Not funny Mother Nature

Ok, really. Did Mother Nature NOT get the memo about spring?
Last week it seem like she was in my corner. Nice weather. Sun shining. And my tulips started to bloom.


Heck, my neighbors tulips have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. See how pretty theirs are. I need to get with it & plant more this fall. (that will make the hubby happy). lol.


I'm sure by the end of the weekend, my tulips will be gone, as Mother Nature thinks that Christmas is around the corner & decided to dump 18 inches of snow in the mountains last night. This is what I found outside my front window today.

The weather man said we can continue to expect rain & snow thru saturday.

Mother Nature, I'm not laughing!!

Weekend race

So, our plans for this past weekend was to head out to Las Vegas for a race.
That got cancelled, as my son could not get off work for the 3 days it would take for us to travel, race, travel again.
Then why not race down in Delta, as it's closer & we can camp out. Well the rain came & so did the cold. And once again, he couldn't get off work...well,finally we got the Official word Friday night! At 10PM!! He CAN race!!
I made a mad dash to Wally Mart & trailer was loaded & good to go at midnight.
Up at 5am, on the road by 6:30am. We get to the race course & everyone is coming up to us and saying "what r u doing here, your suppose to be in Vegas". Some guys were even saying "Dang, I thought I would at least have a chance at first without your son being here".(Yes,he usually finish's 1st or 2nd, but it's not a given.)
Everyone has now gone down to the starting line & my son is still not present. He pulls in last minute, jumps out of the van, runs into the trailer, puts on his racing gear,jumps on his quad, which his dad has waiting. Good to go!!
We had such a blast. The flag drop's & Chris got the hole shot.
(notice in the 2nd picture, Chris is already at the bottom of the hill & everyone is still on the top)


After an hour of racing, Chris does take the checkered flag for first.(He finished almost 2 minutes infront of 2nd place.) He gives a "thumbs up" to his fans at the finish line.



But after all that, guess who ends up with the trophy?? And check out his bike. It doesn't even have an engine in it. (yet)

Having fun

What can I say? My husband and I went out and had a BLAST with the grandkids a couple of weekends ago. The weather was windy but otherwise, it was nice.

First, we got up at the crack of dawn and drove south. We met my son, daughter in law and cute little granddaughter out in the desert at a race site. I'm pretty sure my granddaughter was the cutest girl out there.
This was a some-what large race with riders from all over the western states. They also had some demo bikes that people could "test-drive". My son wanted to ride one, I'm guessing to see if he still had what it takes. LOL. He suited up & drove off and appeared to have some fun. He came back, and rode another one. (different engine sizes). Then he would come back, talk about the bike and they would ask him if he would like to ride yet another one. I think they had 5 or 6 different size dirt bikes out there. He rode 4 of them I believe.
I don't know who was more excited. My son or my husband. He said it was so good to see his son back on a bike.


After we left the race, we drove out to another place & met my other son & my grandson. I had so much fun following my grandson on his little quad. He drove it till the battery had no more "juice" to it and then Grandpa had to "tow" him back over to the truck. I would say maybe 30 yards. LOL, but to a little guy, that is a long ways!


What can I say except this was an eventful & wonderful day!! I can't wait for the next one..

4.9 Earthquake! Really??

My hubby flew home this afternoon from Oakland & I drove out to the airport to pick him up. I left early to get some Ice Tea for the road, as the weather was so nice today and Ice Tea was a must!
I pulled up in the "Park & Wait" 45 minutes early. I was set! I had a good book & a cool drink. It was about 70 degree's & I had the windows rolled down just waiting for a cool breeze to blow my way. Well, the wind was hardly blowing at all. I was lucky to catch a slight breeze once in awhile. I sat with book in hand & a paper to fan myself. As I continued to get deeper into my book,I thought someone snuck up behind me & started shaking my car! I looked in the rear view mirror....nothing. Then I looked in my side view mirror.....nothing. Also thinking in the back of my mind..."oh crap, I need to hurry & roll up my window as someone is messing with my car & I don't need anyone car-jacking me"!! I thought I was going to have to break out my can of ......

Then I thought "the wind is not even blowing enough to blow a plastic bag across the parking lot, so why is my car moving like it's in a wind storm"? (Ok, a slight wind-storm). My car stopped moving & I was back reading my book & thinking, that was weird.
After picking up the hubby, dinner, unpacking & getting ready for work, the news comes on 3 hours later & said there was a 4.9 earthquake up in the north/eastern part of the state. I thought 4.9?? really? Bet those "never been in an earthquake, God fearing, the world is coming to an end people are freaking out"!! 4.9 will wake you up for sure. For a minute, I had to stop & realize I wasn't in California. I did tell the hubby since he flew in from the Bay Area, he brought it with him. LOL

I know you will think I'm weird (Tryn, no comment!) but I wish I would of been at home so I could feel it & know what it was. Sitting in the moving parked car, I would never guessed it was an Earthquake. Oh well, I know my girlfriend in CA wrote me & said she would trade me her Earthquakes for our snow. I said "Any day"!! Earthquakes I can deal with....Snow I can NOT!!!

April 15th

Oh great. Today is tax day. That means I will be taking a drive to the post office at approximately 4:45pm. Why should I give my money any earlier to people who will just turn around and spend it on something stupid. I could say what I think is stupid, but I don't want to offend anyone that might read this.


On a good note, today is also freebie day. Or maybe a way of some businesses saying "Sorry, I know you have no money today of all days, but if you come to our place of business & spend money that you don't have, we'll give you something free as a Thank you".



Here are just a few I found.


Starbucks: Free coffee, you just have to supply the mug. (I'm sure you can buy one there for under $10)



Rubio's: Free Grilled Gourmet Taco. (just print coupon off their web site) I love Rubio's!!



McDonald's: Free Southern style chicken biscuit or chicken sandwich (check local stores to see if they are participating)



Chick-Fil-A: free mini-biscuits from 6-10:30am ( again, call & see if local stores are participating)



Cinnabon: bite size cupcakes from 6-8pm

(what luck, the hubby is flying home today. Maybe he'll get me a cupcake)



T.G.I. Fridays: $5 gift card on purchases between $15-$25. $10 card for more that $25 purchase.



Taco Del Mar: Free taco w/printed coupon (they have yummy fish tacos also)



Maggie Moo's: 1 free slice of ice cream pizza between 3-7PM



Ben & Jerry's: Free Cone Day



Dunkin Donuts: Free donut w/coffee purchase.



P.F. Chang's: 15% dinner discount



Papa John's: Lg pizza w/3 toppings for $10.40. Order on-line & coupon code "1040"



Office Depot & Staples: Free copy of tax documents (up to 25 pages)



Baja Fresh: $2 Burrito



Subway: Free cookie (they have a great snicker doodle cookie)



Ok, so those are a few things I found. Here are a few more for AFTER tax day.



Jack in the Box: Friday, April 16th....free small fry (at participating stores)



iTunes: People Magazine is offering 10 free songs from the "Country Sampler". (get code from People Magazine web site) Also: iTunes has a weekly free download.



Target: Sunday, April 18th only, get a free reusable bag w/any purchase



Remember, not all store's are participating, but it's worth checking out if your out today.

7.2 Quake hits home

This is the web page my computer has been on since 5pm. And I have been refreshing it constantly, and will continue to do so through the night.

Just as everyone was sitting down to Easter dinner, our phone rang. It was an unknown number, but it was the area code back home. I picked it up to a voice I had trouble recognizing. The female voice said "Natalie, I just wanted to call to let you all know we are ok". I was trying & trying to recognize this shaky voice. I responded "that's good". And then again, she said "I didn't want to worry you guys". Then I realized it was my Mother in law. I thought "what is going on & why does she sound so weird". I then asked "What is going on". She said "we just had a really big Earthquake". She was upset & scared.

OK, now anyone that is from "Earthquake country" pretty much knows anything under 5.o doesn't even count in the "big" category. And anything under a 4.0 is "nothing to talk about". And I know my MIL, she will call in the "under 4.0, because, that is who she is. She's a great lady & worries all the time about her family. And she always wants to keep us in the "now". But something was defiantly wrong, as I could hear it in her voice.

I asked right away, "how big was it". She replies "6.9"! I asked is everyone ok, and she said she has called all the kids that she could, as phone lines were down, but once in awhile she could get the cell phone to work. She said they have no power & they just keep "rock'n & roll'n" and it won't stop.

Quick updates that she had off hand. The oldest son, he lives in a mobile home & it fell off the foundation. Next daughter, things fell off the walls & out of cabinets. Next daughter, also lives in a really nice big mobile home out in the country & not sure of the foundation yet, but also has things on the floor that shouldn't be there. Youngest son/brother, things the same. Stuff on floor & broken. Now his Father in law lives right on the Mexico/CA border & his house/stuff is pretty much "toast". My niece's husband, who is a firefighter was running out of the house & something fell on his foot, so now he is limping around trying to help my in laws, as my MIL will NOT go back inside the house. She said every time she tries to, the ground starts to shake again.

Of course I then call my brother (see last Earthquake post about him & my BFF) I asked him if he was ok & he said "yeah, just hanging out". He was at a family Easter party & was afraid to go home & access the damage. He's pretty sure he's lost a few TV's & stuff from the walls. Then my aunt calls & says she was at my cousins having dinner & stuff started flying out of the cabinets in the kitchen & the "girls" in the house were screaming & running for the doors. (I don't know why, but u always run for the door during an Earthquake, just watch out for falling poles/trees). My aunt said she was trying to walk outside, but fell onto the couch & just "rode" it out. She went home & her chandelier was still moving. And her bedroom TV was on the floor. She said in all her 70 yrs living there, that is the biggest one she has been in.

My MIL called one more time before 9pm. They are still rock'n & roll'n. There is a slight breeze, so it is keeping the weather nice to be outside. (my aunt was just happy that she got her power back on so she could turn her air conditioner back on). LOL. I can remember when I was 19, we had a 6.1 and I slept outside for 2 nights. It was fun. Like having a camp out/block party. I can also remember the look on my young boys faces when they went through their first Earthquake. They thought it was really "neat" that the water was splashing out of our swimming pool.

Since 3:40pm their time, they have had 4 aftershocks that rates 5.0 or over. 16 aftershocks between 4.0-4.9. 82 aftershocks between 3.0-3.9. I stopped counting after midnight their time.

One thing about Earthquakes, you can't see them coming . I bet people were just starting to fall asleep & their last big one was at 11:17pm & was 4.2

Looks like they had to close down the Interstate from the valley to San Diego and traffic had to detour onto a back road. I'm just so glad I wasn't there to answer all the stupid questions that would of been coming in on the 911 lines. "How big was that quake". My favorite response to those calls where..."I'm not sure, this isn't Cal-Tech, call them"!

Happy Easter

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter & don't eat to much chocolate!

And who's idea was it to make this some type of Easter Candy? Really?

Yes I will post cute little Easter pictures sometime next week.

April Fools

I think Mother Nature was trying to be funny today, but I was not amused.

She started last night & continued through the morning and laughing the whole time. What did I do to her? I never played a trick on her, but if I could, I certainly would now.

So much for hiding Easter eggs on Sunday. The weather is not going to get any better. Not funny Mother Nature!! It's Spring incase you didn't get the memo!