Well, it's been an interesting few days.  My old man came home Sun morning and told me the company had put up a memo announcing the closure of his division on Nov. 16th.  Now this led to several thoughts on my part.  The first being "we are so fucked"   The second, following rather quickly was "Nah, been there, it could be worse."  The second thought is the more true one.  We immediately began discussing options.  Which all involve moving.   This is mainly due to the fact that my old man is an airframe and powerplant mechanic, so it's rather important to be near an airplane of some kind to do his job.   

Right now we need to stay with this company they have good benefits and a good pension plan, so we're thinking we will transfer.  Places we could transfer to are wide ranging.  There's a Navy T-45 contract coming up in Kingsville Texas.  That wouldn't be to bad since we would be making $3.00 more an hour there than here.

A Lear jet contract in Germany A huge jump in salary, but a considerable move.

Then there are several C-12 contracts.  Which are spaced from Alabama clear to California.  What to do is now the question. 

At this point I don't know what to think.  I'm slightly excited at the prospect of travel, which I love, and bummed that we have such a life altering decision to make.  So here I am, thinking and thinking and still up in the air.  Hah! up in the air.

Found this at http://quizilla.com/  it's been a long time since I visited there and they have some pretty funny stuff up.       

Me Tarzan!  You Jane?

  

I don't want another heartbreak
I don't need another turn to cry
I don't want to learn the hard way
Baby Hello, oh no, goodbye
But you got me like a rocket
Shooting straight across the sky...
It's the way you love me
It's a feeling like this--
It's centrifugal motion
It's perpetual bliss.
It's that pivotal moment
It's Impossible
This Kiss, This Kiss
(Unstoppable)
This Kiss, This Kiss
Cinderella said to Snow White
How does love get so off course?
All I wanted was a white knight
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse.
Ride me off into the sunset
Baby, I'm forever yours
It's the way you love me
It's a feeling like this--
It's centrifugal motion
It's perpetual bliss.
It's that pivotal moment
It's Unthinkable
This Kiss, This Kiss
(Unsinkable)
This Kiss This Kiss
You can kiss me in the moonlight
On the rooftop under the sky
You can kiss me with the windows open
While the rain comes pouring inside
Kiss me in sweet slow motion
Let's let every thing slide
You got me floating, You got me flying
It's the way you love me
It's a feeling like this--
It's centrifugal motion
It's perpetual bliss.
It's that pivotal moment
It's Subliminal
This Kiss, This Kiss
(It's Criminal)
This Kiss, This Kiss

I've got Faith Hill stuck in my head.  I guess it could be worse.

This is what ended up getting me a free case of wine.  Lots of labor!

This is a pic of my Brother in law Andy, his brother, Mark and wife Terry are the owners of Piasa Winery.  (pie a saw) 

I worked for wine and Andy worked for money.  He had the much harder job, ha ha.  I did more helping than working, though one day before grape harvest I did some weed whacking and I did get paid for that.  I loved being at the vineyards and helping at the winery.  We processed literally tons of chardonel and traminette grapes. 

Next time I'm going to borrow my AllieMcNallys camera so I can take some decent pictures.  This is a shot of the vineyard from the winery.  The water is the leading edge of the acre pond that Mark and Terry had built.

My old man would be thrilled that his face is so blurry that you can't get a good look at him.  That's him and brother in law Andy.  Those shapes in the background are more grapes.  Really I'll do better next time. 

This is in Alton Illinois at the Robert Wadlow memorial.This is a life size bronze.  He was 8'11".1  and he was only 22 when he died.  They called him the "gentle giant".

The original chair was specially made for him by a furniture manufacturer who saw how uncomfortable he was in a regular chair.  (I was very comfortable behind my sis and as you can see her feet are a long way from the ground.)  This is an exact bronze replica of his chair which is now in a local museum.  If I can get copies of the pictures on my sisters camera you'll see our second trip here in the rain.

Also in october the Norton grapes will be ready for harvest and I'm going to try and go back with a real camera.

Guess where I've been??  ST. LOUIS!

Went to the zoo!  My favorite part was the penguin palace.  I took a couple of great pictures, but I can't get them to scan at the resolution I want. 

So here is the brochure with the penguins modeling for a professional.

I like my pictures better but until they make a photo shop for "complete computer imbeciles" I will have to do the best I can.

Check out the hippo, he was really aggressive and looked very dangerous,which I've heard they are.  But at the same time once he got in the water he seemed so graceful.  It reminded me of the dancing hippos in Fantasia.

One evening we drove down the river road and ate fish sandwiches on the banks of the Mississippi, the sunset was amazing.  As anyone who takes photographs knows a picture is never as good as the real thing.  So you will have to use your imagination and make the real thing ten times better than this picture.  Of course all I had was a disposable camera so I shouldn't bitch to much huh!

That may be why a lot of them are so grainy.

I also went to the biggest display of mosaic art in the world.  The St. Louis cathedral.  That was a good suggestion made by iris_nyx

I guess this is it for now.  I'm going to put some more pictures up tomorrow.  I spent a lot of the time I was there helping out at Piasa Winery.  It was grape harvest time.  So I'll write some about my wine making adventures and how I came out of it with a case of free wine.  Mmmm!

See you tomorrow.  Missed you guys!

Two more for the road...me and my sister taking the ferry across the Illinois river.

This is really the end now, haha!

indie

This is what happens when your mom makes a left turn onto the highway and there is a vehicle hidden behind the truck that is turning.  My mom is 72, she is a little firecracker.  She gets up at dawn works in her garden, cleans her house, go, go ,go.  She's unbelievably tough and though she won't admit it, because she's also stubborn as a mule, she's becoming fragile.

This kind of thing scares me to death. 

I know mom and dad have to go sometime but I sure don't want it to be like this.  You know what drives me batty about this whole thing?  My sister kept asking me if I was sure the truck was totaled.  "Umm yeah, I'm pretty sure it's totaled, will you forget the truck and let me concentrate on mom, okay?"  Damn!!  For the record she walked away from the accident.  She wouldn't even go in for a checkup.  She picked glass out of her own face,  and crushed jet beads out of her neck, I know she had at least one cracked or broken rib because it hurt her to breathe.  She also is having spasms in her back, though they're getting better every day. 

Needless to say stubborn is a mild word for my mom.  I know people half her age who would be screaming for pain pills and the only time I ever heard her scream was for everyone to leave her alone.  Actually scream isn't the right word, it was more of a deadly quiet "Will you leave me alone" kind of thing.  You know how moms are when they mean business. 

Moral of the story and big lesson learned. 

If your making a left turn onto a 4 lane road make damn sure both lanes of oncoming traffic are clear.  You would be surprised at the size of a vehicle that can be hidden on the inside lane.

P.S. big thanks to john and Mo for helping me out with my add image problem, look it worked.  Thanks guys!

I didn't get to go to St. Louis.  I completely forgot that we had to move youngest daughter Emily into her college dorm, you would think that as her mom I wouldn't forget something so important.

you would be wrong.

this is it!!!  The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  If you click the picture you get the web cam, if you get nothing it's probably night-time, not much to see then.

I know it's a big deal, her moving and going off to the university, but this is the third time we have moved her into a dorm so it's not like anything unusual.  She went to a residential school her junior and senior years of high school, so we have the moves in and out of a dorm down pat.  Anyway, since I didn't get to go to St. Louis this time I decided to take some of the suggestions I got for that trip and apply them to Fayetteville Arkansas, which is where we went to drop Emily for school.  Food, food and more food.  Doc, jen and MyKi all made that suggestion, I love people that think like me. 

My favorite cousin and his wife live about 10 minutes from the university campus so when we go to Fayetteville we always stay with them, they know all the best places to eat, drink and be merry.  The second night we we're there we ate at a place called The Powerhouse, called that because, well, it's an old powerhouse.  They serve a drink there that tastes like Hawaiian Punch but is so alcoholic  that your only allowed to have two, it's called a kilowatt.  Yeah, you'll get lit up alright!!  It's good to go to dinner with family because everyone's plate is fair game. I skipped my salad completely because it was an uninspired mix of iceberg lettuce and a random tomato figuring that the main course would be better. I'm glad I skipped it, I got blackened salmon with crab so good that it's indescribable, at least by me.  With a really good side of etouffe and sweet cornbread muffins.  yum!  Hubby had the scampi with linguini, also delish, and favorite cousin had red snapper and some kind of pasta, all I remember about that one was I liked it too.  Now before you think what a pig, I took half of mine home and ate it for breakfast.   

"
"You must remember this, a kiss is still a
kiss". Your romance is Casablanca. A
classic story of love in trying times, chock
full of both cynicism and hope. You obviously
believe in true love, but you're also
constantly aware of practicality and societal
expectations. That's not always fun, but at
least it's realistic. Try not to let the Nazis
get you down too much.

And yes, it really is almost 3:30 AM  This is why I belong to the late night bloggers blog ring.  Insomnia!

 I am going to St. Louis, Mo. today.  I'll only be there a couple of days so I would like to know:

If you only had time to see or do one thing in St. Louis what would it be and why?

New subject, tired of the old one.

Man am I glad we're back up and running, it was a long week, made even longer by an attack on our computer by the worm that seanmeister blogged about.  Just my luck that by the time Xanga was back up we had gone the long route and figured it out ourselves.  Actually I'm giving myself way to much credit, I watched and whined Barry did all the fixing.  Either way, we (he) had it all done by the time the power was back on. 

I absolutely adore men, some I don't even know.  (in person)  The thing is, when you read a persons blog everyday you get to know them somewhat.  Unless of course they are a seriously talented fiction writer.  (If they're that talented they should be writing good books not good blogs.)  Anyway, some of these guys are goofy, caring, talented, wonderful, protective women loving men.  I can tell when a man loves women.  You can see it in their face and read it in their words.  There is an almost lustfulness for women as an entire sex.  Not just one woman, but all women.  How can you not love a man that loves you just because you're female?  It doesn't even matter that there is not and never will be anything physical, because for these special men that's not what it's about.

Made two CDs today

Mowed the yard

Washed the car

Watched a slasher movie

What a day.

It's three AM I know where my kids are, Do you know where yours are?  LOL

Everyone knows someone who was raped, whether they know it or not.  After 25 years of living with my rape I chose to forgive because I am not that 16 year old girl anymore.  I did some checking and found out that he is not that 16 year old boy anymore either.  My personal experience was never reported and very few knew about what happened, but it left me changed.  I lived with those feeling for so long that to tell the truth I'm relieved to have closure.  It was good to find out that he too had to live with what happened, that he either grew a conscience or had one that he ignored that night so long ago.  It felt good to know that I had the power to forgive or not.  I was the parole board.  I released us both for good behavior.  I thought that I was the only one serving that 25 years but it appears that I wasn't alone in that cell after all.