142: Around the corner

Bob and I were outside sitting in the swing enjoying the pleasure of each others company.  You work

all your life to earn the time to do just that...and not feel guilty about it.  No where to go unless you want to, nothing to do unless you want to.  Hours filled with that kind of pleasure.  Sometimes it takes

something to remind you how lucky you are to be able to do just that.

Bob was sick a few weeks ago, really sick and suddenly we both thought, "Holy crap!  We still have things on our "bucket list" to cross off."  One day you're fine and the next not so much.  Then our friends Holly and Floyd Coppersmith, who have been in poor health for several years, nearly died last week from carbon monoxide poisoning from  a brand new, top of the line heating and air conditioning system.  They will survive but will be in the hospital for several more days while the doctors try to clear their bodies of the poison.  

You have no way of knowing what is around the corner.  That's probably a good thing.  I've always been a bit of a health food foodie and Bob always says, "She makes me eat all this stuff and I'll probably get hit by a bus crossing the street."  I suppose that's part of the risk isn't?  Just a roll of the dice, an ill wind, wicked salmonella. But you have to be vigilant just in case you don't get hit by that bus.  What if we live to be a hundred?  What then?  So, now that we have had our little wake up call I think I'll go make some brownies and lemonade and then head out to the swing to enjoy a little more relaxing with my favorite husband, because I'm expecting a shipment of wheat germ and a new "Cooking Healthy" cook book and we all know what that means.

141. Respect

Sinjin, an extraction from Hebrew meaning God is Gracious also Saint John.  Karate is a martial arts form from Okinawa, Japan meaning Kara - empty and te - hand.  The Gi, pronounced Gee, with a hard g as in gosh, is the three part white uniform of the student of Karate.  It consists of the shirt, the pants and the belt.  The belt changes color as the student rises in his studies.  These are new words to us but no matter what the dictionary says to us they stand for a small head wet with perspiration, cheeks flushed with color, a smile as wide as his young face will allow and his grandparent's hearts full of gratitude and pride.

Our ten year old grandson, Preston, started Sinjin Karate and is like the proverbial duck into water.   Like many children his age, Preston is shy and needs his self-esteem given a little boost.  He isn't interested in team sports but this is a group activity and you compete against yourself.  They work on concentration and self-control which I suppose we all could use from time to time.  I have always felt that children need outside activities and I literally mean outside.  It should be away from school and home and it should be working their bodies which in turn works their minds.

Respect, concentration, control in mind and body and pride in one's self are all key components in Marital Arts.  Not bad goals no matter what the age...not bad goals at all.

140. Who Knew?

 Who Knew?  There is a web site called "Who Knew News" on Yahoo.  If you are looking for a way to constructively waste a little time on the internet, might I suggest this site.  It is bits and pieces of information on the origins of things that you probably don't know.  Nuggets of knowledge, if you will.  Things that my husband, Bob, has a treasure trove of.  They bring interest to a dinner party, but not a dime to the wallet.  The subject matter is as diverse as this world of ours.  Will you remember it like Bob?  I doubt it, but, wow, what a fun way to while away the afternoon.

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com

139. The Nethercutt

We are blessed to have friends who like to jump right in and take little adventures, some local and some not so local.  Proctoring the Bar exam took up most of last week, but we managed to get reservations for a tour of the Nethercutt Museum on Friday at 10:00.  If you have never heard of the facility, you are not alone.  Our local adventure buddies, Polly and Phil, told us a few months ago that it was not to be missed.  Wow, were they ever right.  Which brings me to one more reason why we love California...doggone it...everything is close at hand.  We love the fact that just around the corner is something you haven't seen yet.  I guess that's true with everywhere, though.  One trip to the East coast, I told Bob, "If we don't quit stopping at the visitor information centers, we are never going to get out of Arizona, let alone get to the East coast!" 

The Nethercutt Museum 

I had no idea there was a "Dort" auto!

What an amazing and wonderful experience the day was.  They are located in Sylmar, California which is off the I-5 above Burbank.  That is about an hour from Alta Loma where we stay with Bruce and Dort for work. There are two facilities, actually, one that houses over 120 Antique, Vintage, and Classic automobiles displayed in a Grand Salon showroom circa turn of the last century together with the world's finest assemblage of mechanical musical instruments.

Imagine a showroom ceiling like this!

  The automobile museum is open Tuesday - Saturday and the tours through the musical collection is by tour reservation only Thursday - Saturday.  The admission to both is completely free. That also includes the 1912 Pullman Private Car once owned by Clara Baldwin Stocker daughter of "Lucky" Baldwin which was nothing to sneeze at.  What a way to travel!

All of the cars are restored per original factory specifications.  The original color combinations  were astounding.  Thanks to Ford and black and white movies one would assume that all early cars were black.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  What an amazing array of colors...from butternut to shades of lavender...a rainbow of colors and pen striping, some that looked like caning from chair seats.  We have been to many, many car shows and museums including Harrah's in Sparks, Nevada but this one wins the prize.

 

Doing her best to keep her skirt down!

 I almost forgot the fabulous and sometimes saucy hood ornaments.
This was one of my favorites.

All of this comes from the sale of Merle Norman Cosmetics.  That's right Mr. Norman's little Misses, Merle, started creating cosmetics in her kitchen and it took off like a rocket.  So, I would like to say a big "Thank you" to Mrs. Norman and her husband who didn't pooh pooh her and was smart enough to know a good thing when he saw it.

138. Who's a Redneck??

Don't you just love this "Redneck Wine Glass?"  Polly will never spill another drop
of wine!  Just think, in the boat, on the beach, in the back yard...now all she has to do

is remember where she put the lid!

137.Up, up and Away...Well...Almost!

Yesterday was dedicated to work on Bob's airplane.   Years ago we lived in a really large house with a huge sun room and an equally large basement for his wood shop.  One weekend we were watching an old Shirley Temple movie and she was sitting in an airplane made from a wine barrel.  Well, that got Ol' Bob to thinking.  The next thing you know, we had a fabulous airplane.  We have a notebook filled with photos of every guest after that sitting in the plane.  You can see why he won second place with a three hundred dollar award in a prestigious crafter's exhibition.

Oldest grandson, Robby, in plane.

Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury of such a large home and the airplane has been dismantled and stored, safe, but unused.  Then came the fair and the Clint Black concert.  Like his parents before him, Bob could talk to a post, I swear, he never misses a beat when the opportunity arises.  A man and his wife started up the grand stand and Bob spotted his jacket.  It said Santa Maria Air Museum.  It turned out that he was on the board and Bob told him about the plane.  I guess Bob had been thinking about approaching the museum in regards to donating the plane so that children visiting the facility could enjoy it.  It has bothered both of us that it couldn't be of some use to someone.  Well, the man was thrilled, especially after he saw the pictures.  It pleases us so much.

We pulled it out of the storage building and started in working on it.  Actually, it held up pretty well considering it has been in storage for fifteen years.

So, yesterday Bob commandeered Preston to help with the  sanding. It will probably take a month or

so to get  it  refurbished.  It has  certainly   been a labor of love for Bob and

this will be such an appropriate new home for the little plane.  We will have to have a little celebration when it is delivered to the museum.  Preston will have to be the first visitor to have his photograph taken "flying."  Up, up and away...well...almost.

136. God, if You're Listening...

This canyon has brought us many adventures, but today has to be one of the biggest for me and I hope will be the ONLY one of it's kind.  I was in working on the computer and decided I needed an aspirin.  When I got to the kitchen, Maggie, who was in the dining room, started barking like mad.  On occasion, she will spot something that she had somehow previously missed like the plastic cactus that sits by the sideboard in the dining room and "alert the media".  

I reached down to pick the cactus up to show her it wasn't an item of danger,  spotted the real reason for her alert.  Under the sideboard was a long and I'm not exaggerating here, long, looking suspiciously like a rattle snake...brown snake.  It had to be two and a half feet long.  I held my breath while I waited for the tail to appear before I ran screaming from the house with Maggie.  I couldn't see rattles and believe me if it had been a rattler...I could have easily seen the rattles!  Confident it wasn't a danger, I put Maggie outside and kept one eye on the snake while I yelled for Bob, who was out painting on the plane, hence the rubber gloves.  He cautiously watched the snake and concurred that it was of no danger.  

A check with this web site gave us the identification as that  of common gopher snake, which is what we thought. We certainly welcome the gopher snake given our rodent population.  Just, please, oh please, not in the dining room.  Funny how, even if we aren't sure it really works, we all start praying.  I know I did.  "God, if you're listening, this is Sharon and it's about a snake in my dining room."
Snakes/CA Cental Coast

Bob saved the day for me, Maggie and the brown snake.  Left to my own devices, I'm afraid the snake might have had to do battle with a long handled broom.  I've always told Bob that if I saw a rattle snake on our porch the next thing he would hear is me packing.  For me, today was a very, very close call.  I'm still wondering how many boxes I could get into the P.T. Cruiser.