I love my Churchill & Gatsby

Churchill seems to be okay. We went for a ride to the Vet up in Escondido this afternoon. She’s been doing this walk and kick thing with her right back paw. Of course when the vet looks at her and she walks across the linoleum floor she walks fine. Once we get home she’s kicking again. My man made the correlation of carpet and possibly a claw getting stuck. We’ve given her the pedicure and we’ll watch for a few days. Hopefully that’ll take care of it. We’ll keep an eye on her for the time being. We’re thinking about pet health insurance. I’ve got some info from a company called VPI PET. Any other companies any one may know of please share I’d like to check out more options.

We were talking about pets earlier with some friends while we digested ribs and egg plant. It’s quite sad that an organization can claim one thing about their feelings about the treatment of animals and then take action in a manner which, to me, makes no sense. We were discussing a PETA issue that truly makes my stomach turn. I love my and will give both an extra hug tonight.

take care

What a weekend

What a wonderful weekend. Saturday we brought Holmes (what we call my man’s car) to the shop. For whatever reason the turn signal would not work. It was a good thing we discovered it before we took our trip because that was going to be our main mode of transportation. Anyway Saturday was quite busy. We brought the car to the shop, some great friends of ours picked us up and we had breakfast in Hillcrest with some other friends and ran a few errands in the area. Later that afternoon we went to a picnic and got some sun and had a great lunch. That evening we met up with some friends and had a wonderful meal outside. It was pretty much a beef / pork / chicken fest. Good food and excellent company.

Sunday was a most excellent day. My Mom and I spent most of the day together. We started with a little lunch from Panera and we then went across the street and she got her first cell phone. After that trip we went to Kearny Mesa and looked at some cars. That afternoon my Mom drove off the lot with a brand new car. She is so excited. Her previous car was a 1984 Chevy citation. That little car survived two teenage drivers and pizza delivery. It was a great car and my Mom so deserved a new car. She works so hard and deserves so much. She still can’t believe it’s her car and not just a temporary rental. I am so happy for her. She is the type that will do with out if it means to help someone else. When I was in high school she took the bus to work so I could use her car to go to school. She is a terrific lady, and not just because of her generosity, but because of her sincerity. You go Mom, you and your sweet ride.

take care,

TX memories

I know these won’t make much sense to most of y’all, but here are a few phrases my man & I came up with or used during our trip.

It’s a good thing we like each other. . . alot.
Only 6 or 7 light.
Theses potatoes are really good.
There are no fu**ing signs.
What is this? (woman holding odd piece of tree growth)
It’s not that hot.
Austin is not Texas.
The Alamo?
CAW (Craaaazy ass wife) loves her CAH (Craaaazy ass husband)

take care

We’re baaaaack

We are back in sunny CA. The drive back was not as bad as the drive to. I was pulled over in TX driving back home. I was speeding and fortunately was given a warning by the Texas Highway Patrol, no fine / no penalty. It took us nearly 8 hours to get through Texas. I drove those first 600 miles home. We gassed up in New Mexico and my man took over the driving all the way to Tucson where we spent the night. We slept in a bit and started the next day at about 9am. Late Friday evening we pulled into San Diego. The drive through the dessert was quite warm. We were worried about the car and so parts of that last leg of the trip we turned off the AC and put the heater on to pull some of the heat away from the engine. Knock on wood Charlie made it through. (Charlie is what we call my car – yup we pretty much name everything we own). We met up with some friends for dinner our first night back and had a wonderful time with a short trip to the book store. My book collecting man didn’t add any more to his collection that evening, we still had to sort through all his TX treasures. This vacation was absolutely wonderful. It was just what we needed. Time away from it all and time for the two of us. Austin is definitely a city we could live in; we’re keeping it on the list. Our next city to visit is Madison, WI. Tentatively we’ll be there in the spring.

take care,

Adios

Today was our last full day in Austin. We started the day off by sleeping in. We finally got up at about 11am and just lounged around. We went to the pool, and had the entire pool to ourselves. We lounged by the pool reading and catching some sun. I even got some color. I’m not as lily white as I was when I arrived, now I’m more off white.



After the pool we went and had a late lunch at Joe’s Crab Shack. Seafood wasn’t too bad. When we came out of the restaurant a group of geese charged us. They thought we had left overs and were looking for some scraps. They were definitely not shy. We cruised to yet another book store and then to the North side for the last Half Price Book store in the city. We barely have enough room in the trunk for all the books and our suitcase. It’ll be good to get home and see our little fur balls. This has been the absolute best vacation we have ever taken. We’ve relaxed, gotten some sun, and did a few tourist things. This is definitely a city we could live in, but what ever happens happens. Home is where we are.

take care

Day Trip on our Big Trip

Today we took a day trip to San Antonio, TX. We went to see the Alamo and on the way back we went to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. It’s a park that offers a Safari alternative. You drive through the park in your car. You can buy extra bags of food and feed the animals as they come up to the car. We saw ostriches, deer, zebras, gazelles, rhinoceros, and my favorite the giraffes. We also stopped by an outlet mall and made a stop at; yup you guessed it, the Borders outlet store. Our experience in San Antonio was not really a good one. The people were not friendly like they are here in Austin. As a matter of fact we stopped at a Rudy’s in a small town on the way back to Austin. Eating there I felt like an outsider. We were definitely glad to get back to Austin. We came back and chilled out at the hotel for a while. We thought we head up to the swimming pool, situated above the parking garage, but it started to rain with some thunder & lightening so the pool was closed. After a bit my man discovered yet another Half Price Book Store. We had a great time browsing and searching for treasure. We had a late dinner at the Old Alligator and now we’re just relaxing a bit. This has been the absolute best vacation. We’ve relaxed and did some sight seeing and basically we’ve forgotten what day it is and don’t even care.

One little point of interest, we saw a build board on the way to San Antonio of the farting preacher (most of you know whom I speak of), well this is his church.

Take care

Trying to keep cool

Day three has been wonderful. We slept in this morning and headed out down town. We’ve been walking as our main mode of transportation in the day time and venture by car at night. We went on an Austin Duck tour. It’s a truck that floats. It was a blast. It even came with duck kazoos. We came back to our hotel room chilled out and cooled off in the pool. For dinner we ventured out to West Lake and ate at a place called Salt Lick 360. We then had a little coffee with some outside music entertainment at a place called Mozarts. We really like this town. It’s not way too big nor too small, it really is just right. The people are friendly like I’ve mentioned before. The only thing I’m still not quite use to is the highway/interstate/loop system to get around town. Luckily I’m married to a navigational genius.

take care y’all

Don’t forget your sunscreen

Today was a terrific day! We woke up this morning with no alarm clocks, it was great. Our room has a king size bed, something we’re not use to especially since we share a double bed with two bed hogging felines. I put on some sun screen this morning before we headed out, and yup we got outside and it was raining, the sky full of clouds.

We first drove under a bridge with a band playing outside, using the bridge as shelter for the musical instruments. We thought it was cool, truly earning its name as live music capitol of the world. We made a brief stop to observe and then left. We drove through the University of Texas (Go Longhorns) and its surrounding areas.

Later we took to the roads and ventured west and just happened to find a Rudy’s, the worst barbeque in Texas, their claim not ours. It was really great. The food is fantastic and the people are so friendly. We continued our private driving tour by hitting a mall and some other residential areas. We also just happened to find a Half Price Books store and a very large independently owned book store – Book People.
We finished the evening with dinner and a movie. We had dinner at Chuys great Mexican food. We ventured out to the Alamo movie theater and saw Batman Begins. In between each row of seats there is a row of long narrow tables. You can actually order dinner and drinks. We had root beer floats. What a great day. Best of all we took our time and just relaxed. I’m very fortunate my man has such a great sense of direction. He’s already learning his way around.

take care

Bats?

Tonight we went to South Congress Ave Bridge to see the bats take flight. It was not at all like we expected. There were tons of bats in the area, but they did not take off in a swarm. You could, however, see them in the distance flying in a swarm of black. We walked from our hotel through the town lake area and ended up downtown to see the bats. There were lots of people from all over. We met people from Houston and even Orange County.

Something that struck us while we were walking through the trails by the lake was the friendliness of the locals walking there dogs, riding bikes, or jogging on the trails. People here smile at you, and say hello as you pass by on foot. It seems that the town is quite friendly. It was a very long walk to the bat bridge and a very long walk back, but worth each and every sore step.

Once we got back we jumped into the pool for about an hour just to unwind and relax. So far the weather is not unbearable. I do not know what the exact temperatures have been, but it doesn’t seem as bad as some of the Midwest summers I remember. Bear in mind I’ve only been here one day, but so far so good. It is warm weather and once we started walking we really noticed the humidity. There was a nice breeze blowing, but once we got back we felt very sticky and humid. Not sure what tomorrow brings, but so far this has been a great trip and well worth the grueling drive.

take care

Are we there yet?

We finally made it to our destination. Austin, Texas. We left San Carlos in San Diego at 4PM on Friday July 15th after some wonderful preparations by my man. Unfortunately we had a slight vehicle problem and had to change our vehicle for the trip. So, we’re driving the smaller less powerful car. That’s okay, because we got there cool and safe.
Our first stop was Yuma, AZ. We were only down a half tank, but we weren’t sure if there would be much between Yuma and Tucson. We made Tucson by 10PM. At that point I tried to sleep so I could drive in the morning, but to no avail. I rested my eyes from Tucson, AZ until Anthony, NM I never really got any sleep though. My man kept trucking on and we made it to El Paso, TX buy some ungodly hour in the AM, before the sun even thought about rising and shining. I took the wheel at about 3:30 AM. It was Rick’s turn to try and sleep, he too had no luck. I think I only drove a few hours and just couldn’t do it any more. We switched again and once I hit the passenger seat I was out.

Rick drove the next two or three hours while I snored next him. We stopped for gas in some small town with the old fashioned gas pumps and I finally took the wheel and drove for a bit. Rick finally got some shut eye in the passenger seat. After looking at the map on the way we decided to come off the main freeway and take a small highway that would save some time as well as avoid San Antonio. We went for it, not 100% sure if it would save time, but it’s always an adventure with Team Shea.

We finally rolled into Austin on Saturday at about 2:30PM local time, a little tired but safe. At the moment Rick is taking a very well deserved nap, he did most of the drving after all.

Take care