I remember old Phillip 66 gas stations and some of the old pumps that used to be in the gas stations.

When I saw this car, my mind went back to my Father coming home with one that looked something like this one except it was pink and seemed to have "wings" on the back. This is a 1957 Chevy Belair.

Chris went ahead to pay our admission fee and to find out about picture taking.

Remember these!  RC Cola was the thing back in the day although I preferred Coke Cola.  (did I say that right??).

Here we go!!

There were all kinds of things plastered on the walls, but my attention fell on this barrel that met me around the corner.

Should I stay or should I go now........la la la- la la- la la la

Well, I should have gone!  haha.  But at least I saw the "battle ratlers"......ha

Chris was reading everything on the walls.  I was curious about what was in the next room.

There was this little section that has been made to look like a period garage. It you look closely enough, you can see the greasy mechanics in the background.

They even had an old gas pump that would actually show you what amount of gas you were getting.  You would tell the attendant and he would fill it up to the gallon mark that you wanted and then fill your tank.  None of this digital stuff that they have today.  Today you can't actually "see" what you are getting!

 I didn't see the mechanic under the car until I was right up on it.  I just about jumped out of my skin!  ha  The line you see in the center of the picture is actually a piece of glass that the curators placed there to keep people from touching stuff.

The historic Route 66 road went from Illinois to California.  When the famous Dust Bowl hit the land, several thousand people migrated to California using that road.

Here is a picture of a family that was settled on the side of the road trying to take in a meal; such as it was.

People loaded up everything they could carry and anything of value that they thought they could sell to help buy food for their families and give themselves a fresh start in another state.

In all of the tragedy and hardships of the 1930's, there was still those who were looking out for the welfare of the country; including it's road systems.

 It was an intense time in history.  Thank God we have come a long way in many respects, but still have a long way to go in other respects.

Does anyone remember these?

Or these?  Well, not much as changed except the fact that you can do it digitally now and on the phone!

In the next room was this high yellow truck that had been perfectly restored to its former glory.  You know the technology is "young" when a phone number is a total of 3 numbers!

Next door was a soda hop joint and this car which was a 1954 Ford.

I could not believe I was standing in front of a telephone booth!  I wondered it those things were still somewhere in the US??  The ones that I remember where blue and white and shiny.....:-).  And they were often broken into or just plain....broken.  But they were just about on every corner.

A closer look revealed the telephone number that was always posted on the public phones.....

and the next thing you know...........Somebody was trying to make a call.

There was a shoe shine chair also.  The kind that you would see on the city streets or at the airport waiting for your plane to arrive.  We were fascinated at the size of the shoe thingee's that the customer was supposed to put their feet on.  Wow...My feet haven't been that size since I was 8 years old!

And there it was.....:-).  The famous dinner counter.  You could get soda pop, ice cream soda, burgers, etc at these kinds of places.

They even had a juke box.......

 complete with songs that were playing..........:-)

Here is an old fashioned weight machine that both of us passed by....haha.  We ALREADY KNOW! haha

 This van reminded me of the Westfalia Vans that I see so often in Canada.  This one had been outfitted with a little couch like are and all of the fixins of the 1960's

Somebody was really strolling down memory lane with this one.....:-)

Hippy power.......

 All of my hippy friends from the Baby Boomer era will remember this anti- war slogan......

The world was in such transition during this time....This wall captures much of the historical moments of that era.

But even with all of the transition and turmoil that was going on, people still found time for family and fun by going on picnics and writing their travelogues.

My husband the "gear head" was having a blast looking at all of the old cars from the era......

The wooden picnic basket in the back of this car reminded me of the one we had when I was a child.  I eventually repurposed it to accommodate a stray puppy that I brought  home......:-).

Before leaving that area of the museum, we were invited to write a memory.  So, I did.

We were coming to the end of the history of this historic road.  "progress" had taken hold and new roads were being paved.  Route 66 was being decommissioned in some sections.

Here are a few historic photos of the road itself.

I felt a sadness come over me when I saw this picture.  It was like someone had permanently  closed a book I had not finished reading.....:-(.

 But there was still a bit more to see before the self guided tour came to an end...........:-)

\o/ \o/

this hotel was frequented by thousands of folks migrating and traveling from different parts of the country.  The luggage looked like typical Samsonite which was "the thing" to have when you traveled back in the day.

 The host at the desk looks really familiar to me......

As the tour  came to an end, we both felt like we had stepped back in time.  Lots of memories........I wouldn't have any problems going through the museum again.

Our last stop was a replica of a soda joint with all of the stuff inside to give you the feel of how things were in that time.

Here you can see the soft serve ice cream machine on the left and the soda machine in the middle.....

I had to pan down to get a picture of those famous red seats that were so common in diners of that day.

Pushed me right over the edge, I tell ya!  I had to have an ice cream sundae after that.  Unfortunately, that was only a replica.  So, we had to settle for Braums; a local ice cream shop.

Chris decided on a burger.... a seriously large burger complete with onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese.

It was official.  We had gotten our kicks on Route 66....:-).

You should do the same!

Thanks for coming with us!!