http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=4316350785635987648 Cave Dwellings
Cave Dwellings

Buckhorn Creek, Lake O' The Pines, Jefferson, TX

Monday, August 13, 2012

Emotional “60 Miles In 3 Days”… Kudos, ladies!!!

  Yesterday Den and I went with Tim and the kids to greet Terrie and their team, The Pink Lemon Ladies, who were finishing the Komen walk for breast Cancer…They walked 20 miles a day for 3 consecutive days..The ending celebration was at Soldier Field….

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Soldier Field is /was a really historic place…In my humble opinion, they ruined it when they “renovated” it..Now it looks like an alien spaceship landed inside…Baring teeth smile..We arrived about 3PM, and all of the participants were kept in a holding area inside Soldier Field until the final finish line was to be crossed.  Being early and since we had some extra time, we walked over to the Chicago Police Memorial, right behind Soldier Field…

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Just in front of the wall of water, there are a gazillion bricks, put there in honor of fallen and career Chicago Police Officers by friends and family…very touching..This is going to be a very snotty nosed cry kind of day, I can just feel it.

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The Heiser kids had all made signs for their Mom….

All along the 3 days, Team Pink posted some photos on Facebook for us to see….Here are a few…

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Mt. Prospect Fire Department was very gracious to the walkers. Most of the firefighters (and a couple dogs) were wearing pink T’s in their honor..

 

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Note the Mt. Prospect Officer on right…wearing a pink shirt.. and even the squad car had a pink ribbon. Mt. Prospect was one of the towns they walked through…People were even coming out of their homes and applauding them, offering them water and encouragement.

 

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The girls took time out to pose for photos at the check points, where they got drinks and encouragement. I intend to snag those pink socks from Ter for my “ensembles” Winking smile.

 

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Left to right, Ter, Kelly and Nancy…Back at “tent city”,  they put a poster with the names of those who they were walking in honor of.  YOU GIRLS ROCK!!

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“I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!”

At 4:30 PM, the “walkers” all came out, walking , some very slooooooowly, to the finish line..and to a huge round of applause and “woot, woot’s”.     The music “Celebration”, by Kool and the Gang..(some of you know who they are, I sure do.) was blasting over the loud speakers…komenfinish

  It was hard to find Ter and her girls in the crowd, and I am pretty short soooo, I handed the camera off to Dennis….He could get the camera above the heads..and he did good!!

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THERE SHE IS, THE ONE WITH THE PONY TAIL!!..SHE HEARD US SCREAMING HER NAME..AND THEN SHE TOOK OUR PHOTO!!!….

 

There were several ambulances involved in this walk, and they followed the walkers…

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  The emergency personnel obviously have a wonderful sense of humor. I especially loved these 3…

What a wonderful experience…Everyone was crying, hugging, dancing ( well, some of the walkers dancing very gingerly..). Terrie’s two teammates both had injuries, and had to stop for part of the walk..Kelly had 13 blisters and a bad back, Nancy had a bad knee, which was aggravated by the walk AND many blisters…I really gotta give kudos to those two Pink Lemon Ladies…they ended up walking the final day in lots of pain…Luckily, Ter didn’t have any bad injuries.

Terrie did have a couple blisters and when she got in the car, she said she would really  like to cut her feet off, and her knees were very sore…NO, REALLY???  I called her later last night, and when she got home, she took a shower, put her feet up and got some “carry-out” Chinese food in her belly. After that, she actually felt good.  This morning, I talked to her and she said she feels just fine, and she was out getting school supplies and groceries with Taylor…sheesh…more walking!!

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That button above says almost all of it, except this last picture, (an idea I shamelessly snagged from Judy)….

 

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7 MILES TO GO TO “THE END”.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Day 1…21 miles..

  Chris posted this on her Facebook page this AM…

“I may be here in Indy working this morning, but my heart and my soul is walking the "60 in 3" walk for breast cancer with my sister, Terrie and Kelly and other selfless women. As I remember Sandi, it is with a heavy heart, but she would be soooo honored and proud...I love you Terrie(big hug!) and I love you and miss you always Sandi....”

 

I  haven’t been posting daily, but felt I need to do so while Terrie is on her 60 mile/3 day walk…Here some photos she posted today…

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Her hubby, Tim, was on duty at mile 15 in Glenview, where he is a Detective….Love this photo….They walked 21 miles today and are in Des Plaines, IL tonite…in tent city…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As Terrie puts it… “Home Sweet Home”….for the night tonight…

Tomorrow they walk again (20-21 miles) and end up in Mt. Prospect, IL…..I will post more photos if she sends any….What an experience this must be!…My poor feet would be in ice and the paramedics would be administering oxygen…Then I would bring out my hidden bottle of Merlot…Nyah-Nyah

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Trip to the “Shoe Store” for the Hiker.

  This week we finally got the Hiker scheduled for some new tires…The treads were really good, but the sidewalls were deeply cracked…Soooo…we hooked ‘er up, and McGyver pulled though our backyard, turned her around and out the drive…I get so excited when we hook that thing up, I have to remember that we are only driving 5 miles to the tire shop and back, but I love having that big behemoth following us down the road…

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I love looking out our truck back window and seeing the big white Hiker, tagging along behind us…Doesn’t take much to get me excited, eh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is the point at which I begin my “happy dance”…..

 

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A bit of a tight spot to back into, we almost had the GMC hanging out on Rt. 34!! This place was right on the highway in Plano, IL, (where the new Superman film was filmed).

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Sure looks nice, all spiffed up, doesn’t she?..I just washed and waxed her..(I only wax the front and back)..The guys at the tire shop really admired her and Den took one of the guys inside for a peek…

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It only took them about an hour from start to finish…They balanced the tires for us at no extra charge..These guys were very good and reasonably priced…We got all 4 tires for under $800…and they are Firestone Transforce HT’s…(I have no idea what the Heck that means, but McGyver thinks they are darn good tires!)

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I learned how to put tires on and balance them…I NEVER want to have that for a job..No worries about that…I can’t even lift the tire high enough to get it on that machine!

I really hated having to pull the Hiker back on our pad, but Den pulled her back through the yard and she is pointed OUT, ready for our trip to Thomson next Tuesday…Fingers crossedFingers crossed

I am finally getting some tomatoes from our garden….and our neighbor brought me a bouquet of some of her roses that the Asian Beetles didn’t eat…Today the air cooled down and we got some more rain…I can almost smell the season of Fall in the offing…Thanks for checking in…and get ready to jump into the truck next Tuesday…REMEMBER…THIS IS A BYOB TRIP!!

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“The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many.”

~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Susan G. Komen Walk..Yea Terrie!

  Our oldest daughter, Terrie will be walking this weekend in the 3-Day Walk for Cancer here in Chicago…She is part of a team called the Pink Lemon Ladies…

These girls have worked hard training for these 3 days, and each one had to raise $2300  in donations to participate….

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“I have reached my donation goal of $2300!!! I am so very thankful to
all of my friends and family that donated!! It is because of YOU that I am able to go on this amazing journey with my MOST AWESOME TEAM...The Pink Lemon Ladies♥. It means so much to me that I get to walk to help fight and put an end to Breast Cancer and to honor my sister's dear friend Sandi who will forever be in her heart ♥.....Love ya Chris
.”                ~Terrie Heiser

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Above collage are photos of Sandi and Chris when they came to visit us in Fulton, TX at Goose Island State Park in Feb. 2008…We soooooo miss you, Sandi…gone too soon.

 

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L to R, Nancy, Terrie and Kelly, part of the walkers…YOU GO GIRLS!

The Pink Lemon Ladies had a huge loss earlier in the year, when one of their members died unexpectedly in her sleep…a huge shock to all…rest in peace, Toni.

The girls are going into the Chicago Thursday night and stay at a hotel close to the race start…(We ladies never get too old for slumber partiesFlirt female)..They start their walk Friday AM…A really neat thing is that the first day they will be walking through Glencoe and Winnetka (North Shore of Chicago).  Terrie’s hubby, (Tim the  police detective in Glenview), is originally from Glencoe, and is on duty Friday AM for  this event.  He will be at mile 17 to see our wonderful Pink Lemon Ladies walk by…

  Also, on Sunday, (Day 3), they will all end the walk at Soldier Field for the grand finale and celebration…Tim, their 3 kids plus Den and I are going in to watch the ending and bring Terrie back home…The Heiser kids are very proud of their Mom!!and so are we all!

Congratulations to everyone who is walking in this event…how wonderful…Our thoughts turn to our love ones who fought the good fight….and also those who fight still…

“Think of you every day, Sandi”…Chris

OK, so now I am a wet mess..I gotta have a quote to lift the spirits, make us smile…and I know Sandi wouldn’t want us sitting here all snot nosed and ugly…This one’s for all of us girls!!

 

Women are Angels.  And When Someone Breaks Our Wings, We Simply Continue To Fly On a Broomstick.  We’re Flexible Like That.”

                                                ~unknown, but with a sense of humor

Saturday, August 4, 2012

One of our Fav’s….Thomson IL

  McGuyver and I are hoping to get our Hiker off the pad and onto the road August 14th for a couple weeks at ,  Thomson Causeway in Thomson, IL.  It ‘s a campground  on the Mississippi River…The last time we were there was September of 2006, and we had to come home early because of one of my infamous kidney stones..GRRRRRR…

We have had a busy summer, and are hoping to make it on a quick “get away” for a couple weeks…since we aren’t leaving for Florida until after Christmas this year.  That’s one thing about RVing, things change, plans fall through, and life sometimes gets in the way..but I guess it’s that way in all phases of our lives, eh?

We really like Thomson’s location.  It is also only an hour’s drive from Galena, IL  , which is an historic old town on the river..Soooo…oh my!….it is thundering as I type this…and we now have a severe thunderstorm wat

  OK, I was rudely interrupted writing this blog by Mother Nature, who saw fit to shut down our Satellites, both the TV and the computer…Here it is as it was bearing down on us…

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It blew from all directions and we got 1 1/2” in 20 minutes….Our screened porch was flooded…

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YEA!!!!….We will take what we can get…finally some much needed rain…Anyway, as I was saying when “the rains came”…. We really like that campground at Thomson..I have a few photos from 2006 I dug out…

Yep, McGyver with at beer in his  hand…imagine that…This spot was in the trees…

…We prefer it closer to the river and we had a chance to move so we did….

…which makes for more room and a shot at some really nice sunsets….

That’s the mighty Mississip' looming out there…I love watching the barges go by…and never miss a chance to get a sunset photo…

Here’s hoping we will get away for a couple weeks…. I will blog about it for sure….

This next one’s for all of you garage salers and bargain hunters out there….Our neighbor across the street had a sale this weekend…I spotted a little table top fountain I liked for $2, but was not sure it worked…and…I knew everything was half price today….I went over this AM and it was still there…I snagged it for $1, and she wasn’t sure if the pump worked, but I took a chance…Well, the pump DIDN’T work, ….that is, it DIDN’T work until my McGyver got hold of it and fixed it…..(Note the new header…McGyver, my cabana boy in Key West.)

 

 

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                ….with the flash….                         ……without the flash…..

SCORE!!!!..

Thanks for checking in to see what insanity I have found to blog about….  This blog was a bit of a scattered mess, and jumped around (not unlike myself)…Thanks again for sticking with me…Holy snot, I sure love all you guys!