Stuff That Really Happened, Plus a Little More

Don't Take Door Handles For Granted

2004-08-19T14:33:00.007-07:00

April 2004:This story took place in about ten minutes, but trying to break out of a hot and smelly men’s restroom made it seem like forever.We were driving home the evening of the day we left from Cottonwood, Arizona and my mom wanted to stop in Jacumba, California to get an iced tea. We stopped at the road side gas station and I went in and bought mom an iced tea. After delivering it to her, I decided I should use the restroom. I walked in the men’s restroom and shut and latched the door. (It was a one person restroom.) As I was about to leave, I noticed that the door handle had been ripped off by a previous user. I figured it must not be that hard to break out of a restroom, until I noticed the giant bathroom door was metal! The restroom stunk, and was really hot, but I still tried to open the tightly shut door. I noticed the door would open toward me, so I shouldn’t try to shove it out the other way like the Marines do to break into houses. I took out my keys and tried to jiggle with the other side of the handle, but only bent the keys. I grabbed hold of the spring that makes sure the door doesn’t slam shut, and pulled, but that wouldn’t move the door either. I tried putting the door handle back on, but that only wasted time. Then I began to imagine if there was a fire in the building and I was in the restroom trying to break out! The only other thing I could think of was to try taking the hinges off the door. Luckily, the hinges were kind of loose, so I began trying to get the bolt off.Just then, my dad came. “Daniel?” he yelled from the outside of the restroom. I banged on the door and said, “Yeah, Dad, open the door (which I had managed to unlatch) and let me out of here!” This was the only time I really wished I had my video camera with me! All I can say is that before you ever close a door, make sure it has a handle still attached!Don’t ever take door handles for granted!

AmTrak

2004-08-19T14:33:00.006-07:00

The cruise to Alaska was *wunnerful* great views of Glaciers, fun on tours, delicious food now stuck to my hips, and met many new friends! No whales, dolphins or salmon but lots of ice! We went up to the top of the mountain in a tram and looked for wildlife, just saw a squirrel...and a very sick eagle in a cage at the Raptor Center : (Richie said it must be an ’illegal!’ There's always something to smile about when going on a cruise. They can't promise everything! We boarded the bus in Vancouver for Seattle in hopes of another great adventure...the remainder of our trip home by AmTrak! When the bus from Vancouver got us to the border of the US, customs made the driver unload 50 people's luggage and we had to cart it inside for X-ray again...after we'd just been X-rayed many times on the ship! Can't be too careful, donchaknow? Fifty Grampa and Gramma's you know...just can't be too careful! When we arrived in Seattle we transferred from bus to train. More hassles with the luggage! That meant he had to handle the two pieces of luggage per person once again! Talk about work up a sweat…the driver was ragged by this time…he really earned his pay! Our experience with AmTrak was all down hill from there! We were stalled off track for 8 hours in the mountains of N. California while other ‘more important’ shipments came through (as we were on borrowed tracks of Union Pacific!) Richie thought the ride had finally gotten smooth, but we were just parked on a siding : ) The toilets stopped up on the mountain because of altitude problems. This made our usual middle of the night pit-stop an adventure in itself! The train, when it was running ‘rattled and rolled’ like a ship tossed at sea. It was ancient...not like the new trains we've ridden to Capistrano to visit the Mission. Cell phones wouldn't work cuz we were so isolated there was no signal, so nobody could contact family or friends as to what was going on or when to pick them up at midnight. different places in North County. The dining car ran out of some preferred food…like milk! : ( Prepare yourself...It gets worse! In Oakland some gangland *sniper* shot the engine of the next train ahead of us (nobody was injured) so we were delayed another few hours for that investigation. It made looking out the windows a kind of scary proposition from there on!. By this time when we heard the announcement over the loud speakers everyone on the train laughed hysterically! Like, what else can go wrong? Well, stick with us! There were 50 of us from the cruise trip and all were over 50…some well over 50! Not all were capable of navigating the aisles of the train very well. Much less climbing the narrow, steep stairs to the dining cars. Again, I'm coming home with black and blue hips from hitting the narrow hallway walls! Many could not get out of their sleeping rooms (and I use that term loosely) The Sleepers were the size of a regular dining booth at Encinitas Cafe! And there were two of us in it, if you can imagine. The top bunk (for Dick) was hard as a rock and the bottom bunk had ‘sections’ that didn't fit my ’sections’ : ) Meanwhile, the brush fires that burned thousands of acres in San Luis Obispo had burned a train trestle, so that meant that we would be dumped out of the train...(luggage and all...yes, again!) and bussed to Los Angeles Union Station, where nobody met us to help with the luggage or tell us all where to go. We could have told them where to go for sure! I overheard someone say *it costs the same to enjoy the trip or not enjoy it... It's each individuals choice.* So we just got better acquainted with our ‘old ship mates’...women dragged out handwork, men dragged out their mystery novels, and another gal (Stella) taught us how to play Snap Bo, a card game which was a lot of fun! And we ate a lot of ice cream! Our checked luggage didn't make it to Solana Beach where we got off, but went to Oceanside, so we'll have to go pick that up! When we left home we were living out of four pieces of luggage...by the time the train ride ended we were reduced to everything absolutely needed in my purse : ) One section I called ‘the office’ one section I called ‘Rx’ the other one I dubbed miscellaneous! After a whole cruise to Alaska with no seasickness, the minute my feet hit terra firma in Solana Beach, after the rocky AmTrak ride, I got lopsided! My head began to reel and spin and I recognized it as the old familiar Mal de Mer...but without a cruise! Am I weird or what? So, we're a day late and a dollar short (including tips for the AmTrak people...it asn't their fault!) well, actually 12 hours late...but when *late* on a rickety train...who's counting : ) All in all, it was an adventure! This just gives *grist for the mill* to write stories about! That will be my next project! Along with my scrapbook and our great pictures of Alaska! Howevah...right now we are just very sleep deprived! Talk to you later after we catch some zzzzzzsss! We're blessed to be back!

Dick and Thelly

Written by Thelly Reahm,
www.lifestorywriting.net

2004-08-19T14:33:00.005-07:00

Acronyms for MRE = Meals Ready to Eat (for the military) by Daniel Schreiber

Meals rarely eaten
Meals rated excellent
Military ration entrée
Meals received in Egypt
Meals rejected by Ethiopians
Meals rationed equally
Mummified reservist entrée
Meals really energizing
Monstrous remarkable eggs
Mighty rigorous escargot
Marvelous recipe ensemble
Mistaken raviolis eaten
Meals ridiculed everywhere
Meals rarely ended
Meals resembling emergencies
Meals rabbits elevated
Meals rarely elegant
Meals reported efficient
Meals rigorously eaten
Meals that refresh eyes
Meals removing earwax
Meals rewarding excellence
Meals reciting Ecclesiastes
Military reused eggplant
Militia refused eggnog
Meals ravens excreted
Meals rather enormous
Meals rhinos enjoy
Meatballs roasted eternally
Meals Randy examined
Meals rarely enough
Mom’s rewarding entrée
Macabre radish endeavors
Meals randomly exquisite
Mud ransacked eateries
Mostly reused edibles

"What's Goin' On, Marine?"

2004-08-19T14:33:00.004-07:00

Our house-hunting trip went very well, we didn’t find a house, but we got to see the Central Coast area a little more and got to know some real estate agents a little better. But as we were driving from Cardiff to Cayucos, we stopped at a McDonalds somewhere south of Simi Valley on the 101. It was about 9:30 at night, and I was dressed in camouflage like the military. We walked in, ordered our meal, ate it, and were getting ready to leave when a guy from the Air Force walks in in his camo. He was in his 30’s and had dark skin. He started heading toward me (the restrooms were behind me) and took notice of my attire. “What’s goin’ on, Marine?” he said as he passed by, seeing the U.S. Marines patch on my shirt. Mom started cracking up and my heart started pounding, feeling stupid for acting like a little boy playing dress up, especially since I wasn’t a Marine yet. He walked out of the restroom and we got to talking, and he said that he had just been flown in that night from Iraq, where he was fighting the war. He had a large family, who he met at the McDonalds. He was very interested in why I picked the Marines as a future career, and he added that the Marines are “always fighting.” He said that he was once an Army Ranger, and he believed that everyone should stand up and serve their country. He really put down war protesters by saying “We went over there to pick the Iraqis up after they fell captive to Saddam. We wouldn’t risk our lives doing something that wasn’t as important as that.” We spent a lot of time talking and he gave me a tip: “If you are ever an officer in a battle and your men ask you if you’re scared, say ‘yes’, because if you say ‘no’, you are in danger, and you are lying.” Before he left he added, “Good luck, everyone should serve their country.”

The Sound of Freedom

2004-08-19T14:33:00.003-07:00

As I was attending a Civil Air Patrol (U. S. Air Force Auxilary) meeting down at Miramar in the Air National Guard complex, I was watching some CAP Cadets (I am going to soon be one) doing their normal drilling and walking and marching in step and formation. A senior member came up to my friend (and tourguide for the past few weeks)and I and we began talking. A Marine FA-18 Hornet flew over us, which was common since we were situated next to the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar. The man looked up and asked, "Do your here that noise?" My friend and I both nodded and then the man shook his head and said, "That isn't noise." We were confused, and then he added, pointing to the jet, "That's the Sound of Freedom."

Peanut Brittle

2004-08-19T14:33:00.002-07:00

I was up in Big Bear Lake last month (June 26-July 3 2004) with the San Diego Awana Clubs at their end-of-the-year Scholarship Camp. We would sleep in cabins at Pine Summit Conference Grounds, visit the snack shop, play soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, paintball, climb ropes courses, climbing walls, do the zipline, go to chapel each night, and compete one of the other teams in daily games, which had odd names, but were very fun, such as Human Foosball, Tennis Volleyball, Human Pinball, Earthball, Teamball, Which Way Baseball, and so forth. Perhaps the most interesting thing at the camp is the Cabin Inspectors, which are Awana leaders that make sure your cabin is clean. (They are incredibly strict.) They would mark your cabin grade down if your shoes were pointed the wrong way; your sleeping bag zippers must point to the wall, your floor must be swept, your suitcases under the beds, and so on. Then at dinner, in front of the whole camp, (about 550 campers, along with many counselors and Pine Summit Staff) a lady who was known as the cabin inspector would announce the winning cabin, along with other noteworthy cabins, as well as read notes that different campers wrote to her. (Actually, the cabin inspectors were men, not this woman, but all the information was passed to her.) So one day, some friends from my cabin and I put a can that read “Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle,” which I had received from my aunt and uncle a few weeks before, on a chair in the cabin with a note saying that the peanut brittle was for the cabin inspectors. In the can, instead of peanut brittle, was two springs covered in a colored sheet. When anybody opened the can expecting peanut brittle, two springs would shoot out of it. Well, the cabin inspectors fell for it, and the lady on the stage brought the can on with her and opened it on stage in front of everybody. We all had a good laugh, and my peanut brittle is now well known among Awana clubbers.

Taps Violations

2004-08-19T14:33:00.001-07:00

READ “PEANUT BRITTLE” UNDER "PREVIOUS POSTS" BEFORE THIS STORY TO GET THE BACKGROUND PICTURE.

The campers at Scholarship Camp are divided into two large groups- Junior High and High School. Each of those groups is divided into four teams- Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. Now, at night, the Awana staff is very strict about staying quiet after lights out. After lights out (taps), not one sound can exit your mouth.Well, one morning at the flagpole as we were all about to go eat breakfast, the Awana announcer told the campers to report any taps violations. (You could report people on other teams if they talked after taps.) Then the announcer said, “Last night, the Blue Team captain (He was my captain, one of the oldest guys there, and one of the most respected. He new how to make our team win. We did win, thanks to him.) hit his head on the bed post after taps. He yelped in pain (remember- no noises after taps), and there now is a little pink spot on his head, see?” Everybody looked as the captain begged for mercy. Then the announcer said, “Let me see a show of hands for mercy.” Well, after all, the taps charges were dropped, the Blue Team was relieved.