The Ouseys in Victoria Page

Weather here in Tishomingo has been generally sunny, after some wind and rain on our first day Monday. Quite cool overnight ranging 22 – 32 Ferengi’s or about –6 to 0 in centipedes. 55 to 65 during the days however, short they are.

Took Jack to the Western Inn on Wednesday night for his birthday, he and I had the heart smart, T-Bones. I asked for Medium-Rare and he well-done, and of course I got well-done and he got medium-Rare, even though they were marked the other way round. So we switched. They were excellent after that. We had cake later with the boys after they arrived Wednesday night. Chatted with Jack’s ex. Catherine and got caught up on what Rebecca and Steven are doing. Jamie and Andrew were glad to see us, as we were of them. Thursday Carolyn outdid herself doing a 13 lb turkey with stuffing and all the trimmings. Store bought apple and pumpkin pies rounded off the excellent meal for US Thanksgiving. Today we just hung around feeling pleasantly stuffed. Did some chores, like getting a haircut for me. Carolyn got a perm and cut Wednesday. I put on my new TV antenna on the rig, works a treat.

Tonight we had pizza and left over pie. Eat Eat Eat, we sure do that well.

Lyn has opened a blog site, its http://barberousey.blogspot.com

Longhorn is a Texas term and Oklahomans are Sooners. Which leads to a local story.

A Texan teacher asked her class “how are all my little longhorns today?” To which little Janie put up her hand and stated that she was not a Longhorn. The teacher asked her what she was and she said a Sooner. “Why are you a Sooner” she asked. Janie said her folks were from Oklahoma and were Sooners. The teacher, somewhat miffed, said “so I suppose that if your parents were morons you would be a moron too?”

“No” said Janie, “then I’d be a Longhorn.”

Dennis & Catherine Ousey's Blog

To check in on Dennis' blog updates go the site above. Some news there on Margot photo endeavours. She is getting gooder.

Friday and Saturday saw us traveling to Jack’s. We passed through Arkansas and missed such wonderful places as “Toad Suck State Park” and “Pig Trail Scenic Parkway”. (I did not make those up.) Though Toad Suck and Pig Trail sound like good names for Rap Group or Rock Band they didn’t sound like something we needed to see. Other than Walmarts we carried on through to Oklahoma where we stayed two nights at the Arrowhead State Park near Canadian Oklahoma. Yes there is a town called Canadian, if you blink you’d miss it, and it is on the Canadian River. There is a very large river called the Canadian and another smaller one called the North Canadian River. As yet I haven’t been able to determine why they are named as such. I will though, somehow. When I asked the guy working in the only commercial establishment in Canadian (the town that is), he just said with a shrug, “Aw shucks, I dunno”. That is as far as I took the conversation. Actually had a Golf Course in this state park, unfortunately the weather turned cold, like minus 6 C and windy, much to uncomfortable to golf. We actually had 8 inch icicles hanging off our water connection. Fortunately the taps didn’t freeze as we kept the water running slowly.

We have arrived in Tishimingo Oklahoma and are parked in my brother’s driveway. We will celebrate his birthday tomorrow, and US Thanksgiving with him and his boys on Thursday. He is off from Wednesday to Sunday and has the boys for that time too. It shall be a good visit.

What do you call someone who lives in Canadian Oklahoma? A Canadianian? A Canadianite? Ah shucks I dunno.

We had a deluge turning most of the campground into a lake. So we just hunkered down and waited out the rain. Much talk of severe Thunderstorms and tornado watches but nothing much materialized locally other than a whole whack of rain. Maybe Thunderstorms tonight (Tuesday).

Yep a couple of thunderstorms came through and today we have a nice sunny day. Toured around Opryland, and the Grand Ole Opry House. We didn’t take in any shows though, neither of us are much as country music fans. We will be heading out tomorrow and heading for Tishomingo. Will call me mum tomorrow as it is her 85th birthday. She is doing well with her pace maker, once she got used to it.

We talked to our son Michael on his birthday, well actually the day after. They are all doing well up there. The kiddies are doing well in school. Michael has a new full time job along with his 3 part-time jobs. Good talking to him, though Carolyn did most of it.

Next internet access time will be a few days from now.

We departed Virgina, finally, and proceeded West and headed for Mammoth Caves Kentucky. I guess we got a thing for caves. Anyhow we had several days of uneventful driving. We arrived at Mammoth Caves National Park on the 15th. The park campground is located near the historical and natural entrance to the cave. It is a spectacular cave system. 365 miles surveyed so far and they expect it could be as much as 1000 miles of cave in existence. We took a couple of tours and since the caves are too dark to take decent pictures I bought a CD full of them. The caves here are quite different than the Carlsbad Caverns. These do not have much in the way of formations; very few stalactites and stalagmites and other such formations. However, in some ways they gave a closer feeling of caves and caving.

We are currently in Nashville. We stopped here for a few days due forecasted weather, thunderstorms and tornado watches west of us. Also there seems to be a lot to do here too.

It was Michaels birthday yesterday. We have tried phoning a couple of time but line was busy. Internet surfing I presume. Anyhow, I hope he had a great birthday and now that we have internet access will send him an email and try phoning again.

We are still in Virginia; we just can't seem to get enough of this place. The weather has turned gorgeous so we will stayed at Little Creek two more days. Tomorrow we are heading to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. Then probably Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, We are trying to get to my brother Jack’s place on or about the 24th November and will stay there for a week or so. Jack’s birthday is on the 26th and US Thanksgiving is on the 27th, so we will celebrate both with him and his boys. At least that is the plan for now, subject to change without notice. Who knows what lies on our path.

Relaxing weekend. Did some Driving range. Went shopping, watched TV, just like home. Bought a new Camera. Our old Pentax “film” camera gave up the ghost. Carolyn has been using that one while I was using a digital. So rather than buy a new “film” camera we bought another digital with higher resolution. Now we both have digitals. Also got her some music CD’s she wanted. I’ll be taking her to Red Lobster’s for dinner. Also got a small cake and candles for tonight. I mean small, nicely iced 6 inch round cake, would serve 4. Just right. Actually she isn’t feeling to well today. Bit of a sore throat and somewhat achy. Might be a touch of flu, hope it is short term variety and non contagious. Right! Not nice on her birthday; hope she is up to Red Lobster’s.

Later same day: Yep she was and we had a excellent meal. She is still raving about her seafood paella. Of course couldn’t finish it all and so brought home a doggie box. We’re about to have cake and all of us will sing Happy Birthday, well all of me anyway.

Me Mom is doing fine. she is back at her apartment and happy to be back with her friends. Dennis and Catherine did a great job looking after her. Thanks to them she had lots of support. details at http://dousey.blogspot.com

We went to the Virginia Marine Museum yesterday and found that most enjoyable. Covered not only marine life, but the local, coastal and marsh life as well. Much of the coast here is sand and sand dunes. On the base here, if you are anywhere near the shore there is sand and more sand, on the road, in the parking lots. They need sand plows to keep the areas clear. Makes for beautiful beaches though. After the hot muggy weather, we had a cold front come through and dump a couple of inches of rain on us last night. Lasted a couple of hours and now it is cooler and drier. Went golfing today. The base course “Eagle Haven” is quite nice, but lots of sand, go figure!

Monday Nov 3rd was spent primarily on some short visits, and preparing to leave Tuesday. We had decided to head towards Norfolk/Virginia Beach area. There are several WalMarts, regular campgrounds and military campgrounds. On Tuesday we were at a Walmart in Virginia Beach by Noon, and spent the afternoon checking out the area. I have a US Military Campground directory and so we headed to Little Creek Amphibious Base. These Mil-Camps are normally open to Canadian Military, even those retired. Once we had secured a temporary decal that allowed us access to the base we checked out the campground. Really an excellent RV campground. So good we signed up for a week ($108.00 US). We went back got the Rig and returned. We have water, sewer, 30 amp electrical and cable hookups, on a concrete pad. Washrooms are pristine with free hot showers. Laundry room (only 75 cents/wash/dry, compare to $1.25 normally). On base we have access to the huge Base Exchange (brand new, 2 story that had a very similar feel as Sears), commissary (groceries). Good prices and no taxes. Also a 18 hole golf course ($15). Even Internet access. I’m in heaven. We are next door to the Norfolk airport, so that makes for interesting noises, especially at avionic rush hour, but most of the time it is quiet. Anyhow we are content here for a week and look forward to checking out the Virgina Beach areas. Looks like we’ll be here for Carolyn’s birthday next Sunday. Must get me-self out and do some shopping, what say?

Sunday Nov 2nd: Sure is a lot to see in Williamsburg. We have walked our feet off and really would need a week to see it all. Very historic. We were in Jamestown, yesterday; it is the landfall of the first permanent English settlers in 1607. They are gearing up for the 400th anniversary of that event already. They go to great lengths to keep the architecture looking historic old Virginian. Today we walked around the old town of Williamsburg, which became the Capital of Virginia after Jamestown in 1699. Between walking there and walking the Outlet Malls my feet are killing me. Speaking of Outlet malls, they have one here that occupies some old buildings, almost like old industrial buildings, but it covers 200 acres. The choice of anything you want is mind boggling. Anyhow to say the least we are staying another day.