Sunday Morning

Big Daddy slept in this morning but I was awake at about 5:00 am. I actually slept really good as I took a pain pill last night before bed. My right leg was killing me. The kids had been here all day and between mowing the lawn and cleaning up outside and then cooking and playing with the babies all day, I had had it. The old gray mare ...................

The baby girls are growing up and getting so big. Olivia just talks and talks and is so funny. She has all her funny little sayings. She had us laughing all day. She can't say "swing" so she calls her swing a sun-in. It is so cute. Then I got these pink flamingo's for the yard and she just loved them. She called them "chickens". She wanted the "chickens" purse and was fit to be tied that I wouldn't let her carry it around. The flamingo's are pretty flimsy and I knew they would end up destroyed. Plus, she needs to learn she can't have somethings. She didn't know that it hurt Mimi worse than it did her. Gabbi just looked at them and then tried to smell the metal flowers on them. It was so sweet. Gabbi just likes to run on the lawn and chase Digger. He is so protective of her and Oli we could barely get near them without him growling at us. He takes good care of the babies

The girls played so good together, of course Gabbi tried to do everything Oli did and it was so cute to see her mimic Oli. Oliva was really good with her and shared and just "mothered" Gabbi to death. After the Mexicans went home, Teddi, Oli and I sat on the bed and watched some old vintage cartoons of the three pigs. Martin and Cliff came in and sat on the floor and watched them with us. At one point the pigs were dancing and Oli said" Shake your booty, Daddy Daddy. Cliff was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall and he started shaking his butt, when Oli saw that she jumped off the bed and ran over and sat on the floor by Cliff and started shaking her booty. It was so cute. The other thing that made me laugh was she called the wolves, wolverines. It sounded so cute.

I rearranged my guest bedroom this morning and cleaned out the closet. I am trying to make space for Alecia and her friend Sammy. They will be here friday night and I had lots of work to make some space for them. Now it looks real nice and they have closet and drawer space. We pick them up in Vegas on Friday night and I think we are going to go the the Venetian and take the gondola ride and have dinner. So now I know summer is here cause the kids are coming. Lovin it!!

Washington DC

This is my favorite picture taken in Washington DC. It shows our reflection in "The Wall". This was taken at the Vietnam War Memorial. It has always been a special place to me after the first time I visited it about 15 years ago. This was my war; the one that made me understand and hate war. I watched so many friends go off and either never come back or never come back the same. Young, strong men full of life either dead or forever broken. That's how I think of the Vietnam War in the casualties both ours and theirs . So here's to Mike; heroin got him, Danny ; a bullet got him, Gary; insanity got him, and all the ones I didn't know that fell. There is a line in a Tracy Lawrence song that goes

" Have a beer for me, don't waste no tears on me. On Friday night, sit on the visitors side and cheer for the home team. Drive my Camero, 90 miles an hour down Red rock Rd, Born to Run blasting on the Radio. And find someone good enough for Amy, who would love her like I would have, If I don't make it back."

I think of that song quite often when they show the war news at night and Cliff and I have started a tradition of clinking our beer bottles in a toast the first beer of the night in their honor!!!

The first time I went to the Wall, people had left baby photo's, flowers, letters, medals, etc. It was so sad to think of the families who missed their fathers, brothers, lovers, so much and the only thing they could do was find their names on a black wall of our fallen soldiers and leave them some small thing that would make them seem a little less distant. This time there were very few such small, sad, shrines. It shocked me to realize that all those children in the photo's are grown up with children and maybe even grand children of their own, wife's remarried, father's and mother's perhaps passed away. Time has moved on to a new list of dead. Hopefully there will be a place to remember these young men someday soon.

I love this picture of the Capital building. When I first visited Washington years ago , you could walk right up these steps and into the Rotunda. Now with 911 and all the other crap, you have to spend an hour in line and getting through security. Another sad commentary.
Cliff was so impressed with this statue that he is having it drawn and having it tattooed on his forearm. It will be a bitching tattoo. I love tattoo's they rock the house.
You can just see the top of the tent they had set up in front of the Capital building. If you saw this years Memorial Day Concert, this is where it was held.
This is the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. We stayed and watched the whole thing, So beautiful and talk about serious! They take this guarding of the Unknown Soldiers dead serious. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Very touching. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year they stand guard. Now they really don't stand. They march 21 steps in one direction, stop and wait 21 seconds, snap turn and wait 21 seconds, then march 21 steps in the other direction and do it all again. Every 1/2 hour they change guards and it is a very elaborate ceremony.
This is one of the Hall's in the Library of Congress. I could have spent a month here. If you don't know what is housed in the Library of Congress, it is everything they can collect that is print, film, or recorded. They have books, scripts, screenplays, magazines, movies, newsreels, TV shows, posters, newspapers, memorabilia, and on and on. They show case certain things that are constantly changing. One of the exhibits we saw was the Bob Hope exhibit. They had everything you can imagine. You could watch old newsreels, old TV shows, see old concert poster, read old scripts, see his Academy Award, Photos of his USO tours and on and on . It was so interesting. What amazed me the most is when we went in Traci said, "Who is Bob Hope," I almost fainted. Am I that old?????????
Arlington goes on forever...that's the bad news
Cliff and I at Arlington in front of JFK's grave. I have always had a fascination with JFK and the assassination. I am a big conspiracy theory fan on this one. I bet I have read 50 books on the subject. One thing I learned was that the eternal flame has actually gone out twice. Once when a gardener knocked over a bag on mulch on it and once when a nun spilled a bottle of Holy Water o it. Both times they immediately re-lit it.
This photo was taken in the National Cathedral , my very favorite place in Washington DC ( I think it is actually in Georgetown). Cliff wasn't too crazy about going there, but was glad we did afterwards. It is such a beautiful, old church and encompasses so much history both happy and sad. I love it and you can go up on the 7th floor and see all over the city. This cathedral is bigger than Norte Dame in Paris. In fact, Norte Dame can fit inside this place and you could walk around it. I bought my baby girls specially blessed cross necklaces and bracelets here. They look so cute in them.

Beautiful stained glass window' s with many varied themes. The alter rail is interesting also. The artist that carved it, carved the 12 Apostles each one as a vertical post that supports the horizontal alter rail. He carved each one beautifully with full facial features and flowing robes. When he got to Judas, he refused to carve him so one post is just a plain wooden post completely unadorned. Quite a statement.
The Nation's Church, non denominational and open to all.
This is the house across the street from the Ford's theatre where Lincoln was shot. This is actually the house Lincoln died in . They have the room set up as it was upstairs. Interesting.
Ford's Theatre entrance and then below the actual theatre box where John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln and then leaped on to the stage and exited stage right! JWB was an actor after all. I guess he knew his blocking.

We enjoyed the tour of the Washington Monument. I was amazed how fast the elevator got us to the top. After all my trips to DC, this was the first time I took the time to actually go up into the monument. It was fun.
Flags outside the monument
Traci and I in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Big Daddy and I in front of the World War 11 Memorial. He had to point out what he was most impressed with!!!!

Traci in front of the White House. You can see the flag is up so that means President Obama was in residence at the time. It is such a beautiful property and something for all Americans to be proud of. The last picture of Big Daddy and I with his hair long. As soon as we got home he cut it off real short. I loved that hair but he is so damn handsome both ways who cares!!!

Wild Work Week

This has been a crazy week. Things at work are so stressful. I just rack my brain for more ways to cash flow this place. I really don't know how much longer we can make it. I just pray and keep my fingers crossed. I will hate to go to Vegas to look for work. Maybe one of the casino's will need a funny old cocktail waitress. HA

I spent most of the day yesterday at Nellis Air Force Base in meetings and trying to get that job squared away. The government wastes so much money, but unfortunately they are not wasting it our way. It's like cutting teeth to get any money out of them. The average guy has to fight like hell. Unless you are someones buddy or political contributor, you just have to fight for every dime. I am beginning to realize this game is not any fun anymore. I spend all my time on legal issues and trying to prepare for the inevitable law suit that seems to be a part of every general contractors business strategy these days. Ah for the good ole days when honesty and hard work were what made a difference. Most of my meeting with our employees yesterday was to try to explain that a daily report servers two purposes. 1. It is a record for the general contractor to use to sue us and 2. It is a record for us to use to sue the general contractor. Ain't that a bitch!

Anyway on a lighter note. Alecia and her friend Sammy will be here next week for the summer and I am looking forward to seeing my girl. She is gonna kick it G-style with her Nevada hommies. She is coming and Tony is going. He leaves the same day she gets here to go to Idaho for the summer.

We will be going to Idaho for the 4th of July. We rented a cabin in the woods with a hot tub. So 4 days of relaxation. It is the 10th anniversary of the theatre and they have invited all the old cast members back for a reunion. Should be fun. Also I want to see my Daddy. He had a mild heart attach a couple weeks ago and I want to make sure he is OK. He sounds good, but I want to see him. I hope I can talk him and Mom in to coming down and spending the winter here. It is just to remote and snowy for them to stay up there in that house alone. We will see.

I am going to finish posting the pictures from our vacation this weekend. I have to get my nails done and a pedicure tonight plus it's the first Laker game of the finals so we will have to watch that, then Friday night who knows what we will be up to. But I will get it done!!!!

Weird Weekend

We had a sort of strange but I guess OK weekend. Friday night the Mexicans came over and we watched the Laker game and I made hot wings and ribs got some side dishes from KFC. AS soon as we ate Cliff made a beeline for the potty and said it "went right thru him". Everyone was OK but I just kind of felt weird and went and laid down on the bed. I finally went to bed early and woke up about 1:30 in the morning and felt like I was gonna throw up.

Now that may not sound too far out to most people but I don't throw up. I mean not when I am sick, not when I am drunk, not when I am pregnant. In fact I can't remember throwing up since I was a little kid. But sure enough I barely made it to the potty and wham. I was sick all night and then when I got up Sat morning felt a little better. I went out to mow the lawn about 7:30 am and before I made one pass I was running for the house. YUCK. After that I was OK and finished the yard work and cleaned the house.

Cliff had to help the Mexican so he had left about 6:00 (he must love that Mexican) but he got back about 10:30 and I went to the store and came home and asked if he wanted breakfast. He and the Mexican had gotten Mickey D's so I went in the bedroom and laid down and fell asleep and didn't wake up till 4:30. I did feel kind of OK but had a little crampy tummy. We had food bucks from the Eureka that expired that day so we decided to go to the Eureka for dinner. Had a wonderful dinner at Gregory's. I tried to stay with bland stuff, shrimp cocktail, lobster bisque soup and a piece of halibut. Cliff of course had his usual Big Prime Rib. We played the penny slots for awhile and then went to the Virgin River to see if they had a decent band but nope same old pathetic crap. so we went home and were in bed by 10:00.

Sunday morning I got up and made a lasagna and watered my plants. Then Cha and I took Gorda and went to Vegas to watch Olivia for Teddi. We went to lunch and then took the babies shopping for Tony some hiking boots. Oh yes I almost forgot. We also had to hit a Ross since fat ass here split her pants out and had to buy a pair of shorts. The girls said "You will do anything for a new pair of pants". True enough. Then we went back to Teddi's and Oliva fell asleep. We played with Gorda and then Marty Man came home so we lit out for Mesquite. I was so happy to see mu Olivia. She is so cute and talking so much and is such a clown. Every little thing that happens she says, "Oh, no" like it is a big deal. She is so funny.

We got home around 4:00 and Cliff was eating lasagna but my tummy didn't feel up to it so I had a bowl of cereal and a yogurt; even then my tummy hurt all night. I couldn't sleep so I stayed up till 1:30 reading a book about he Bush Family. That is probably why my stomach hurt so bad, jackasses that they are!

Philadelphia

We had a lot of fun in Philadelphia. It was probably the most relaxing part of the trip and the funniest. This is the place in the trip where Clifford decided that "something or someone" was going to get us. Every time we started to do something he would tell us something was going to do something to someone. It was so funny. Traci and I about cracked up. First we walked through Chinatown and it was "Some young guy" who was after us and it went down hill from there. He is so damn funny. This top picture is Cliff and I in front of Independence hall where the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were signed. Like I said this part of the trip we chilled and so I had to take this picture of the cool Hookah bar for my big kids!!

This picture if the best representation of Philly yet. This girl was so funny. This is the little hole in the wall that was recommended to us for our first real Philly Cheese steak. It was called Sonny's and we were fumbling around trying to order our sandwich's when she said . Are you from out of town? And we said yes, and she said "In Philly you say give me a "SteakWhiz" She was so Philly and had such an accent. When I asked her if I could take her picture, she got all embarrassed and said "You want a picture of me?" She was so cool!
This was my Philly Cheese steak and I had it with Provolone cheese instead of Cheese Whiz so now I know it's a "white steak with" the with is cause it has mushrooms onions and peppers.
Our hotel which was really old (early 1800's) and very cool. Our room was just beautiful. They were slow so they upgraded us to a suite that looked out over this street. The only bad part was no parking anywhere so we had to drag our bags from parking garage a block away.
This is the cab that was Traci's first cab ride. Now she is a cosmopolitan girl!!
Some of the beautiful architecture in the city. There were so many beautiful old buildings and all were so ornate. Really reminded me of New York City in a small way, at least the buildings downtown.
This is an old grave yard from the 1600's. 5 of the signers of Declaration of Independence are buried here including Benjamin Franklin. There were many beautiful old grave markers from forever ago. Very humbling to walk through here and realize the sacrifice of these people. Just a beautiful city with great energy.
This flag hangs on the wall of the Betsy Ross house. She was a boarder at this house when she sewed the first flag. Since it was a treasonous act, she hid in a small back bedroom and worked on it at night. I can imagine it was very hard to see in the candle or lamp light. These people were incredibly brave to do the things they did.
This is the courtyard of the Betsy Ross house

This is the grave marker on Benjamin Francklin's grave. His wife is buried with him as she died the same year he did.
This is the chair that George Washington signed the Constitution in. They say it is valued at about 3.5 million dollars.

This is the room that they debated and signed both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in . It is located in Independence Hall across the hall from the first federal Courtroom. They still have the cage that the accused had to stand in to be tried, That is where the phrase "To Stand Trial" comes from.
This is Constitution Hall and it is where the first Continental Congress met. The Senate on one floor and the House of Representative on the other. This is where the phrase "Upper and Lower House" comes from
Our graduation girl in front of the Liberty Bell.

Gettysburg

The second day of our vacation we spent in Gettysburg, PA. This was the focus of our trip as this is the location that Traci really wanted to see. We stayed at the Farnsworth Inn. It was a old inn located at the edge of the hill where they had the battle known as Pickett's Charge, one of the bloodiest of the siege. The hotel was used as a field hospital so it saw it's share of the action. There is still over 100 musket ball holes in the facade of the building from shoots fired. The Inn is suppose to be haunted, so that's why we chose it. We DESPERATELY tried to come up with something ghostly, but to no avail. It was very cool and we enjoyed our stay.

One of the hundreds of statues and markers that fan out over the battlefields. These battlefields go on for miles in every direction. There is a driving tour that takes you around the battlefield locations with markers and monuments that tell which divisions for which army fought there. At first, it gets sort of monotonous, then after awhile the gravity and sheer numbers start to sink in and then you progress to amazement, then finally to reverence at the sacrifice of these people. The battles where fought on July 1-2-3 of 1863. If you are familiar with this area at all you know how hot and humid it was. These men had on long sleeve wool uniforms and carried packs and rifles that weighed over 40 lbs. I tried to lift one of their field packs and couldn't even get it off the floor. Imagine marching from as far North as Maine and as far South as Florida with all that on just to arrive on the battlefront and fight for three days in the heat, with the noise of cannons and screams, and shooting, and yelling. It is humbling beyond imagination to stand there and see it all laid out in front of you. I kept trying to imagine the dedication of these men to their beliefs that they were willing to day after day after day suffer like they did, yet remain loyal to whatever it was they believed. You can really feel the heaviness of the war there; it really still lingers.
This statue was my favorite and was donated by the state of Louisiana. This angel hovering over a slain soldier is so beautiful. It was so heartbreaking because you can barely see it ,but the solder's toes are sticking out the front of his worn out boots. All those miles of marching in worn out boots, feet throbbing, itching from the heat and bugs, hungry, thirsty, lonely. Heartbreaking
Now to lighten up the mood, this is my favorite picture of Old Abe Lincoln Cole. He is so serious!!!!!
This is our room in Gettysburg. It was a theme room that centered around General Custer. I didn't even know Custer was in the civil war, I just thought he fought the Indians and got his ass kicked. But, he did fight at Gettysburg, and in fact was the soldier that preserved the while flag that Lee used to surrender at the end of the war.
Traci on our first day in Gettysburg. This sign is located on Cemetery Hill across from the Pickett's Charge Hill
Another marker with an incredibly handsome man and his lovely daughter
Of course, I had to have a photo in front of the Alabama state marker. I am Rebel to the core. Not that I don't think the North was right, I do and they were/are. But, I still am southern to the core. When Cliff and I first got together, I told him he may have been born in Colorado, but he was a southern rebel in his soul. Over and over, I kept telling him that. We finally traced a bit of his genealogy and sure enough, his family came from Kentucky to Arkansas, to Texas, then to Oklahoma, and finally to Colorado. That's my hot Dixie Chicken!!
Clifford riding into battle. As you can see the officer he has hitched a ride with is none to pleased with his attempt at hitchhiking and is turning around to tell him to get his butt off his horse. There is another picture of Clifford retaliating by hitting the officer in the $%^@&*( but I won't post that!!!!HA
This was taken outside the Willis House where Lincoln spent the night before he gave the Gettysburg address. I didn't know that he gave the Gettysburg address at the dedication of the National Cemetery. I guess after the battle of Gettysburg they buried the dead in hastily made graves that weren't very deep. As soon as it rained the first time it flooded and uncovered many of the dead soldiers. It was such a mess that the Sec of War said something had to be done so they expanded a cemetery that existed at the top of the hill and reburied the soldiers there. It is a beautiful setting. Most of the graves re marked UNKNOWN as we had no dog tags or identifying markers for the slain men then. Unless they had a letter on them or someone knew them, they were just unknown. SO sad. There was over 52,000. casualties at Gettysburg and 650,000 for the whole war. That was over 10% of the nations population at the time. They say it wiped out and entire generation of men.

Memorial Day

Just wanted to take a minute to reflect on Memorial Day. It is really fresh in my mind right now as we have just spent a week touring cemeteries and battlegrounds for America's solders . For the first time in a long time I was proud of this country. This trip made me separate the country from the government and that made a tremendous difference in how I processed a lot of my feelings. Once more I can say this is a wonderful place with so many who given so much for it to remain what it is today.

We are flying both the American and Confederate flags today because yes, we are Rebels (HA) but also in honor of the sacrifice of men, woman, and their fa miles, many of whom died not for money or power but for what they believed in.

So here is to the people of America who persevere and triumph in spite of our government, who are still willing to make great sacrifices and suffer for what they truly believe in . I love this country!!!!!!!!!!!
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