Saturday, September 26, 2009

WINDOW THROUGH WHICH WE LOOK

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, The young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry,
The young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a Nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and Cleaned our windows."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Reno - part two

During the Gun Blogger Rendezvous held in Reno Nevada, a couple of weeks ago, we had a day at the range to introduce "Steel Challenge" to the folks who were interested. There were two stages set up, so all could shoot the stages and find out for themselves just how much fun it was.
I really enjoyed seeing the smiles on the faces of the shooters, as lead met the metal targets and the shooters were challenged to shoot five steel targets, hitting all in the shortest possible time.
When Mr C gets time, he will have a post on the day with more pictures to share.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Reno visit part one

Last week we in Reno Nevada for the fourth Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and were gifted with the bonus of seeing the Reno balloon Races.

We were delighted to watch around 100 hot air balloons take to the skies over Reno, Nevada for The Great Reno Balloon Race. Since 1982, this event has attracted visitors from all over.
The Glow Show was on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but you had to be at the park to view it. At 5am from our bedroom window on the 28th floor of our hotel room, I could see just the tops of a couple of the glowing balloons above the trees in the distance.

At 6:45a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I watched the Mass Ascension of balloons launched from Rancho San Rafael Park.
Among the uniquely shaped balloons I saw at the event this year, were the Energizer Bunny, Smokey the Bear, Tony the Tiger, a Panda Bear, and a stage coach.
I have finally had my wish granted to see a mass of beautiful and unusual shaped balloons quietly drifting against a brilliant blue sky.



Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We are back in the real world


We are back (a day late, due to mechanical problems with the plane) from our visit to Reno. We are both very tired, but had a great time.
During the Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and also from an online raffle, we sold tickets to raise money for ProjectValour-It , and are proud to say many dollars were raised for this most worthy cause.


I have many, many photos to edit, and as soon as I can, I will begin on some posts ASAP

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Six days of R&R

Tomorrow, bright and early 5am *groan* we will be waiting for the shuttle which will be taking us to Seatac. From Seatac we fly to Reno to attend The Gun Blogger Rendezvous.
There is a LOT of talk about firearms, shooting etc. you know, guy talk. After a while I glaze over and escape to the casinos. I am one of those people who only takes a certain amount of money to gamble (and it's not much) and have fun with. This time I am going with the intention of winning BIG and retiring. Well! it could happen you know *chuckle*
This is the third year for the Rendezvous and promises to be the best yet. We are raising funds to help our wounded veterans, a very worthy cause indeed.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

Garden snakes can be dangerous


Garden Grass Snakes also known as Garter Snakes (Thamnophissirtalis) can be dangerous. Yes, grass snakes, not rattlesnakes. Here's why............

A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a possible freeze.

It turned out that a little green garden grass snake was hidden in one of the plants. When it had warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go under the sofa.

She let out a very loud scream.

The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into the living room naked to see what the problem was. She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.

His wife thought he had had a heart attack, so she covered him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance. The attendants rushed in, would not listen to his protests, loaded him on the stretcher, and started carrying him out.

About that time, the snake came out from under the sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.

The wife still had the problem of the snake in the house, so she called on a neighbor who volunteered to capture the snake. He armed himself with a rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch. Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who sat down on the sofa in relief. But while relaxing, her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.

The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out, tried to use CPR to revive her. The neighbor's wife, who had just returned from shopping at the grocery store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth and slammed her husband in the back of the head with a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.

The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife bending over him, so she assumed that the snake had bitten him. She went to the kitchen and got a small bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's throat.

By now, the police had arrived. Breathe here......

They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were about to arrest them all, when the women tried to explain how it all happened over a little green snake.

The police called an ambulance, which took away the neighbor and his sobbing wife.

Now, the little snake again crawled out from under the sofa and one of the policemen drew his gun and fired at it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end table. The table fell over, the lamp on it shattered and, as the bulb broke, it started a fire in the drapes.

The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and fell through the window into the yard on top of the family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it and smashed into the parked police car.

Meanwhile, neighbors saw the burning drapes and called in the fire department. The firemen had started raising the fire ladder when they were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore out the overhead wires, put out the power, and disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block area (but they did get the house fire out).

Time passed! Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired a new car and all was right with their world.

A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman announced a cold snap for that night. The wife asked her husband if he thought they should bring in their plants for the night.

And that's when he shot her.

Thanks to Gail

Friday, September 04, 2009

Whidbey Roundup

I have the privilege to live on beautiful Whidbey Island, and wish to share with you some of the lovely places I visit as I travel the roads.


There was the promise of a beautiful day ahead as the fog drifted in over the ocean, obliterating the sun, then fading away to let the warmth of the sun, kiss the sand on the beach.


Piles of driftwood giving protection to wildflowers and grasses

A couple of birds, probably sandpipers, foraging for food in the tidal pools.

Visitors to the beach have constructed shelters from driftwood, or perhaps they are forts built by children.