Pioneer Woman, Reese Witherspoon

I used to read Pioneer Woman's blog once a day, but busy times have prevailed and I can only see her stuff once a week now.
I've followed her for a few years, proudly reading as she chronicled not only life on the ranch but also life on the road as she promoted her cookbood. You know, HER COOKBOOK....



Yeah, the one that has THIS on the inside....



Oh and don't forget her spread in People Magazine....



Part of the entertainment known as www.thepioneerwoman.com is the novel she's written about how she and her sweetheart met in a little town in Oklahoma. It's called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.
And now the folks at Sony Pictures have acquired the rights to her story to possibly make a movie.

And they're talking about having Reese Witherspoon play the lead role.

Jealous? Nope. Truly happy for her, I think it's positively neat that she's found such a successful nitch. Niche? Nitch? Don't know. No time to look it up.
Besides, this little chicky has plans of her own.

Uncle Jim is Broken

Shay and I went to visit Uncle Jim today, because he broke his neck. Really!
A car pulled a nice little maneuver in front of him while he was riding his bicycle, he crashed and noticed his neck hurt a lot.
I didn't find out about it until I got a voicemail later in the day that said,
"Hey, I don't know if you knew about this, but your Uncle Jim got into an accident on his bike today and he was airlifted to Vegas!"
Apparently I'm a bit low on the totem pole in the family, so I hadn't been notified.
I got word from the "network." I'm fortunate that I found out before it was in the newspaper the next day.
Oh, and for the record, the newspaper said U.J. (Uncle Jim) was getting a citation. That's not true. Just another little thing that the reporter made up. Our paper does that sometimes.
Even more interesting, the driver of the car who pulled in front of U.J. isn't getting a citation.

After getting examined in the hospital in Vegas, U.J. was told by the doctors that he'd be better off with a halo instead of surgery. So he gets to wear hardware for a couple of months, and riding a bike is out of the question.



He's talking on the cell phone while resting in his recliner.

Get Well U.J.!

In The Land of California

In the exotic land of southern California, you are stopped on the freeway for a Border Patrol checkpoint. You're not told to exit the freeway, you are actually STOPPED on the freeway.....




And in the land of California (well, it's in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as well...) there is HUGE steel fencing that can be seen from miles and miles away.
It's the border fence.



I wish I'd gotten a photo of it, but I was driving and it wouldn't have been safe....but I saw two Border Patrol trucks dragging used tires behind their SUV's to smoothe out the dirt between the border fence and the highway. (so they could better see if any fresh foot prints appear over the weekend)

Here's what it looks like when you're driving across the border from Mexico. The motorhome is Jim's, he's being questioned of course. He's shady...



See the cameras? They have scanners, too. The scanners are for passport holders who have the optional border crossing card. You hold it up as you drive past the scanner and all your information appears on the computer screen before you get up to the Border Patrol's window. Kinda cool.

When you get to the window, you are asked:

1. How you're doing (this is if the guard is in a good mood)
2. Your citizenship (American Citizen! Red White and Blue!)
3. If you have anything to declare (I declared that Tuna Casserole is my favorite of all casseroles)
4. If you have any drugs or alcohol in your vehicle. I always ask if they want to know about my ibuprofen and vitamin supplements. They NEVER care.
5. What were you doing in Mexico. I never joke at this point, because "dealin' drugs," or, "Looking for a new housekeeper," is never laughed at. In fact it makes your day very very long. And you don't need that kind of attention, especially at the border.

Every time I'm in line at the border, I observe the following:

1. Drug dogs doing passive searches on vehicles while they're in line. I ALWAYS see a vehicle get pulled out of line because the drug dog "hit" on it.
2. Beggars.
3. Mexican vendors selling candy, bottled water, Mexican newspapers, tiny toys. Oh, and hats.
4. Vehicles overheating. The line is always at least an hour.
5. Window washers. They carry plastic bottles of water and dirty rags, and offer to wash your windshield.

So there you have it. Now you don't need to experience the border in person.

SCORE San Felipe Race

We stayed in a brand new hotel, built sometime in the past year. After I'd arrived on Friday, Jim mentioned that he believed the hotel was built by looking at a picture of a hotel rather than blueprints. Then he showed me the light switches. Okay, I get it!

But it was nice, for me. It's in a quieter location (not downtown where all the partiers and fireworks are) and the heater actually worked in my room. With my ear plugs, benadryl, contoured pillow that I brought from home, and the working heater--I had the best night's sleep I'd EVER had in Mexico.
But then I took a shower. Cold water. Yuck.

The race begins at 6am, so we have to be in place with our computers and paperwork ready to go. We parked Jim's motorhome next to the arches--it's the gateway to the town and it also served as the Start and Finish line.
We were joined at the arches by a huge media trailer.



And I was an hour early because my alarm was set for the wrong time.

We had our usual military guards for security. But I don't remember there being a truck-mounted gun before!



We had 107 bikes and quads start their race, then a couple of hours later the trophy trucks lined up for their start:





We were surprised at the number of UTV's, or, Rhinos that were racing. This one is a UTV but I have no idea what kind:



250 miles later, he actually came back to the Finish line. On time!

We worked until after 10pm, then I gladly climbed into my perfect room in my cozy little corner of Mexico.

The next morning I was up before everyone else so I went downtown in search of some breakfast tacos. Obviously, there was quite a party the night before:



There were tents on the beach, and one of the tents was crushed and laying down. I figured it had been abandoned until I heard someone roll around inside it. I had to sit and watch because the guy struggled around for several minutes, as if he wasn't sure where he was at!

But the rest of the beach was silent, except for the waves. The tide was beginning to come in and the sun was coming up.



I found my tacos, got back to the hotel and we all caravanned up to the border.

We waited 90 minutes to get back across! Busy day at the port of entry.

After driving all day, and I do mean all day....

I made it home to my sweetie. Shay will be home in the morning and he'll see the cool autograph I got him from Robbie Gordon. Oh, and the cool t shirts. What a spoiled little guy.

He Didn't Sing For Me

Dean Martin is our Arizona State Treasurer, and he is running for Governor. So are a lot of other people, really. A LOT. But not as many as there are running for City Council in Lake Havasu. That number is at 17 right now.

Anyhoo....Dean Martin was at our Republican Women's Luncheon along with fellow Gubernatorial candidate Hugh Kealer. I did get Dean to stay behind for some questions. And a photo. I'm in the yellow. I'm what they call a "spring."

I Have Discovered IKEA

I've heard of the place, never stepped foot in it.

But, I had a need for my office and couldn't find what I needed anywhere else.
I usually try to do my shopping in smaller stores and such because, well, I AM THE SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCATE. (ABC, always be campaigning)
I searched all kinds of stores and whenever I found something even close to what I watned, the minimum charge was $160. Now, I don't have expensive taste. Have you seen my hair? Obviously I'm not using a pricey hair dye.

$160 is quite a lot for me. And being a FISCAL CONSERVATIVE (ABC...okay just kiddin...)

I wandered into IKEA on Saturday night. I had this look on my face the whole time:



Actually there were several times I had to close my jaw. Because it was hanging open. The selection was outstanding, but even more impressive was the pricing. Super cheap. And that's me. Super cheap.

I found exactly what I was looking for, at the low low price of $29.99.

The Governor. Near Me. Close By.

That's our current Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer. She's shaking hands with the President of the Arizona Realtors Association. I didn't pose with her for photos because I already bugged her for photos back in January. Remember?



She came to Lake Havasu to do some stumpin', because she is running to be elected Governor, since right now she is serving an appointment as Governor. Our previous Governor overspent on the budget then ran away to work in Washington. Yay.

I got to the meeting early, and I watched the Gov's people get the room ready.

They tacked a banner up to the wall:



Then she arrived, greeted everyone, and asked for support.



Banner? Check. Shake hands? Check.

Looks like I know how to run for Governor.