Day Three

Chattanooga, TN to Bristol, VA

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We spent the morning at Rock City.

It was well worth the trip.

I have a lot of pics, but here are a few .

I have more I can share later.

Suspension Bridge...not scary

at all!

The falls off "lovers leap"
Notice I did not say "fall"


Beautiful scenery


From the summit you can see 7 states, but there are
no lines like if you were looking a real map
so I just took their word for it.



After the fun hiking we got back on the road and
made it just over the VA state line before calling it a day.

Something we discovered about Tennessee and now Virginia

is that the Mexican food does not taste like ours.

No doubt I will never again order quesadillas

from a place that features a

"Margorita" on the drink menu.

It's my own damn fault...ha.

Total Miles: 1138.4

Day Two: Part Two

Later in the evening, we got our second wind
and the rain had stopped so we
took off to explore down town Chattanooga

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The Chattanooga Choo-Choo

They are revitalizing the downtown area, it is really
going to be nice when completed

Road Trip Day Two

Hattiesburg, MS to Chattanooga, TN
4 states
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Well it was still drizzly in Mississippi
but when we got to Alabama the sun was shining.

We stopped in Birmingham for a little rest and walked
through Vulcan Park

Later we went off road a ways and discovered
SequoyahCaverns

No other tourists were there and we got our own private tour!

This is Edward, he runs the place....well runs around it

We then proceeded into Georgia for all of 20 minutes and now are
kicking back in Tennessee where it is pouring down rain

Total miles: 846.0

Road Trip Day One

Galveston, TX to Hattiesburg, MS

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Well we didn't get as far as we had hoped today.
It rained the whole trip across Lousianna.

John felt the car was pulling to the right and since
we were tired of driving in the rain anyway,
we stopped in Baton Rouge to get it aligned.

3 hours and 102 dollars later we were on our way,
but it was still raining and the car was still pulling to the right.

On a happy note, the car place was next to a shoe store.
I found some cute Sketchers half price.
Buying shoes always makes me feel better.

Something we discovered about both Lousianna and Mississppi.
They have very nice rest areas.
Friendly attendants, nice lounges with televisions,
and spotless restrooms.

Total Miles: 442.3

Road Trip!

It's 6am and we are outta here.
Adios!

Friday Cat Blogging

Charlie is boarding The Friday Ark

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Just a reminder this kitten is up for adoption

Houston/Galveston area

email rafe@heckyeah.net for more information

I'm so blonde: and forgetful too

So I know full well the fridge is out and the new fridge is downstairs so why in the heck did I lug the groceries up the stairs even after I separated everything into upstairs and downstairs bags at the store?
So.....
I am packing up for the big road trip today.
I have a list.
I wonder what I am forgetting?

Note to Cats

Sawyer, I do not need or desire to have my eyebrows groomed at 4am.
Thankyou.

Frustrations

If the car breaking this week wasn't stressful and expensive enough, now the refrigerator has gone out again. Every place I have called they cannot get someone out until NEXT week.
Even if we were not going to be on vacation, I would not want to go so many days without.

I guess we will go and buy an inexpensive one for now, and get this one fixed when we get back from our trip.

We have always said it would be nice to have a small fridge downstairs.
I just wanted to choose the time to buy it, you know?

Update: Lowes could not deliver for 3 days so we had to lug the damn thing home ourselves.
NOW the dishwasher is making a running on it's last legs noise.
crap.

Tummy Tuesday!

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday
at LisaViolet's Diary

STILL scooping for seven

and they are only getting bigger.
( the kittens and the poops)
sigh



email rafe@heckyeah.net to adopt this pretty kitty or one of his siblings

Rain again today!

I'm sick of it!!!

Just thought I'd share.

Update: My car started acting up and not wanting to break down in the rain exited at the dealership to get it checked out.
5 hours and the dollar amount of 2 car payments later it is running fine.

I think it knows I paid it off.

Wordless Wednesday

Tummy Tuesday!

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday
at LisaViolet's Diary

Purrs and Prayers needed

Rafe is having a flare up of his auto- immune disorder and is going to the doctor today.
So far the lesions are confined to his nose and chin, and not in his paw pads like in the past.
I just hate seeing him like this.

(click photo for larger view)

Work Related: Yuck!

So I get to this house before my client and get it opened up. All the carpet is ripped up and I do a quick walk through. After a couple of minutes I feel something on my feet (I am bare legs and sandles). My feet and legs are covered with fleas!!

So I run out the door and brush them off, little red bites popping up everywhere.
I called the listing agent and said.
"Let me guess....you pulled up the carpet because of fleas, right?"

Yes, he said and they bug bombed too.
So I suggested he try something stronger before he allows anymore showings.

I met my client at the car and told him what was up.
He wanted to see the house anyway and came running out in about 2 minutes brushing off his pants and shoes.

It was almost funny, but not really.
And my feet still itch.

Sunday Cat Blogging: Kitten Sitters

Kate likes to do everything the big cats are doing

And Charlie just likes to cuddle
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Yes...the kittens are still here.

*sigh*

If you are in the Houston/Galveston area or
within a half days driving distance

and have room in your heart and home
for one of these adorable babycats

please email rafe@heckyeah.net

and we will bring you one, or two or four.

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The Carnvial of the Cats

Cable Company Rant ...continued

So, Friday I am finally ready to find out why I cannot access my account to pay my bill that is due on Tuesday. The password I was given is still not working and I think hey, I can just click the lost password button! Well that button takes me to a security question, which of course the customer service rep did not bother to set up for me.
Then....
I see they have online chat thingy, and I think this may be better than calling again.
Well...you have to download the thingy and I hate to download thingys, but go ahead.
After I install the chat thingy and fill out a form with a zillion questions I am connected to the chat server....Yippee!

We're sorry there is no one in the queue to chat with.
ARG!

Well, I try again a couple of hours later and am connected to a dude named Ryan who is clearly copy and pasting his responses.

No one types that fast and if he pastes he is sorry for the inconvenience one more time.....

Ryan suggests he change my password for me to "password". It will take 3 business days and he is sorry for the inconvenience.
Now I am not thrilled with this idea, but thanked him for his time and the page changes to a customer service survey screen.

Did this chat session solve your problem?

Well, how the hell do I know? I have to wait 3 business days, right?

So this morning I am curious to see and go into my account and try my new (secure?)password to pay my bill and guess what?
I can get in!
So I filled out the Zillion questions they ask to set up your payment info and changed my password to something less stupid.

You have no balance due at this time.

Oh brother.

Astros: CB breaks 3,000

I missed the game.

I started to listen to it on the radio but thought....heck...he is three away it will not happen 'til next game.

Oh, well you and I can all watch the highlights here.

Photo credit: Yahoo News

Shopping: Banquet Crock Pot Classics

I tried the stroganaff kind and it stunk up the whole house. It didn't taste any better than it smelled and the mushrooms were kinda slimy.

yuck

Don't you hate it when: You have to call the cable co??

I have not gotten a cable bill in months, but it is not that big of a deal because I pay it online anyway. I suspect because I tend to pay online, I was switched to paperless billing.
I know I did not sign up for paperless billing, but I'm sure that is what happened.

anyways....

Time Warner Cable is now Comcast.
And this new entity has spent about a gillion marketing dollars announcing their arrival and touting their awesome customer service record.

I bet you see where I am going with this...don't you.

Well, my bill is due and the site to register your account to pay online has been not working for the entire 10 days we have been blessed with Comcast.
At least is is not working for me.

Today I give up and call customer service.
The hold was not horribly long but when I got with someone to explain I need to pay my bill because I can not log in she requested I register at the Comcast site.
This was after I had just said I there is an "this feature is not available" error message that comes up after I type in my information.

Surely I am not the only person having this issue

Well she was not rude, but a little pissy and asked that I try again with her on the line with me.
No go.
Then she said she can do it for .......Thankyou!

So after all that I have my new password, said my goodbyes and attempted to log in and at long last pay my cable bill.

PASSWORD INVALID
shit

Road Trip

So I am planning the big road trip. I have been ordering and down loading some vacation guides so we can pick some activities to do along the way.

Boy there is a lOT Of stuff to do between here and there!

I need more time for this one...and money!

I'm So Blond: and it's a miracle I haven't burned my house down yet

So I come dragging out of bed needing coffee and there are too many cats to count circling like I better hurry up with the darn Friskies at 5am in the dark when notice a faint glow coming from the stove.

Yup, I left a burner on all night.

I thought it was kinda odd that one pan was still hot when I washed up the after dinner dishes last night.

duh

Wordless Wednesday

Join WW here

Happy Birthday John!

Tummy Tuesday!

Kate likes to hang with Rhett even if he

tries to ignore her

And she snoozes with style

Charlie on the other paw,
just flat conks out!

==

These Kittens are up for adoption!!

email rafe@heckyeah.net for information

Houston/Galveston area

===

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday
at LisaViolet's Diary!

Lazy Sunday Cat Blogging

Rafe and Rico snooze in Kitty Beds

Rhett crashes on the "Furton" with Kate and Sawer

Jack May have been headed that way,
but fell asleep on the stairs

and Charlie wore his little self out

in the now crushed kitty play cube

Just makes you wanna go
*yawn*

Don't miss this week's Carnival of Cats hosted over

at This, That and The Other Thing

Wordless Wednesday

The WW Hub

I'm so blonde: and I lose stuff too

So I am looking for something in my wallet and realize both my Visa and AMEX are not there.
I go through all my purses,--that's a LOT of purses-- and look all on the floor of my car before giving up and calling them in as lost.
Now, when you call, the telephone robot asks you to enter the account number.
Since I do not have my cards, I cannot give this information.
I even pulled the bills and there is only XXX-XXX-4numbers on those bills.
Finally after Rosie the Robot asks about 3 times for this all important number a human came on the line to take my request.
What a hassle.
Luckily they have not been used, but where in the heck did I lose two cards from INSIDE my wallet...sigh.

Shopping: Oreo Dunkers

So I thought these looked pretty cool and got some to try then realized they are very hard to twist and eat the filling and I don't like milk so I don't dunk cookies anyways.

Guess I better stick with the round kind..ha.

Photos from about.com

Tummy Tuesday!

Email Rafe@heckyeah.net if you would like to adopt

little Sawyer or one of his siblings.

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday
at LisaViolets Diary!

It's Happily Ever After for Angel Kitty

Angel was safely delivered to her new forever home over the weekend and is happy to be my Mom's little Princess.

Note to Self

Do not wear chain belt around 13 week old kittens.
Ouch.

Friday Cat Blogging: Table For Eight, Please

The Friday Ark

On The Island: Juneteenth

On June 19, 1865, 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. This was more than 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation had officially taken effect.

Standing on the balcony of the Ashton Villa, Major General Gordon Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3” and as a tradition is read again on the very same spot every June 19th.



Island Activities

Wordless Wednesday:ZZzzzzzz

Road Trip!

Even though we really can't afford it and I should not take the time away from my business we feel two years is long enough to go without a road trip.

So...next month we will be heading to the East Coast
to visit this trio of trouble.

Global Warming Causes Kittens?

Now here I was thinking the homeless kitten problem is due to irresponsible pet owners not fixing their cats or worse dumping pregnant cats on their neighbors to deal with!
Silly me.

Tummy Tuesday!

It's getting a little crowded here!!

Click for full size

Apply at rafe@heckyeah.net to adopt Angel or
her cute babies
(Houston/Galveston)

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday at
LisaViolet's Diary

Payment Number 60!

I just mailed off the final payment for my car!
WooHOO!
Now maybe I can afford to take it in and find out why that damn engine light keeps coming on.
I think it knows, somehow it just knows.

It's RicoLocos "Gotcha Day"

He musta been a beautiful baby

On the Island: USS Kidd

A new guided-missile destroyer being is commissioned tonight in Galveston, The USS Kidd

And we have tickets!

TV: Fast Cars and...who cares

The highly advertised Fast Cars and SuperStars premiered last night as a lead-in to the much more important basketball game.

One word BORING!

I'd rather watch celebrity bowling, or maybe horseshoes..yeah!

*insert dramatic announcer voice*

Horseshoes with the Stars

Ha

Kitty Music Video!

Thanks James...we LOVE it!!

Apply to rafe@heckyeah.net to apply to
adopt Angel or her adorable babies
(Houston/Galveston)

The Friday Ark
The Carnival of the Cats

Frustrating!

So I got my computer back from the computer hospital and the guy was able to save my files.
That is good.
What is not good is having all these shortcuts that used to go to programs that are not installed anymore and trying to find all these discs and nothing is updated or working right anymore.
*breath*
So basically my computer is back but it's not back, if you know what I mean.

Tummy Tuesday!

It's Tummy Tuesday every Tuesday at

LisaViolets Diary

Storm Watch: The List

With TS Barry now meandering up the East Coast many are wondering.
How far down the list WILL we get this year?

Andrea
Barry
Chantal
Dean
Erin
Felix
Gabrielle
Humberto
Ingrid
Jerry
Karen
Lorenzo
Melissa
Noel
Olga
Pablo
Rebekah
Sebastien
Tanya
Van
Wendy

Friday Cat Blogging

The Friday Ark