'07 Nissan Versa My New Car Oct 2010

Well I finally had to buy a new car. We shopped and shopped for a couple of months. I wanted good gas mileage and not too expensive. We looked at Mazda2, Toyota Yaris, Chevy AVEO and Nissan Versa. I thought I wanted to buy a NEW 2010 or 2011. But got talked into looking at a used 2007 Nissan Versa. It was a Tuesday night, dark and rainy. Ray test drove it. But we were not ready to buy that night. We talked about how it would be a good steward of our money if we got a used car instead of spending too much on a new one. I also thought if I offed $8000 cash I might get it. Ray seemed to think they would not take less than $10,000. The next day I decided I wanted to look at it in the day light. So I went by myself to take another look. I drove it and like the standard shift. It is a six speed and had 33,000 miles on it. So... I finally decided to buy it. But Wednesday night was a memorial service for a friend at church who was just murdered in the city of Rochester. It was really a rough week. They did not get all the paper work transferred, insurance, plates and contract so they put a dealer plate on so I could drive it to the service that night by 6 pm. I went to the service and sang and interpreted and the next day went back to sign all the paper work. I decided on getting an extended warranty. So I spent more than I really wanted but. ... I hope it is worth it. I got Rust Proofing, Sound Proofing/like ZEBART. and clear coat on the paint. This car is metal not like my '98 Saturn. I always keep my cars for a long time and don't want this one to rust here in Western NY. It reminds me of my '72 Ford Pinto. (same color). I miss my Saturn but it was time to get rid of it.  I will be going to get the warranty work done and replace the rear window wiper on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. When I looked at the car the day I bought it the hood did not latch all the way. So they "fixed" it. UNTIL we popped the hood again at home to check the oil and the hood would not latch again. I took it in and the guy said..."oh you broke your car"  I said, "NO, I BOUGHT IT THIS WAY!"  He realized he said the wrong thing at that point. I explained what had happened the day I bought it and he said they would make it right. About 45 min later I was told they had to order a new latch and wiper blade. So... I will be taking it in on Saturday after Thanksgiving to have that fixed and all the other warranty stuff done.

What I did on MY SUMMER VACATION 2010

Lunch at SONIC in Binghamton, NY

We started out on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010. Sandy & Steve Wall, Ray & I rented a "cottage" at a gated community at Arrowhead Lake, Mt Pocono, PA. But could not get the into the place until Sunday at 4 pm. So we spent Saturday taking our time getting there. We stopped at Sonic in Binghamton, NY, of course, to get a Cherry Limeade. mmmm.  The burgers and onion rings were great too.

My cell phone broke and I had to get a new one. We stopped at a Mall in Johnson City and bought a Motorola Backflip. I just could not get used to it. It had a mind of it's own. We exchanged it Monday at a AT&T store in Mt Pocono. I now have a Samsung-Strive and it is purple. 

(NO PHOTO of DAYS INN) Too scary!
We spent the night in Dickson City, PA at a Days Inn. Since it was raining  we were planning on relaxing in the indoor pool and hot tub. We got two separate rooms for Walls and ourselves then got into our swimsuits and went to front desk for pool towels. We walked into the pool area and saw the POOL?  It was a milky green with oily scum floating on top. There were two people in the hot tub which did not look much better. At one point we thought we saw the drain in the bottom of the pool but it turned out to just be the reflection from the vent in the ceiling. You could not even see the second step of the ladder as it went under the water.   EEEeeeeeewwww.         So we went up to our room and watch a little tv in the Wall's room and then called it a night.   It poured all day Sunday. We stopped at the Outlet Mall in PA. I found a dollar in a puddle in the parking lot. Yippie!  Sandy and I shopped and then called the guys to come to the restaurant for lunch. Good Lunch.  Then onto the "cottage".

13 Shawnee Place, Arrowhead Lake, Mt Pocono PA

At Arrowhead Lake there are "Home owners", "Association members", "Long term renters" AND "renters".  We were considered the fourth class citizens called "RENTERS". We had to wear bands on our wrists that branded us as "renters" every where we went. Each week the band color changed to a different color.... so don't think you could cheat and sneak in and use one of their 3 pools or 4 beaches or tennis courts or basketball courts etc.   The house was nice that we rented but there were RULES. Take off shoes so the new laminate floors did not get scratched by sand being tracked in. That made sense. OK. Leave all wet beach things outside. Don't get the laminate floor wet. It is new, you know.  Wipe up all spills immediately. Don't leave food out on counters unless in glass jars. Ooops  did not read that rule until half way through the week.

Relaxing in the living room. Cable TV and Internet too.

Monday we decided to venture out to a movie. No movie theaters in the local area so we had to drive to Wilkes Barre to the movies. Dark, rainy, winding roads all the way to Wilkes Barre. We saw the movie Inception. It was an interesting and entertaining movie.

Ray & I in front of the Millennium Theater at Sight and Sound.

Tuesday we went to Ronks, PA near Lancaster to the Sight and Sound Theater to see the production of Joseph. It is a Christian based theater company with wonderful biblical based shows. We also went to Behind the Scenes to see the theater and props, lights, sound board, etc. Loved it. Everything was amazing.They have live animals on stage and a fly system for the actor to fly right off the stage and into the rafters. Singing, acting and dancing was superb.
http://www.sight-sound.com/WebSiteSS/getlanguages.do  Check it out. It is worth the drive!


Wednesday it was still raining in the Pocono Mountains. We read, watched TV, Farmed in Farmville, and played UNO.

Thursday Adam came to visit us from Staten Island on his motorcycle. We met him at a local restaurant. Van Gilder's Jubilee. Good food great time. We made Adam go swimming with us at the Arrowhead pool. When renting you have to pay $25 to register your vehicle to enter through the security gate. AND did I mention renters are not allowed to have visitors?  yeah.  So Adam parked his motorcycle in the parking lot outside the office area and we smuggled Adam into the gated community and let him use dad's swim shorts to go swimming in THEIR pool. It was sunny but windy and cold. But since we also had to pay $25 per person for the "the prisoner ankle bracelet". Steve was determined we get our money's worth out of the amenities.   SO WE HAD TO GO SWIMMING.  Then we went to Wal-Mart because Adam wanted to shop for some shoes/boots. We said good bye in Wal-Mart parking lot and he left us saying "Don't kill each other and  I'll see ya"

Friday we drove to Bushkill Falls to go hiking. http://www.visitbushkillfalls.com/trails.php
We first went on the easy trails. Green then Yellow. When we finished the Yellow trail we decided to so some of the Blue and Red trails. I am glad we did they were beautiful and only a little challenging. Even the trails people were saying were tough, we did not think they were that bad. My calves are sore even today, three days later. We did not take the end of the Red trail. That trail has 1267 steps. The steps(stairs) were the had parts. Some went straight up and others were not so bad. Some of the Blue and Red trails did not have steps at all just rough terrain. Fun times.!

See!!!  I can see my feet!

droopwv@yahoo.com is the person who placed the Pirate Flag Letterboxes on this trail.

Our first letter box found in Tobyhanna State Park

Saturday we went Geocaching and Letterboxing. It was our first time trying this so we had a hard time with the Geocaching. We went to a cemetery and found the Longitude and Latitude but was not sure we found it or not. We did find a Fake mushroom and thought that must be it. Then we left to Letterbox in Tobyhanna State Park. Tobyhanna State Park is really nice. There was no fee to get in and walk on the trails there. We followed the instructions on the letterbox to get to the two Pirate's Flag letterboxes. We found both of them. I did not have a Letterbox log book so I stamped my shirt sleeves with the pirate stamps.  That was really fun. Just like a real treasure hunt. I think Sandy and Steve are hooked. We want to try it here at home and even maybe "place" one ourselves. Steve wants to design the stamp. I hope we follow through with continuing to hike and letterbox. I hear there are some at Mendon Ponds.

A Tee Pee in Tobyhanna State Park. Made by Boy Scouts, I think.

reading my bible on the beach just after sunrise

The last few days there I went down to the beach to see the early sun and mist on the lake. I brought my bible and read and prayed for the day. Thank you God for a beautiful quiet place of rest.

A gran'pa and kids fishing early in the morning.

The little girl caught a fish

It was time to pack up and clean the camp and get on the road.

Say Bye-Bye to Arrowhead Lake house.

Sunday we ate at the Pioneer Diner we found out was right close to the Wal-Mart. We did not find this place until the second to the last day we were there. The waitress, Joanne was a riot. She answered our questions before we even asked......"potatoes?.... mashed-not real, baked-real, fries-real, corn? Frozen. "
I had french toast and SCRAPPLE. It was not bad. I remember my dad always like scrapple. Don't ask what it is .... like Spam with pig parts. Fried tastes like bacon.

Home with my mom

We started out last night hoping we got here by 9 pm to watch Eureka. Eureka was a crossover episode where Claudia goes to Eureka to help Fargo.

I don't know how to blog ... I want pictures but don't know how to get them.

My Family TREE? John Henry Johnson from Hope Mills, NC

Johnson Homestead in Hope Mills, NC From left: Irvin Johnson John Henry Johnson Archie McInnis and Mary Frances "Fannie" Dawkins  Date: About 1916

John Henry Johnson in Hope Mills, NC 

Kira's friend is a member of Ancestry.com and was showing me how he researches family trees. We looked for my father's family and found some interesting things. I believe my great grandfather, John Henry Johnson from Hope Mills, NC was a moonshiner!  My grandfather, Irvin Francis Johnson was married to Katie M. Caldwell on Sept 26, 1917 in Sharon, Mecklenburg County NC. Irvin was unaccounted for during the 1930 Census It showed Kate Johnson was the "sister in law" and Alfred Johnson was the nephew living with a family with the last name King. Kate was listed as being married but we did not find my grandfather's name at that house hold. hummm?  Interesting.  I can't wait to find out more and look for more photos on the internet. Who would have thought we could find that much on our family in North Carolina. Gran'pa Johnson (Irvin) did not get a social security number until he got to NY. (He must have been running moonshine)

                    

Avocado

Mmmm...avocado...

The Willow Tree: Aftermath

Here's what is left...

It would have been nice to have a large cross section of the tree to make a table, but the trunk was so massive that there had to be several cuts since Andy's crew didn't have a saw that would saw through the whole thing.

The tree grew around this chain that was for the tire swing...

...As well as over the chain this pulley was attached to that once held Adam's heavybag. The service that took away the rest of the tree wouldn't take these two pieces because of the metal embedded in the wood, since they send all the wood through a grinder (and the metal would ruin their grinding equipment).  So we still have these two pieces...for Adam to make a table out of perhaps?

The Willow Tree: Going...going... GONE

The branches are gone....only the trunk remains...

Our friend Andy cutting up what's left of the trunk.

Andy's son climbing up the massive stump...reminiscent of years ago when Adam used to climb the tree at that age.

There's so much sky now without the tree there.