Palisades Park

Mike and I had a busy weekend.  Saturday morning we decided to go to Menards because Mike needed a new shower head and we had a $40 credit.  I told Mike we should look at their rock and maybe the pavers because we have a spot in the back of the house where water sits when it rains.  Mike didn't say much when I mentioned this because he had just finished pulling up all the pavers in our bottom porch to level them.  The chipmunks had made so many tunnels under the pavers so that it was dangerous to step on the those wobbly things . Mike was exhausted from that job.  We loaded up 10 bags of river rock and 10 pavers into the car.  As I was driving home, I remembered the time I bought pavers in Athens, Georgia and ended up in a road rage incident in front of our house.  This is what happened.

I had tons of pavers in the trunk of my little Ford Probe that was weighing my car down quite a bit. I was in front of the house getting ready to turn left onto Bloomington Drive where our driveway was. I slowed down and made an extremely slow turn.  Before I knew it, there was a truck behind me honking and yelling " GET OFF the F@%^*#& ROAD".  I couldn't believe it, and in front of my own house. I stopped to watch where he was going to park because he was headed down to the cul-de-sac.  When he saw that I had stopped, he stopped and threw his truck into reverse and spun his tires as he backed up to where I was.  I was so angry I got out of the car and headed towards his window to tell him off.  I know, I should not have done that but I was in the moment.  He rolled down his window and I began to lecture him.  "I have a weighted down car,  the speed limit is 25, do you live in the neighborhood?, I am the President of the neighborhood, I have small children, I have pets, what in the heck were you thinking?".   As I was getting all of this out, he started apologizing like crazy. Sorry Ma'am, not sure what I was thinking. Don't live here, just visiting a friend. I am truly sorry, I won't do it again. Sorry. Sorry.   Once I was satisfied that I told him off enough, I turned around and there was Mike standing in the yard without a shirt on, flexing his muscles.  So, it wasn't me putting this guy in his place like I thought.  I don't think we ever saw him again.

Saturday we hauled the bags of rock and pavers to the back of the house.  We didn't feel much like doing this job so we poured the rock out of the bags and set a couple of pavers down at the bottom of the steps. Mike said he would get some sand and level everything later.

Sunday we woke early and headed toward Mount Vernon to hike in Palisades Park which is 10 minutes from his parent's farm.  All these years with  Mike, I didn't know this park existed. He spent a lot of time at this park when he was in high school.  When we pulled in he showed me where the family reunions were held and he also showed me where he streaked back in the 70's.  He claims he only streaked that one time.  I was learning a lot about Mike and this park. I was also learning how beautiful it was. We took the main trail from one end of the park to the other, along the Cedar River.  We couldn't actually start at the beginning of the trail because the road was flooded out.  Mike told me not to park next to the river in case it flooded while we were trekking.

We started on the flat road, having no idea what was ahead of us.  The beautiful river, and then some very steep hills with straight down, don't look down cliffs.

I am not sure if you can tell how unbalanced I am in the following picture.  If I would have taken one step back, straight down many feet I would have gone.

This is a straight down picture.....we are standing on a platform.

 Challenging areas of the trail.....

In the above picture I told Mike to hold on because I wanted to take his picture when actually I needed a rest from climbing all of those steps!

We even found the Stranger Things monster in the woods.  If you have watched Stranger Things on Netflix, you know what I am talking about.

As we kept going, we ran into a couple walking their dog and I asked them if the trail lead to a parking lot or a road.  They smiled and said no, the trail peters out and then you turn around and go back the way you came. Oh boy, all of those hills and tight trails with straight down sides.  We finally got to the end and headed back.

This picture is where the trail petered out.

At one point we were in a tight area when we met another hiker.  We were coming down and she was going up. She waited for us and told us to take our time on the slippery rocks.  She must have known I was a little worried so she came up a little and held out her hand. I gladly accepted and noticed how soft her hand was. I forgot to tell her that because I was thanking her profusely as I slid down the stone steps.  How thoughtful that was for a nice young lady to help the old lady down the steps.

We made it to a parking lot but it wasn't the one our car was parked in.  We had more to go, but at least we could now walk on a road. This is the view from the road.  Not sure I would want to live in a house with a backyard like the one on the hill to the right.

Besides dangerous trails, the water was dangerous as well.  The current was amazing.  One time I noticed as we walked along, we were slower than the current.  I was also amazed at how many old people and children were on the trails when it seems so dangerous. Dogs too!

Then I found a rock.  It was one of those rocks you take a picture of and then post it on FaceBook. In my last blog I hid a rock in the Atlanta airport but whoever took it, never posted they found it.

Since I don't have FaceBook, I took it to work to have a colleague post it for me. This one is for Henry County Rocks.  I think I will keep it for a little while and then hide it.

After two hours of hiking, we headed to Mike's parents house for lunch and for Mike to do some yard work.  Last week when Janelle was getting her mail she noticed that something didn't seem right. That is when she realized the weeping willow Mike and Devin gave her around 25 years ago had fallen over!

They had Sye the tree guy come out and take care of it yesterday.  She called tonight to tell us the hickory tree near the road fell over today!  They seem to be having tree trouble this year. I am happy we removed all of those trees in our yard last year!

A Trip to Florida

Yep! I went to Florida to visit Molly and Maggie over Labor Day.  It was soooo good to hang out with them.
We did tons of things like going to the beach, garage sales, restaurants, a brewery, and Lowes at least three times. We did projects around Molly's house and even had time to relax on a rainy day.

Before I left home, I had someone try to go with me. 

 Pete then decided to stop me from repairing my bag. He knew something was up.

 My flight sure was an experience.  Molly was worried about my short (45 minute) layover in Atlanta but I know that airport enough to not worry. But when I was supposed to leave Moline at 4:50pm and at 5pm our plane hadn't arrived yet, I became a little worried too.  We finally took off at 6:20.  I was still thinking I would be okay until I remembered the time change. The whole flight there I used the Secret and kept repeating in my head along with the airplane engine, I will make my connection, I will make my connection, I will make my connection. We landed at 9pm. Of course I was in the last seat of the plane but this gave me a chance to ask the flight attendant (she sat back there with me) if she thought my 9:15 connection would wait for me.  She couldn't tell because if she said they would and then they didn't, she would be in trouble. So she pulled up her Delta App (I have a flip phone) and told me the bad news of my connection being at a totally different concourse. I thought I would be spending the night in Atlanta.  But then she told me the good news that my connection was delayed! I raced off the plane, raced to the gate to find they hadn't even started to board yet.  Everyone looked disgruntled. I was the happiest traveler to board that plane!  I sat next to the window and really enjoyed looking at the Florida lights at night and seeing some really cool patterns. Wish I would have taken a picture of that.  When we started descending for our landing in Melbourne, I could see the city, and then we flew over the river, and then we flew towards the ocean.  My heart started racing because there were no more lights and thought for sure something was wrong, like we were headed to Europe or the pilot decided to land in the ocean.  I had my forehead on the window trying to figure out what was going on when all of a sudden, I saw land and lights in the sky. We were in an intense turn. The pilot flew way out over the ocean to turn around to land.  I asked Molly later about this and she said she didn't think to warn me, but that is how they do it. I guess so it isn't too loud for the houses below.  Maggie had driven to Molly's from Athens, Ga that day so they both picked me up at the airport, very late. Lots of hugs and kisses!

The next day we made a list of things we wanted to do.

Of course, eating and drinking were on the list.

We went to Sebastian Inlet where the Ocean and River meet. We swam on the river side to avoid those huge Melbourne waves.  I usually like waves but sometimes these waves are too big for me. 

The calm river water was very clear. This made it hard for me to stay in too long because I could see everything swimming around my legs, and sometimes they were not small things.  

We did walk to the other side of the bridge to put our feet in the ocean.

When we were not out and about,  we did projects like replant plants in new pots.

Molly pressure washed her patio after the mess we made.

Molly replaced all of the inside doorknobs and a couple of light switches.

Maggie and I watched Molly clean her rug. We giggled as we watched her clean this same spot over and over.  Molly told us that was the dirtiest part of the rug.  It is always so much fun to see the dirty water and to know that is no longer in the rug.

On the rainy day, we priced items for the Kindermarket consignment sale in Athens Georgia. Maggie hauls all of our stuff to her apartment and stores it for us until the sale. Maggie said she has run out of room for stuff.  We then had a conversation about our family moving stuff from one house to another. We have done this our whole lives and I remember Mom hauling stuff from Grandma's house and Dad rolling his eyes every time he unloaded the car at home.  Kind of like how Molly is looking in the following photo.  Hauling junk from one house to another just runs in the family.

As you can see in the above photo, Maggie slept on the air mattress in the living room so I could have the guest room all to myself. Wasn't that nice of her? I think it is because I told her I have started snoring, but she said it was because she could watch T.V. before bed.  The downside of sleeping in the living room is that she was closer to the frog that sounds like a very loud duck.

Once, when we headed out on an errand, Molly noticed something enticing in the throw away junk pile. We walked over and found someone had thrown out two swivel patio chairs and a matching table. Molly said Floridians throw away the best things and she is always on the lookout for things she might need.  The three of us grabbed one item and hauled them to her house. It was quite comical because they were heavy.

 We headed to Lowes and found cushions on clearance. They are perfect.

Can you guess where we are in the following photos?

If you guessed the Verizon store, you guessed right. Why is this so exciting? Because Maggie bought a new phone.  This means I went from a flip phone to a used Maggie smart phone. Yes, I have finally upgraded.

Of course my trip went very quickly. We were down to one day left. We went to a Brewery and then walked down to the river. 

It was then time for a selfie before bed.

This trip home was less stressful.  We got up at 4am so that Maggie could drive me to the airport at 4:45.  I had a two hour layover in Atlanta which gave me the chance to hide a QC Rocks in a bathroom stall and to make my connection with no running.  QC Rocks has a FaceBook page if you are wondering what that is.  I was able to make it to work by 12:30pm so I would only have to take 1/2 day of leave time.  I had a great time on this trip. I miss the girls.