The Quinn's Awesome Journey

I’m going to start this with a huge THANK YOU to those of you who took the time to respond to my post about my forever friend, Susan, and to those of you who are keeping her in your prayers even though you didn’t leave a written comment. I hope your numbers are many.

Susan went in for a biopsy on Tuesday and I talked to her when “came to” although she was really out of it because of the lingering anesthesia and the 30mg of Percoset. How did I know this? One of her fears was to learn that her whole lung would have to be removed instead of the just upper lobe. When she told me this news she said, “Hey Snook, they are going to have to take the whole lung”, and then she giggled. I knew then she was kind of out of it and I asked if she was on drugs. She replied, “Oh yeah, some really good sh_ _ and then she giggled again. I just told her that I would talk to her the next day because I knew that in all probability she wasn’t even going to remember our conversation.

So that is where things stand right now with my forever friend. Appointments are set up with doctors and treatments are being lined up and her attitude is nothing short of amazing. Her mantra seems to be, “it is what it is, now let’s move on and fix it”. I am pleased to announce that I have pulled up my big girl panties and I’m going to see her through this all the way. Watch out Big C..you don’t know who you are dealing with!

Bob and I have some news of our own. We are going home to Delaware for the summer! We had been looking for some camp host work in different areas and Bob just happen to look in the Delaware listings and found one last position open for the Delaware State Seashore Park, or as we Delawareans know it, the campground at the Inlet.

We had applied early last week and on Friday had our telephone interview. When we hung up I told Bob I had a good feeling about it, that I thought we were going to be chosen. Of course we had to wait until Tuesday to find out and we got the call Tuesday morning. So we’re heading home.

I called my mom yesterday and told her the news. It was so funny.

Me: Hi Mom, I’ve got some news.

Her: Oh, what?

Me: We’re coming in late April or early May.

Her: So soon, I thought you’d come later.

Me: We’re coming home for the whole summer!

Her: (Sharp intake of breath) THE WHOLE SUMMER?????

Me: Yeah, we’re going to be staying at the beach,.,……..

After I explained everything to her I asked if she had a feeling of panic when I told her we were coming home for the whole summer. She said, “OMG my heart jumped up to my throat! I couldn’t imagine you two staying with us all summer with no truck!” We had a good laugh, as much as I love them I couldn’t imagine living with them for three plus months even with a truck at our disposal.

So the parents are happy we’re coming home but bringing ours with us.

Here’s what Inlet looks like.

The water on the lower part of the screen is the Atlantic Ocean. The water going under the bridge is of course “the inlet”, the upper portion of water is the bay. The campground where we’ll be hosts, along with four other couples, is situated on the left side on the far side of the bridge. Not the area out in the water, that is the marina, just on the other side of the bridge. It is a parking lot type campground with some grassy areas, lots of sand and cement.

Bob is a happy camper! He can fish everyday!

We are only 90 minutes from family and friends and a lot of our friends have beach houses anyway so we’ll see them lots.

We don’t have a definite date for leaving AZ as yet but we’re going to give ourselves plenty of time to get home and be able to stop and sightsee along the way. Between you and me….I’m ready to leave now! Two years is too long to go without seeing family and friends.

Bob and I went to the 24th Annual Pinal County AGRI-COUNTRY Bluegrass Jamboree, Arts & Crafts Bazaar, Car Show & Tractor Pull. Whew, that was a mouthful!

We got there around one in the afternoon and I wish we had gotten there earlier, much earlier. There were some acts I would have liked to have listened to and shows I would have liked to have seen had we only known the days schedule.

After the rain we’ve had it was nice to get outside and spend some time in the sunshine.

After paying our admission to the Pinal County Fairgrounds we walked through the Car Show section. Nothing unusual about this Car Show. Lots of restored “muscle cars” a whole slew of Avanti’s, which to tell you ya truth, I don’t even remember this car even though they were made from ‘69 through ‘84. I don’t think it was an especially nice looking car but evidently there is a local Avanti car club because there were 7 or 8 all lined up in a row.

Getting back to cars I know, I took some pictures of pretty classic car show entries.

Of course there has to be a really old car painted an orange-y red, I think its a law.

And then there is the banana yellow car or truck with flames, another car show staple.

All the vehicles were pretty much standard car show entries. That’s not to say there weren’t some outstanding looking cars, lets give credit where credit is due, but all in all pretty much a run of the mill car show. Until we saw this…..

This rust bucket drew a lot of lookers and gave everyone a few chuckles.

The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were at the fair but we didn’t get to see them in full harness pulling a wagon or anything. I did take this one picture of one of them. We were just amazed at how BIG this horse was. If I stood next to him I could not see over his back. I would be looking at this side because I’m just not tall enough otherwise. Now that I think about it, Bob wouldn’t have been able to see over his back either. He is 19.1 hands. That’s 77 inches, six foot five! We are talkin’ one big horse!

I didn’t know until we were leaving that there was an area on display from the Civil War era. Local folks dressed in period costume and demonstrated how tasks were completed back in the day. I had seen this couple earlier in the day and took their picture because I was so “surprised” at the way they were dressed. Not knowing this demonstration was taking place they just seemed out of place to me.

After watching a few acts on the outside stage and taking in what all the outside vendors had to offer and being tantalized by the aroma of kettle corn, deep fried turkey legs and corn dogs on a stick, it was time to move into the main pavilion.

Lots of booths were set up here and many I remembered seeing at the street fair a couple of weeks ago. I could have had a two minute back massage if I had wanted one and I could have bought some miracle dry skin cream if I was so inclined and I could have even gotten a years subscription to the Arizona Dispatch newspaper. Dozens of sun catchers were on display and i could have bought wall metal work in the shape of chili peppers, a bucking bronco or the standard southwest kokopelli. Actually, I could have spent a fair amount of money, which is why I didn’t bring any. However, I did collect a few business cards so I can place an order from the web sites.

There was one booth that I was especially fond of. I watched this young lady at her craft and looked at the finished products of her trade with awe. She is one talented lady.

She had dozens and dozens of framed dried flower “pictures” on display, each one more beautiful than the next.

After perusing all the wares offered for sale I moved to the back of the building where the stage was set up. Bob was already there listening to the lively bluegrass music. I’m not a great fan of bluegrass so I didn’t last too long here.

While I am amazed how fast they can play those banjos and fiddles, well, it just isn’t my cup of tea. Bob, on the other hand…..

I soon had enough of this and wandered back outside just in time to see the world famous,,,,drum roll please……DOGGIES OF THE WILD WEST SHOW!

I took my place in the bleachers and watched these little chihuahua’s and terriers do their thing.

Here’s “Calamity Jo” balancing one of the pups on her head.

Balancing seemed to be a big thing with this show, here’s on the dogs balancing itself on ONE PAW. It really was pretty amazing.

Audience participation was a big thing and some kids were taken out of the audience so that this little Jack Russell could show off his jumping ability.

Clearing two kids was no problem.

The challenge was upped by one more…..

…..and this little dynamo cleared them with no problem.

I thought four bodies was going to be bit much for those short little legs …..

……but he proved me wrong with room to spare.

Afterwards, he waited patiently for his treat.

These dogs, and their owners of course, have appeared on Leno, Letterman and Animal Planet. They are all rescues and travel the bluegrass festival circuit.

So that was our exciting day. Practically knocks your socks off doesn’t it?

An Open Letter to My FRIEND

I met you when you were five years old. I was six. We played in the yard and on your swing. That’s all we had as we were only together on occasional weekends when I went to my grandparents cottage at the beach. Besides, we weren't allowed out of your yard.

A couple of years later, we were probably seven and eight and we went out on your parents boat. No bathing suits but It didn’t matter, we stripped down to panties and thought it was such a special day to go swimming like that. I can remember the fishing poles coming out and your dad baiting hook after hook because we had somehow gotten into a school of perch and we were pulling them in one after the other. Or maybe it wasn’t a school but two dumb fish that didn’t have sense enough to swim away.

We played with your dog Honey, and then Candy, when she came along. If I’m not mistaken there was even a monkey in the household for a short time at some point.

Do you remember when we were ten and eleven and we would go to the pavilion in the evening, parents in tow of course, and we found a place on the “wall” around the open air dance floor and we couldn’t wait for the right songs to play on the jukebox so that we could line dance with the teenagers?

Do you remember the summer we were thirteen and fourteen? Your dad was taking us waterskiing and just as we were loading the skis and whatever else we had the fire whistle went off. Your dad went to see what was going on a the firehouse across the street. There was a drowning in the river and with him being a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the boat was ready to go, we were called into service. Young teenagers holding the ropes to the bar of grappling hooks. Wanting to be the ones who found the drowned man but scared to death that we would, in fact, be the ones.

Fast forward to the next summer and now we’re fifteen and sixteen. We were now the teenagers at the beach. Do you remember the night we took white sheets from home and had Alan drive us out to the “haunted house” a couple of miles outside the beach and leave us. He went back to get the others and when they arrived and made their way to the scary second story we came out of the rooms on either side of the staircase, covered in white sheets, Do you remember the screams of those twenty or so kids, boys and girls alike? Do you remember how hard we laughed? I’ll never ever forget that.

Same summer…..we wanted to go roller skating at the roller rink and before it was over we had 72 kids going with us.

We spent our days on the beach tanning with our many friends or on the river water skiing. Oh those were the days.

The next summer we were sixteen and seventeen and our dads were commuting and we’re living at the beach practically all summer. this is the summer we discover Boonesfarm Wine and weed. Our weekend nights were spent in a cornfield at a keg party or on that old back road known simply as “Old Faithful”. Oh what a summer that was! I wish we had a dollar for every lie we told our parents that summer!

We graduate, we get jobs and our own cars and our horizons broaden. It isn’t long before you’re twenty and I’m twenty-one. We took our first flight together as we jetted off for a fabulous week in Hawaii. We’re not satisfied with the cottage anymore, we head to the ocean for our weekends now. That’s where the real party-ing is taking place and we have to be there.

You get married and I was your Maid of Honor. When it fell apart I was there for you. When you had your son just a month later after your separation, I was there for you then too. I spent my weekends at your place because of all places for you to live, you were back at the cottage. It was like we came home.

Through the years, we’ve never lost touch. Through failed romances, marriages, remarriages, your son growing up, through my husband going to Desert Storm, through other problems better left unsaid here, you were there for me and I was there for you. Always.

We’ve been through this journey we call life together, standing up for each other, telling each other when we were wrong, encouraging each other when one was down, standing by each other’s side the whole way. I’ve had your back, you’ve had mine.

I’m going to be by your side as we travel this next phase in our lives. This isn’t something I would have ever wished for you. Since you called me the other day and gave me this “news”, you have been on my mind. Rarely are you not in my thoughts. I pray for you ten times a day at least. I want this to go away. I’m not as strong as you are right now. I cry and I feel bad that I cry because you are so upbeat and positive that you will win this battle. You HAVE to win this battle! I want to have that same attitude but I’m not there yet. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this and I’m just not there yet. I feel terrible that I’m not but its going to take me a little bit of time to get there. But I will. I will be there for you when and if you need me. But you know that already, don’t you?

You amaze me my friend, You talk about this, the Big C as you called it, like its a wart or something. You voice has not so much as wavered when we’ve talked. Are you in fact being strong for me? Do you know me so well that you know that I have to dwell on this for a bit, that I have to turn this over and over in my mind and then let reality sink in and accept what is? Well, I don’t want to accept this! I don’t want this to be! I don’t want to talk about biopsies, and lung scans, and chemo and radiation and an operation, I don’t want these words associated with YOU! But they are. And I hate it already,

Very soon now I will pull up my big girl panties and accept that this is reality, For you. And for me. Yes, both of us because I will be at your side this entire journey. Not physically of course, you’re in Georgia and who knows what state I’ll be in after April. I will be there any hour of the day that you need me. I am but a phone call away. I promise to laugh with you, I promise to cry with you, I promise to be strong when you need me to be and I promise to just sit on the phone and listen to your silence when you need that too. I will be there for you. Always. We will face this demon together.

Our amazing friendship now spans fifty continuous years. FIFTY YEARS! Not many our age can say that my friend. I’m looking forward to at least thirty more!

I am so glad you are my forever friend. I love you girlfriend.

We’re hoping the worst of the storms are over. I had reason to go outside of the park today and took my camera with me.

The wind is still with us as you can see. Not blowing nearly as hard as it was but the palm trees are standing straight OUT!

You can see in the picture below how much sand is on the road, and how much water we still have on the roadways, the next day.

We still have lots of clouds rolling through although for the most part the sun is out.

The drainage ditches are full.

Water has settled in between the rows of newly plowed cotton fields.

This stop sign wasn’t knocked over by a car….look at how it is twisted at the bottom. The wind did this and this isn’t the only one I saw like this.

There is still lots of standing water on the streets.

When I got back I took a walk around the park. Here’s our horseshoes pits. A mesquite tree was uprooted.

The water just doesn’t have anywhere to go.

I don’t think we’ll be playing mini golf anytime soon.

This is a picture from last year when we were using this area for the Frisbee Toss during the Winter Olympics.

This is what it looks like today!

Take note of the blue rock. It says, “The Shore at Quail Run”. This is our lake….when the retention pond fills.

Needless to say, these storms have been on the news ALOT! Much like a blizzard on the east coast is. News people at every flooded intersection reporting.

Hopefully sunny skies are in our future.

We had been hearing about the “rain event” for several days but I don’t think any of us were expecting what we got.

Can you say torrential downpour? Can you sat WIND in all caps??

It started with the wind. I wasn’t out and about but my friends Don and LaVon were and I’ve captured some pictures from her blog, with permission of course, to show you what it was like here.

This is picture from I-10.

Look closely and you can see the outline of a mountain through the flying sand.

Here is a picture from downtown Casa Grande, see the tan color at the horizon? That’s blowing sand!

Heading back towards their place they passed this tree. This is what a sandstorm looks like. Oh the joy of living in the desert.

…….and it just gets worse.

This will give you an idea of how hard the wind was blowing. That dark section is thicker cloud of dust.

When we looked out the windows at our place we could see shingles from our neighbors houses flying by. Some lost quite a few. We were lucky and ours stayed in place. We did have some window leaks though.

And then the rain came….

It just poured! That in itself wouldn’t be bad but the ground here is not conducive to absorbing all this water in such a short amount of time. We had heard that the rain and wind were worse than they usually get during their monsoon season in the summertime.

There were several tractor trailers blown over on Interstate 10 and accident after accident because of flooded roads and zero visibility because of the dust storm.

One good thing, the rain cleaned the air!

I had a new experience today. I volunteered with a group of approximately 20 – 22 women here in the RV park at the weekly meeting of Helping Hands.

Every week this wonderful group of ladies gather together in the Oasis and get right to work pulling out sewing machines, yards of material, patterns, pincushions, scissors, needles, thread and cotton for stuffing.

Teddy bears are made for children in the local shelter for abused women and their children. These teddy bears are “comfort bears” for these kids who had to leave everything behind.

Caps for chemo patients are sewn for those who can’t afford or don’t want a wig. All the caps are lined with white cotton…..

……and then paired with a pretty outer material.

My job today was to help the cut the material for the caps and personal item bags to be sewn. I liked doing this job, all except for that one jab with a straight pin.

The personal items bags are filled with shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand cream and whatever else and given to the women at the local shelter because sometimes they have to leave their homes and don’t even have time to gather things like this.

Wool slippers are made for ladies in the local nursing home to help keep their feet warm.

Will I spend an afternoon doing this again? You Bet! I enjoyed the conversations, knowing that I was helping and this is just the best group of ladies to spend an afternoon with. Yep, Helping Hands will be filling my Wednesday afternoons!

I have a stat keeper on my blog that you’ve heard me mention before. It tells me where our readers are from as far as city and state and country go. It tells me what time of day readers are reading, how they got to the blog whether it be through a site where the blog is listed, such as Hitchitch or whether the blog is bookmarked or put in someone's Favorite Places and therefore a direct hit. It tells me all kinds of things.

One of my favorite stats to look at is the section that tells me what keywords were put into a search engine such as Google or Bing that brings them to this blog. I’ve gotten some pretty strange info from this section. If someone is having a problem with a groundhog they may google “how to kill a groundhog” Yep, they get directed to this blog because a couple of years ago when the groundhog saw his shadow I wrote something like, KILL THE GROUNDHOG! There’s a lot of people out there that want to kill groundhogs!

I do have a reason for telling you all of this. I’ve taken notice recently that I see keywords like How tall is Snookie in this section. I mean, I see this A LOT! I’m wondering, why do people want to know how tall I am? It’s no secret, I’ll tell ya, Five foot two. Then I took notice of Snookie at Jersey Shore and I’m thinking to myself, “I don't ever recall blogging that I was frequent weekend guest at beach house in Wildwood, NJ (known as part of the Jersey Shore) back in the mid-seventies. I even emailed Dianne, a forever friend of mine and asked her if she had any idea why readers were interested in how tall I am and how did they find out that I had some pretty wild weekends in Wildwood. I just didn’t get it.

Then I figured it out, I was watching TV a couple of weeks ago and they kept showing this clip over and over and over again. It was a young woman, a VERY VERTICALLY CHALLENGED (4 ft. 11 in.) young woman getting punched in the face at a bar at the JERSEY SHORE. Ahhhh…..MTV’s reality show,,, JERSEY SHORE. I don’t watch MTV anymore and I wasn’t aware of this show. It seems as though there is one really foul mouthed young lady female nicknamed Snooki on the show. Sheesh, she doesn’t even spell it right!

So, it turns out it wasn’t all about me after all. No one really cared how tall I am!

We’ve got rain in the desert! Short spurts of rain have settled the dust here in the desert. The weatherman was calling for a week of rain a few days ago but that just hasn’t happened, however, all information is pointing to a rain event tomorrow through Friday morning. We’re supposed to get up to 2 inches of rain and that is a lot for ground that is so hard that it can’t absorb it. There will be flooded streets tomorrow!

We are still having nice weather here overall. Its shorts most days for me and that makes me a happy camper. Its by no means a pool day everyday right now.

I was in the mall last week and bathing suits and summer clothes are out in full force. I can understand it here in this area, starting next month we should be laying out at the pool on a regular basis again. Are those of you with snow on the ground looking at bathing suits in the stores?

I want to share a website that a friend of mine shared with me. If you would like to see your childhood home or even the one you live in now go to VPIKE. I found that I had to click on the “man” to get it to start. I looked at my childhood home, where my parents still live, and the picture was taken when no one was home because the car wasn’t in the driveway. Have fun with it!