Some things are universal...

A view from Rick and Tami's deck over the mouth of Morattico Creek

This week has flown by....Monday was spent at MCV with Kristy. She had a gazillion more tests and they finally discharged her around 7:30 pm so we got her home, then I headed for the river. She was feeling pretty good, and very happy to be out of the hospital.
Wanda called and was taking our Mom to the hospital on Saturday evening; seems she has some pneumonia and kidney and heart issues. Mom is 85 but she is one sharp cookie and bounces back from everything, so we think she'll be just fine soon.

Over the weekend the guys decided to "take a look" at the hot tub on Rick and Tami's deck. One of the interesting things about RVing is spending time with the many friends we meet. I have observed that ALL men are uncontrollably drawn to any RV with a compartment open and a diagnosis in progress. Just let one guy open the door to any mechanical item, and within a very short time, ALL the guys in the area will be leaning over said compartment in the midst of a serious diagnosing conversation. I'm quite sure it's a testosterone related issue!! Well, the verdict is in, and it is not restricted to RV travelers...it is definitely part of the male makeup....group diagnosing!!! In the photo below you can see the best side of Rick and Bob, with Dale hovering, as the male group gene takes control with this hot tub issue!

And all this time I believed this syndrome was related to RV travel. Well, I know that theory is dispelled, as it applies universally, to ALL men, anytime, anyplace!
At any rate, it is great entertainment for us gals to observe all the intricacies of this male ritual!!

I'm not sure if they fixed the hot tub, but they most assuredly "took a whack at it"!

We completed our Dr's appointments and spent some time just relaxing.....I think we had almost forgotten how, we've been on the go for so long!! But it was a nice week with pleasant weather. Bob had his colonoscopy today, which was pronounced "fine", so he's good to go for another five years.
We spent most of Thursday and some of Friday preparing for the Clam Bake tomorrow. The seafood, corn, potatoes, carrots, onions and chicken are here and there was a little assembly line going this afternoon getting everything prepped for tomorrow.
This evening Bob dropped off to sleep (think he still had a little residual "drugs" in his system)so I played Hand and Foot with Evelyn and Chuck and Donna. Evelyn and I lost, but it was fun playing!

Tomorrow starts the Labor Day weekend and we'll have the Clam Bake and Golf cart parade here on the island.....should be a a great weekend!

HUGS TO EVERYONE!

Pearson's Island at the River

Sunset view over the Rappahannock

What a nice weekend at the river!!! The weather has been just great !! Both of us have been fighting the "ole back ache" after all the recent activity, so there's been alot of relaxing going on....well, attempting to anyway!!

It was good to see all the folks on Pearson's Island again and do a little visiting. Paul and Katie came down on Sunday and spent the day, which was nice. Next weekend, for Labor day, there'll be a big Clam Bake and Island Party at Rick and Tami's (formerly our "cottage"), so we spent some time making the plans for this. Bob does a terrific Clam Bake, Yum Yum!!

We rode our bikes some, as well as the golf cart and just enjoyed being back at the River. It is so soothing to be here and just enjoy "being here". There's no other place quite like it.

Bob has a Dr's appointment Monday, in preparation for his routine colonoscopy on Friday, and I will leave early heading to MCV Hospital to be with Kristy all day. Hopefully they'll let her go home...her four day stay turned into an eleven day stay; this is how it always seems to go for her.

Another sunset view, over the creek

Minkie has been sickish this weekend, so there may be trip to vet on the schedule also!! Oh well, we'll all get our Doctor's appointments taken care of!!

Hugs to everyone, and many thanks to everyone for your well wishes and prayers for Kristy! :)

Down on the farm....

It's been a busy week here in Montpelier. Bob has been playing plumber, electrician, lumber jack, farmer and lots more. They've completed lots of little and big projects. We've done a little gardening and played with the dogs and kitties.

Mudslide, Kahlua and Bombay



Thursday Bob and I took the tractor and the chain saw, and felled a tall pine which was looking a little like it might take a dive into the barn at some point, should a bad storm come up. So, with the bucket on the front of the tractor, I used it to keep pressure on the tree while Bob worked his chain saw magic. Of course, he said, "Now if this tree looks like it's going to fall this way, you jump off the tractor quick like and run like heck", to which I replied, "Don't worry, I'll be jumping high and far if that tree comes my way. Which way will you be going??" Fortunately, this tree cooperated and dropped right where he wanted it. I'm now a seasoned "tractor tree pusher", so if you need any trees felled, just look us up!! :)



We all enjoyed Shrimp Scampi and peach cobbler one night, fresh yellow squash, corn, tomatoes and catfish another evening, then Bob grilled robust steaks and we made Crab Imperial for Katie and to top the steaks for the rest of us!!! Oh and a Blueberry Pie... Yum, Yum!! One of my favorite meals, and we always love cooking dinner for the kids while we are here.
The weather has been beautiful.....it's pleasant to sit on the deck for dinner every evening and then sleep with the breeze blowing thru the windows. And there's a sweet chill in the air each morning, a harbinger of the Autumn soon to come. It's been a very busy but enjoyable week.

I spent several days at MCV playing Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy for Kristy while she receives more chemo and is preparing to undergo the bone marrow transplant. She is a trooper and rarely complains. She is very scared and to be honest, so am I. I worry so much about her, as she has a great deal facing her. She suffers tremendously; I can only imagine how she feels. How she handles everything that is thrown at her is hard to comprehend. It seems each day brings a longer stay in the hospital, or another issue, chemo reaction, etc and the list just goes on and on. She is always grateful and thankful for everything you do for her and keeps a sweet spirit. It is very hard on my sister, Kathryn (KK); I don't know how she deals with it as well as she does. She does so much for Kristy and has a very full plate. Having never been faced with such a situation before, I am overwhelmed by it.
What a truly dreadful disease; I know we're not supposed to ask "Why?" but it sure is hard to accept.

We leave the farm on Friday and will head to the river for a week or so. We have several doctor's appointments next week and errands to attend to, so it will be a busy week. But we sure plan to have some relaxation after all the "moving" we've been doing. We'll stay there until after Labor Day, when we'll head back to Maryland for a short visit with Tiff and Scott, then it's on to Elkhart, Indiana, then Celina, Ohio for the Gypsy Journal Rally and to have some work done on the MH. After the Rally we'll return to Richmond to help care for Kristy during her transplant and recovery.

Hugs to everyone!

A roap trip to Junie and Sue's!

Wednesday we planned to visit our former neighbors from Warsaw; they sold their home about a week before we did and moved to Powhatan, VA, which is about a 50 minute drive from Montpelier. Junie and Sue are about the best neighbors one could have and we enjoy them immensley. Most afternoons, when the weather was pleasant, we would gather on their deck for "Happy Hour". Now, we were most always happy, whether it was sharing some yard work, or the clothes line or an afternoon libation with these guys. They are great folks!!

So we headed to Powhatan and had a great visit and enjoyed their company and their lovely home!
Sue and Junie

Sue had marvelous appetizers and we enjoyed our time on the back deck, just like we used to in Warsaw.


Of course, their new home is just delightful, and I was really pleased to see one of my Mom's old, hand painted plates hanging on their kitchen wall.(Junie saved it during our "moving" process!) They have a knack for making everything they do turn our just perfectly and it is always a joy to see and spend time with them.

We ended the evening back at the farm and watched some Olympics with the kids before heading to the MH for another night sleeping with the cool breeze blowing in!

Hugs to all!!

Back at the farm...

Well, another week of moving has passed and things are looking pretty good! Bob left Maryland Friday in the MH, heading to the farm to begin helping Paul with some projects there. I stayed on in Catonsville to help Tiff and Scott put a few more things away and generally get the moving over with. They still have a few books and things to sort through, but have the house pretty straight. If you want to see photos you can visit http://howellshome.blogspot.com/ . I'll post some here soon.


I left Maryland Sunday morning early, hoping to beat the traffic on I 95 and was mostly successful. After getting through the mixing bowl in Springfield with no slowdown, which is in itself nothing short of a miracle, I made it all the way to Fredericksburg before traffic slowed to the typical 35-45 mph stop-n-go cycle that is the norm for Northern VA and I 95. I hopped off in Ashland to do a little shopping and then took Route 54 on over to Montpelier, arriving at the farm around 2 pm. It was great to see Paul and Katie and all the grand-dogs and kitties.

Bombay, the granddog, says "Hello"!


It's so quiet and peaceful here, and with the weather being cooler and dryer, we can sleep with the windows open and enjoy the quiet of the country.

Dinner was Chubby Chicken Salads (well, Chubby Shrimp for Katie:)) out on the big deck; it was a cool relaxing night.

Monday and Tuesday will be spent at MCV hospital with Kristy. There is another Bone Marrow Transplant meeting on Tuesday, this one includes her children. She is back in the hospital now having the first of her Third Phase of chemo drugs, and they are preparing for the BMT, hopefully to take place around the middle of September. She spends four days in the hospital, then three back at home for three or four cycles during this phase. Hopefully she can avoid any infections or set backs, so the BMT can take place in September. So keep those prayers coming, please!

Hugs to everyone!

Moving Day!

Monday is move-in day......Oh boy, more moving; you'd think we'd be over this by now!! But we sure have enjoyed being with the kids, and being able to help out a little. It's been nice spending time with them, even though we've been working hard many days.
It was nice to get a little rest between loading day and move in day....so Monday morning was pretty easy, as they went to closing and we all did the final walk through of their new home.
Everything went smoothly and the men arrived with the load from Warsaw, unloaded it efficiently and then they unloaded the big truck and helped get all the boxes into house and on the appropriate floor. Whew, this house has a lot of steps, too.

We were all pretty worn out by the end of the day, and there was much work to be done...but we got their bed set up so they could spend the night and then we headed back to the MH for a good nights' rest in our own bed!!!

We'll all start again early on Tuesday morning, to get the house straight and tidy as soon as possible!!

Load 'em up......

Saturday the Great Big Truck arrived, along with several young guys to help load it up!

Jimmy, Bob and Clark (NOT the "young" guys!)

Thank goodness for for these lithe, strong guys, able to just about leap up two flights of stairs and skip back down with armoires and vanities like they weighed almost nothing! ....well, maybe it wasn't quite that easy...but they sure were alot of help and got the truck loaded in about three hours. Everything wouldn't fit in the 24 footer, but they packed it tight and sure tried hard! We then proceeded to corral all the items that didn't make it onto the truck into the livingroom and started cleaning and tidying up.

We were all pretty much pooped by 2 pm so we took power naps, then met up at Old Ellicott City for dinner at a little Mexican restaurant there. Ellicott City is a quaint village adjacent to Catonsville. This once booming mill town was established in 1772 when three Ellicott brothers ventured down from Buck County, PA, constructed the flour mill, and watched it grow into one of the largest milling towns in the East. These brothers introduced fertilizer to local farmers and convinced them to grow wheat instead of tobacco, thus providing grain to be milled in the Ellicott's Mill.

In 1830 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built a station in Ellicott City and many "Baltimoreans" built lovely summer homes along the Patapsaco River in both Ellicott and Catonsville. Thus, if you drive the steep, winding roads thru these villages and Oella, you will see many of these "cottages", both grand and modest, some lovingly restored and somewhat reminiscent of the homes seen in the Bar Harbor area of Maine. When in Ellicott or Catonsville, it is often easy to forget that you're in the middle of the huge metropolitan area that is Baltimore, such is the grace about the area. These areas are somewhat insulated from the "rough and tumble" of Baltimore by the huge Patapsaco State Park, which serves as a green and natural barrier between the areas.
It's fun to wander the narrow cobblestone streets and peruse the antique and novelty shops.

We enjoyed a tasty dinner at La Palapa, on the patio area, as it was another lovely evening. The food was great, but the service was out of whack!! Our poor waitress seemed to forget most everything, including our plates! But it was all good and we had another fun evening.

Tiff and Scott



Jimmy, Tiff, Bob, Cindy, and Scott

Jimmy and Cindy

After dinner, it was back to Scott and Tiff's for another game of Acquire.

A serious game of "Acquire"!

Later, after Bob defeated us yet again, we feasted on a little Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing. (This is my sister Wanda's icing recipe and it really is YUMMY.... she makes the BEST Carrot Cake!) It was quickly discovered that Cindy is the "Icing Queen" as she was stealing everyone's icing! Scott capitulated and she scarfed up most of his icing!!!

Click on the arrow below to see the slide show of Cindy's attack and victory over Scott:




The last day of packing and loading ended with most of us a little worse for the wear, but we sure had alot of fun along the way!

Hugs to everyone!

Eight, Eight, Oh Eight!!

Oh my, today is 8/8/08 and the start of the Olympics in China.

I don't know about you, but there's already been more about China on TV this past week than I truly care to see (after watching very little TV! :)). I'm one of those who remain convinced that China "is what it is" and media flattering won't change my humble opinion. What's for certain, is that too many (almost all) of our manufacturing capabilities (and jobs) have gone way too far East for comfort, and it sure would be nice to be able to buy an American made shirt again! Oh well, no one is much interested in what I think about it, but don't think I'll be watching the "glamorization" of China on American TV!

So 8/8/08 is but a fleeting day in our lifetimes, it was a bright, sunny, fresh day here in Maryland. No humidity...Yeah!... Dixie, the Oggie Doggie beagle, got a nice long walk with Tiff and I, on this pleasant day.

Dixie, the Oggie, Doggie beagle


Many more things were boxed and organized at Tiff's house in preparation for her moving day. The truck comes tomorrow morning to be loaded up!!

Jimmy and Cindy Lynn arrived this afternoon and helped with the packing. We all agree that Tiff sure has ALOT of stuff!!

In the evening, a drive over to Catonsville to scope out the new home was made. It's a sweet home on a lovely street, with an inviting yard. And there's lot's of character, since the homes were all built in the 1940's, with arched doorways, and built-in bookcases and window seats, and other delightful little details you just don't find in newly built homes today. Some photos will follow soon!!

Several years ago, we had a truly delicious pizza at a place called Ledo's in Lancaster, PA. It was one of the best we'd tasted, so when it was noticed that there were "Ledo's" here in Maryland, it became our destination for dinner. True to memory, it was worth the trip!

Scott and Tiff, Jimmy and Cindy Lynn and Bob and I devoured (almost) three scrumptious pizzas. Let's see, there was the "Anything" one with bacon, sausage, beef, pepperoni, 'shrooms and all other manner of good stuff; the "Hawaiian", (my favorite) with pineapple and Canadian bacon, and the "White", with pesto basil, fontina, romano, and parmesan cheeses. All of them on this sort of light and slightly buttery crust, reminiscent of the Chicago type crusts.

It was another fun and YUMMY dinner with family, on 8/8/08!

Good Mexican with "SPam"....

Tuesday was a "day off" from packing for us! Tiff had to be in Fairfax for a meeting at her office, so we had an easy day and ran a few errands. Found a new Super Wal-mart here and picked up a few needed things and did a little tidying up in the MH.

Friends and fellow RVers, Smokey and Pam Ridgely are in Hagerstown, MD for the summer, so we made arrangements to meet them in Frederick for dinner. After a nice drive up to the "Fajita Grande" restaurant, we had a good time visiting and enjoying a great Mexican dinner with these fine folks, affectionately known as "SPam". They drive about the biggest truck we've seen.....

Pam in the Big Truck

......and it is occasionally a RDBE ( Rig Driven By Estrogen) as Pam is an accomplished driver also!!

We have met so many great RVers and made many good friends, and these guys are truly the "cream of the crop"; It was nice to share the evening with such good company....we love SPam!!

Tomorrow we'll be back to work packing up and will enjoy spending a little more time with Tiff and Scott!

Hugs to everyone!!

Have you seen these guys????

Bob


If you have.......call 1-800-Lock-U-Up!! Scott

Just so everyone can see them hard at work "packing"!! :) :)

Hugs!!

Still packing and moving, but it's all fun...

The past few days were spent packing boxes and organizing things for Tiff's move to Catonsville. She and Scott have been preparing for the move, so we just waded in and started packing as she gave us direction. It is going quite well, so we keep a pretty easy pace. Bob gets his nap every afternoon and I take Dixie, our grand-beagle for a walk every morning. Tiff works from home most days so she is around all day, but usually busy in the office. It is nice to be there when she "pops" out for a break and we get to chat and visit. Usually we stop at a little Mom-N-Pop shop here, Rives Store, and pick up some of their incredible breakfast sandwiches on the way in. They cook about fifteen pounds of bacon every morning, and must put about 6 big pieces on each Bacon McMuffinwich. Yep, we're surely getting an overdose of cholesterol on these morsels, but it's nice to sit and enjoy breakfast with Tiff after we get there. Besides, we need sustenance for the arduous job of packing all those boxes each day!!

In the evenings we cook dinner together then play games. We have been playing "Acquire" the past few evenings and our strategies intensify every night. It is a game of acquistion and development of hotel chains and is really alot of fun.

Sunday, we made Shrimp Scampi and cooked sweet corn on the cob and butter beans in the afternoon, and the kids came over to the motorhome here at Fort Meade for dinner. It was such a lovely night...all the humidity was gone and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the meal. There was time for a walk down by the lake to see the ducks and beavers. Of course, then it was another cut-throat game of Acquire, ending in a tie between Tiff and Bob. Dessert was a home-made Brumble-berry (peach and blueberry) Cobbler. Yum Yum again!!


Tomorrow Tiff works at the office in Fairfax, so we are planning a little road trip towards Hagerstown. We may look up Smokey and Pam Ridgely for a dinner in the evening. So no packing tomorrow!!

Hugs to everyone!

Oh, this must be my blogsite!!!

OK, OK, I've been very remiss about updating the blog!!! It has been a very hectic month...and that is an understatement!!! Thanks to everyone who emailed or called to check on us....we really are alive and well, and ready to travel!!!

We spent two long weeks packing and moving out of the house and it was quite a job!!! We finally finished and closed on the house last Friday the 25th of July!!Yippee, no more lawn to mow! But I really do love to cut grass and work in the yard, so I'm available!! :) :) I know Paul and Katie will let me help out on the farm yard and there's always some grass to cut at the river, so I'm quite sure I can get my "yard fix" any 'ole time!!!

As if we haven't done enough "moving", we are now in Fort Meade, Maryland, for the next three weeks or so to help Tiffany and Scott move into their new home in Catonsville, MD. There is plenty of packing to do here!!! There's a truck load coming up next week from our house and we left a load at Jimmy's house which he is bringing up this weekend, so there will be a huge moving party in Odenton at Tiff's house, just in case anyone feels the need to pack and move heavy boxes and furniture!! We are now very experienced at this!!! It will be good to spend time with the "kids" and we enjoy helping them, so we are looking forward to having a nice visit during this time!!

Early morning sunrise over Lancaster Creek at the river

It was great to see Joe & Marcia Jones for a long weekend!! They came by last Thursday and stayed at the river with us until Monday...had a great time with them just relaxing after the big move and "just messing about" at the river. Carol Jean and Leonard Burton took us out fishing and we had a little fish fry last Friday night, complete with fresh tomatoes and spoon bread...Yum, was that good!!

Joe and Bob get ready to fish

Enjoying the Fish Fry: Carol Jean, Bob, Joe, Marcia and Leonard

We also celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on the 23rd of July. We were too tired to go out on the 23rd, but Tiff & Scott and Paul & Katie surprised us with reservations at La Fourchette in Adams Morgan, Washington DC; one of our very favorite restaurants!! So we had a delightful dinner there last night, after we arrived here in Maryland. Thanks to our favorite kids for a wonderful surprise and dinner!!! :)

Tomorrow, August 2nd, is my niece, Kristy Williams, 35th birthday. She is bravely fighting her battle with leukemia, so wish her a happy birthday tomorrow.

Hugs to everyone!!!