I have a bone to pick with ikea. Why are ALL of their frames available only in store. They will ship you a bed, but a box of picture frames is just too difficult. This annoys me mostly because frames are expensive and I want a lot of them. I've looked and so far have not found another place in the world where you can find a picture frame for 67 cents.
They just opened a store in Atlanta, but I just can't justify making a trip to Altanta for picture frames. I tried to talk my mom into stopping in Atlanta while we were on vacation, but she wasn't keen on stopping in the middle of a city to go shopping. In the end we didn't even go to Georgia, we went up through Alabama, which is a much better route, you miss Atlanta (we all hate Altanta), Memphis(where we always miss our turn), and Chattanooga (which I hate). So I can't complain that we didn't make it while on vacation. I can only complain that the closest store is ALL the way in Atlanta, and I'm not driving 8 hours (one way) for frames, and why can't they ship them?
So...Today my post will be about our departure from Cedar Grove on our last day at the river because I told OFFICERS OF THE LAW that I was going to blog about it.
So, while I was watching (and photographing) minors taking part in activities which were probably not a good idea if not illegal a ranger pulled up by the bridge and parked.
We had heard a story that this ranger has several law suits against him and apparently enjoys harassing people. One story in particular involves a 17 year old male noticing this ranger poking around behind his camp, when the boy questioned the ranger the ranger immediately cuffed him, then the boys mother went over to ask what was going on (which is completely predictable) and he arrested her also. The story goes that neither of them resisted in any way or were disrespectful, they simply wanted to know why he would be back behind their tent in their camping area. If we go by the story then the lawsuit these people filed is not the only one pending. We are law abiding and such, so while we were unsure whether the story told was the complete and total truth, we weren't too bothered by it. Still, it was deciding that a couple of the people in our group would not camp there. But when it came to having lunch there I had no reservations. So we went and we had fun sitting with our chairs in the water. And later we watched some of that questionable activity I was talking about.
But when the ranger arrived we decided it best to depart. As we gathered our things and our people to go a police officer came tearing in the low road. This caught my attention because this kind of stuff just doesn't happen here and if it was happening I wanted to know what was going on. The ranger and the officer talked for a little while, then moved out to the road and started stopping everyone that crossed the bridge. This was crazy, so even though by this time sabrina had everyone in her car and ready to go I stayed outside our car and waited for a break in cars. I was lucky on this day because I was wearing my "I'm blogging this." shirt. That morning I had taken a survey and Nikky wanted me to wear it. When I found out we were going to the river I thought I should change because it is black and it would be hot in the sun. Nikky still thought I should wear it so I just stuck another in the trunk in case. So I waited for the break and traffic came and approached. They told me that Cedar Grove is the rangers jurisdiction but whenever they have time the police officer comes down to give him a hand. They were checking license and registration. I asked several times why they were checking it here and at that time. The Police officer told me they did this all over the county and that they were just doing it there because they both had time. I'm not sure how true this is because I'm pretty sure it's impossible to getting a speeding ticket there, where would you pull over? So it follows that they also wouldn't have a place where it would be safe to stop cars in the middle of the road in many other places in the county. Regardless of what they SAID they were doing, while they were checking people's license and registration they were obviously being very intimidating and overbearing. They were obviously looking in people's truck beds and back seats.
However when I talked to them they were both congenial and willing to answer my questions. I should have taken a picture of them and gotten their names, but I was a little nervous (what with the threat of being arrested because I asked a question) and I didn't have a paper to write down names.
All in all I'm not sure what to think. I wasn't sure that the story I had heard could be the complete truth, it just doesn't seem possible that they would let someone with so many complaints against him stay on the job, but I've never seen them do anything like that there. And while they were completely nice to me, they seemed quite intimidating to the people they stopped.
They were very young. I don't think the ranger could have been much older than me, and the police officer was definitely younger. I suppose they could just be trying to exert their authority. If this is true I hope they become more secure in their power soon. I would hate to think that we might always fear the area because of overzealous officers. On the other hand they were very polite to me, and I hope that the story we got was exaggerated at least a little. As for that check point that we saw, I hope that in the future they are at least a little more friendly in appearance.
I really did enjoy the day at Cedar Grove, it was very pleasant to sit and relax with my feet in the water, occasionally looking for rocks that would be good for skipping. I'm not very good at it but it's fun to try. I even enjoyed speaking with the officers. And my little chat with them probably got both sabrina and I out of a parking ticket. It might have also had something to do with the fact that we were leaving, and they were busy stopping cars going across the bridge.
Jeez...While I was on vacation there were so many things that I thought I should post about, hopefully I actually get around to it.
Right before vacation Nikky broke up with Brian. He had gotten clingy and was calling her all the time and whenever she would talk to him on the phone she would get up, go in her room, and close the door. It got to where he called her so often I was about to grab the phone from her and yell at him. He wasn't just harassing her, he was harassing me, as if it wasn't bad enough that he snores so loud he could wake the dead. I'm not sure if I mentioned how much I resent knowing that even though I'm not sleeping with him. So anyway, she broke up with him. Of course, she never told me, mom told me. And I was happy because I wouldn't have to listen to her phone ring every other second all the way to Illinois and back. Of course, he's not completely stupid and things weren't completely broken off. So she went to lunch with him the day we left. We were supposed to leave at 3:00, but at 1:30 she was still with him and hadn't gotten the stuff she was supposed to do done. And when she got home she wasn't done packing. But we made it out of here only a half hour late, which isn't bad for us. He didn't call, or not much while we were gone, but she was itching to call anyone she could get ahold of so she did talk to him while we were gone. But the real kicker is that the first day we were home she went to see him and then called to see if he could come to dinner and if he could stay the night, because...his parents needed a break from him. Not even his own parents can deal with him for a couple weeks straight. I don't know why this doesn't set off warning bells in her head. And I don't know about you, but normally you don't spend the night with a boyfriend you
just broke up with. Of course tonight she saw a movie with one of her guy friends, which she probably wouldn't have done before, so it remains to be seen what's really going on. But I'm pretty sure it was just a false alarm, they are still dating, and he's going to just keep on living here forever and ever.
I'm back
I'm back, but not quite ready to post. Maybe when I catch up on some sleep. It has taken me a while but I've finally finished uploading, titling, tagging, and describing my vacation pictures over at
flickr. There are a lot of them so be prepared.
Gone Fishin'
Okay, so not that I've really been posting much but I definitely won't be posting for the next few days. We will be without internet access and mostly without cell phone service. But
this is what I've been up to. Not exciting, but I've had fun.
Tonight we are in Cadiz KY, in a fabulous Holiday Inn, which I highly recommend. It has wireless internet, and though the service has been spotty in places it is much appreciated. I only have a few pictures so far, but you can see them
here. We have a few more hours tomorrow and then we will be in Illinois where we will visit with my grandmother and some other family. Then on Tuesday we will be heading to Montauk, MO where we will visit more family and be pretty much completely out of touch with the rest of the world. And of course, we are happy we got out of FL in time to miss the gianormous hurricane floating around out there, hopefully it will miss home so we don't have to run home and file an insurance claim. And of course, the rest of our family who are leaving at the begining of next week will hopefully get out safe and sound. It's sounding pretty bad. Hopefully it will just fizzle out, they say that the waters aren't quite warm enough to sustain a category 5.
Since we left the day of the terror attacks in London we've only heard bits and pieces, my heart goes out to them. This can't keep happening, something needs to change because what we're doing right now isn't making it any better.
So...I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I'm on vacation now. So, I won't be posting much more than I have in the last few days. Right now I'm at a Days Inn in Troy, Alabama, and if you're planning on staying here you should make different plans. We asked at the desk before we took the room if they had internet access, and were told they had dial-up but not high-speed. And while I LOVE high-speed we decided to stay. Upon entering the lobby to go up the stairs we learned that there is NO light in the stairwell. To top it all off there is a huge break in our window that has been taped up, the toilet doesn't appear to be bolted to the floor and there seems to be some severe water damage in here. If we weren't relatively mainland I would think that they gulf of Mexico had risen up in some great tidal wave to completely drown the entire two story building. It seems to be clean though, the linens look fresh and there are two microwaves and mini-fridges in here, although one set probably doesn't work. And since the beds were clean and there was the promise of connectivity I was happy. But then came the time to get on-line. I had a backup. Roadrunner if kind enough to offer remote dial up, but when dialing the number the phones here require a pause between dialing 9 to get out and the rest of the number, but the dial-up connector here doesn't seem to want to do that. So...I was left to call to the desk and ask for connection information. And I swear to God this is the conversation that took place:
Me: Hi, I was told you provide dial-up internet access and I need to get the connection information.
Girl 1: Okay, please hold.
Girl 2: Ma'am?
Me: Yes?
Girl 2: Okay all you have to do if take the cord out of the phone and plug it into your computer and then you set your computer up with a local access number.
Me: Okay...but since I'm not from around here I don't have a local access number.
Girl 2: Um...okay, ummmm, okay [mumble mumble]manager[mumble]
And the phone goes silent. So I hung up, after a couple minutes I call back and tell her I though we were disconnected and she tells me that she has to call her manager, who is...on vacation. And then she'll call me back. So that's what I'm doing right now. Waiting for a call to tell me how to get online, so I can post this.
And seriously, did you think I would bring a laptop to a hotel and NOT know how to hook the phone cord into my computer?
Other than that the day has been good. I got a pedicure with my mom this morning and we left the house at 3:30. The travel has been good so far, I took a couple pictures along the way, and I will continue to take them. I'll be posting them to flickr later.
So where does crap come from anyway?
Today, at flickr, I came across the word detritus and made a comment to my mom about it.
Mom: [as she was walking away] It would be interesting to know what that means.
Me: what?
Mom: I wonder what it means?
Me: It's like the stuff on the bottom of a river
Mom: Oh, you already looked it up? Or did you already know that?
Me: I already knew that, I went to the
Marine Science Station.
My whole class went to the Marine Science Station in the 4th grade. I dno't remember much. Just that we had to put on life jackets, but not those uncool
orange boat jackets, they were the
jet ski kind. So it was still cool. Then we rode in a boat for a long time. And I remember at the beginning we all went into a room and they gave us a lecture. I think I only remember 2 things. Detritus and crap. They went into this big expanation about how crap was actually an acronym, and being in the 4th grade we were all in awe that it wasn't really the bad word we had all thought it was. Of course, now I know it was all crap, they were just making it up as they went along. I can't remember what the a was. But it was Carbon Rich Something Product. And I've spent some time searching for it online, but no dice. It's very upsetting to know that probably everything they said while we were there was crap.
So...if you happened to have gone to 4th grade with me and remember what they said the A was I would appreciate it if you could let me know, because it's really driving me crazy that I can't look it up.
