My Stevie's Birthday Pictures

Okay I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from the big party....
The first is my boss's dog, Rocko, sporting his new bouquet of balloons:



This is the scooter that gave me stomach aches and grey hairs.


This is Steve and his two daughters.

Oh, Did I Mention Sheriff Joe??

I met the famous Sheriff Joe Arpaio a couple of weeks ago, at a Republican convention thingy. I know you've heard of him... people circulate stories about him on the internet, how he makes the overflow prisoners stay in a "tent city" in the desert since the State of Arizona really has no money to build more prisons. He makes them wear pink underwear so they won't feel like they should steal them when they leave. If ground beef is too expensive, prisoners eat ostrich or whatever meat is affordable. Prisoners have the option of working on the chain gang out in the heat; if not, they can stay in the tent city and do nothing. No porno magazines, no cable t.v., no amenities.

Joe didn't smile for our picture, because that "mean" look is his thing. He said so. He could've at least made it look like he was okay with getting a picture with me.....

Standin On a Corner In Winslow, Arizona...

What a trip! I thought I was going to be bored. We drove the whole way out from Arizona to La Grange, Indiana in Steve's boss's semi truck--stopping each night wherever we made it to.

Homemade cheeses, smoked meats, Amish peanut butter, and food, food, food.
And we learned all about the Amish people, which was quite an eye-opener. I guess I figured these people would be hiding in their little simple Amish homes, away from all the cars, congestion, tourists, and shopping. WRONG! Their houses are quite large, and beautiful, and modern looking. And they're situated among the regular houses of the community. The only way you can tell the difference is there's no electric wires going to the house.
The Amish people own businesses, including tourist destinations, they work among the rest of the community in the factories, they go out to dinner just like anyone else, they use computers, they ride in cars, and they even hire workers to do stuff for them--like lawn care!!! We saw a lawn care guy working at an Amish house. Too funny.
They can do all these things, as long as they don't OWN any of these modern day conveniences. Borrowed computers, telephones, tractors, rides in other people's cars are okay. Just don't OWN any of that. What a bunch of moochers.

Most of them seemed to get around in their little black horse buggies, or bicycles.
We were fascinated with the horse buggies. There's actually hitching posts at grocery stores and convenience stores, so the Amish buggies can roll on in!

We were lucky to have great weather, right up till the day we left, which was Saturday. We dropped Steve's boss's semi truck at the shop that's doing some customizing to it, and Steve's boss picked us up and flew us home in his private jet.
We entertained ourselves all the way home with our jokes and stories.

In a few weeks the truck will be done and we'll be flying out to pick it up. The sleeper that's being put on it is larger than a motorhome I once owned! Fancy, too.
It's going to be a show truck, and the first show it'll be in is the one I'm having in the spring.

Halloween Cut Short

I put my Halloween decorations up on the 22nd, then had to leave town for a three day conference. So my beautiful Jack O Lanterns were only lit up one night!