Lake Chemung Outdoor Resort

Okay, I know you have been waiting to read all about the bold, dashing, adventurous stuff I've been doing. *snicker snicker* I don't want to disappoint you, so please, right this minute, lower your expectations a notch or two, or 36.

I'll start by telling you a bit about the resort where we are staying. Don't let the term "resort" mislead you down some fantasy filled path. I'm not getting spa treatments every day, and I don't have room service. But I'm not complaining one little bit. Remember the resort in Ohio a long time ago?

This place is not buried in snow (I give thanks to God for the BEAUTIFUL weather) and it is a pretty nice place. We are here in the off season so I won't judge anybody for calling it a resort. I have a feeling that once all the Snow Birds fly up from Florida, it will be a jumpin' jivin' place. Relative to the extent to which retirees can jump and jive that is. After all, there is a miniature golf course, a shuffleboard deck, horseshoe pits, and a clubhouse. There is a mini grocery store with empty shelves and coolers where I stop in from time to time and wish for a jug of milk. Why, this place even has an indoor pool, which is currently empty and is being used as a place to store lawn mowers! In a couple of months, I'm quite sure it really will be a resort! And I'm quite sure we will probably be moved on by then. *sigh*

There is a nice lake nearby, and a golf course right next door. I'll bet that is why almost every house has a boat or a golf cart, or both, parked in the driveway.

See all the tarps covering all the fun-making machines?

I wonder if the people use their carts when they play miniature golf too?

There is a pond on the property and we were fortunate to get assigned a lot right at the water's edge. One day while on my stroll I took a few pictures. Just random, pointless, or maybe not so pointless, pictures.

I was almost mesmerized by the leaves in the pond.

Under water and undisturbed, peacefully rotting away.

Some float. Some sink. Neither by their own choice.

I think this would make a cool puzzle.

There are fish in the pond, so when I get tired of beating myself at shuffleboard, I can try some catch and release. 

This one looks like he wants me to take him home.

When the wind is calm the pond is like a mirror.

Which way's up? (Another one with cool puzzle potential.)

 And one day it snowed like crazy, for about ten minutes. 

One last look at those amazing leaves. (I would have put this picture up with the rest of them, but I got tired of trying to arrange them all just so. I never can seem to get the photos to stay where I want them. Sorry.)

So there you have it, my first two weeks in Michigan. I don't know if you can tell or not, but my stress level continues to drop a little each day. I've almost stopped grinding my teeth!

Now my poor hubby is the one with stress. His job is not easy, and I so admire him for what he does. He really is one of my biggest and most heroic heroes!

I really must rush off now, to another adventure: a trip to the grocery store!                                    

Recovery mode

It is time for another blog post. Past time. Honestly, I've had very little to say that anyone would want to read. Lately I have mumbled a lot about work, and believe me, you don't want to hear about that! The one thing I will say about my job, or any job, is that when it doesn't fit who you are, it can be a miserable place to spend your time. My job fits me about as well as skinny jeans fit a sumo wrestler.

Hubby was at home, working his "at home" job for five, going on six months. It doesn't pay much so I try to be very thankful for my job that helps fill in the financial gaps. But after a while, (13 months of that bad fit) I started to flip. Seriously! I could hardly recognize myself. It was as if I could feel a little of my person, who I am, being stolen from me every day. I felt like a prisoner in some awful sci-fi experiment having my personality slowly altered by brain sucking aliens. I think I was dying on the inside.

That's why, when hubby suddenly got a deployment call, I decided to pack a bag and get out of town. I called my manager when I was about a thousand miles from home and told him I wouldn't be coming in to work for a while. That was probably one of the most irresponsible things I have ever done in my whole life. I don't know if I did it because I was trying to avoid mental illness, or if I did it because I've already lost the last marble and should be locked up in a puffy room somewhere. Truth is, I don't really want to know the answer. I'm happy just to wonder.

Anyway, here I am, on another adventure, in Michigan. (Check out my little map in the side bar. I haven't been able to change that in WAY over a year, and I'm so excited to do so!)

We had a good trip with no problems. We did run into a little snow along the way, but it was very little and served as a reminder that in some places, winter is hanging on for a while.



The new truck (I haven't mentioned the new truck here have I?) performed very well and the camper followed along quite obediently and never blew a tire or anything. I began to feel a little more like myself with every mile. It's been a long time since I got excited over anything. So when this crazy little thing made me smile and made me want to take it's picture, I knew I was entering recovery mode.

But this is no ordinary spork. 

It's a spork. (Half spoon, half fork)

It's a folding spork!

How cool is that?!

There are perks to buying "to go" grapefruit from a truck stop. I know you're jealous. How many of you can say you own a folding spork?

Now, I'd love to make some deep spiritual point here, you know, like what God taught me through a foldaway plastic eating utensil,  but I'm still a bit numb from the personality stealing, brain sucking aliens. And for some reason, I find it hard to hear the voice of the Lord when I am in such a state. I seek Him, but full recovery is going to take a while. I pray that my "adventure" will last long enough for it to happen.

I appreciate your prayers.

It's old news

We're home! And have been for weeks now. We pulled into the driveway, I got out of the truck and hit the ground running. I've not had a chance to slow down since! It's always nice to be home, but it is always a busy time as we try to catch up on things around the house that need to be done and visit friends and family in the area.

The other day hubby asked me something about my blog...like when was I going to post something. Well today is finally the day! It's old news and old pictures by now, but someday when I'm dead and famous virtually unheard of, and loved by all liked by at least a half of a dozen people, and all my blog posts are published into a book, and it is selling on Ebay for thousands of dollars, 75 10 cents a copy, I don't want there to be any important details left out. So suffer with me here, okay?

After the work was finished in Chicago, we stopped for a week in Edwardsville, IL where hubby worked a dozen claims and I hung out at the RV park (Red Barn Rendezvous). There was no WiFi service. I did have an air card, but sometimes uploading pictures with one of those is more frustration that I can handle. So I pretty much spent my time reading books and goofing off.

The campground was small and in the middle of a---you guessed it---ANOTHER CORN FIELD! The last three places we've stayed have been surrounded by corn.

This time I was prepared with some wonderful steroid nose spray and an inhaler I got from the doctor the last time we were home. I survived quite well.

The campground was nothing special. Small and quiet, no frills, and lots of little critters.

 That's not even a fourth of them, but I'll take into considerations that some of you might not get your kicks from looking at pictures of cement yard ornaments, and I'll stop myself from posting all of them. After all, this blog is supposed to be all about Dashing and Bold stuff, right?

Now that I think about it, a bright yellow elephant is a bit bold, don't you think?

While we were in Edwardsville, we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. Now that's dashing and bold!
Since we were just a short distance from St. Louis, MO, we spent our special day there.

We are not beer drinkers, but we did go to the Busch brewery just to see the Budweiser Clydesdales aka The Hitch. That was a  mistake. There were a gillion people there and only three horses. The high dollar horses that make up the teams are kept on various ranches, so the only real reason to go to the brewery is to see the beer making process and get the free samples. We did neither.

Here is my beloved of 29 years. Does he look like a tourist or what?

After we drove around the "inner-city" looking for some good St. Louis lunch, we went on down to the river and the arch. Heavy rain the night before had the Mississippi River running high.

Here is "The Captain's Return." It is a monument to explorers Lewis and Clark.

I don't know which is Lewis and which is Clark, but if the river had been this high the day they returned to the area in 1806, history books might read differently. (click on the link above to see what the monument looks like when it's not drowning in the river.)

Have you visited the arch? The Gateway to the West? It was soooo cool!

From the river you have to climb all these stairs to get to the arch. I counted them just so I could tell you how many there are--then I forgot. I think there were 64, but if you want to be sure, you will have to go and count them yourself.

I could have spent hours and hours taking pictures from different angles as the sun and clouds changed the look of the giant monument.

We took a ride in the tiny "pod" elevator to the top. Can you see the little windows way up at the top?

That's where, from 630 feet above the ground, we looked out over St. Louis. What a view!

I zoomed in on Busch Stadium. The Cardinals were playing the Chicago Cubs. I thought that was a little dashing since we had been caught in game day traffic in Chicago just a few days earlier.

Here is the view out of the opposing windows.

The mighty muddy Mississippi River.

And here is the Tom Sawyer. We had dinner on this boat as we cruised up and down the Mississippi in the moonlight.

Here's looking forward to tomorrow, our next adventure, and the next 29 years with the love of my life!