"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

July 28, 2007 Jayne is doing so well we have to look at the 30 staples across her chest and the two plastic bottles hanging from tubing coming out of her chest to realize she just had major surgery. She has had visits from several neighbors and friends. She really appreciates all the cards and well wishes. Kathy's sister, Maria, stopped over after work. Kathy was sure excited to see her. After visiting with Jayne and eating dinner the two sisters sat out on the porch gabbing away.We do the domestic routines of dust and sweep. We make meals and check on Jayne's needs. Kathy is doing a craft project and reading a book; Will is doing yard maintenance and playing Fate. The best time of the day is early mornings when we sit out on the front porch with our coffee watching the birds. There are three squirrels that like to come over; Will keeps them away from the birdfeeders with his bb-gun. We put a cement squirrel down under the bird feeder, but they still come. It is not so bad to s...

July 25, 2007 Forbes Hospital has joined with many others around the country with adding pay parking to its lots. It is $2 to pay to park in a spacious lot out in the country and $5 to have an attendant park your car for you. The first day we thought we could beat the cheat and parked in the employee free parking lot. That got us a $10 citation! So we have a new approach for today. Kathy dropped Will off at the main entrance, the only way to get in free to the hospital campus other than the emergency entrance. Will brought his Mom bright happy flowers and a balloon with a picture of an ocean lighthouse. He stayed for about four hours; he had a book to read and a kukuo puzzle book to work on. Meanwhile, Kathy stopped at Target. What a difference when you are use to Wal-Mart. The prices were all a little higher on items she recognized. They had some sale items on foods and she picked up a variety for a surprise mailing to Justin. She came for birdseed and left with three bags and 25lbs o...

July 24, 2007 Jayne did some laundry and kept busy doing her word search books and reading the paper. Kathy made some yummy meals. Will worked in the yard, mowing, trimming and then played lots of Fate. We had visits from the neighbors; all wishing Jayne well on her upcoming surgery; she has breast cancer at 90 years old. We got up at 4am and prepared for the trip to Forbes Hospital, about fifteen minutes away. We left the house at 5am and arrived on time. After registering and waiting she was taken to the preparation rooms and readied for the surgery. We joined her when the nurses got all their doings done. Jayne was in good spirits and joking with the nurses. A team of doctors and students came in to give her a check over; reminded us of hospital scenes on the Soaps. Dr. John put a purple smile face on the left breast so they would know in surgery, which was which. The doctor came in when she got up to use the bathroom so missed her, but greeted us. He is the same doctor who remove...

July 21, 2007 We arrived at Jayne’s in the evening and had a nice visit. We were able to talk in normal voices as she is wearing her new hearing aid. What a difference it makes! The house and yard look okay. We spent the first day here doing yard work, laundry and housework. Justin sent us a package, actually two packages full of Hawaiian treats. . . pineapple, mango and guava teas, honey covered and plain macadamia nuts, coconut and pineapple syrup, strange dried fruit from China, Soy rice snacks, wasabee macadamia nuts, chocolate covered Kona coffee beans and lots of little chocolates. Will was watching TV and Bret, the boy from across the street was waiting to use the tractor when Kathy came in and asked if they wanted a dried fruit to which they both put out their hands, took one and popped it into their mouths. Their mouths puckered. Their faces twisted. Kathy asked how they liked the dried fruit from China to which they just looked at each other and nodded. The fruits are covered...

July 20, 2007 Waited for the sun to come up over the mountain, but the clouds rushing by overtook the sun. We packed up and headed southwest. The bright red flowers caught our eye. The road SR3001 is gravel. We are glad it is damp so that the dust doesn’t kick up. We drove through Cedar Run;. The General store was closed; seven years ago when we were here we went in for an ice-cream. The Inn looked full and people were enjoying breakfast on the glass enclosed porch. There is a bike trail on the old railroad bed that runs through the little town. We climbed to 2400 feet going through the Appalachian Mountains. We drove the back roads of PA, windy, narrow and lots less traffic than the main roads. We saw a few deer along the roadsides. There are lots of neat little burgs, town and villages along the way. At Prince Gallitzin State Park we stopped and drove around; we got out and walked down to the water, but was smelly and looked like raw sewage had been dumped into it. We left. At Saltsb...

July 17-18-19, 2007 Leetonia Road south off route 6 has so many butterflies! It is the road to take for seeing lots of them. It has been many years since we were here, but we remembered our old camping spot as soon as we came to it. It is just at the bend in the road before the bridge over the stream. There is a grassy spot where we parked. The stream makes a sweeping s curve here. Water rushes down over the rocks into a deep pool of green water then continues to flow into a narrow channel and widens as it continues. There is a constant sound of running bubbling water. The rock shelf steps down to the water on the grassy side about eight feet. On the roadside rock shelf there is a drop of 10 feet into the deepest part of the water. There are at least three big fish in the pond and lots of little minnows. The trees all around are mostly hardwoods with a few pines. Milkweed, queen Ann’s lace, daisies and lots of greenery fill in all the spaces. We set up a camp bringing out our tables an...

July 16, 2007 The birds chirped to welcome the day. Two little bunnies played tag in the grass. We woke to a new sunny day. We drove 12 miles on Pa362, a typical Forest road in PA with daisies, buttercups, golden road, Orange tiger lily, Queen Anne’s Lace and clover being the wildflowers that fill the banks of the roadways and fields. Pennsylvania’s Grand Canyon, a gorge is as impressive as the Grand Canyon of the west. At the east rim we looked down to the riverbed, and walked to Otter overlook. That little walk was mostly downhill on a gravel trail; try doing that in flip-flops! We stopped at the Animal Land Gift store for a patch. Then we went over to the west rim and walked out to several overlooks. We met Mary and Randy from Harrisburg. He is a counter of hawks at Hawk Mountain near there. He pointed out a kettle of Broadwing hawks soaring with some vultures. Then we found a nice parking area where we made some dinner and sat out at the overlook in the picnic area and played some ...