Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Camper is somewhere in Virginia

Well, the new camper is lost somewhere in Virginia. Unfortunately, I am in Georgia. The truck that was transporting it from the factory to the dealership brokedown somewhere in Virginia. I have no idea when it will get here....maybe tomorrow....maybe not.

Hurumph!

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Taking the scenic route?

I called today to find out if my camper came in as it predicted....it didn't. So they are expecting to recieve it tomorrow. We shall see. John said that he would fax the documents to me for the loan as soon as the camper comes in......again, we shall see. I sound so negative, don't I? I am just excited about getting it, and it not showing up as predicted is just a little bit of a let down. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring something new and exciting.

Yesterday, I started to cut down a dead tree on my property line. I got it down, but in trying to cut it up, the chainsaw's bar got pinched and the chain jumped off. Of course, it was too hot to work with yesterday and today was a washout with the rain, so maybe tomorrow I can cut up the wood. The tree has been dead for awhile, so the wood should burn readily. I hope to take some of it on this weekend's campout to FDR State Park. The GWS crew is doing a six mile hike on Saturday and then on Sunday, going to Callaway Gardens for some bicycling. With the time change, we will have several hours of darkness before bedtime, so I need the wood for the campfire.

Lay offs galore

2,100 people are losing their jobs here in town! The local cigarette factory is being closed....while getting rid of cigarettes is a good thing, I still hate it for the workers. The local news reported last night that it would be a $460 million annual impact on the community....hard to get over even if the economy was much better...which it isn't. The closing of the plant will impact everyone county-wide. About 5% of the county's taxbase was paid by this one factory (which is huge....they built it for over $150 million dollars in the 1970's).

Saturday, October 25, 2003

Camper update

I got the message yesterday that my new camper rolled off the assembly line and is on its way to Georgia now from Pennsylvania. It is supposed to be at the dealer late Tuesday. If they can prep it in time, I will come get it on Thursday...but more likely I will have to wait till Monday (I am tied up Halloween weekend). I need a copy of the invoicing from the dealership to get the banking done locally. They said that they could send that when the camper arrived...I hope that a faxed copy of it will be ok for the bank folks. Of course, I am like a kid waiting for Christmas day to arrive. It would be nice to get it on Thursday, but Monday is probably more realistic. All of this is assuming that the banking can be done in a day or two...which I would think that it should.

This weekend is part of my downtime....I was invited to head to Florida for the weekend, but figured that I was running around too much and had best stay home. I shampooed the carpet in the livingroom, changed bed linens, and all sorts of other domestic chores that needed doing. I still need to clean up the kitchen....made a big mess frying chicken, but it was worth it...yum!

I think I deserve taking a nap now.

Sunday, October 19, 2003

What a busy weekend!

I left work at lunchtime on Friday in order to go home and get ready for a wedding. Now I ask you, who gets married on a Friday evening? Think about this for a moment. Friday afternoon, 5:00pm, rush-hour traffic, southside of Atlanta. Needless to say, getting to my brother's wedding was tough. But I made it in time. John and Donna had a semi-traditional service in a huge church. To me, it seemed a bit odd having it such a BIG church for only a few guests (8). But it was their happy day, so I just went with it. I snapped a bunch of photos for them. Afterward, we went to their house for a quick reception, then to Mom and Dad's house for the night.

On Saturday morning, Dad and I went over to Adventures on Wheels RV Center and looked at more campers. I ended up giving them a $2,700 deposit on one. I am getting the Sunline T-2199.....assuming that the loan goes through ok. I should hear back from them on Monday, once the banks open.

Then it was back to Mom's for lunch and then north to Calhoun to visit my maternal grandmother. Her mental faculties are beginning to leave her, and she is now being placed into an assisted living center. Her house is being sold, as well as most of her belongings. It has really been a tough decision on my mom and her sister, but it is the best thing for her. Frankly, I can't see that she will be able to stay in the assisted living center. Folks who stay there are supposed to be able to take care of themselves, with only some minor help. Granny is beyond that in many ways. Although she can still move around ok and at times talks in a normal manner, she can just as easily tell you lots of things that are simply not true. She remembers things that never happened and doesn't remember things that just did. She is also easily confused and has had trouble finding her around the new home.

Mom had bought Granny's old dining room furniture and the refrigerator and gave them to me as an early Christmas present. So we loaded them up on my truck before I left Calhoun. I drove back home and got them all into my house by about 10:00pm.

And now at 8:00 in the morning, I am about to head to work....got to make up the time that I took off on Friday. And later today, I have to load up the canoe and kayak and head to a potluck dinner and paddle on Lake Juliette.

Busy, busy, busy

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Fun in the swamp



This weekend, I joined 15 other nuts and spent the weekend paddling around Grand Bay Swamp in the rain. We had such a blast! Of course, it was beautiful and the rain wasn't really even an annoyance.

A few photos from the trip are at the G W S website's Grand Bay Swamp page

After the swamp paddle, we camped at Reed Bingham State Park and had a great supper. Rita brought southwestern stew, Cheryl brought pecan pies, and Anne brought salad and banana bread. YUM!

Thursday, October 09, 2003

Mental lapse

Tuesday evening, I was supposed to be in class (taking a course to keep my professional certificate up to date)...but was I? No. I don't know why, but I totally forgot about class. Earlier in the day, I even got my paperwork together for class. But when the time came to leave work, rather than driving to class, I headed home.

I am too young to start having "senior moments"....or so I would like to think.

Monday, October 06, 2003

The fair keeps growing every year. I walked around for hours and hours gazing at all of the displays, animals, and such...and I didn't even make it to the midway rides.....I did get to look at the worlds largest pig though.

Afterward, I headed to the Macon Music Heritage Festival. What a pathetic turnout from the citizens. There was only a few hundred people there. Those who didn't go missed some really good music. I saw Satellite Papa (R&B), Jenna Gentry (country), E.G. Kight (blues), and a West African dance group with lots of cool drumming. I did leave, as that I was beginning to get sunburnt, before the "big names" took the stage....the Manhattans, Spyrogyra, and someone else that escapes my mind.

On Sunday, I did nothing. Nada. Zip. I goofed off all morning around the house. I did manage to get the chicken coop cleaned out and new bedding material put in for the winter.

Friday, October 03, 2003

2003 Georgia National Fair

I think this weekend, I will head down to Perry and the 2003 Georgia National Fair. I always enjoy looking over all of the animals, plants, crafts, and so forth. I am not all that interested in the rides, although lots of folks are. They usually have a pretty good selection of events and concerts too. President Carter was there today to get things started. And the fireworks each night are fun too.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Burglar Alarm Craziness

My afternoon was interupted today by a phone call from ADT to tell me that the burglar alarm at my home was going off and the Sheriff was on his way. Fortunately, it was a false alarm. As I drove home, I was hoping that the wind perhaps wiggled a door and set it off; but as it turns out, it was one of the motion detectors. Why? I have no idea. No burglar, no pets running around, no idea what set it off.

I will try it again and see what happens tomorrow. I get to work on so many alarm systems at work, I hate the idea that my personal alarm system is cutting the fool. Fortunately, the particular zone that is acting up is on an interior space, so there isn't any way to break into the house and get to this particular zone without tripping the alarm elsewhere.

Tonight's supper was burgers patties on the grill. They were wonderful. As I cooked them, I let the chickens out of the pen to run the yard for an hour or so. They appreciated it, but with a little coaxing, did go back into the pen. The egg count hit 4 today!