PALM TREES AND HORSES

 This is how I used to spend my mornings, trying to corral two sweet puppies.  That's Jessie on the left and of course Mr. Cooper.  Most every morning while traveling with the Chance family, these two would be parked at their doorstep because there was a KITTY that lived there.  Jessie didn't like kitties, and one day while on a trip to Maine, she chased one underneath an RV, got the harness hooked on something and escaped to run rampant across the huge campground with me screaming after her.  

I figured she was gone and would never return, but luckily she got stopped by a concrete barrier just a little taller than her.  From then on, she could hardly breathe because I kept the harness so tight when we walked!!!  I loved these two kids so much, and sadly, they are both gone now.  I'm heartbroken.

Life goes on I guess, but it will never be the same for me.  I woke up to a weird sky yesterday, with this mornings temperature sitting at 75 and it's sprinkling.  Is this Florida?  Or maybe Arizona?  It's surely not California.

This is a pretty nice view ... I wonder if the weather is the same at this location?  I guess I'll be finding out pretty soon, because Wednesday I'll be off to the sunny oh-so-warm skies of Maui.  Yes, Nurse Patty and Cyndae have talked me into returning to the days of old when we spent many weeks a year on the island.

It's not the right time of year to take pictures like I did in the past, nor do I still have the camera OR the case any more, but we can have a great time snorkeling.  Maybe it will ease the pain a bit.

So while we talked all things traveling like we used to, we stopped in at Habit Burger for a salad this time.   It's a little late to try and fit into that bathing suit, but better late than never.  This is what I ordered.  Looks good with all that chicken, yes?

This is what I got.  There are more croutons on this salad than pieces of chicken.  This was a BIG disappointment.  Besides that, it is half the size of the salads they used to serve just a few weeks ago.  It's a caesar salad, and you could count the pieces of parm as well.  Two salads and one fried green beans came to over $30.00.  I'm pretty sure this is false advertisement!!!

After eating, Cyndae took off for home and I headed to Walmart.  Why you ask?  Because I've been looking for a couple paperback books to take to Maui.  Did you know they have changed the size of those books?  Instead of the 3" x 6" version, they are now 8" x 6".  That doesn't fit in a purse well at all.  Who wants to carry a full sized book on the airplane?

I could use my phone I guess, but staring at a phone for 5 hours hurts my eyes a LOT, not to mention is probably making me go blind.  Cyndae says she uses an iPad ... and Walmart had them on sale.  

I brought it home, plugged it and looked for the instructions.  There were none.  No kidding ... not even a single tiny piece of paper about how to set one up.  It's a good thing I'm a little computer literate.  That's when I discovered they now basically mirror your phone.  Back in the old days, you had to have a separate subscription to an internet to work.  Now it works off my wi-fi and even off my phone's hot spot.  

I downloaded a few books, played a couple of my games and deleted everything iCloud.  I am not a "cloud" person.  I like my data kept closer to home.  How I'm going to carry this on a plane any easier than a book, I've no idea, but I guess I'll come up with something!

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching rodeo.  I was waiting for this ride to happen.  THIS is Black Tie ... probably one of the best bucking horses ever, not to mention he has gone down in history as the first horse EVER to have arthroscopic joint surgery.  No kidding ... in years past, those horses that had joint injuries had to be put down.  

In this case, though all the Vets said no, ONE of them said I think I can fix it.  Let's try.  The surgery removed loose tissue, just like you would have done to your knee, and he made a full recovery.  Basically, if you draw this horse at a rodeo, you are going to win.  He pulls a 90+ every single time he bucks, and you can see why in this picture.  What an amazing horse!!  Kudos to the Vet who said I can do it when everyone else said no ... and saved this horses life. 

That was it for the day.  I'm packing up my mask, snorkel and fins and not eating for the next three days so I can fit in that bathing suit.  It's a losing proposition, but I'll try anyway.  Wish me luck.