What a week! Good and bad, but I survived. The weekend was much better than the week, but all in all it was good. I was able to see my sons! I won't bore you with most of the details, but I will bore you with some of the drive....lol.

First off, my visit Saturday night with VTCali was great! I won't blog about my visit with VT now. He deserves his own blog. This morning when I left, I had breakfast with my oldest son and his girlfriend. She is very nice and in due time we will see where it goes. It was just wonderful to see my boy. Kit is her name. She started to laugh when she realized where my sons get their sense of adventure and going off the beaten path. Her words were "The piece to the puzzle is complete and now I get it and understand where it comes from. Your son is just like you" lol

After breakfast I headed home. Are you Ready? After driving for a while, I stopped so all of you could walk along the train tracks of Ventura. As you can tell by this blog. I wasn't hit by the train...lol. Don't be a chicken, we have to use this path to go where we need to go.


We arrived safely and enjoyed the serenity of one of my favorite spots. The Gidgets love to surf here. It is basically the area where young ones learn how to surf. (pics later) How do you like the view?


Okay, enough rest. Let's climb the mountains. I want to show you an area where the wild horses are safe from poachers and the government. There are thousands of horses in the mountains. They were rescued by wonderful people who take care of them. I always think of Lilll when I see the beautiful creatures.


Now we climb higher. If you look in the distance you can see clouds of white. Usually you can see the ocean from this view. But today it was covered in fog. We are actually so high that even the fog is below us. This is an amazing sight!


Jump in the truck. I want to show you a place where bulls are housed and breed. Lucky for us, one of the bulls was out and about. The only thing between me and the bull was barbed wire...lol. He didn't like me at all. I think he thought I was after his woman...lol. He kept snorting and pounding his hoof on the ground at me. I stood about 10 feet from him. Why didn't I back away?.....hell if I know...lol


When I reach a certain part of the drive, I know that I am almost home. Where the sun is setting, is where I want to be. I am about an 1 1/2 hours from home. I needed a rest anyway, so I stopped and watched the sun go to sleep over the mountain. The night was warm, so I just sat on the hood of my truck and took it all in.


As always, the drive was fantastic! The best part was not getting hurt...lol. I didn't get hit by a train and I didn't get trampled by a bull. I was trampled by a bull when I was a young teen. It kind of stung...lol Thank you for riding with me. Let's go to bed now.

My apologies for being late.
This blog comes from a special place. Hey Cover? Recognize this Lego set? Can you guess?



xox

No babysitting, no taking care of the injured, no errands. Everyone was fully capable of taking care of what needed to be done. I didn't turn the computer on all day or call to check on anyone. I wandered about. It felt awesome! The blogs and emails can wait. Right now there is no one calling me or asking me for anything. I am being selfish with myself. Right now, it's just me, a bottle of wine, a movie and the hotel bed. And ooooooooooo la la am I being selfish in an oh so naughty way.

When I am done being "just me today", I will say hello to everyone. Carry on.
xoxoxox

The patient did well today. So well that I spent a few hours over at my sons house in Santa Ana. We wanted to eat outside under the tree in the field next to his apartment. He and his girlfriend told me that there are wild rabbits living in the small field next to their house. I was hoping to see them and was happy to see that one was right under my truck. What a cutie! I sent my son into the house to get a carrot so we can coax it out. Any animal will bring a smile to my face and this was a big smile.



The little guy just hopped around us the entire time we were eating. He never let us pet him, but even if he would, it would be a bit dangerous because it is wild. Evidently there are 5 wild rabbits living in the field but we didn't see them.

We went to the doctors today. The patient is well enough to start doing things on his own. So this means that I can go and do as I please. My job of helping out is done! Nurse Tighty has fulfilled her promise. I wonder what trouble I can find?

Dog alerts parents to abusive babysitter
Dog's reaction to sitter made parents suspicious.
By Vetstreet (37 minutes ago)

When the Jordan family moved to Charleston, S.C., with their then 7-month-old son, Finn, they hired a 22-year-old babysitter whose background check had come up clean. And while they trusted Alexis Khan with the care of their baby for five months — their dog didn’t.
“We started to notice that our dog was very defensive of our son when she would come in the door,” said Benjamin Jordan. “He was very aggressive towards her and a few times we actually had to physically restrain our dog from going towards her.”
That made the parents suspicious, and they decided to put a phone under the couch to record what was happening in the house. The audio recording captured the sounds of the sitter cussing at and slapping the baby while he cried. Khan was taken into police custody and pleaded guilty to assault and battery. She’ll be placed on a child abuse registry so she won’t be allowed to work with kids again.
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Now that is what I call a best friend for life. Yes, it is always sad when a child is abused, but the ending is the best!
I love happy endings.

After the memorial services at the department, it was time to head back on over to care for the patient. My sons and I took him out to dinner. We looked funny and of course because we looked funny, our sons kept a few steps behind us....lol There I was in my knee and wrist brace and the ex on crutches with compression bandages on both legs. People probably thought we had been in an accident. We know the cafe owner so we kind of led him to believe that I caused the ex's injuries by taking him with me on a hike......hahahaha. I mean, it isn't so hard to believe because he knows us personally and even went camping with us many times. My track record is well known to our long time friends. We finally told him that it wasn't my adventurous spirit that hurt him.....lol.

Everyone is in bed and I am tired. It is time to read my book on The Five Points in NYC. It's the area in which the first Irish Gangs of New York were formed and fought. Nothing like a good violent book before I close my eyes.....hahaaha.

Tomorrow I will do some cleaning and cooking before I head on out to run some errands. There hasn't been any time to visit my favorite beach. But that is okay. This trip was to assist someone in need, not for my pleasure. If I do slip some fun in, it will be when the boys are able to take care of the patient when they aren't in class.

Btw, if you play a joke on a friend who owns a cafe.....he takes back the free dinner and drinks.....lol.

Never forgotten. As long as there is a plane in the sky, it is hard not to think of those on 9/11.

I will spend it quietly. I know exactly where I was that morning, but won't go on about that. My feelings haven't changed about how tragic that day was and the years that followed. So many emotions around the country will rise to the surface today. I will drive over to my old department and attend the services for the fallen. There will be prayers for those we knew during the attack so many years ago, as well as those we did not know personally. This day is for everyone. Those who died and the families that were left behind. It is time to pay respects to everyone. We should not forget all of the passengers on each plane, those in the Twin Towers, The Pentagon and the brave men and women who tried to stop the the last plane from reaching it's destination but crashed during those efforts. No one will ever be forgotten. I didn't know the thousands who died that day, but do know a Marine who lost his wife during the Pentagon attack, two NYC Police Officers that I met when they spent a few months training with LAPD and a fireman who transferred to NY because his daughter wanted to attend college in NY. They will forever be in my thoughts.

Then there is the aftermath and our military. Someone I loved dearly and a great number of my friends were sent overseas and I was afraid for them. They too were involved and so many men and women died doing what they do as true Americans. I lived the military life back then and cried with numerous wives who's husbands didn't return from Iraq. There were also the military spouses who did return but were injured or forever maimed. The military fought for what happened on 9/11. The love, admiration and undying respect for them is endless.

The tears and memories will flow today. All over the US there will be hugs, sadness, stories and camaraderie. Even during the passage of time, the wounds for some, will never heal. My thoughts today are for those who lost their lives during the attacks, the heroes who tried saving them, the heroes who were swept overseas and to the families, children and spouses who are still hurting. I may not know you, but I love you all the same

I did get to swim for a bit. I had the most handsome pool partner. He smothered me in hugs and kisses and thinks I hung the moon. He was a smooth talker and kept trying to play with my bathing suit top. He just wouldn't let me go! We had fun swimming. His laugh is infectious and he makes me smile!

This is my partner for the day.



I made breakfast for the patient this morning. Then set up his lunch to be heated. After that I was off! My son will taking making his dinner, so I am not needed tonight. My best friend needed me to babysit again today. After a little playtime in the pool, my god son is now taking a nap and so will I. My playtime is coming up. Tonight I head on over to my former patrol partners house. We will have some drinks and laugh a bit. I see a beach in my future. Maybe in a few days. YAY!

Surgery in the morning for the ex and making sure he is okay.
When he was settled, I headed off to babysit for my best friend. Her regular babysitter got called home. Thank God I was in the area and the ex was sleeping. I'm a pro with kids. My God Son is 9 months old and very feisty. He thought he could run me around and get me tuckered, but I fooled him and he was the one who got tuckered! So ha ha on Connor. Then my God Daughter Abbey was dropped off from school and it was time to make dinner. I put all of the kids to bed so A could just come home and watch her program.

Now it is time to get back on the road to make sure I clean the ex's bandages. My best friend said that I missed my calling and should have been a nurse. Then A' laughed and took it back because she remembered that I don't like whiners and would rather shoot people...*giggle*

Night!

The melanomas were removed / cauterized and now the healing begins. He will have to be checked for any future lesions every 6 months for 5 to 7 years. I wanted to be in the surgical room to watch...lol...(your're thinking ICK right now....lol) When I was 18 years old, a small melanoma about the size of my pinkie finger nail was burned off of my back. The smell was too cool! *again, I know that I am strange* But the ex's doctor wouldn't allow me into the Op Room. Darn it!
I did sit in the exam room and the doctor asked about my knee and wrist. So I told him. The Ex had to speak up and say "Don't let her near any sharp objects" The doc said "That bad, eh?" Then the laughter began and the ex went on to say....oh yes, I could tell you some stories....(laughter laughter) Doc: "Really?"
I interrupted their lil giggle fest with: "Hello? I'm right here! Can we get to cutting his leg off now?"

While I am here in So. Cal. I will take advantage of it all and see my best friend, my sons, my god children and hopefully get in some beach time. The trip is to help the ex, but I do know that eventually he will get on my nerves....and that is where my breaks come in...lol