RE: OT I'm on virtual vacation!!!

[Guest guest]

Topper! Would love to join you, but am getting ready for the hurricane. We don't expect too many high winds in southease Alabama, but will be getting lots of rain fall and are expecting flooding. Luckily we have not started harvesting the crops yet, but some area farmers are trying to get corn in before the storm so I expect to see many getting their "ox out of the ditch" tomorrow. Hubbby is moving some irrigation motors to higher ground and are getting cattle from a river bottom pasture. I am getting all the wash done and pulling things from the freezer so I don't have to open the freezers if the electricity goes off for a few days. Also planning meals as if we were camping. We have a camping trip scheduled for next Wed thru Sunday so I am packing for that also. Otherwise I'd be packing on Monday & Tuesday in the rain. Have fun on you trip.

Blessings,

Debbie K.

-----Original Message-----From: topper2@... Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2004 11:43 AM

[Guest guest]

Thanks Debbie... Hope that you fare well through the weather.. I've been watching the news up til this morning... I'll probably tune in around five and see how it's going...

I'll be doing another virtual trip in October sometime.... Maybe you can jump in on that one? Don't know if it will be here or at the Cafe though....

I'd like to do a virtual weekend every couple of months... to get my 'head' back... I'm planning on starting up my walking again... as soon I can I want to hike to the river... it's was my planned goal for this summer.. but this leg thing and me chicken to be out walking... so the virtual trips will be making up for all the real trips that I can't afford to do....

Topper ()

On Sat, 4 Sep 2004 12:03:51 -0500 "Debbie K." writes:

Topper! Would love to join you, but am getting ready for the hurricane. We don't expect too many high winds in southease Alabama, but will be getting lots of rain fall and are expecting flooding. Luckily we have not started harvesting the crops yet, but some area farmers are trying to get corn in before the storm so I expect to see many getting their "ox out of the ditch" tomorrow. Hubbby is moving some irrigation motors to higher ground and are getting cattle from a river bottom pasture. I am getting all the wash done and pulling things from the freezer so I don't have to open the freezers if the electricity goes off for a few days. Also planning meals as if we were camping. We have a camping trip scheduled for next Wed thru Sunday so I am packing for that also. Otherwise I'd be packing on Monday & Tuesday in the rain. Have fun on you trip.

Blessings,

Debbie K.

[Guest guest]

I am a creature of comfort...........give me a nice kingsize bed,jacuzzi

tub(sharing both with Leon!)---penthouse suite in other words!.The mini

fridge stocked with rootbeer,strawberies, icecream, sausages and CHEESES.The

tv with gazilllion stations for Leon, and the biggest and latest computer

w'dsl for me!The games-that what I want to do! A bookcase with lots of books

from the historical romances to The Left Behind Series!(no non-fiction this

weekend)Room Service is bringing us ribeye steak with caesar salad..

Dessert is bananas foster.When I get restless , I will wander down to the

spa and have a massage . I will go and have a manicure, pedicure, and facial

done.Since this penthouse suite is on the Vegas strip,I will wander over to

the special vip gaming area and do some dice and blackjack. When I get

hungry, I am going to the special club for us and have some virgin pina

coladas and a reuben sandwich...Will wander back to the suite to see what

Leon is doing......

Feisty*in penthouse suite and talking with Topper on internet*

OT I'm on virtual vacation!!!

>

> My virtual vacation has started... I thought I'd share with you and send

> out an invite to anyone that might want to participate.... This is only

> a goofy thing to do for the holiday weekend. We've never done anything

> like this before.. but I thought it might be fun for others that are

> limited on funds or energy to have a 'pretend' vacation.

>

> This is a Support Group as well as a Thyroid info source.. part of

> support and healing and growth is to take care of the inner you... to

> find the place inside yourself that YOU have been hiding in while dealing

> with all the thyroid symptoms and mysteries. I used to go camping every

> weekend. I carried my canoe on my vehicle all summer long, so that I

> could go fishing any time I wanted on the way home from work. I went

> hiking I would go to a park or out in the woods to read or write. That is

> the person that I was. Now.. with all that has happened.. I've not done

> any of the since '95... I've lost that part of me.... This weekend.. I'm

> going on a virtual trip... Adapted to my circumstance... using a lot of

> imagination... I'm going to tap in to the me that used to be and just

> have fun this weekend... for NO money, NO travel and NO extra effort.

>

> I'd love for anyone that wants to join.. to just jump right in....

>

> Okay... what I had to set up around to make this work in a house with

> other folks....

>

> The house hold situation this weekend:

>

> Pop has to have a restricted diet this weekend in prep for a test on

> Tuesday... so I'm staying out of the kitchen with any foods that are on

> his list of foods to avoid. I've set up a cooler here in the office with

> all my foods, just as if I were on a three or four day trip. Used to do

> it all the time, so not hard to set up at all. Everything frozen and then

> packed in ice.. I just take out the food I'm going to eat and let it

> defrost to the right temp, then it's ready to eat.

>

> I want to keep my legs wrapped and up as much as I can for this three day

> weekend.. They've been doing so much better these last two nights.. even

> though we went shopping yesterday and I did a lot of walking. So it's

> HIGH on the list to take good care this weekend... herbal baths,

> compresses and compression wraps.... AND keeping them up unless I have to

> move around.

>

> I have CDs that have recordings of a crackling fire.. and of a babbling

> brook so that I can have the proper background sounds.

>

> Okay..... the story...

>

> I packed up all my stuff to go on a weekend trip.. picnic type foods and

> laptop to head out to a friends cabin... it has a generator and solar

> power as well as a satellite hookup for Internet. There is no TV

> reception but there is a VCR and tv so I brought my tapes.

>

> I got the car unloaded.. hauling everything down this long steep hill. I

> was exhausted. I was bringing down the last sack of clothes when my poor

> self fell... I went tumbling down the hill landing in a heap at the

> bottom, my sack of clothes next to me.... I laid there for a while and

> took inventory... I didn't hurt too bad, considering how far I

> toppled.... but my legs REALLY hurt. I could wiggle my toes and nothing

> looked discolored, so I don't think they are broken... but I've decided

> that my best bet is to get them wrapped up and immobilized for a few days

> to be sure that there is no swelling or discoloration developing.

>

> I hobble into the two room cabin. Find the instructions for the generator

> right where they should be and read through everything... then found the

> instructions for connecting the solar panels and batteries so that they

> could start charging right away in the morning.

>

> I dug out my first aid gear and wrapped my lower legs and settled myself

> in for the evening. I was really glad at this point that I had brought so

> much food that didn't require any prep or that I go fishing...

>

> I peek out the back window to make sure that I know where the out house

> is... I don't want to be hobbling around the entire wilderness in the

> middle of the night, if nature calls. It's about 15 feet out from the

> side of the cabin and about a hundred feet past that I can see the lake.

>

> I dig out the laptop, grateful that I had not been carrying it when I

> took my tumble and get it all patched in to the satellite... No power...

> I go around and fire up the generator, it is also hooked up to the

> batteries... So I don't have to run it all the time. I had already

> planned on not running the fridge so I can easily run the computer,

> satellite and fan (if it gets hot) off the batteries once the sun is up

> in the morning and then I don't have to deal with the noise or smell of

> the generator. I head back in to check, the Internet connection is

> good... I'm all set. I shut down the generator.

>

> I dig out a polish and a bun with some salad and have my meal. Take my

> vitamins... then check the time to see when my next meds are due... I'm

> doing okay.. schedule not botched up yet.

>

> My legs are bothering me.. so It's time to get myself comfortable for the

> night... I'd planned on spending a lot of the weekend working on my

> book.. so I won't be too bothered by taking it easy with my legs.... I

> just won't be heading down to the lake for a while. I should know by

> morning how my legs are doing.. if there are any small fractures I should

> see swelling by then... in the mean time.. I'll just take it easy.

>

> I spend a couple of hours on the laptop writing, I shut down when it's

> low battery warning starts barking at me... Time for bed.

>

> Saturday morning arrives.. no swelling in my legs.. just a bit sore...

> GREAT news!!!

>

> I pop my morning dose and then pull together my breakfast mini meal...

> then jump on the Internet and see if anyone is around to chat, the

> residual charge from the time the generator ran the night before is

> enough to get me started, soon the sun is up and the solar cells start

> doing their job....

>

> Hey Edumom is here! We gab for about an hour... No one else is online.. I

> do my emails, check on my web sites (the thyroid one, my personal one and

> the two that I master for a couple of photographers).. and then start

> setting up to work on my book.... I hope to get a good chunk written this

> weekend.

>

> After a while, when I'm pretty sure that the charge is getting up in the

> batteries... I turn on the TV and pop in a tape.....

>

> **************

>

> Well.... if you ever wondered if I was insane before... now you can rest

> assured, I AM!!!!!

>

> But I am having a ball.. the movies I chose to watch first are from my

> King collection. I have the babbling brook CD playing really

> soft. The first one was Needful Things... and now The Green Mile is

> starting!!!

>

> My picnic food is great.. sticking to my mini meal schedule just fine.

> And since the folks know I planned on staying scarce so that dad didn't

> have to smell my food every three hours.. no one is going to be knocking

> on the door to ask if I died....

>

> I've got the book files up and have been working on building up some more

> characters.. then will go into some more of the intro.. the groundwork

> for the novel.... so far I've been getting involved more in some of the

> 'crisis' situations... but want to flesh stuff out more... Three days of

> very little interruption should help with that!

>

> For anyone that wants to play along.... I'm up to suggestions... You

> could be fellow computer geeks and we've stumble upon each other via

> satellite.. or whatever your imagination comes up with...

>

> This little 'game', if anyone choose to participate will be at this group

> through Monday only.... after that, if we want to keep it going, we'll

> move over to the CAFE to continue....

>

> We're still here for Thyroid info and support... so all of that stuff

> will be real... this will just be emotional therapy.... for me, and any

> one else quirky enough to join me.....

>

> Topper () *out in the virtual woods and lovin it!*

>

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