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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Had to work today, and a visitor...

For the first time in almost two months, I had to set my alarm clock so I could get up at 6:00 to greet the day.  I had to be at ‘work’ by 7:00, and what with Emma and all, I needed an hour to get ready.  She really gave me the stint eye for not going to the dog park first thing, but that’s life when you’re on a schedule.


My job today was to be part of the road safety crew.  For four hours I sat at this intersection with my cart blocking any cars from going through.  Today was the day that the main drag at Jojoba was being repaved.  Amazing to me was that anyone would try to go through, but they did.  Why in the world would they try?

The road closures were well publicized ahead of time.  They were talked about at the weekly membership meetings, as well as on the park website, and on the cable television that comes with each site.  And there was a big sign at the top of the hill that said ‘Do Not Enter’! I was rather astonished that some folks had no idea what was going on.  Some were really put out that they had to turn around and use the emergency exit to get out of the park.  You have to let the asphalt cool before driving on it or there will be grooves and lumps and bumps.
 
Not a terribly exciting job to sit there, but I had my I-pad and the companionship of a visitor that will be staying with me for the next couple of weeks.  He was a great help to me in keeping folks off of the hot asphalt.


Meet Flat Stanley!  He’s the star of a famous children’s book.  I’m told that Stanley always wanted to travel, but couldn’t until one night, while he was in bed, a heavy bookshelf fell on him and made him flat.  That way he could fit in an envelope and be mailed to exotic places to visit.  This Flat Stanley came from my oldest granddaughter, Avery, to visit at exotic Jojoba Hills.
  Winking smile
Long time readers may remember when Flat Joey came to visit me at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge a few years back.  We had quite a few adventures!  I would have preferred a Flat Avery, but this second grade teacher just had the students color a Flat Stanley instead of a flat self portrait done by each child.  So now I have to find exciting places to take Flat Stanley and write a story about his visit.


I hope we’re off to a good start.  I’m thinking I may have to make a trip to see that big dragon in Borrego Springs pretty soon, and maybe a piece of pie in Julian, and then there’s Joshua Tree National Monument…  Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

P.S.  I wrote this post last Thursday night, but of course Blogger messed up Live Writer.  Since it was already written, and only had three pictures, I manually transferred the text to Blogger and re-inserted the pictures. What a pain!  Not sure I'll do much more of this...

47 comments:

  1. Seems like Bill & I carried around a Flat Stanley to some remote Caribbean Island once... what we won't do for a grandkid? Anyway.... have to admit that if we lived there, we could easily be one of those folks who had no idea what's going on. We don't have TV, seldom turn on the radio and generally just don't care what's going on in the "real" world... so... those scheduled detours come as a surprise to folks like us. Oh well...

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  2. Head back toward town and stop in to see all of the metal sculptures on the right hand side of the road. The artist has his studio at the entrance of the campground.

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  3. Looks like Flat Stanley is having some great adventures so far. Well, if you're still not worn out after Borrego, how about a day trip over to the Pacific Ocean? Perhaps Oceanside beach?

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  4. I know Stanley will have some wonderful adventures with you.
    I keep reading about people using Live Writer then transfering over to Blogger. I guess it has more feature but I have never used it and just use blogspot. But seems we all are having blocked minds lately and not doing much posting. I guess since I am not going anywhere I really don't have much to report

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  5. Nice...Flat Stanley. Love it! I thought maybe he got run over by the steam roller on the paving crew!

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  6. Crikey ...... I like that flat Stanley bloke. You could post him out to me, downunder, and I could show him around my little corner of the world. that'd be a big adventure. I sure have missed reading about you and Emma. How is she doin??

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  7. My favorite place in your area (sorta) is the Cochella valley preserve. It's really near Rancho Mirage but it like 100 years ago. It's free too. Forgot to tell you , it's an oasis.

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  8. I'm sure you and Flat Stanley will have quite an adventure to write about!

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  9. We had flat Stanley visit here too, he had many adventures! Supposively Open Writer will take over Live Writer it is a free download. BUT so far it is not working...but they are working on it. We can thank blogger for this mess up, they are the ones who won't accept Live Writer.
    Here is a link that explains it all. Sucks...but I hope it works soon.
    https://productforums.google.com/forum/?hl=en&pli=1#!topic/blogger/lw_sNsyySKI

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  10. I remember one trip I made to the east coast and back with flat Stanley and flat Stanley-ette. I still have them but they are kind of bent up. Not sure if I'll ever make that trip again, but if I do I'm going to take the Stanleys along.

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  11. What an uncreative teacher. Why not create your own flat Avery and have her show Stanley around? Maybe the teacher will take the hint fir next year. Sure hope the do something about this blogger mess so I can see what the flats get to do. Guess Stan didn't get a concussion from his accident.

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  12. What an uncreative teacher. Why not create your own flat Avery and have her show Stanley around? Maybe the teacher will take the hint fir next year. Sure hope the do something about this blogger mess so I can see what the flats get to do. Guess Stan didn't get a concussion from his accident.

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  13. I wish you wouldn't quit. Those of us who travel by reading blogs will miss you all very much!

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  14. Yep, I hope the Blogger/Live Writer thing sorts itself out soon--I've just been going straight to Blogger Dashboard, writing my post there and inserting photos as I go. I really love how fast the blog publishes on Blogger but still prefer Live Writer.

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  15. Blogger is the only thing I have ever used with daily postings for over 9 years now, guess I don't know any better.

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  16. Did they give you a cool vest and an orange flag?? Sounds like it was a good thing they had you there to block the road!

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  17. Those people that complained about the repaving were probably people that complained about the condition of the road. You can't have it both ways.

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  18. Good think you have that golf cart, I would not want to have to stand around all day trying to block traffic. I might have ended up as flat as Stanley... ;c)

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  19. Balboa Park in San Diego - natural vegetation zones, green belts, gardens, and walking paths; it also contains museums, several theaters, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

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  20. Blogger = PIA. Oh well, what you gonna do? I hear Wordpress has its issues as well.

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  21. I've missed your posts. I was looking forward to seeing more pictures of your new home. Hint hint. Of course now that Live Writer has decided to make our lives difficult, I completely understand.

    After a hard days work, you'll probably need a long rest. :)

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  22. There are always people who think the rules do not apply to them. So sad!
    Enjoy your adventure with Flat Stanley.

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  23. I remember your flat friend. What a great idea for kids! As for people using common sense..good luck with that!

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  24. Seeing Flat Stanley brought back some memories:) We carried him around for 9 months some years ago for our daughters 2nd grade class. I wonder what we did with him:)

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  25. So happy you are getting out and doing things and having a good time with 'neighbors', what fun!!! And you are going on adventures with flat....whatever the name was :)

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  26. Being new there how did you get volunteered to be the "ROAD CLOSED" monitor?

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  27. I hope they get the blogger problems fixed. We so enjoy reading of all the adventures. Love reading about your new lifestyle.

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  28. Your posts with Flat Joey were some of my favorites. I'm sure Flat Stanley will help you muster up some exciting excursions in the desert! Have fun.

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