A Great Grandmother with dogs who is fighting breast cancer. This blog is to keep friends and family up on the latest happenings in my life.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Gettysburg, PA part 2

We had a visit from Aunt Bev. She drove us around the battlefield so we could figure out where to go on Sat. to see the living history exhibits. Then she took us out to eat. I grabbed this picture before she left in the morning.

While she was with us we visited the Wills house where Lincoln spent the night when he was here to give his famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. This is a picture of the bed he slept in. Other than this bed we were dissapointed with the displays. They were mostly pictures and written accounts of the times.

Poor Willie was trampled by a Confederate horse -- statue.

On Saturday we were back at the Battlefield visiting the Living History presentations. There will be a big reenactment for the 4th of July.


This is an example of the camp they set up. The video below is a little over a minute long. It shows the Union soldiers loading and firing their rifles. The speaker kept getting in the way of my camera. The boys were not impressed with the sound the guns made, not loud enough for them.


Our trip home was uneventful, thank goodness. I delivered Willie and Jake to their homes and then picked up the dogs. They were very happy to see me. Silly (65 lb. standard poodle) hates riding in the car and I always have to lift her front half in, then boost her back half into the car. This time, for the first time ever, she tried to get in on her own. Of course, I still had to do the back of her.
Now I am taking a break and restocking my refrigerator and enjoying being home.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Gettysburg, PA part 1

Our trip to Gettysburg started with dropping the dogs off at the kennel early Monday morning. We got all the way to Pennsylvania before the first problem showed up. After stopping at the PA welcome rest stop the RV didn't want to start, but it eventually did.

We stopped for lunch and gas at the next exit. Someone noticed that something was leaking from the RV. It turned out to be gasoline. Since we were at a major truck stop I walked over to their garage and asked if they could help me. Of course that was out of the question but they suggested McAdoo's, just up the hill a ways and on the left.

We made it there with a little stream of gas behind us all the way. McAdoo's had to call someone from their other shop to come help us. It was the gas line. The verdict was they could fix it temporarily but we should go straight to a Ford dealership and get a proper fix done. So we went.... The boys sat in the sales room, Willie gave them a guitar concert. The waiting room seemed to be filled with elderly watching a soap opera.

The Ford repairman had to call McAdoo's to find out what they had done. I don't really think the Ford guy did anything but verify the fix. After I complained about the wait for the paperwork we were on our way again.

We arrived at the campground by 7:30 which was good as the office closed at 8:00 and the site they had reserved for us didn't exist. It was the computers fault, the site was still in the computer even tho it was now a road. So we picked another site and were soon settled for the night, just before dark.


We didn't find our cable TV hookup the first night so the boys were reduced to playing a game of battleship.

The next morning I rested and recuperated while the boys scoped out the campground p00l and gameroom. In the afternoon we went to the Gettysburg Visitor Center and Museum. The boys were inducted into the military and were given some training on the spot. It was trickier than they expected to hold the guns just right. They got to lift a real one and were impressed with the weight of it.
There was a film and lots of interactive displays. We spent about 4 hours there and could have spent more time but you can only absorb so much at a time. One of the favorites was the different bugle calls and what they meant.
On Wednesday we were picked up at the campground by a shuttle and taken to the tour bus center. We took a personally guided bus tour as opposed to one on a recorder.
About 20 years after the battle there was a reunion of the soldiers who were there. They came back to the battlefield and identified where their regiments had fought, they dealt with the owners of the land for bits of the fields and raised money to put monuments on their positions. That's about as accurate as it gets.

Jake got volunteered (by his cousin Willie) to help the guide demonstrate something. The guide was nice enough to help Jake and Willie find the monument erected where their Great Great Great Grandfather, Jeremiah C. Woodyard, had fought with Ohio 73rd Infantry during the battle.


Here is Willie at the monument.
The boys were determined to get their picture taken with a cannon.



On Thursday the boys got a day of play. The picture below is the water slide. It was $10.00 to use the slide for a day. I think they actually paid only about 10 cents a ride down the slide, they used it so much. I think the splash at the bottom is Willie.



This is Jake at the bottom about to make his splash



After all the sliding they had to check out the kiddie pool with the raining umbrella.



They made some new friends while at the pool. They came back to the campground to visit and exchange cell phone numbers. Kids used to be pen pals - not anymore. One night their friend, Derrick, brought over his guitar and he and Willie exchanged techniques.


Where did the girl come from??? I'm too old for this!!!
I'll do a part 2 tomorrow or the next day, but we did make it home just fine so don't worry.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

June in Ohio

Creative birds use whatever they can find to make their nest. Easter baskets are not safe, as you can see. And, as you can see, I have finally solved the picture problem. In the meantime a laptop died and another was acquired. This one didn't have a slot for my camera memory card so today I acquired a Dynex card reader. It reads 6 different kinds of cards so I shouldn't ever need another one, even for a different camera. Woohoo.

The video is of a hail storm a week ago. Just as the TV announced that it was coming toward our tiny community (actually a narrow spot it the highway) the electricity went out. I was impressed with the weather reporting. I had never heard our community's name on the TV before. The power came back on in 3 1/2 hours, just long enough for me to find the oil lamps and fill them with oil and unplug all the major appliances.




Next week I am planning to take two 12 year old grandsons to Gettysburg, PA so I should have some pictures of that for my next post.

The most recent cancer tests show that I am stable. Some people might suggest that I never was very stable but I now have proof that I am. The dogs aren't going with us as they would have to spend too much time alone in the RV. They are staying at a very plush www.petsuitesofamerica.com . They get this fancy treatment mainly because Silly, the standard poodle, is elderly and needs pampering.