My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Our 50th Anniversary Dinner and Vacation Part 1

I'm so tired I could lay this body down and go to sleep and it's only 6:15 pm. We got back home last night at about 9 pm. It was the longest it's ever taken us to travel down to California or return, but there's a reason for that. (Sit back because this is going to be a long post.)

Love Bunny got a ticket a few weeks ago. But what makes it truly remarkable is that I was with him and just a few minutes earlier we had been talking about speeding on the very road we were on when he got the ticket. It's near our house and it was in a school zone. HE said he didn't see the flashing lights on the school zone sign. (DUH!) Now, this is remarkable since it was on a corner, kids were everywhere, parents were picking kids up and I had just nagged him about speeding. (I've gotten 3 tickets in my entire life; he's gotten 5 in the last 3-4 years.) He was accelerating and got to 41 mph in a 20 mph zone this particular day. I saw the cop coming from the opposite direction and had just opened my mouth when he turned around and put on his roof lights to pull hubs over. I'm a nag when it comes to speeding. I just don't speed. No reason to. We're retired and not in a hurry no matter what.

To say I was angry is putting a real shine on it. I was furious, livid and if there were any other adjectives to describe my mood, they have slipped my brain at the moment. I didn't speak to him for about 18 hours, waiting for my anger to calm down. When I did, I told him I'd not drive with him again if this continues OR he can drive and I'll nag him each and every time we're on the road. He went for the latter. He knew he was screwed and didn't even offer a defense. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate nagging him about speeding but we can't afford any more tickets or rate increases in our car insurance. He's a very careful driver really. But he just has a heavy foot, and things don't stay in his head like they do mine. I'm great at compartmentalizing; he isn't. So that's the story of why he is supposed to follow speed limit signs now, which put our travel back from California at 13 hours instead of the usual 11 hours. We have made it in 10 1/2 when our son-in-law died, but the usual time is 11 to 11 1/2 hours.

There is a stretch of road in Oregon out in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE where you have to do 55 mph. He's gotten a ticket going through there and it's a speed trap. You can see the horizon from front to back and see no life whatsoever but it's still 55 mph because the citizens of Oregon see no reason to raise it on that 2 lane stretch of 95. There isn't a lot of traffic at any time but it's the only highway out of Idaho to Oregon, Nevada to California. So we did 55 mph for 120 miles with only 2 very tiny towns on that route. When we hit the Nevada state line we can go 70 but it doesn't make up for the time you lose going 55. Also, there has rarely been a time when we don't see a cop giving someone a ticket and this time was no different. We warn people who are taking that route to do the speed limit in Oregon. Oregonians are fanatic about their speed limits! The trucker we saw this time had passed us and we caught up with him when the cop had stopped him. He passed us again before we hit the Idaho line! Once we saw 4 different cop cars handing out tickets.
Some people never learn.

So this is just a tease of what's to come later. There is more, much more to tell you but I have things I've got to do tonight. I'll leave you with these photos of my daughter's yard.

Back yard showing her little storage shed and all the roses in the back. Her back yard has grass but the front doesn't. She's spread rock in the front to keep maintenance down to a minimum.


Her gazebo with wisteria growing over it.




She's a shopping maniac and got this old bedstead to put out there.



Her small vegetable garden is seen in the background. She had to put screening around it to protect it from here cats and dogs.
*

P.S. I haven't proofed this so if there are any grammatical errors or misspellings, get over it!
~*~

2 comments:

  1. I am glad you had a safe trip home despite going 55 miles per hour in Oregon. I don't like to speed either. I love the pictures of your daughter's back yard!!! How beautiful!!! Simply stunning!!!

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  2. Hi Connie, Happy 50th Anniversary!
    The pictures of the hotel rooms really look good, it's amazing they haven't re-modled that place!
    Your peonies are drop-dead gorgeous! Love your daughter's yard, so pretty.
    hugs,
    Vickie

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