I met a Blogger!

While we were at Warren Dunes State Park, we took a nice drive to Dowagiac Mi.

This was one of The reasons we picked this park for our trip. (besides a little slot playing).

One of the blogs I read is It's a Blog eat Blog World. And the blogger is Morgen. And He lives and owns a store in Dowagiac. And I've never met a fellow blogger before, and thought it would be fun! And I've never been to Dowagiac.

So here's a pic of me and Mo, at his store, The Wren Nest.
And here's a pic of the store front. Dowagiac is a really nice town!

Lot's of shops and restaurants. Much more than we expected.

And for those who don't know

where Warren Dunes is,

or Dowagiac, click on the map.
Orange star, Warren dunes, Green star, Dowagiac.

Warren Dunes is about a 2 1/2 hr drive from Lansing.

We were a little nervous meeting Morgen. I mean we really don't know him. I've only known him thru his blog,(which I've read for more than a year) and who knows what he's really like in person!

But there was nothing to fear. Morgen is the same in person, as on his blog. A very friendly down to earth guy. Made Craig and I feel very comfortable. He also has a really nice store. Click on the link above to check it out. While we were there I stocked up on some more wonderfully scented soaps.(I had bought some from his on line store before) And found a really cool purple quartz light!

We also had the pleasure of meeting another blogger I read, Janna, from The Jannaverse. Also a really nice person. With very cool nail polish!

Now Janna would not let me take her picture. I'm not sure why. Either she's afraid the camera steals her soul, (I've read some people actually believe that) or she's in a witness protection program. So I respected her wishes. But I got to thinking, she must have a pic of herself on her blog! So I went and dug thru her archives, searching and searching! ( I love a little mystery) And was surprised to find only partial facial pics. But I keep digging, and YES!

Here's Janna!

It appears she's in a vat of champagne,

or some other bubbly liquid.

Which is indicative of her blog.

Always a little twisted, and a very fun read.

She's quite a creative writer.

So, I actually met 2 Bloggers from Blog land!

And it was fun! Thanks Mo and Janna!

It's over

Hello all!
We're back from our last motor home camping trip.
We were at Warren Dunes State Park.
Had a wonderful time!
We were pushing the season,
as it can be cold and wet, or even snow
this time of year. But the weather was just cool,
high in the upper 50's
and the only rain was a downpour Friday night.
Click on the pic to see Craig at our spacious corner site.
We felt sorry for this large group of boy scouts
at the one end of the campground.
They were all in tents! And it got down in the low 40's!



We were quite surprised to see
so many campers out this weekend.
The campground was nearly full!
And this was the last weekend
the campground was to be open.
They close October 31st.
Which is also why we are done
camping for the season.
Most campgrounds are now closed or closing.
We went down to the beach and watched this guy parasiling down the dunes. very cool! Click on the pic to see him better.
We also went to the new casino, the Four Winds Casino. It's near New Buffalo Mi. Down near the Indiana border, by lake Michigan. And it's the largest Casino we've been to in Michigan! Huge! And had a fun time! No, we didn't leave winners, we almost never do, don't know why we go. But We like the slots. And we were able to spend 3 1/2 hours there! Usually, we are done in 20 minutes! We have a small gambling budget. And when it's gone, we're done. I don't mind losing if I at least get some entertainment value, and we did!
We also went to Dowagiac, Mi. But that's another post.
Now we need to winterize the mo-ho, remove all food and liquids, beddings and towels, and add mouse traps and bait. Hope to get that done today.

funny friday

Another Funny Friday post, thanks to my Florida pal Patti.....

I am passing this on to you because it definitely works and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives.

By following the simple advice I heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed

"The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished."

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning,

I finished off 23 Miller Lites, a bottle of Absolute, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates.

#%$*.........
You have no idea how freaking good I feel!

Oh, and we're off on our last mo-ho trip of the season. :-(

A weekender at Warren Dunes State Park.

And because I need to post a pic, and it is almost Halloween......

Have a great weekend!

What The??????

If it's not one thing, it's another.
On our last mo-ho outing,
we discovered something has
chewed on the air return vents
in the ceiling!

Apparently, something must have
gotten in the rooftop units,
and into the cold air returns.

Could it have been a mouse?
Don't think so.
A mouse could have easily slipped
between the plastic blades.
A squirrel?
The shaft is only about 2 inches high.
So, maybe a chipmunk?
They do like to chew.

There are six 4 inch plastic vents. It chewed on the 4 middle ones

There was white granular stuff on the floor. But no other signs
of anything in the motor home. So I assume it left the way it came.
Craig was concerned it might be dead in the shaft, so I took my camera,
pulled off all the vent covers, and took pics of the entire shaft. Nothing! Which was good. So next, we get on the roof and remove the air conditioner shrouds to see where it got in and fix it. But we could find nothing! No way could something have gotten in thru the roof top units. they are completely sealed. So.........how did it get in to the air returns, and where did it go?
We replaced the vents and guess we'll just wait and see.

Easy come, Easy go!

It's been such a busy week and weekend!
Last week was the busiest week in the Salon this year!
Not sure why, but enjoy the extra income! But very tiring.
And it's been a wonderful weekend in the yard. Mid 70's all weekend. So unusual for mid October. Normally, we'd be lucky to hit 60. Spent a lot of time cutting down all the perennials.
On the downside, Took my truck in for a brake issue. Had a very spongy brake pedal. Also had an oil change. And a slow leak in the front tire. They called this afternoon and said front rotors and pads need to be replaced, the back so and so needs to be replaced, the transmission needs something, the coolant is bla bla bla, and so on. When said and done, $1317.00!
And of course, what can I say but 'okay'.
I took it to the Ford dealer thinking they will be honest about what needs to be done. So I'm kinda stuck when they say something like this.
I know nothing about vehicles.

But I sure didn't need this bill.

funny friday

Here's another Funny Friday.......

First-year students at North Carolina State University’s Vet School were receiving their first anatomy class, with a real dead cow.

They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, “In Vet Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the animal body. For an example,” the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it, and stuck it in his mouth. “Go ahead and do the same thing,” he told his students.

The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the anal opening of the dead cow and sucking on it.

When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and told them “The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger.
Now learn to pay attention.”


Have a great weekend!

Let them eat cake!

For those of you who don't live in the great state of Michigan,
The economy here has been a little depressed.
With the downsizing of the auto industry, we've lost thousands of jobs over the last
dozen or so years. As a result, revenue to the state is down.



So facing an enormous budget deficit, Gov Jennifer Granholm and the legislators haggled for 7 months trying to balance the budget, with Democrats wanting to raise revenue, and the Republicans wanting to cut services. And with our constitution saying the state cannot operate without a balanced budget, of course nothing got settled until the midnight deadline.
So........ they decided to raise the state income tax, from 3.9% to 4.35% and add our 6% sales tax to some services. Now this is where it gets ridiculous!
Here is a partial list of the services to be taxed.


• Astrology
• Baby Shoe Bronzing
• Bail bonding
• Balloon-o-grams
• Dating services
• Social escort services
• Fortune-telling services
• Numerology services
• Palm-reading services
• Party-planning services
• Pay telephones
• Personal fitness trainers
• Psychic services
• Rest-room operation services
• Shoeshines
• Singing telegrams
• Skiing
•

As you can see, they seem to be grasping at straws to raise some revenue. Are there any Pay telephones left? Do we really have that many Fortune-tellers?
And Baby Shoe Bronzing?
Of course, they'll tax skiing, but not golf. That's where the lobbyist and legislators make their deals!
Oh, and it gets better!
They also managed to reduce benefits for future teachers, to bring them in line with the reduced benefits the State employee's now get and the new auto workers.
BUT!
They managed to over look THEIR future benefits.
After only 6 years of service. Our illustrious legislators receive full pension and full health care for LIFE!
Now is that just unbelievable or what!
They are nothing but a bunch of self serving cretin's!

Okay, I just needed to vent. I'm better now. At least they're not taxing haircuts.
Not yet anyway.

it's not over yet!

As we move into October, there's still flowers blooming in the gardens. Here's a few....

The one above is Japanese Anenomes......

Then we have Gallardia.......
Fall blooming Shasta Daisies......
And the shrub roses will bloom till frost! Yes, fall is in full swing, but there's still flowers to enjoy. We're expecting our first frost, looks like next week. But right now, the annuals still look good.

Got down to 35 degrees this morning.

Need to get my yard in shape for the winter. So will spend a lot of time this weekend cutting down all the spent perennials.

what's on your desktop

On many of my blogs I read, I ran across a interesting subject over at Brad's blog. He showed a screenshot of his desktop. I really liked it. So I thought I'd show everyone what's on mine!
This is a stock pic of Lake Powell, which we've actually been to a couple of times and gives me much pleasure and memories. I tend to switch my desktop several times a year to give me a fresh look. Kind of like rearranging the furniture in a room.
I've also seen this "meme" if you will over at Lemuel's blog, and Wayne's blog. I think they have w-a-y to many icons on their desktop. I try to keep mine a little neater, with most of my links in the favorite's menu.
So, what's on your desktop?

For funny Friday, scroll down to the next post!

funny friday

Here's another good one from my Florida friend, Patti.

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem.The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

'Here's what you do,' said the Doctor, 'stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response.'

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, 'I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens.'

Then in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?' No response.

So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, 'Honey, what's for dinner?' Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?' Again he gets no response.

So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. 'Honey, what's for dinner?' Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. 'Honey, what's for dinner?'

(I just love this)

.

.

'Ralph , for the FIFTH time, CHICKEN!'

Have a great weekend!

Happy birthday to me!

Yep! today's my birthday!

Bring on the presents!

Just add about 51 years to this little guy.

Live from Saugatuck!

Good morning!
I'm in the motor home, on my laptop,
in site 82, at Campit Resort. Click the pic.
This weekend's weather has been incredible!
It is 6:30 am, and it's a balmy 70 degrees!
going for a high of 82!
Not at all normal for this time of year.
But we'll soon be shocked back to reality.
Wednesday's high well be only 58.
And that's right A "high" of 58. So have enjoyed this last balmy weekend in Michigan.


Spent some time at the beach. Here's the dunes you cross to get to the beach from the parking area at Oval Beach. Did I mention the weather was fantastic!

Here's Craig at the waters edge. It felt cold at first, but got very nice after a short time. Craig and I collected some stones for him to polish. I think we even found another small Petoskey stone. We'll have to wait until we polish it to be sure. The campground wasn't very busy. They've all ready closed the pool, and the campground closes next weekend for the season. Will reopen next April. But we enjoyed our stay. Cooked on the grill, made a campfire every evening, and enjoyed being in the motor home. The season is about over for camping, and soon we'll have to winterize and park it for the l-o-n-g winter. But, we'll try one more outing near the end of the month. Weather permitting.

But this morning, after Craig gets up, we'll pack up and head back home.

Me a Mayor?

For this edition of funny Friday, I always find it kind of funny, when people tell you, you look like some one they know or have seen. When I was younger, I was told I looked like Jerry Seinfeld.
(Better to look like a famous comedian than a serial killer.)
Never saw that connection, but a lot of other people did. It's funny how you see yourself compared to how others see you.


Lately, while at Campit earlier this summer, we met a camper from Wisconsin. He told me I look Like the Mayor of Madison, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

So of course, as soon as I got home, I had to Google him, and here's the pics I found.
So......... what do you think? Could I kidnap him and take over the city of Madison? Would anybody notice?

Have a great weekend!

What's that? What are we doing this weekend?
Well, after work today, we hop in the mo-ho and back to Saugatuck!
It's going to be a perfect weekend! Sunny and highs in the mid 80's! Our normal high should be about 65. So were gonna enjoy it while we got it!

update

A quick update.
I think I'm becoming a geek!!!
If you remember from my post yesterday,(You did read it right?) we discovered that the CPU cooling fan wasn't working. Hoping this hadn't done any serious harm to the computer, we went out to get a replacement. Of course, as with anything electronic, it's easier said than done. The fan in our tower was 3.5/8 inches across, and all we could find was either 3.1 inches or 4.75 inches. The comments were, Gateway always did things a little different. Not ready to buy a new computer, we decided on the 3.1 inch fan. It was the same amps, and the CPU was so full of dust before I cleaned it, we figured it should work fine. So the next step was to figure how to mount it, since the holes in the new fan were too small for the case. So I took the shield off the old fan. (the fan will be inside the case, why would it need a shield?) Wired the new fan to it and attached the shield to the case. Here's the pic.


And here's a pic with the CPU case resting on the corner of the tower, and the old fan on the other corner. The CPU case will fit snugly into the upper right corner.

So, I put it back together, plugged it in, and started it up..........................

And it worked!

Now, this isn't the first time I've opened a computer. I have installed more memory, replaced the graphics card,(which also required an added power connection) replaced the hard drive, and added an Ethernet card.

And I've periodically cleaned out the inside of our computers. But I never opened the power case before. Just blew air thru the fan and vent holes. But you can't believe the amount of dust accumulated on the coils and such inside that box. I'm going to have to do that to my computer also. You may want to think about that too, if you have an older computer. Craig's is 6 years old, running Me, and mine is 4 years old running Xp.

Haunted weekend!

Good morning all! We made it back from Campit Resort,
near beautiful Saugatuck Mi.
Their theme for the weekend was Haunted Weekend.
With a costume contest,
a site decorating contest,
and a ghouls dance.
We had a blast!
Since we worked Saturday,
we got there too late for the site decorating contest,
but decorated anyway, just for the fun of it.
Watched the costume contest.
Took a bunch of pictures,
but found out the next morning, I had the camera set wrong! It has a dial on the back upper right corner, and putting it in and out of my pocket the dial sometimes gets turned, which it apparently did. That's the only thing I don't like about this Sony Cybershot.
But here's Craig at our site.

We were in site 219N. A large pull through site in their newer section called West Wood. Had full hook-up, loved that! Nice long showers! And that's where the club house is at. So we were near all the fun! And as usual, we met more new campers. Always a fun time at Campit! By Sunday afternoon, the last of the weekenders had left, so we were all alone. We imagined what it would be like to be full timing, and to camp out in the wilderness. We decided we'd like RV parks instead. With full hook-up of course!

With no one around, we decided to break down most of the camp. Took down the decorations, put away the chairs and carpet and lights. Rolled up the awning, and pulled the picnic table over by the camp fire. Good thing we did. Woke up to pouring rain the next morning! By time we got showered and dressed and coffee made, it had quit raining, so pulled in the slides, pulled up the jacks, unhooked the water and power, and an easy drive home.

Today we have to turn the mo-ho around, put out the slides, so the slide awnings can dry out. do a quick clean-up and restock. For this weekend, we're off for our last trip to Saugatuck this season. Also need to do laundry, mow the yard and get groceries.

Oh, and Craig's computer is sick. It boots up to the main screen, but before all the icons in the tray load, it goes black. Decided it might need a good cleaning, so opened it up and sprayed it out, and had him turn it on and discovered a fan not working that cools the power source. So I assume it's over heating and shutting itself off. At least I hope it is. So took it apart and today I'll try to get a replacement, put it in and see if all is better.