September 9, 2010

Started out a little cloudy today but warmed up nicely. Michele called and wanted to meet up. She couldn't meet up today but will meet her and George Saturday. That will be nice since I haven't met either one of them before.

My days are starting to run in together now. I get going on some activity or side tracked by watching what is going on in my friends household that I forget what I did on each day. Some of my days might be wrong but at least I am still putting down the events as best as I can. I am not good on keeping a blog so we'll see how long this keeps up. :)

Today I got a chance to visit Weber University. That is "Wee-ber" or "Wee-ver" University and not like how I would have pronounced it. Stephen is starting college so I was able to go with when he got his textbooks. He got a lot of them as a rental. This is something that the university bookstores are now starting to do. NIU started doing that this year also. In the case of Stephen's books it really paid off since it saved around $100. It's a great thing to be able to do. That happened earlier in the week but today Stephen brought home an iPAD.

Joy! Joy! New technology in the Gardner Household! There was much interest in the iPAD. I have to admit that it looks nice and would be totally fun to have one. I will have to double think on it now. I would like the storage on it to be greater as well as a USB port. It has a cable to it which can connect to a usb port but, since it is Apple, it has to be an Apple port, etc. It also only recognizes iTunes or CD's. Somewhat limiting but once again it IS Apple (as is iTunes). If you have an iPod it will sync up with that ok. There are many features that are nice though. I do enjoy the app which will allow you to get pdf's as well as the book apps.

September 8, 2010

I guess that there was a mini thunderstorm last night. It only lasted around 15-20 minutes and I slept through the entire thing. I guess that is typical here. Short bursts of rain and then it almost all dissipates before long.

It was a little cooler today which is good. Today was going to be a quilting day which I kinda guess it was. Shell and I talked about quilting and she ordered fabric from Keepsake Quilting for a project that she is wanting to do. They have a kitten called Socrates (Socs)out of various shades of grey. We did Gardiner's Sew and Quilt. I liked going and seeing the different fabrics and quilts they had there. I even managed to get out of there without buying anything. Wasn't I good? Of course it probably helped because by this point in time I had gone through all my vacation money. I did get to see some of that new bamboo batting that people are starting to talk about. I wonder how warm it actually is? I think it said that the shrinkage of it would be around 3%.

After that Shel took me to Hancock's. There we found some good greys for her to use. They had a GREAT fat quarter wall. It was all folded up nice and easy to see all the colors.

September 7, 2010

Today we went to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. We manage to see quite a few birds even if the bugs were out in full force. It is my understanding that the river usually was higher up and where it had lowered was dried up so much, you could see the salt that was left behind.

Some of the birds that we saw were:

Clarke's Grebe, adult and juvenile American White Pelicans, juvenile Double-crested Cormorants, adult and juvenile Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets,Little Blue Heron's (scruffy looking teenagers), White-faced Ibis, Canadian Goose, Gadwalls, Mallards, Virginia Rails, American Coots, American Avocets, Long-billed Curlews,California Gulls, White-throated Swifts, Red-winged Blackbirds.

Shel is around 5'2" so that will give you an idea of how large the bird model was

I have seen some of these back home in Illinois (black winged blackbirds, Canadian Goose, Mallards)but it was nice to go along the 12 mile auto drive with somebody who knew their birds. Since we were driving only around 5-10 mph, it took quite awhile to go throughout the whole route. I really appreciated them taking me there since it it took a bit to drive out to it also. I managed to pick up a nature CD as well as more post cards and book marks.

When we left, we ended up in Bringham City at an ice cream shoppe. Yummmmm. I had hand packed mint oreo single dip ice cream cone. It was suppose to be single dip but when it arrived it looked more like it was double dipped. On the other hand, it disappeared as fast as a single dip would (grins).

September 6, 2010 - continued

Also on Antelope Island is a ranch. It is the Fielding Garr Ranch (1848-1981) and is open to the public for "A Timeline of History". While there I happened to see some things that reminded me of my grandparents place. One of the first things was the kitchen table. Another thing that I remember from my past is the washer.

There were a couple of sewing machines there but one of the brands I hadn't heard of before. There was a White but also one called Bel Air. I hadn't heard of the Bel Air one before.

The ranch was fun also because the girls were able to try their hand at roping. Not real cattle of course but mock up ones.

They had quite a bit of large sized grass, perhaps a type of prairie grass, and you could clearly see a path going through from the various animals coming unto the property for a drink of water. The tops of the grass looked like you could even perhaps use them as a duster (in days gone by).

They also had horses on the farm since you could pay for a horse ride around the property. About the only other animals that I saw were the chickens and rooster. From the amount of feathers that was removed from the chickens back, that rooster must be VERY happy.

On the way home, John took me to one of his local gaming stores. Hastur's Hobbies was a nice store. I managed to get some new dice in NIU's colors (red and black) as well as an Eldar Farseer figure and nurglings. They are so ugly they are cute (grins).

September 6, 2010

Happy Labor Day!

With kids off of school and parents not having to work, it sounded like a day to be out doing something. We debated about going to Park City but instead ended up going to Antelope Island. I was TOTALLY glad that we did. We managed to spot lots of animals and the weather was great! So far the weather for my entire vacation has been great. I probably have just cursed myself weather-wise for the rest of my vacation by saying that.

To get there, we had to go across a causeway.




I took TONS of photo's from Antelope Island and we saw the following animals:

Mule deer, Bison, 2 coyotes, one lizard, a Kangaroo Rat, Orb weaver spiders hanging on their webs, a Sage Thrasher, several nests of fledgling barn swallows, lots of Avocets, Magpie, White-faced Ibis, California Gulls and Black-necked Stilts on Antelope Island today.

I think my favorite part of that was when we were seeing the Bison. There was this one Bison that was taking a dust bath (the flies were horrible that day as well as the next day). Since he was laying down, the cars had pulled over and people were getting out to take pictures. Shell did that for us. When he moved his hind legs to turn and twist, he made some of the people jump. He didn't get up then, but when we were on the way out, there was a Bison VERY close to the road that was scratching against some rocks and I think that he might have been the same one. Once again cars were stopping by to take pictures and only moved on when he looked like he was going to move.





I have no idea who the person is that I caught in my photo but I have to give a thank you to her since it helps show the size of the Bison.

September 5, 2010

Didn't really do much today. Most of the people had headaches so it was a quiet day of dealing with headaches and sleeping.

Hmmm. Come to think of it, that wasn't a bad day at all. Sometimes it is good to just have a day of rest.

September 4, 2010

Today was a somewhat busy day. After wishing my friend Kim Bird a happy birthday, I went to listen to the jam session with the family.




Emily didn't play this time but John and Meagan did. There was a pretty good variety of instruments represented by the time the session ended. They had around 3-4 fiddles/violins, hammered dulcimer (that is what John is playing), penny whistle, guitars, and harmonicas. The group is called something like Old Time Fiddlers, and they go out to perform at various state fairs and other places. It was quite enjoyable to listen to them and the time went rapidly. This was a jam session so you also heard mistakes and restarts, etc.



Another nice thing about the group is that you have all ages represented.

September 3, 2010

My first full day with the Gardner's. John had decided to go to the store and get some groceries since grilling out sounded like a good idea. So he came back with a new kettle grill and veggies and chicken. The grill was assembled (thank you John) and put to use. John got carried away with the charcoal so we had plenty to grill chicken breasts for everyone (8 people since Joe and a friend were also over) and fish for the next day. He also brought home a pineapple which was cut up and we put a brown sugar/molasses mixture over it and then it too went on the grill. Yummmy indeed.



As can be seen from the picture, John has figured out how to achieve the flames.

Vacation Time

I started this blog while waiting to board the plane. It was a great drive to the airport. Ev from work drove me there and Phyllis came with us. While the weather was somewhat rotten due to rain, the company was great. I didn't have any trouble getting checked in. I did my usual line of looking like I didn't know what I was doing and it really wasn't too far off the truth. I went up to somebody who had a united uniform on and calmly informed them that I hadn't flown before and where would I go. I figured most people are willing to tell others where to go.

So, at 10:48 a.m. I found myself all through check in thanks to the help of a female employee. She took my ticket and punched it into the computer, had some problems with it, corrected the problems and handed me my boarding pass all within 5 minutes. A quick check through security which took all of 3 minutes and I was on way to the gate. For anybody who will fly United, Gate B21 is clear on the other side of nowhere. If it gives you any idea, I checked through security around gate 3. I got my exercise getting to B21. It was clearly marked so that wasn't the problem. It just took me a bit to get there. THEN they changed gates on me. For the next 30 minutes the flight to Salt Lake City bounced between Gates 19 – 22. It changed a total of 4 times before it settled on gate 20. There was only a slight delay before boarding since the plane was arriving late. Eventually I got on the plane and waited for what seemed like forever before we were in the air. Taxing took a long time. Long enough for people to play musical seats. There were two couples who wanted to sit together but their tickets weren't tgogether. Once they found out that nobody was in the seats ahead of us, they moved there. That was good for me since it meant I didn't have anybody sitting next to me and I could spread out a bit more, etc.

So, here it is 1:43 p.m., I think I'm still in central time, and I'm looking out the window at flat clouds. Why is it that all the pretty fluffy clouds are usually only seen on take off? They are seen when we can't take out our cameras and take a pix. NOW I can see the flatlands of the clouds. Not much of an improvement. I went from flat cornfield land to flat cloud land. Looking out, it's like an extra light desert. I can imagine a wind sweeping through the clouds and moving them into little sand dunes...or cloud dunes.

Things got better though and soon I went from flatland clouds to semi fluffy clouds. THEN I started to see the land. I had reached the mountains. It wasn't long before the captain announced that we would be landing in Salt Lake City. From the air I could see the chiseled topped mountains leading down into the valleys. Most of the mountains were brownish but as we got closer you could start to see the patchwork landscaping. Periodic greens and reds interspersed by a river or road.

Despite the almost 45 degree banking that the plane took to approach the landing strip, the landing was smooth and going through scurity was a breeze. I noticed that John had called me to see if I had landed yet and soon we had figured out where each of us was. I recognized John right away because I had seen pictures of him once or twice before. It wasn't long before we were in the car and had started up a convesation. Not sure if it was just that we liked talking or that it was to cover up some nervousness or perhaps a bit of both? Either way it was a delightful drive. We went to The Pie, a pizza place which has great pizza. It took 20 minutes to bake so I snapped some pix and they are posted on my fotki site.

More on the vacation later.

HERE it is!

I know I haven't blogged in a little but I really DID have a good reason. I couldn't find or remember where I was blogging. You'd think that I would have bookmarked it when I created this wouldn't you? Oh well, that's life. I finally found it so I will start posting again.

The good news is......I am going on vacation to Utah soon. I am going to visit some great friends. I haven't seen them in person yet but I have communicated with them and their families for around seven years. It will be good to see them and spend time with them. Some of the places they were thinking of taking me are:

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/bearriverbirdrefuge.html

http://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/video

http://www.nps.gov/gosp/planyourvisit/index.htm


They all sound good plus there are plenty of hiking trails. I will be happy to collapse in their house and listen to their talented family play their musical instruments as well as get some crafting done.

As it happens, a second friend moved this summer close by so I will get to see two sets of gaming families in one visit. How lucky can a person be?

I will be posting when I get time. For now, this will catch you up.

Oh yeah, this time I also bookmarked where I am posting this. LOL.

Bon

Backtracking to 50

I just noticed that I should have started when I turned 50 or 51 since I entitled this as the second half of a century blog. I would have, but not much happened. My life pretty much kept to its own status quo and went on day after day. That is why I was bound to do something in the second half of my century of life.

So far it has been working out. In November, 2009 I bought a new sewing machine in order to pick up on my quilting and crafts. It wasn't a big sewing machine but what I could afford. I am happy with it. I might not be as happy if I had one of the super duper fantastic long arm quilting machines but this is fine with me for now. I bought a Singer Confidence (the line of sewing machine) Quilter. Sometimes I wonder why I chose that one. It was not the one I had walked into the store to buy. No salesperson came up to me to give me a sales shpeel. After thinking it over, I am sure I bought it because a) it was in my price range, b) I liked the "confidence" part and c) I liked putting the "confdence" with the "Quilter" part. I needed that little boost for my quilting. I have not yet been sorry that I bought it.

The next achievement that I wanted to do in the second half of life was to get my Bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois University. I have been working there on and off for over 20 years and they paid for my education. Thanks to waiting for what seemed like forever, I received my Bachelor's of General Studies degree from NIU this May. I also achieved this without incurring any educational debt. That is a very good thing since there is enough debt hanging over me although not as much as when I first left my ex.

As a treat, I wanted to make sure I celebrated getting my degree. Years ago I wanted to go overseas and visit my European gaming and crafting friends. That was out of the question due to finances so instead I looked into going to visit some gaming and crafting friends in the United States. I had already met a friend and his family in California when I went out (my first time riding in an airplane) to a work conference. I guess my first time meeting non local gaming friends was at GenCon in 2003 though. That was my treat for leaving a doomed relationship. Up to now, all my meetings with my online gaming friends have been wonderful and I have grown because of it. Now I am scheduled to go to Utah (North Ogden) to visit friends. This is a great time because I have to sets of friends who live there AND I also found out that somebody from my Quilting Board lives about 15 minutes from there. I wonder if I can manage to meet up with everybody.

As usual, my train of thought blogging/journal style has me of topic a little bit. There is only one way I could afford this trip is due to my marvelous boss. Yes, I really DO have a wonderful boss. My graduation present from him was the air fare for this trip. The costs for the trip had gone up so I ended up having to put in $50 of my own money, but WOW, my gift certificate from him covered the rest. The other thanks I have to dish out is to John and his wife Shelley (and their kids) for putting me up while I stay in Utah for two weeks. I also have to thank George and Michele who moved there so I get a chance to see them also. Michele and Shel both to crafts and they all game. This should be fun. Now all I need to do is to not spend all my money before I go.

One of the women at work will be taking me to the airport...Thanks EV!... and I have already paid for that so I don't have to worry. That means that all of my transportation costs have been met. Not bad Bon!

Oh, a note for anybody who reads my blog. It is my blog which means if I don't feel like spell checking it, I won't. I will still try my best to make it readable but there will be days when I just ramble. I ramble quite well.