Weather Changing

Have you noticed how the mornings are a little cooler? Well, maybe not in your part of the country. Here is Sacramento the mornings are cooler. The days are still warm and still need to have the A/C on for a little bit. Of course, it is still August and we have September and October to go through before Fall sets in. I am so ready for some cooler weather. Although, all things considered, we have not had a really hot summer. We've had 100 plus days, it just hasn't been days on end. It will cool off for a few days and then warm back up. That's been the pattern most of the summer.

On another note, Saturday is the big day for the Shoebox Card Swap that I am hosting here at the park. I have 15 ladies coming and we'll be using the clubhouse. We'll be making cards all day and having a potluck lunch. I'll be up super early to get everything down to the clubhouse that I need to take down. Sure hope I don't do myself in before we even start. I'm excited to see the card samples that everyone has made. Everyone will bring kits so we can make each others card. For a stamper, a whole day of card making is the best!! Each of us will go home with 15 different cards. :))

Post Getting the Most Hits

I find it rather interesting that the post I did about fixing Sweet and Sour Spareribs seems to be getting the most hits on this blog. Most of the hits are from Hawaii, too. I must say Sweet and Sour Spareribs is a meal that is very popular in Hawaii. I can remember that it was a meal my Dad fixed often when us kids were growing up.

Golden Corral Grill & Buffet and Other Stuff

I have been terribly neglecting my two blogs lately. I've been so busy that by the time I think about my blogs, its too late in the day.

North Highlands finally has a decent restaurant to go to. Out on Watt Avenue, which is a main north/south street, there was an X-rated movie theater. Next to it was a stand alone building that had been numerous fast food places. The theater and fast food building was torn down and in its place a Golden Corral was built. Years ago there use to be a few of these restaurants in town. For some reason they were all closed. Well, it has come back to the Sacramento area. There is also one in the south area.

This particular one has been open a week and it has been jammed packed. We tried to go last week Thursday and then again Sunday after church. Michelle came over to look at some of my stamps and it was after 7 when she and Liberty left. We decided to go give the Golden Corral another chance since it was late. Well, the parking lot was full again; we found a parking space and went in. There was a line waiting, however it moved quickly and we were seated in no time. I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes. The food line is sectioned off into types. It is not cafeteria style, you walk down the line and when you see something you want, you step up and serve yourself. There is Italian, Mexican, Chinese, freshly grilled steaks, baked ham, fried chicken, all kinds of vegetables choices, seafood, a salad bar. The bakery is separate and also an ice cream bar. I had some macaroni & cheese, a chicken leg, pot roast with veggies, battered fried mushrooms, a small piece of medium rare steak, lima beans. This was not all at one time. I went up twice and got small portions of each of these. And then the most delicious bread pudding. A lot of the offerings are fried. It was all very good. The adult price for the dinner buffet is $10.99 and the senior price is $10.49 (I think). Between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm there is a special senior price of $7.49. It closes at 9:30 and when we left at 8:30 pm, people were still coming in.

My grandson, Nathan left for his Army basic training on Wednesday the 12th. Denise and Bekah have received post cards and Britta has received several letters. She got 2 more today. He is still hanging out at the reception center and thoroughly bored. His 19th birthday was the 16th and he told Britta he got 19 spankings with a belt. He also ate a wasp for $40. He doesn't have his cell phone and he told Britta he'd give half his paycheck to get it back. We don't have an address for him yet and he told Britta some guys told him they have to earn having an address. Well, hopefully he will be starting his actual basic training before too long. In a letter Britta got on Monday, he said he hadn't gotten into trouble yet and wondered how long he'd be able to keep that record. :))

Denise and Stephen moved into a rental house the end of July. It is 3 bedrooms, has a yard and a 2 car garage. It is on a street that runs behind the coffee shop. There is an elementary school across the street from them and during the morning and afternoon, the street is a one way street. Probably to make it easier for the parents dropping off and picking up kids. Something interesting is that they have a police officer or private security guard monitoring traffic.

Bekah started her junior year at Enterprise High School last week. She knew some kids that went there so that is good that she already has some friends.

Denise is able to have a craft room again and she is happy about that.

I am busy getting ready to host a Shoebox Card Swap here at the mobile home park. I am using the clubhouse for the swap and have 15 ladies coming. We'll be making cards all day.

I sure hope to get more vacation pictures put on the blog sometime.

That's about all for now.

New Story on Shooting of Deputy Yesterday

http://www.kcra.com/news/20330033/detail.html

Here's the link to a news story on KCRA, Channel 3, of the shooting of a deputy yesterday in our neighborhood.

I couldn't figure out why the traffic on the overpass was stalled. According to the story it was because the other 2 suspects were caught on the overpass. Amazing how quickly they got away from where they were hiding behind the building to then be casually walking over the overpass.

The area was a mess with traffic through the early evening hours. These guys were from Manteca which is down in the Fresno area. They sure traveled far to go rob a bank.

3000 Hits

Wow, I have 3000 hits to my blog. Pretty impressive since I don't update it very often. :))

Two Incidents Involving Sacramento County Sheriff Deputies

In the last couple of days there have been two incidents involving Sacramento County Sheriff Deputies.

The first incident occurred on Wednesday or Thursday of this past week. A deputy was on her way to work at the Sacramento airport when another driver made a sudden move into the lane the deputy was driving in, causing the deputy to lose control of her personal vehicle which was a small sports car. Her car spun around hitting a big rig that was entering the freeway. The deputy was killed at the scene. The CHP had received reports from some drivers about a red car weaving in and out of traffic. The car that was involved was red. The driver was arrested and will be arraigned on Monday afternoon. She is 23 years old with a clean driving record.

The deputy had worked for the Sheriff's department for 15 years. Her husband is also a deputy and her father worked in law enforcement also. She had 4 young children, the 3 youngest are triplets going into the first grade this year. This hit close to home for our family. One of the triplets was in our grandson Andy's class and is one of Andy's friends. We picked Andy up from school on Thursdays last school year and Gerry would talk to the father as he waited to pick up his triplets.

Then today Gerry was going out to the airport for a PGR mission. He had been at our church all morning helping to do some work on the grounds. He came home to get cleaned up before he went. I wasn't going to go with him because I wanted to go out to Rocklin to Green Tangerines and look for some cardstock to use on my cards I'm working on for my card swap the end of the month. I left about 15 minutes after he did.

When I turned onto Madison and got up to Hillsdale which is 3 traffic lights from Jackson, traffic was backing up. I heard sirens behind me and a couple of sheriff cars were trying to get through traffic to make a left hand turn at Hillsdale. People were gathered on the sidewalk looking down Hillsdale and there was a helicopter in the sky circling. (That is a common thing around here, helicopters circling). As I crossed Hillsdale, I glanced down and noticed that there were several law enforcement vehicles pulled over in front of a shopping strip on Hillsdale. As I approached the overpass traffic came to an absolute standstill. Then there were sirens coming from everywhere. I could see that there were patrol cars on the overpass too. I called Gerry to see where he was and told him what was going on. People were getting out of their cars walking towards the other side of the overpass.

I was going to take the freeway onramp to go east on I-80. As we inched along, I noticed crime tape blocking the onramp. So there was no getting on the freeway.

Well, supposedly 4 guys robbed a bank in Rocklin and took off down the freeway westbound. They got off on Madison and turned right into the shopping strip. For those that know this area, it is where Brookfield's is and the Super 8 motel. Someone told a Sheriff's deputy that there were 3 men hiding behind a building and they had masks on. He took off on foot to investigate not realizing that these men had robbed a bank and were armed. One of the suspects shot the deputy in the back. He is in stable condition at a local hospital. There are personnel from every law enforcement agency in the area including park rangers. The parking lot of Trinity church is packed with patrol cars. Am not sure what was going on on the overpass because both sides of the overpass had patrol cars and officers. One CHP officer stopped me as I approached. Don't know exactly why. There was camera crews out there too. A couple miles of Hillsdale is closed and the Swat Team is out looking for one more suspect. Three are in custody. They are also searching for weapons that might have been tossed.

Gerry told me when he was driving out to the airport, he saw patrol cars on the freeway coming this way.

I had to do alot of circling in order to get on the freeway. Then the freeway was jammed packed.

It is so crazy out on the streets and in our communities. People are saying it is only going to get worse because of the layoffs and cutbacks that the Sheriff's department has taken.

Bowling at Mardi Gras Lanes, Sacramento - Monday 7/27

Bowling is another family summer vacation get together at Mardi Gras Lanes on Madison Avenue, east of I-80. Little Emma wanted to get up on the bowling floor so someone had to distract her. Here Melody is chatting with Emma. Her momma, Joyce is bowling. Jason just bowled. It probably wasn't a good one looking at the expression on his face. Jason took the whole week off from work to spend it with his siblings.

Granddaughter Ashley, age 17.

Granddaughter Emily just took her turn. These are Elizabeth's daughters, Ashley is the oldest and Emily is the youngest. She'll be 13 in November. Hannah, age 15 1/2 is the middle daughter.

Gerry getting ready to take his turn.

Kayaking at Negro Bar, Lake Natomas, Folsom, CA

One of the activities that the family goes on during the summer visits of our Southern California kids, is to go kayaking at Negro Bar. This was Sunday, 7/26. Here is grandson Andy, daughter Jenni's son, with Uncle George, our son-in-law from So. California. George is married to daughter Joyce. Andy was all excited because he and Uncle George were the first ones back and they beat Hannah. Geese enjoying the water.

Aunt Wendi and Melody. Wendi lives in So. California and Melody is daughter Jenni's daughter.

Granddaugther Katie, age 4 1/2 with her mom Joyce who was doing all the paddling. I think this is Katie's second or third year to go kayakking. She loves it!

The first group got in about noon. Gerry wanted to go out so son Jason went with him. They were gone for about an hour and a half.

Jason was pretty tired and hungry when they got in.

I am still having a difficult time in getting pictures uploaded to Blogger so I will try to put a few on my blog. Then will create a full album on Facebook. Of course anyone wanting to see all the pictures will have to be a friend. Send a friend request if you are already on Facebook, or join and send a friend request. Hope you enjoy my attempt to share some of the family "goings on".