Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Bob's Blah Blog:

Hey, Y'all, its been awhile, buts we's been busy at the FOP National Conference in Looeyville Kentucky. Imagine, being retired and having to set an alarm clock just to get up in the morning. I didn't sign up for nothing like that!!!

Lets see, where were we...oh yes, somewhere in either Nebraska or Iowa..I think it was Iowa. We stayed the first night in Ames, IA where my dad was born, raised and went for awhile to Iowa State University back in like 1940 or just before WWII, the Big One, the war to end all wars, etc. Too bad nobody took up that saying to really mean no more wars.

Anyway, we got to the Univesity and dropped the mobile passion palace in a parking lot near the stadium. Not even two minutes later some guy, who reminded us of Fred Holt (from our neighborhood) stopped to say we couldn't park there. They were going to have their big Straw Vote rally the coming weekend and they didn't want us to park our RV there, but somewhere else. Corinne told him we were only dropping for a couple of hours to visit the campus and would be leaving. He said he would let us do that. I told him I would let him let us do that. Suprised that didn't change his mind.

I gotta tell you, we (and I mean Corinne and I) didn't find most Iowainians to be very friendly. I guess they regarded us as foreigners or something. Some had a sense of humor, or sense of comedy would be the proper phrase, but othes were like we were a bother to them. We made it a point to tell the folks who were nice to us what a pleasure it was to run across them because those other folks across the hall were grouches.

So, at the campus, we went to the bell tower where we had distributed some of my dad's ashes when we were last in Iowa. I believe that is the root of most of the bad karma I have experience since that fateful day. See, daddy-o never did like a lot of noise, and with with 9, count em, nine chillin's to his name, he had a lot of noise around the house, specially them noisy girl sisters we boys had to put up with. Did I mention their names?? Mary, Ellen and Carolyn. Now, say those names really fast three times and see if I am right about being noisy. Of course, most of the noise was from them yellin' at (for no good reason) their six little brothers (Bobby, Tommy, Charlie, Jamie,Danny and Paul) who, boys being boys, were just being boys. But, I digress...

The way I see it, we put some of daddy-o's ashes by the bell tower that chimes every hour on the hour, 24 times a day. Pop only really had one good ear and by some quirk of fate, that one good ear must have been in the ashes we put at the base of the bell tower. Anyway, we scooped up some mulch and dirt and hopefully an "earful" of ashes and moved them away from the bell tower. Fact is, we still have the ashes in the travel coach as I forgot to deposit them somewhere in Ames, like the house he grew up in or somewhere. So, we put him on the dashboard of the truck and he got to see his beloved Iowa as we went down the road. Oh, and yes, we apologized to him for being so thoughtless as to put him at the bell tower and not over by the women's dorm or coffee shop where he probably would have been more comfortable...hehe. But, guess what, life does seem to be a little better for me, now...but could be the medication, too.

We went to the church were my grandparents, Edward and Marcella (Byrnes) Mitchell were married in 1917 in Ames and found a series of records for marriage and baptismals. I do have family!!! How they got to America, I don't know, yet, but we have a start. We then went to the local library and found old telephone books, copied the address and then drove around, using the Queen of England, of course, to guide us to the right locations. We found all the homes we were searching for,save two, which have been torn down. You know, I think I wrote about this stuff already. Did I?

So, moving on, we spent the night a couple of times in Iowa state parks along the way. They were not only dark and humid, but after the sun went down, the bugs all came out and made a heck of a racket. So much racket, I think my dad would have preferred the bell tower.

We spent a couple more days in eastern Iowa looking for Corinne's ancestors. We stopped at one town and searched the library, finding several gravesites and notations in books. The librarian even called some lady who was once married to a Paup. The lady came down to the library (she was one of the nice people we met) and sat with us for about an hour to discuss Paup-ism. We got phone numbers to reconnect with them should we come back and we shared our phone number with them should they think of anything of value to us. We also had a nice lunch consisting of a Taco Salad at the local cafe next door to the library, but the lady there wasn't friendly...even when I left her a tip. No wonder daddy-o left Iowa, he liked to talk to people and nobody there wants to talk to anyone.

While leaving one of the state parks to move onto Kentucky, we stopped at the RV dump station to flush our tanks, if you know what I mean. Anyway, when we were done and just putting stuff back into the truck and coach, I got stung by a big old something or other on my right earlobe. I was wearing a bright yellow shirt and carrying bright orange blocks and that big old something or other must of thought I was some kind of purty flower, which I am of course, and decided it needed some of my sweetness to take home to momma. My earlobe swole up like a watermelon and someone (and I mean Corinne) couldn't tell which was my head and which was my earlobe. I find that hard to believe, myself, because its plain to see my earlobe has more hair on it than my head. We never could find the injection point of the stinger, but it still hurts a little to this day, especially when its time to do some work. Ouch!

Did I mention the gravestones we saw at the Lost Nation (real name of a town) IA? The head stone said Knock on it, as in Tony Orlando and Dawn's famous song "Knock three times on the headstone if you want in...Twice on the urn if the answer is no." Well, anyway, why would someone in a grave want someone to Knock first? Lost Nation has a population of 497, according to Mr. Mayor, who we met at the cemetery. He was friendly. I asked if the town ever got any busier than it was right then and he said "no." Hmmmm, I could live here, I thought to myself. There was nothing and nobody around. The streets were virtually empty. The Postmistress wasn't friendly, tho. Gotta have a friendly Postmaster/mistress if your gonna live in a small town. How else you gonna get all the gossip about who's writin' to whom?

Having a good time at the FOP conference. Did the secret Lodge handshake and everything. Got some new guys from our Lodge and some older guys who are attending their first Nat'lconf. Too bad we don't have anything real controversial on the agenda...thats when it gets good! Looneyville, KY was the first conference Corinne and I attended with the FOP in 1993. As we recall, it was hot and humid and smokey. Smokey because it seemed everyone here smoked, indoors and outdoors. That has changed. Now they smoke outdoors, and really not as much as they once did, it seems. Still hot and humid, but its worse outdoors.

The Queen doesn't seem to know her way around Luueyville, KY. She makes us turn right, turn left, recalculating, turn in 400 feet, take the ramp right, exit left, and thats just to get out of the RV camp parking lot. The sad truth is, we can see the exit from our camp spot but have become so dependent on technology we cannot function without it...and this computer said I could write that. Buzz-click.

Corinne drove the big rig, again, and is gaining her confidence in being an over the road trucker. When we got to Looieville, KY, we had to find a place for to get her nails down. Can't be a big rig driver if your nails "ain't purty" I have said a 1000 times if I have said it once. Ended up at a Wal-Mart (sorry Stacy)but it was the best we could do. Anyway, having to find a nail salon got us to thinking about reemployment. We are kicking around the idea of us both going to cosmetology school and getting a national certificate for doing manicures and pedicures. We could then travel the country and whenever we pull into a RV camp or state park, put up our shingle and the "kitchen's open....come on in." We have even come up with a business name which suits us just fine...

Bob's and Coe's
On the Go
Fingers and Toes

Now, doesn't that have a nice ring to it? (ring---fingers, toes----ring....get it??)

If and when Moe decides to retire, we can expand the business and she can complete barber school and trim hair from old men's ears and nose. Of course, she will become a full partner in the business, but won't get top billing on the name, but...

Bob's, Coe's and Moe's
Fingers and Toes
Ears and Nose

does have a certain flavor to it and just trickles off the tongue.

Git er done!

Bobo

PS...I hear if you go to Google Reader, you can set it up so you will be notified when we publish a new blog. Give it a try and let me know if it works.