Time gone, company, peace making, poker runs, field day, Hogs and Dogs, and Cool Desert Nights

[chelelev]

It has been forever since I updated. I will put this behind a cut to save all your freind space.

 

We had company come from Pennsylvania.  Vicki used to be my bestest friend for a while.  She had married my old next door neighbor, Mark.  We were all part of the neighborhood crowd that stayed friendly.  We drifted apart when I went to work on 3rd shift, they weren't available to go to the bar for a beer at 7:30 am and I wasn't available when they wanted to play.  I got married and move 3000 miles away so we really drifted apart by that time.  I saw them again when my father passed but didn't have time to get together with them, too much family drama going on.  Heard bits and pieces via my mother.  We reconnected when my mother died (they were my escape from the family drama).  We have stayed connected, I make sure I spend time with Vicki whenever I get back to PA.  When we were moving my mother's things to here, their son Kyle helped with the loading, just needed to take him to a fast food place as payment.

Kyle is the sweetest teenage boy I have ever met.  He loves it here, loves the house.  His sleep quarters was Mark's office (futon there).  He felt like he had his own little kingdom, he could IM his friends, there was the family room with a tv down there, a microwave and refrigerator are there (he did miss those).  He was telling me that he doesn't like the gangs in his school town, etc.  He was telling his mom how much he likes it here.  The conversation moved around to Vicki asking him if something were to happen to them where would he want to go live and we were No. 1.  His aunt and uncle in Vancouver were 2nd.  His grandparents are too old to take on a teenager learning how to drive, he doesn't want to go to his paternal aunt, he doesn't want to live on the farm which is in constant state of remodel.  We would love to have him.  I realize that his behavior when here is not indicative of his behavior all the time.  We would take him know if his parents would let us to get him out of the school district.  He could stay here for school and go home for the summer. 

I visit a Longaberger board called the Gathering Basket.  There can be much drama there (and occasionally I am in the middle).  Feelings have been hurt, tears have been shed, nasty things were said, false accusations were made.  Drama happened again and I was not in the middle of it but there were attempts to pull me in.  There was a group of ladies who banded together, this is the group that I had a falling out with.  Things happened within that group and there was another huge falling out.  The one who fell out (and had caused me much turmoil) did the tattle routine with me - so and so did this, they were mean to you, I never did anything, blah blah blah.  I decided it was time to end this shit and emailed all 3 of the remaining ladies, forwarding the message I had gotten.  I didn't care if we reconnected but I was tired of the back stabbing Jr. High issues going on.  We did reconnect, many apologies were made and things are good between us again.  I am happy that this occurred.  We would be seeing each other in August and I didn't want things to be uncomfortable.

We went on a poker run yesterday to benefit the local Dive and Rescue Team.  It was a nice ride, we got lost a few times.  The directions were cryptic and we were not always good at that.  We did miss some turns but still managed to get to the end of each leg.  At one point, we were ahead of people and had to move tumble weeds out of the road.  The road was completely blocked off (with the exception of about 6 inches on the far left).  We didn't see any other traffic except for us on many of the roads.

With each run, there is always an idiot.  We happened to find that idiot this time.  He passed us on one road to beat us to the parking lot by 30 seconds.  They then passed us again, passed a truck in town on the right (it is a 2 lane street, there is no passing lane on the right hand side of the street) and then jumped the red light (left before the light turned green).  What an asshole.  He was not a member of the local group putting on the ride but does show up for some rides.  Our Gold Wing group is big on safety.  The harley crowd?  Not so much into safety.  We probably will join this group just to see if we can change some things from the inside.  Doing a parade?  Quit throwing candy or at least be in the back of the bikes. 

Mark is doing a field day this weekend.  This is when ham radio operators spend 24 hours trying to contact as many people as they can.  Boring.  He has erected these metal monstrosities in the back yard and is sitting on the back deck playing away.  Some the monuments to the ham radio gods will come down.

This is also the weekend for Cool Desert Nights.  This event is huge and it is reminiscent of the 50s and cruising.  Lots of neat cars, some cheeried out, others not so much.  I think I will put the xB in next year.  If it is not field weekend, mght be able to get both of ours in it. 

Part of the weekend festivities was Hogs and Dogs.  The cars did  a cruise through a few tows, bikes just came in and you got to buy hot dogs (from Costco).  There was voting on the bikes if you wanted to enter.  We didn't but we did lift a few kids up to sit on the Gold Wing.  Kids loved it.  We then took the bike to the Dairy Queen (one of the sponsors of the weekend) and looked at more cars that were lined up on the street.

Very busy weekend and I think I need to have a nap!

Comments

[maryjo.livejournal.com]

You have been busy! I think I need a nap just catching up with what you've been up to ;o)

[chelelev.livejournal.com]

You are pregnant, you have a ready made nap excuse!

This past week is not normal.

[maryjo.livejournal.com]

And I promise you I am getting the most out of the nap excuse...LoL

Sounds exciting though :o)

I... I went to Safeway on Thursday! I shopped.

[dantc.livejournal.com]

You certainly keep busy. :)

Re: I... I went to Safeway on Thursday! I shopped.

[chelelev.livejournal.com]

What did you buy?

This past week was not normal. If I could keep this house this clean, company would not be so mind-boggling.

Re: I... I went to Safeway on Thursday! I shopped.

[dantc.livejournal.com]

Oh, just a few cleaning supplies and such. Your run of the mill shopping trip.

[laurushka.livejournal.com]

What is a "poker run" exactly? I've seen signs for them, but I thought they were for bicycles, not motorcycles...
And ham radio... I could never figure out what that was about either...

[chelelev.livejournal.com]

The poker runs that we do are for the motorcycles but some do allow cars. Each one we have done have been different but all require you to go from check point to check point. One we did punches your card and then you put your card on a grid and they add up the points (you want either high or low), another you pulled numbers out of a bin and the numbers were added up at the end (high, low, exactly in the middle). This one you got a safety pin and picked up beads at each checkpoint. When you got to the final stop, you turned in your beads and then pulled 5 cards from a deck. You had the opportunity to turn your cards in and get more but it cost a 1.00 a card. Pretty much everyone there got something. I had 3 fives so I took the gas card. Mark had king queen and even that hand got him a prize.

Ham radio? I call it dorkland. It comes in very handy in emergencies when there is no other communication available. I think it is like Harleys - if you have to ask, you don't understand.

[laurushka.livejournal.com]

So it's sort of like orienteering or a scavenger hunt. I never heard of it until I recently saw these signs for it.
The library I worked at had a subscription to an Amateur Radio magazine, and I tried to read it, but it was all over my head.

[chelelev.livejournal.com]

The one this past weekend was like orienteering with the clues. Other runs just say go 34.5 miles to x road, turn left, etc. Our first long run on the new bike took us around the Grand Coolee Dam. The most recent one took us to the Snake River Dam. This may be our summer of dam tours. We go by other dams on our way to the Gorge for concerts.

Amuateur Radio is way over my head. They actually know morse code and use it. Back in the day when there was not email on the Navy ships (there wasn't even the internets), Mark used ham radio to call home Mark was on the radio, someone on land calls the home number and that is how we talked. Lots of "overs" and no privacy. It is called MARS and that was often the only way he could call home (or anyone else, like minded shipmates would set it up for others).