Thursday, March 24, 2011

House Life, by Koali

Koali here again just to let you know that the humans we live with finally got smart and moved us into a house. It's about time. How many times do we have to run up and down their bodies, claws extended, in the middle of the night before they finally get a clue that we aren't happy!

We have a porch with big windows and a kitty climbing tree with two perches so we can watch the birds and feel the breeze. We have an entire room just for our potty pan. I knew we were special, but this might be over the top. Shh! Don't tell our humans I said that, we're enjoying this life!

We have lots of toys, two of our toy birds even chirp. It almost sounds like the ones outside the porch windows, but the toy bird doesn't taste very good. I wish our human would let us out, but I guess that isn't going to happen. We get shooed away from the doors every time we even get a little close to them.

Went to the vet last week for a checkup. What a joke! You know our human pays this doctor lady to hurt us. Imagine that! She poked us, stuck things in unmentionable places and then she jammed us with a needle, not once but twice. It was awful. To top it all off, we were sick the next day. I told Scooter the doc was poisoning us, but he didn't believe me until he nearly died. Tammie had to run him back to the doctor to fix the poison.

I didn't go on that trip, but he told me all about it the next day when he started feeling better. It seems Doc had to give him a couple more shots to counteract the poison shots. Scooter is feeling better now. Doc even sent some wet food home with him. Guess that's supposed to make us forgive her. Didn't work, food was crap. Had to talk Tammie into getting out the good stuff. We only like Blue Buffalo , it is awesome, better than human food. Keep that quiet too or there won't be any left for us. Tammie is too easy, she'd do anything for us. We've been giving her clues to buy us a water fountain! I'll let you know when we get one!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Taking a Breath

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly six months since I posted. Shame on me. We are nearly settled into the new house. Of course there is still much to do, but I think that is how it is with homes. I've been busy painting, cleaning and working in the yard as much as I can. I did have to go back to work part time to help us out. That's been tough as now I am very limited with the work I can do at home.

To stay at work even part time, I have to be careful, as the doc says I have to know my limits. I work three days a week, go to bed when I get home, take lots of meds and rest for at least three full days of the four that I have off. It's not fun, but it is getting us by.

The yard is starting to shape up nicely. We've planted violas, dianthus, Inca lilies, spider lily, azaleas, irises and some grass plugs to fill in the areas that are showing the years of neglect the most. The main attraction in the front yard is a twenty foot dogwood that nearly fills the front yard. It was gorgeous just a few weeks ago wearing it's coat of white fragrant flowers. Now it is covered with new, bright green leaves and the yard is carpeted with dying blossoms. Spring just doesn't last long enough.

The back yard is adorned with a giant live oak. The branches sweep down trying to touch the ground and under this beauty, we have a nice shade garden. There is Aztec grass, a white iris, bugle weed, marigold, a pink-flowered bulb that I can't remember the name of and beautiful red-leafed dwarf canna lilies. I also threw in some caladium bulbs. Not everything is up yet, but it will be soon. Under the tree is a concrete carved bench that my daughters bought me for Mother's Day several years ago and next to it is a beautiful hydrangea in a lovely shade of violet-blue. It is called Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mathilda Gutges'. It is so pretty, I hope it does well planted where it is.

The raised bed garden is so pretty with Romaine lettuce, squash, peppers, strawberries and various herbs. Everything cooked with the fresh herbs tastes so much better, marinara sauce comes alive with fresh basil and oregano. There is spearmint for tea and the occasional Mojito too!

We're trying to plan a short trip in our tent in the coming weeks. We will be taking along a portable air conditioning unit. I'll let you know how that works out. Until next time...Peace to you!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Some Changes on the Highway

There are some changes ahead for us Peaceful Highway travelers. We've decided to buy a house, just a small one with a normal yard. I think the main reason we have made this decision is because we moved into this lifestyle too early. I have health issues that make it impossible for me to work outside the home so I'm here all day by myself.

The by myself is not a problem, but there is only so much time I can spend writing, taking pictures and cleaning. I am a busy person. My illness is such that I have to do many things for short periods of time. I cannot do anything repetitively. My brain works about the same way, so it isn't as bad as it might sound. I get bored with anything very quickly.

I like to tinker in the garden, tinker in the kitchen, take care of plants, pets, and my dh, of course. I can't find enough tinkering things in this small space and neither can my dh when he is home from work. If we were already retired and traveling this wouldn't be such an issue.

The other problem is that we are not wealthy so sinking major bucks into a larger rig seems foolish. We have to plan for the day when we will no longer be able to travel and neither one of us want to be a burden on our children.

So the highway will still be peaceful and we will still be traveling. I'll be sharing some tips for plant care, baking, etc. I hope you keep on following along...

Till next time,
Peace to you,
Tammie

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Has to be said

Have you ever been with your dear husband with your children in tow behind you in a grocery store or a department store and you hear this sweet, feminine voice call out, "Well, hello (put your DH's name here)"? The voice belongs to an old schoolmate or co-worker.

I have and it happened to be the grocery store we always shopped in so it happened nearly every shopping day. Well, it made me angry because to this obnoxious woman, my children and I were invisible. Of course, as most DHs, mine was oblivious. After incident two I told him next time she does it, you are introducing your wife and your two children.

Well, come shopping day, I again hear that sickening, overly sweet voice holler out across the deli section. My blood starts to boil and I start counting. I look at Allen, his face has gone a shade of gray that isn't healthy. Nevertheless, he looks at the woman and smiles, dragging me and the kids along behind him and saying under his breath, "Be nice, she's just being friendly." Of course, all of us wives know she isn't!

I am seething, oh, did I mention that I tend to be a little jealous, I don't like women flirting with my husband. Anyway, here we are standing in front of this woman who I don't fail to notice is older than I am (so is my husband), this woman is an ex-classmate. I smile and try to be friendly. As we walk away, while I'm wondering if this woman is as ugly as I think she is, my youngest daughter pipes up and says, "Momma, that lady looks like Miss Piggy."

I squeeze her hand in appreciation, but tell her we really shouldn't say things like that about other people, but I just can't erase the smile on my face.

This happened years ago, but I never quite convinced my husband that this woman has a crush on him that won't stop. He tells me I'm crazy and I find another store to shop in.

Well, today, I get a call from my dear husband and he tells me that he's been in class all day. I ask him how it went and he tells me about it and then casually asks if I remember dear Debby. I say, you mean Miss Piggy? And he kind of laughs, but he sounds a little nervous. I ask him what's wrong and he says she is now working where he does and she was in the class with him today.

All I say is, "Oh?" The blood is starting to simmer here, but I'm cautious, I want to hear the rest of the story. He starts in, yes she sat one person away from me. Again, I say, "Oh?", then I slip in, "Who sat down first?"
He answers that her stuff was on the table, but no one was sitting there when he sat down. So far he's safe!

He continues by telling me that she kept talking to him and then asked if he remembered the candle he made for her in the eleventh grade to which he answers, "No". She tells him that she kept it until just a few years ago when she finally let her granddaughter burn it.

"She freaks me out," he says. "I don't remember any stupid candle and I now realize you were right, this woman likes me or something because she won't leave me alone through the entire class and she's mooned over that stupid candle that I think someone else must have given her. I'm just praying I don't ever see her at work again. I don't want to talk to her."

The blood is cooling off and I tell him it will be okay. I know that now he will never speak to her again if at all possible and I know she better not speak to him with me around or I know where she'll find that candle the next time she's looking for it!

AC

The air conditioning is still not right. Allen has cleaned the coil, which seemed to help, but the breaker is still tripping infrequently. This means that I am still stuck here unless I take the cats with me, which isn't always possible. The next step is to change the capacitors in the AC since we've changed the breaker and cleaned the AC. If that doesn't help, we don't know what to do. The technician at the Airstream dealership has been very helpful and says he could do no more than we have done with the exception that he would charge us $90.00 per hour!

I'm at a crossroads in this lifestyle. Our coach is small, but we were willing to work with it until we decided definitely what type of RV we wanted when Allen retires or if we even wanted to continue this lifestyle at all. It does have its drawbacks, so far the benefits have far outweighed the minor drawbacks we've encountered.

Friends in the park tell us to go ahead and buy a fifth wheel, there is more room, that will make all the difference. We don't see it that way. We don't have the resources to make big purchase mistakes, if we did, we wouldn't still be in our small motorhome!

We now have to make some hard decisions. Do we repair this RV? Buy another RV while still this far out from Allen retiring? or Do we give up and go buy a house? I don't want to put a huge amount of money into repairing an RV that I know I don't want to keep for an extended period of time but on the other hand, I don't want to purchase a fifth wheel and then decide I'd rather have a motorhome or vice versa. When it comes time to sell or trade in a RV it is just the same as a car, it is never worth what you paid for it no matter how "good" the deal was!

Well, we can procrastinate a little while longer. We're changing both capacitors in the AC tonight. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will solve our problem and postpone major decisions for a little further down the road!

Until next time...here's wishing ya'll a peaceful journey down your highway!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Issues

I have been away from Peaceful Highways for far too long. A lot has happened. I started making my hats for kids. I have a small bag full of hats and toys in several different sizes and styles. I try to make them interesting and fun for kids to wear. I sure wish there was no need for hats like these and children everywhere could be healthy, happy and taken care of. In a perfect world...

We went to St. Augustine for the July 4th weekend and had a wonderful time. We spent all of it with our older daughter and her husband. We went out to dinner, kayaked and swam in the ocean. My younger daughter also got to come for one night, which made it even more special. I sure didn't want to come home, I wanted the fun to continue and the wheels to keep on turning!

For the past week my parents have been sick. It started with my mom being hospitalized for stomach pains, which turned out to be diverticulitis. While my dad was visiting her, he went to grab lunch in the hospital cafeteria and within 20 minutes of finishing his lunch; he was vomiting, having uncontrollable diarrhea, and profuse sweating.

The nursing staff rushed him downstairs to the ER where his condition continued to worsen until his blood pressure completely bottomed out and the doctors thought they were going to lose him. Finally, he was stabilized and testing to find out just what was wrong was totally inconclusive. Doctors thought he had a ruptured aortic aneurism, but finally the cardiologist said it was just a very bad case of food poisoning. If that's how bad food poisoning can get, it doesn't inspire one to eat out very often. If a hospital cafeteria isn't safe, where is safe?

It's starting to slow down finally and my parents are on the mend. Thank you Lord! But we are having trouble with the RV, the AC keeps turning off due to popping the breaker and it has been a real chore trying to track down the cause-no definite answers yet. It means I am stuck here pretty much 24/7 unless I want to take the cats with me because the heat is unbearable in here when the AC is off for more than 20 minutes.

Here's to hoping the highway gets peaceful again very soon! Until next time....

Tammie

Friday, June 25, 2010

Troubles

Living this lifestyle isn't always easy when not on the road. It is frustrating to have wheels, but they don't go anywhere! I begin to feel sorry for myself and there is nothing worse than self-pity! I stewed in it for a few days. It's not the reason there hasn't been a post since 6/17! I didn't stew that long.

Then I sat myself down and figured I had better straighten up. I started counting all the things I have to be thankful for. I have a roof over my head. I am warm and dry (sometimes a little too warm). I get to see a beautiful sky and trees and listen to the birds singing everyday. I have a wonderful husband that comes home every night and I know he loves me. I have two wonderful daughters that call me nearly everyday and I am very fortunate to still have my mom and dad.

Life isn't so bad here. So I get a little bored sometimes and the money is tight since I had to leave work, but that is little stuff. My mom always told me that when you start wollering in self-pity, it is time to do something for someone else. And as usual, mom was right!

I pulled out my crochet bag, found my little hat patterns that I was making for children with cancer, chemo-caps and I got busy making more. If these little hats can help brighten a sick child's day, it is a terrific thing.

I wish I could do more for them. Bless their hearts. I look at pictures and read the stories about these awesome children and it tears my heart out. All they go through and yet they keep a smile on their little faces.

Children are so resilient, so innocent and so forgiving. No wonder in Matthew 19:14,  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (New International Version)

God bless all the little children for the times this world is heading for are not for the weak, nor the Godless.

Peace until next time...