HELP LET ME OUT!

One of the most memorable things about visiting my sister Stephanie and her family is the hours we spending laughing and telling stories. From a family of thirteen and many more in offspring, there are so many stories we have told and have yet to discover. This evening on our first major stop of our journey through Idaho, on our way to Texas, to enjoy a wonderful, specially prepared dinner by Stephanie. To our surprise she had invited her son, Tony, and daughter, Tori. We missed you Misty.
For many of you having spent any length of time with me and my brother Doug it is understandable why most of my sibling's off-spring hesitate to introduce any new girlfriends or boyfriends to either of us without a disclaimer of our personalities, unending wit and sarcasm. My brother Doug's especially.
Tonight was no exception Tony, my naive Godson brought his girlfriend to the slaughter. Her first comment was, "I have already been briefed and I am prepared!" NOT! You can never prepare for the rewarding experience of a first time meeting with Doug. It is only as a salvation I accompany him to buffer the pain and agony. Tonight was no exception. Tonight, if the barbeque was not hot enough Kim was ROASTED to perfection. I can truthfully say from a magnificent dressing down by Doug she was provisionally allowed to spend the remainder of the evening with us and later proved to be worth her intiation by paving the trail to an unmerciful dressing down of boyfriend Tony.
Here is the story: Kim to Tori (Stephanie's daughter) "I have found the perfect wall paper for our bathroom." Tori: "Really what?" Kim: "Wallpaper with Outhouses." This immediately brought laughter from Tori and Stephanie and an explanation to those of us not privy to the story. It seems that Nels (Tori's husband) and Tony were up camping and while Nels was passed out in the back of the vehicle Tony LOCKED HIMSELF IN THE OUTHOUSE. While Tony was red with embarrassment Tori suggested: "Tony, why don't you tell them the story." Tony's response: "Which time?" Oh, oh, NO. You didn't say that Tony did you? You didn't just say: "WHICH TIME?" Yep, he did, he not only locked himself in the outhouse this time but TWO OTHER TIMES besides. Now any of us that have experienced Outhouse use know it is virtually impossible to lock yourself in let alone the fact that, most outhouses do not have much more than blocks of woods as handles, old screen door hook and eyes, or a block of wood that shoves into a slot. So how do you lock yourself inside an outhouse. Tony can and Tony did not once, but three times, so here is the rest of the story. Several years ago Tony's dad Gary, took Tony to one of the Casinos in Nevada and they had modernized their urinals with automatic flush-o-meters. This opened a wonderful opportunity for Gary and he proceeded to tell Tony that the way these units worked was to stand back and say, "I'm done now." Bang! On cue the flush-o-meter opened up and water gushed out. Tony had never forgotten this valuable lesson from his dad so on three seperate occassions in three different outhouses Tony stood up and shouted at the door, "okay I'm done now!" SOME PEOPLE WILL NEVER GET OFF THE LITTLE BUS!

A DAY AT THE ZOO

Oh My Gosh!! Thank goodness there were NO PARENTS allowed on this day trip. With Great Uncles almost anything is okay, shoes, shirts, socks and all. Ah ha yep, yep, yep, thank goodness for Grand Uncles and Grand Parents. They can be so much fun!!

One thing about taking a 7-year old and a 2-year old to the zoo, it is not always about the animals. Aside from the Ice Creams and Lemonades there is the sprinklers and the fountains. Catch them if you can.

And of course dressing up as a starfish is just as fun as running through the fountains.

Even if one size does NOT always fit all!!

And though the Lions and the Tigers and the bears oh and the Belluga Whale were noticeably missing in the overcast and muggy weather. "The puppies", as Tayla shouted were an okay draw and worth a pose - well, maybe, if you note the ho hmm expression Tayla dispalyed.

And of course some of the wonderful things about spending the night away from home are kid's movies (especially Disney), staying up late, waking up late, and making car and truck pancakes

And then it is down to some serious painting of wall plaques for Dad and Mom. Such dedicated concentration.

Finishing up the minute details with a dot here and a dot there of sparkle before the finished product was ready to give to Dad and Mom. - Oh, did I mention that when it was time to go home it was a tearful event of "We don't wanta go home Uncle Ray" ;~> Dang do I have them spoiled!!!

I am including this picture, not because I took it - just in case there was a question - but because it reminded me of an experience I had sometime with my great niece Hailey.

I was holding her and she was looking at my face and she was asking me about my mustache and wrinkles and for a brief moment it made me realize how old I was.

That is until a second later I realized how much age difference there was between us and what a wonderful feeling it was to be as old as I was and holding this wonderfully dear child that unquestionably loved me. Her questions were in innocence and meant no judgement and I felt young again.

I sure love all my nieces and nephews because I share such special moments with each of them.

Yesterday a friend and I went to "The Great Wall", an Asian shopping mall, an old Home Base conversion, and enjoyed Dim Sun. It has been years since I had Dim Sun and I remember now why. Every cart that was rolled into my sight had a sign that said "pick me"! It is a good thing my friend is Asian because with her help I was able to be more selective rather than attempt every morsel and have her roll me out of there.
She ordered one dish before I realized, she speaks Chinese, it was TRIPE!!! I HATE TRIPE!!! It is one of the most horrifying dishes I remember. My Dad used to spend Sundays cooking up a big pot of Menuda and all of us kids except my youngest sister who has been diagnosed as DEMENTED, hated it. However, my Dad being from the old school unwaveringly insisted we would eat Menudo until THE POT WAS EMPTY!
This most likely was thebeginning of my theatrical career because I could convince God I loved that C*** as I choked down each tiny morsel. For those of you my firends who do not know what tripe is, it is cow's gut.
Back to the present, here is this bowl sitting in front of me, my friend licking her lips as she begins spooning it on her plate, and I reminiscing about Sunday in our house.
Okay so what does a man do I mean he is with his best friend and they are sharing a wonderful time - I PLUNGE! I dish some on my plate trepidly bring it to my lips and I LIKE IT. I am so crushed, so disappointed in myself another part of my past cast to the wind. I even brought the left overs home.

I'm BACK! I have decided to resurrect my blog site and I will attempt to reunite with so many of you my friends who encouraged me to get my butt back in gear and start blogging again. I hope I will become more regular than every six months.

I am hoping with the help of Tiffany to begin downloading some of my photos that you asked about. Don't blame me if I start overwhelming you. So with instructions I received from dear Tiffany here comes my first attempt. ------ WISH ME LUCK!!



This picture is from my file of last year when I was attending O.C. taking a photography class. It certainly showed my beginning steps of becoming a world class photographer. It is a picture of one of the fountains at the downtown Bremerton Conference Center.

YES!! THERE IS JUSTICE

Well here it is almost mid-term and I am still hanging in there. I have learned so much about my camera and the art of taking pictures. I can't remember the last time that I used the Auto button, which is a sign of a true photographer - they say. I still have so much to learn, but I am not frustrated as I look through the view finder now and I am more sure of myself when I look at something and try and understand what it is I want to capture. Sharing my photos with my niece and my class mates is exciting as we each discuss our ideas and help each other improve. Recently I posted three of my photos on the college web site for review by other campus members. This is the test of test when other past and present photographers have the opportunity to see and critque your pictures. So far I haven't received any comments - what is the saying, no news is good news, but I am truly hoping for some good comments to help me improve my style.
More than once is the time I have looked at the work of other photographers and I wonder if I will ever get as good as they, the colors, the scene, the topic. Some are so beautiful and inviting. As we have found out my niece and I are two different photographers. As she calls it, I am an objective photographer and she is a subjective photographer. She is so much more happy photographing a person or animal while I love scenery, architecture, and engineering items.
Talking about my niece, which is the topic of my post - last night was not only eventful it was wonderfully rewarding.
In a previous post I wrote about how I was the victim when my niece was talking to me and I got yelled at for talking.
Last night I laughed my butt off - while the instructor was talking she was wandering around the room, and the next thing THE WHOLE CLASS heard was, "WHAT IS THAT? - SOLITAIRE?" Yep, yep, yep BINGO!!! right between the eyes. Tiff got caught playing Solitaire on her computer while the instructor was talking. I couldn't help it I jumped out of my seat and in total exuberance I shouted "YES!! YES!!" I was laughing so hard. She got caught! There is justice and the whole world heard it. I have been vindicated. Of course she denies all of it but she lives with so many others in Eqypt (On Da Nile).
And THEN, oh gosh it gets so much better - a short time later THE WHOLE CLASS hears, "DON'T TELL ME THAT IS A CELL PHONE?" Oh the photo gods were smiling down at me last night. Our friend Deja sitting behind us was caught using her cell phone. And Laurie, the instructor, is not bashful about sharing her feelings with the whole class so she proceeded to embarrass Deja about using her cell phone while she was talking.
It was such a WONDERFUL evening in class and I am still in a happy mood today. Last night WAS GIRL'S NIGHT OUT!!!!! The score is Men 1 Women 2. It is a fine day at sea Cap'n.

THANK GOODNESS I AM GOOD

I recently read the blog of my niece and pondered the results of her conversation with my princess (great niece) concerning her yellow flag for talking in class. Now of course I don't disagree that it is a worthy lesson the teacher was trying to impress on Hailey, after all we occasionally have had to rein her in (gee I made a pun Raine/rein) when she is constantly interrupting while others are talking. I think this is a "growing up thing" since she is not the only one at that age and even older when seeking attention over others. But to get back to my story, I was about to say that I experienced the same issue recently.
I was sitting in class Monday minding my own business and truly focusing on the instructor when my classmate started talking to me. I was caught in a predictament do I continue focusing on the instructor and be rude to my classmate or take the time to acknowledge and interact with my classmate? After all I try and understand the need for attention.
Evaluating talk or not talk - show love and interest or good student attributes I decided to acknowledge my classmate.
BAM!! right between the eyes the instructor narrowed her comment to me requesting me not to talk while she was explaining something. DID YOU GET IT....? ME not to talk! Why I always get caught and placed in these embarrasing situations I don't know but I truly believe part of it is because my classmate IS A GIRL and girls always get away with everything.
And things never change (reminiscing back to my grade school days) because my classmate instantly put on that innocent "what were you thinking of?" look, ignored me like the plague after that.
Next time I am going to sit next to Jim cause guys don't do this to each other.