Time Passes

It has been a long time since I last posted. It has been a year since my Dad (Anthony Papaianni) passed (5/1/23-8/17/13) and Tom, our dog Riley and I drove to Alabama for the Memorial Service. It was nice to see family once again but it was not without its drama. From Alabama we traveled on to Kentucky to meet some of my half siblings. But as life would have it, Ginger and her husband Ryan were the only ones willing or able to meet us. We had a wonderful time with them. Ginger took us to our Father's (Willard Dingee) grave-site and later that evening Ryan and Ginger took us to a restaurant than had the best pies ever. From Kentucky we went to Virgil,NY and stayed with Tom's sister Janet and her husband for two weeks. We really enjoyed our time there and it gave us the freedom to visit family and friends. In addition, we traveled to Binghamton to meet my half brother Leigh Ross, his wife Nancy and son for dinner at The Spot. We talked for hours and it was great to meet them and put a face to a name. As usual, Tom ate Doug's Fish Fry many many times and brought back a load of Hoffman's hot dogs. Additionally, we tracked down the cemetery plots of Tom's Great great grandfathers to add to the Osbeck genealogy. From New York we traveled to Cody, Wyoming via Mount Rushmore as neither of us had ever seen it in person. In Cody we went to the Museum of the West to do some genealogy on my Great grandmother Rose Ross. The people there were so nice and very helpful but we did not get the information we were looking for. So my search continues. From there we proceeded to Yellowstone National Park where we got up close to the buffalo and elk.We also saw Old Faithful go off and experienced our first snow in over a decade. From Wyoming we returned home to Henderson, NV. It was a interesting 6 weeks and 6500 miles. One I hope we will be able to make some of in the not too distant future.

Once again, due to life changes, we have been living in Henderson, NV for the past year. We are looking for a house to put down some roots near the kids. That is not to say they will always live in Las Vegas,but at least they will have somewhere to bring the grandkids, if we ever have any. :) I am two years cancer free,according to my last scan in February. Yeah!! only 3 more years until I am a survivor rather than a warrior. Recently, Tony asked me to try and substantiate our Indian heritage. In my research I was able to locate my half siblings 4 in Kentucky and 1 in Pennsylvania. So after 55 years as an only child, I am now the eldest of 6, having 2 brothers and 3 sisters with the youngest being Lindsey's age. Facebook and telephone have allowed us to connect with each other. It has been both informative and delightful. They are all very nice towards me and for this I am thankful. We hope to all get together in the near future. In the meantime I am still working on Tony's project and uncovering so many more interesting facts.

life changes

We have had some interesting life changes this spring. On May 5th I was diagnosed with Kindney Cancer in my left kidney.On May 24th I had a rad nephorectomy of the left kidney (they removed it). At some point during the surgery I had a stroke in the vision center of my brain and was left with hemianopsia (I am left sided blind in both eyes.

Lindsey also closed her business the same week, as the economy was rough, I was not able to give her days off and the BP mess killed the beach traffic that we counted on for the spring and summer months.
As the world crumbled around us, we all moved into the RV along with the six dogs. Yes, I did say SIX dogs. We are parked in a Christmas Tree farm, so there are plenty of trees for the dogs, however most of the summer has been in the 100 plus degree range and we are over the heat of the deep south. We are looking forward to getting back on the road as soon as my doctors say I can go.
Tomorrow is my son Tony's 25th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY we love and miss you. Don't party too much and try to stay safe out there in sin city.

Where have we been?

Well, as you know we have been in Alabama since mid-September. We did manage to take a wonderful trip to visit our friends Terry and Billy in Colorado in January. We had a great time, visited lots of cool places, ate wonderful foods and met some of their awesome Colorado friends. The weather was perfect and we can't wait to go back. We did not take the RV in January and really look forward to doing that in the spring.

I totally fell in love with Boulder and would consider workamping there this summer, if the right opportunity appears.

The months pass so quickly....

We had some family issues and had to return to Dothan for the winter. We are helping our daughter at her business for awhile. While here our dear friends Terry and Billy moved to Colorado and we are very sad. However the good news is we have a place to retreat to when the tempatures soar to the 100+ degrees here in Dothan.

In the meantime, we are getting ready for the Christmas season. We have a 2 foot tree on the dashboard (complete with lights) and gifts around it. We bought a TV for the living area to watch all the Christmas specials on, and am looking forward to spending time with family. Then it will be off to Colorado for a much needed respite in January.

From Salt Lick to Amelia

Upon leaving Salt Lick, Kentucky for Amelia, Virginia we got all of 10 miles and had a blow out on the RV. Good Sam Roadside Service came to our rescue and within 4 ½ hours we had our spare on and were down the road in search of a new tire. The tire that blew out was a Goodyear with only 1200 miles on it. So we found a Goodyear store and they could not help us. You see, if you have no tread left after a blow out, they have no way to pro-rate your tire. So we continued on into West Virginia and found a Firestone dealership, where we replaced three tires with heavy duty truck tires, and decided to deal with Goodyear later.




Now we are in Amelia, Virginia. It is south of Richmond and in the heart of the rock hounding/mining areas. We visited the Lucky Gem Mine and panned for gems out of buckets of sand and clay. It was fun and we came away with some really nice rough gems. We have been touring the back roads seeing unusual sites (Tom thought this old school would be a good teaching job for me) and looking for gems in the creeks. Tom sunk in a hole in one but came up with a nice Geode. I think maybe next time he should get a life vest for creek wading. 








We will be going to Colonial Virginia at the end of the week and to the Blackstone Art and Craft Fair next weekend (YEAH!!). In the meantime we will search for more gem mines and creeks in hopes of finding our fortune. 

Indiana

We moved on from Illinois to Indiana. Before making the move we bought groceries. Pictured are the things that appeared in the cart via a little helper named Tom.


YELLOW BANKS RECREATION CENTER

This place is an old family farm that has been around since 1840. It has been converted into a recreation/art center. They have a beautiful manmade lake and a pond with log cabins for rent around it. Some nice RV sites and a few seasonal sights as well. And you couldn't ask for nicer people.

Also they have a clay foundry and produce beautiful pottery work from the clay. I had the opportunity to watch the potter spin some mugs on his wheel and was amazed at how quickly and expertly he was able to produce two in less than 5 minutes. He was a wealth of information regarding clay and glaze properties. All this while working on a special order for 100 mugs. Now, if I could only fit a wheel and kiln into the RV…….hmmmmm.

This is a very talented family, as the Grandmother (in her 90’s) is a professional quilter and the potter’s mother makes miniatures for sale. His Aunt is a published author of spinning and cooking with wild flowers books. In addition, she owns a country store in a nearby town that sells Yellow Bank pottery. The potter’s wife works at the family store/diner (the only store in Selvin) as a cook and waitress. Oh yes and let’s not forget dear old Dad, who is a retired business teacher, and runs the recreation center. I think that he strongly believes diversification is a good thing.

This certainly has been an interesting place to stop and I hope to come back again. Tomorrow we move further east to see new things and meet new people.