Pre-Olympic Wanderings - by Tamar

Everything is coming up red and white. Richmond, as well as Vancouver, is starting to bloom with the Canada colours, getting ready for the Olympics. Yesterday I saw some creative person had the Olympic rings made out of Christmas lights on his front lawn. That was pretty cool, much cooler than the few souls who are still displaying full Christmas get-up(do they not realize it’s almost the end of January?)

On Saturday we decided to walk around Richmond and see what pre-Olympic stuff was going on, plus take a look at, as well as pictures of, the strange looking sculptures that are presently implanted in our beautiful city – Vancouver doesn’t have the dibs on odd, it seems.

Howard wasn’t very pleased when I gave him shit for parking in the mall parking lot while we walked – I could imagine coming back to an empty parking stall as our car was conveniently parked under a sign that warned us if we left the lot, our car would be towed. Then before we actually walked off the lot, I happened to ask him if he had the camera, which he hadn’t. Needless to say, neither did I.

No one spoke a word as we drove back to the house for the camera. The air was pretty staticky though. One wrong word and the car would have exploded.

This time he didn’t drive to the mall, but headed out in search of a place we could park with no threat of being impounded. Ha. I don’t know where the people in charge of the Olympics found them, but everywhere we looked had No Parking signs planted. We drove by some spectacular looking objets d’art – a huge head of Lenin with a crossbar-carrying dancer on his head – no, I’m not kidding – and a gigantic Inukshuk made of these huge boxes they use to transport goods. How impressive can you get.
The Olympic Oval was screened in with double fences and security guards, but I did manage to get a shot of the weird red thingies that hang in front of the building. The Oval is a gorgeous building. The weird red thingies look like oversized sieves. Words cannot express.

I’m looking forward to the Olympics, to the thousands of people milling around (and hopefully spending money at our store), to the Ozone, which is a 24 hour Party Zone sponsored by the Netherlands and is a couple of miles away from where we live. I’m hoping to meet lots of people, discover new things, and hopefully have fun – you’ll be sure to hear about it!

So if you get a chance to watch some TV coverage of the Olympics (besides the competitions, who the heck can afford to go to the events?) keep an eye out for me. I’ll be wearing a camera, carrying a notebook, and hopefully not bumping into flagpoles. I’ll wave!

Roxie-Annie Oakley by Roxie

The year was 1992 or ’93. I had made a run to the ranch with Rocky in tow. He was my companion, my guardian and protector. It was summertime and the kids were visiting their father in Arkansas so I was pretty independent at the time. I don’t recall where Randy was but on this particular outing Rocky and I were alone.

The ranch’s immediate neighbor to the east was The Perdanales Falls State Park and we would often get trespassers hiking along the river even though we had ‘no trespassing’ signs posted at the border and had even managed to put up a large STOP sign so there would be no confusion as to the intent of the owners. Apparently some people either didn’t see the sign or were blatantly ignoring all warnings about hiking up the river and onto our property because on this particular day Rocky and I had visitors.

We were lazing around down by the screened porch taking in the sun’s rays and dipping in the river occasionally to cool off. It was a magnificent day and Rocky and I were having a wonderful time. I had brought along the 357 Magnum just in case I needed it. It was my weapon of choice at the time because it’s big, accurate and I know how to use it. Being on 1,200 acres all by yourself can be scary and I didn’t want to be caught unaware and vulnerable. Between Rocky and the pistol I figured I had it under control.

By and by I heard voices coming our way and knew that several people were walking up the river and destroying my peace and quiet. I didn’t take too kindly to it. I was enjoying my solitude and the sounds of nature all around me. The river’s gentle lapping and birds singing soothed me. The last thing I wanted to hear was human voices.

As the intruders approached I strapped the 357 in its holster over my bikini and stood up. I could see them by then. Rocky’s hackles were up and so were mine. As the three men approached I felt somewhat apprehensive but pretty secure in my ability to get at least two of them before they even knew what happened. Rocky was growling and I had to put him on his leash to keep him by my side. That’s about the time they saw me. They stopped dead in their tracks and stared at me for a moment. I must have looked fierce with a gun on my hip and a snarling dog tugging at his leash by my side. All I had to say was, “Do you realize you’re trespassing on private property?” for them to change their direction.

They took one look at us and decided it was time to head back the way they had come. One of them quickly said, “No, I’m sorry. We’ll head back now. Please don’t shoot us.”

I said, “I won’t if you hurry along and I won’t let this dog go for about 15 minutes so you’d best be on your way. Please don’t ever trespass on our property again and tell your friends there’s a crazy lady and her dog patrolling up this way.”

They immediately turned around and quickly hiked back the way they had come. I was relieved. But the incident destroyed my tranquility so we packed up and headed back to Austin.

I made a point from then on to always have a pistol and dog with me when I ventured to the ranch alone. It’s a good feeling to know you can protect yourself if the need arises.

My only regret is I don’t have a picture of what I must have looked like with a rather large holstered pistol strapped over my bikini bottom and a wild and crazy dog by my side.

2010 by Roxie

2010

How can that be? I mean, I was just asking how it could be 2009 and it’s already a year later. What happened last year? Did I really blithely go through an entire year unaware that time was passing, living my mundane little life, paying bills, doing chores, shopping and writing and going to classes and cooking and walking the dog and loving my family and friends and simply living my life? I guess that’s what I did because now it’s 2010 and I seem to have made it through another year virtually unscathed. Except for these new grey hairs, I like to call them Abe … or Randy. Ha-ha

By the way, what is the shortened version of 2010? Oh-nine worked for 2009. Do we just say ten? That doesn’t sound quite right. Twenty-ten? That’s better I guess but seems to be not very short. Shish, I really can’t believe it’s 2010.

Resolutions? I resolve to write more, complain less, eat less, exercise more, have more fun and clean house less, uh, that’s it, more or less. Hehe

What are yours? Resolutions, that is. Some people, like Tamar, resolve not to have resolutions and that’s ok. Whatever works for you is what works for me.

I’d like to travel more in 2010. I love to travel. 2010 brings Randy and I to our 20^th anniversary in December. That’s a milestone. I’d like to go somewhere tropical at that time of year, but we’ll see how it goes.

Do you have any big plans for 2010? I plan on voting a bunch of assholes out of Washington if I can. But other than that I really don’t have anything major going on.

Anyway, just wondering if there’s anybody else out there that simply can’t believe it’s 2010! I sure don’t see how it’s possible. But it is what it is and we can’t go back, just forward.

So let’s enjoy 2010 and live it to it’s fullest and wring every drop of fun and love out of it that we can.

I wish each and every one the best year ever. I’m really kind of glad that 2009 is over and done. I have a whole new calendar full of blank pages to fill with happy moments and good times. Let’s get started!