Saturday, September 29, 007

Bob's Blah Blog:


Morning at Racoon Creek State Park, Beaver County, PA. Why would they name this Racoon Creek if this is Beaver County? My guess is because the place is infested with Racoons. We see them as roadkill wherever we travel on the roads around the campgrounds. No, not in the campgrounds (by the looks of some of our neighbors, the remains are getting scooped up for making "'coon stew") but, on the highways leading to and from here. Racoon Stew...now there's a dish worth writin' home about, ya know what I mean, Vern?

Bob-servations...

Along Hwy 22/30, there is a road sign advising the Hankey Farm is the next exit. Hankey Farm? I guess that's where they grow the hankies for noses and other uses. I would have never guessed hankies were farm raised...I thought they only grew in the wild. Wonder if they are from seedling or perrenials.


Saw a gravemarker or two for Mitchelltree. What the heck is a Mitchelltree? On the same subject, almost, St. James or Villa Maria graveyards in Mercer County is the burial spot for church clergy, mainly nuns. Found one whose name was Sister Mary James Mitchell. Now isn't that interesting? Who ever thought nuns died? The ones I remember from grammar school were at least 200 years old, except for the young ones who were barely 100.


Rolling on down the road...

We went and did laundry on Thursday because we were taking the day off and it was raining (and we had dirty clothes). Felt like a laundry day. At the laundry there were several people, mainly a woman with a child and a guy with his ballcap on backwards, another guy who played with the little girl child of the woman (although he wouldn't go around the corner to were the woman and the man with the backward hat on were), and a couple of other peeps of no consequence. Anyway, while the machines did there magic on our clothes, I went outside and stood on the stoop to watch the rain and leaves falling from the trees (more on that later). Anywhose, the guy who was playing with the little girl came outside and stopped next to me and said "my wife left me a week ago and she already has a boyfriend." I responded "hmmm." He walked away, got into his red car, sat there for a minute wiping his eyes (must have been crying) and then drove away. I understood this to mean, the woman inside with the child was his wife.


So, this was his wife in the laundry with their child, and the dude with the backwards hat is the new boyfriend. He was a happy guy, signing and sounded like he was Rocky Balboa or someone. Corinne said the woman was a meth queen. I didn't see her that way, but then, what do I know about meth queens? Beauty queens, yes, meth queens, no. I then thought, oh great, the crying guy is gonna go get his gun and come back and ventilate these two people and then himself, maybe sending us to the big dirt nap along the way. I told Corinne about it and then sat by the windows facing the roadway so I could keep a watchful eye out for this guy and run out the door, if need be (remember big chicken wings, this is one of the times when you can find them in the wild). The cheating couple finally gathered up all their stuff and the little girl and left before the jilted husband returned. When he did come back, I didn't see any weapons on him, but I sure did keep a close eye on him and I certainly was not going to wear my hat backwards or sing like I was Rocky Balboa....no matter how many times someone (and I mean Corinne) begged me to. She just loves Rocky Balboa, she told me.


Speaking of keeping an eye out, do you remember one-eyed Jack Williams, governor of AZ? People said to keep an eye out for him because he had one out for you. I kinda "see" the humor in that, but my memory is "patchy", at best. Maybe I should get "lashes" for not keeping the "lid" on this. (Its my blog, I can say what I want.)


Back to falling leaves: During the rain storm and accompaning wind, the leaves were falling like snow. Matter of fact, I once caught a glimpse out the window of the laundromat and thought it was snowing because of the way the leaves were coming down. They are really starting to turn color now. Reminds us of our motohome trip back in the late 1900's when we went up the eastern seaboard during Indian Summer.


There is a cryogenics company somewhere along Hwy 30 leading from the campground. One day we were passing the business with the kids and Corinne said she would "have me cryogized." I told her it would be ok as long as she used her own arms and hands to hold me under the cryogization juice. Brandon (and you gotta know Brandon to understand the importance of this), said, "that would make him a Bobsicle, wouldn't it?" Now that's funny! Corinne later told me, and I thought the same, Brandon's got Bob humor....like father, like son.


Passing through Imperial or Fayetteburg, we came across "Cole's Pub" so, a big shout out to Marlys for that.


We stopped at a McDonalds for a light mid-afternoon snack yesterday in Robinson, PA. It was the most unusual McD's I have seen. It didn't even look like a Ronalds McDonalds place, and without the sign, no one would have guessed it was a Mickey D's. Anyway, when we got inside, Corinne decided what she wanted, told me and then scurried off to the Rhonda McDonda restroom. This left me to place the order, which I waited and waited and waited to do. I thought Corinne would be back from her appointment with Rhonda McDonda before I got a chance to place the order....and there was only ONE, SOLO, UNO, SINGLE, ACE, SOLITARY, ITEM, person in front of me the whole time. The problem was the "old momo", okay, sweet elderly lady behind the counter taking the order, taking payment, giving change, making french fries, picking the order, getting a drink and getting it all back to the customer was just moving as slowly as possible. The guy in front of me only wanted some McNuggets or something. He was still waiting AFTER I got my order, and that was no short time.


This was absolutely the worst working crew of folks I have ever seen screwing up a McDonalds, and I am a firm believer most McD crews are at the bottom of the food chain. There didn't seem to be any coordination. People (and I mean the younger ones) were just standing around twiddling their thumbs where the sun shouldn't shine, and letting the "ol mo" do all the work...and like I wrote, she was slow.


After taking the order of the poor guy in front of me, she started to gather up his food, but then stopped because the McNugbutts weren't ready. So, she just stood there and did nothing...until she saw me waiting to place my order. When she came to the counter, she asked for my order which I most promptly placed...but, she wasn't ready to key it into the register for some reason. So, I had to wait for her to wake up from her nap and push the buttons. I gave her my money and she had to cipher how much change I would get back (.72). Then, she toddled off to fix my food while the younger folks did not much of anything except serve the drive-thru customers, if at all. The lady began by scooping up fries, which took an inordinate amount of time considering the task. I finally did get my order, but it was at least 10 minutes later than when I walked into the place. I wanted so badly to speak to the manager but restrained myself from doing so (darn medications!!). The dear sweet elderly lady was doing the best she could. The young punks were doing the worst they could, but they were in the wrong work stations for their capabilities.


In stark contrast, we were at a KFC, Long John Sliver's store awhile back, during lunch time when it was busy, and the crew there were egg-salad. They communicated effectively with each other, they had the order taker, food processor, delivery system working at high potential. I wanted to tell the manage there about how good his crew was, but I didn't. I think he already knew. Anyway, not to rag on the old lady, but the manager or lead Crew person should have taken control at the McD's and recognized the problems they were having. Isn't that why they go to McD U?

And another thing...we once stopped at a McD's and Corinne wanted a spicy chicken sammich. I wanted something to eat, too, but cannot remember what right now. So, when the girl inside the little box in the drive-thru asked for our order, I told her we wanted a chicken sammich, whatever it was I wanted and a soda. Turning to Corinne, all proud of myself for remembering the entire order, she said to me, "spicy chicken." Ooops. I turned back to the girl in the little box and said, "spicy chicken sammich" thinking a customer had their choice of "reglar" or "spicy" chicken. The girl in the box said, "we don't have spicy, that's Wendy's." Well, excuuuuuse me. She then gave us our total and said pay at the first window. No other option to change the kind of sammich we wanted, no chance to cancel the order, no chance to beg forgiveness for our stupidity, for not knowing a McD's from a Wendy's chicken sammich. I turned to Corinne and said something like, "I guess she told us, didn't she" or, "well, that was rude" or, " I guess we don't get an option here." Anyways, Corinne was certain I was going to say something to the the biblical moneychanger at the first window, but I didn't. (darn meds are ruining my life.) By the way, the voice of the girl at the first window sounded just like the girl in the little box in the drive-thru. Corinne said, as she munched on the Mc"D unspicy chicken sammich, they must have put extra pepper on it for her because it was spicy hot. Don't that beat everything, if you want a spicy sammich, have 'em put pepper on it.

Next, we went to the Senator John Heinz Historical Museum in Piesburgh to do some geneology. It was 3p when we got there, and they closed at 5p. It cost us 18 damn dollars to go there for two hours, crimony! What a rip off. The library part of the museum should be free, but they are not in the free business, I guess. It would have been nice if the place was open to say, like, 8p so we could really enjoy the joint, but noooooo! They have to close at 5. Corinne did say the lady was helpful, but I was bored. They barely had anything on display in the library for me to look at and enjoy. I did use the Heinz Head (restroom) and it was nice. So there.


Still haven't found my little red notebook I use for making my notes in. Looked in the big rig, looked in the pockets of my pants (before I washed them if you were wondering), looked in the coach...still no red book. I bet someone stole it cause it was mine and so valuable. Corinne said the last time she saw it was in my hand at the cemetery in Willmington Twp, I guess one of them dead guys is holding it for me until the afterlife.


Shout out to Craig H. who finally opened his email and wrote us back. Hey, Craig-ers!


Anyone else NOT getting the photo albums because they haven't written back? Huh? Anyone else??? I believe Corinne is working on sending out all the albums she has put together, for now.


Not likening myself to MLK, but I had a dream last night. I told Corinne about it this morning and she fell asleep well before I was finished telling her about it. So, I will only mention the key items of the dream for you here and you will pretty much be able to put the pieces together. Fire engines; police radio; bullets; cars; office; Xmas stuffed toys; hockey players; cheese and chili pepper (like a chili rellano) stuffed hamburgers; fish stuffed with cheese and chili pepper (like a chili rellano) hamburger; water; my mom and sister Carolyn; Dave Thompson; Pete Padilla; the Fairbanks; the Meaneys; retirement; Rod C.; Lynda S.; Gary H.; DPS helicopter on the roof; Gov. Napolitano; and, me. What a fabulous dream as you will find once you have it all assembled.


Corinne is still sleeping from my telling her about my dream. She hasn't slept well for the past few nights. Maybe I have found a magical formula for sleep...deprivation and listening to my dreams. If you dosed off reading this blog....WAKE UP!!!


Like Roy Orbison sang....Being crazy got me dreaming wierd dreams, the whole day through. Being crazy got me dreaming strange dreams, nighttime too. You can dream you're crazy, too.

Bobo