On the Road with Ron

So what does one do when driving 21 hours by himself besides fighting boredom and trying to stay out of the way of aggressive drivers, come up with weird ideas. As I was driving down to Pensacola, I was struck by the number of dead deer I saw. Unofficially, I counted 10 and thought to myself that on the way home I would make a more accurate count of what I saw along the roadside.


Well, I did just that. While driving home, I gave Tammy a count of what I saw, and she recorded it for me. So with no further ado, here is what I saw on our 1260 mile trip from FL to CT traveling Interstate 65 to 459 to 59 to 24 to 78 to 75 to 40 to 81 to 287 to 684 to 84 to 91.

3 Birds. 5 dogs. 4 Cats. 1 porcupine. 5 raccoons. 9 skunks. 1 squirrel. 1 fox. 15 deer. 50 animals that were cremated beyond recognition.

Some items of interest I saw while driving were 1 gas tank, 1 ball cap, 1 purse, 4 five gallon buckets, and 1 Christmas tree. I couldn't travel a couple hundred of feet without seeing some sort of tire tread chunk lying in or on the side of the road. I also noticed that Subway restaurants far, far outnumber any other restaurant I came across. And lastly no trip count would be complete without the number of police cars seen -- 23.

If you would like more information on animals killed on American roads, check out the following link:

http://culturechange.org/issue8/roadkill.htm

A Trip of a Thousand Plus Miles...

As may be deduced from the last post, we spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Jaclyn at PCC so we could be in attendance at her Nurse Lamp Lighting ceremony. I drove the 21 hours - 1260 miles - down by myself. I arrived Sunday. I spent Monday at the Penscacola Naval Air Musuem, then checked in to our condo on the beach, and visited with the Beauchemins who were down with the VT Grandparents visiting PCC as well. Tammy and Lizzy traveled by air and joined us on Tuesday.

Lizzy attended Campus Days and visited several classes on Wednesday as well as spent the night with Jaclyn on campus. Tammy and I visited the PCC planetarium and the radio station WPCS. We all attended the Thursday Thanksgiving Day praise service, watched the Turkey Bowl,and then had Thanksgiving dinner on campus.

Friday was a lazy day with Grandpa and I surf fishing. After about two hours, a storm front came through and put an end to that. My cousin Tim and most of his family were up from Gainesville for a wedding and stopped by that evening for a visit.

Saturday we attended Jaclyn's ceremony and the Fine Arts play Our Town. We packed the vehicle that night for the long drive home the next morning which will be the subject of the next blog.

For Immediate Release

Jaclyn Kelly Gangwer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Gangwer, participated in the annual Nurse Lamp Lighting Ceremony held at Pensacola Christian College on November 27, 2010.

Many parents, friends, and professional staff from the various clinical institutions where the nursing students will receive their clinical experience were in attendance. The lamp lighting ceremony marks the beginning of the students' professional experience.

The program included an address by Dr. Karl Stelzer and the Florence Nightingale Pledge to uphold the ideals of the nursing profession.

(Pictures are to the right.)

All We Want Are the Facts

Lizzy - Working one to three days a week. Working hard at school her senior year. Spending time Stas. Planning for college.

Jaclyn - Working on nursing degree. Awaiting our visit.

Tammy - Working at the hospital and high school.

Ron - Being Mr. Fix-it around the house with lots of little projects. Raking acorns, acorns, and then more acorns along with some leaves.

Gangwer House - Refacing kitchen cabinets and installing new counter tops.

Gangwer Household - Praying for Grandpa K's recovery from neck surgery and giving thanks it wasn't more serious than it was.

Photo Contest

Come one. Come all. Make your voices heard. Make your choice(s) for the photo(s) you like best by giving the number(s) of the photo(s) in the blog's comment section or e-mailing me at tg028@netzero.net. We need everybody participating. The pictures were taken at the Botanical Gardens at Cornell Plantation in Ithaca, NY.

A NY State of Mind

Vacationing in King Ferry, NY on Lake Cayuga meant golfing, shopping, go-karting, hiking, fishing, musuem sight-seeing, antiqueing, swimming, miniature golfing, canoeing, hanging out, watching the sunrise and sunset, photo taking, and ice-cream eating. I am all -inged out, so I am inviting you to get busy viewing our vacation slide show.

Change

Now that's real CHANGE we are all going to have to believe in. At least until it all grows back in ;)

Out with the Old - In with the New

Family Update

Lizzy - Applied at a dozen or more places looking for a summer job - not a single call back. Found out a position was opening where Jaclyn worked. Got the job the very day she applied because "it's not what you know - it's who you know". Has summer reading to do for school. Much, much, much texting.

Jaclyn - Working 20 - 30 hours a week because 'she owes - she owes - so off to work she goes'. Taking History of Civilization summer video course. Taking care of health requisites for next year's nursing courses. Spending time with old friends.

Tammy - Working at the hospital three times a week. Going to her family's reunion in July because "if mama ain't happy - ain't nobody happy".

Ron - Attempting to get full use out the AMB-OS receiver and Enco DAD system at work. Pool floating and yard work because "you can never appreciate the shade of a tree unless you sweat in the sun".

Licorice - Lounging around as usual and taking the occasional walk with Tammy and I because "it's a doggy dog world".

That's for the Birds

For about six years, we have had four different bird feeders in our backyard that we keep stocked for their dining pleasures 24/7. We offer suet of various flavors, thistle, sunflower seeds, and a songbird mixture. In the summer time, the place is hopping needing restocking about every two days. As would be expected, come winter, business slows way down needing almost no attention from us.

Below is a picture of our fine dining establishment and lists of our clientele.




Regulars:
American Goldfinch
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Common Ground Dove
Crow
Downy Woodpecker
House Finch
House/Chirping/Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Nuthatch
Red-bellied Woodpeckers
Tufted Titmouse

Occassional Diners:
Baltimore Oriole
Brown-headed Cowbird
Dark-eyed Junco
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Special Guests:
Pileated Woodpecker (Haven't seen for two years)
Ring-necked Pheasant Female (One sighting five years ago)
Wild Turkey (One sighting three years ago)

Picture This

And that is the last couple of weeks in a nutshell.

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT

We interrupt this blog to bring you this news update. Jaclyn has been accepted into the second year of the 4 year RN degree at PCC. Because of her hard work and God's answer to many prayers, she was 1 of 125 out of 300 chosen to continue.

Home, Sweet, Home

Last Saturday, April 24, I woke up and decided enough talking about it -- I'm ripping up the living room carpet and having the wood floors underneath done. All the living room's furniture is in Jaclyn's bedroom except for the couch which would only go out the front door and is now in the garage. I repainted three of the walls the same color and one wall an accent color. We are now awaiting a call from the floor guy to do his work.

Then on Thursday, April 29, Tammy and I began decluttering the computer room. We went through all of our bookshelves there and are getting rid of the books we don't use. I also placed all my CD's in containers and will be storing them. The next step in the coming week is to remove all of the furniture in the room and repaint the walls with an accent wall in there as well.

On Friday, April 30th, I power-washed the whole house. Our house faces due south so in the winter the back of it never sees daylight. Some nice green stuff grows on it. It's all gone now.

In the coming weeks, I hope to get quotes on roofing. The shingles are nearing the end of their life. I noticed that they have new shingles that are moss/mildew resistant and others that reflect some of the light back so its not absorbed by the house. I will have to see how much extra that adds. I will definitely be getting the architectural shingles. I would also like to see about getting quotes on new garage doors.

So if there are not any new posts for awhile, you will understand why.

Mature Audiences Only

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.





If you need more nostalgia, visit http://www.ilovethe80s.com

News Update

So here are the latest goings on in our CT home:

Lizzy -- Playing softball at school. Doing school work. Getting good grades. Spending time with her friends and Stas. Taking driver's ed.

Jaclyn -- Working hard at college to make it into the nursing program. Giving blood. Having fun with her friends.

Tammy -- Working at the hospital and school. Planning with her mom our summer vacation.

Me -- Working. Reading newspaper. Working out.

Bon Appétit

Since my last blog was somewhat like the Auto Section in "newspapers/gazettes", I thought I would take a stab at the Food Section in this one.

We start the meal process here at our home with a grocery list. And yes, I did just type "grocery list" as strange as that may seem to some people -- Stas. I print this list out from the weekly online Big Y circular. I choose the sale items that keep our home stocked with the ingredients that we need to make the core group of dishes that we enjoy -- at least most of us enjoy them -- Lizzy is hard to please. I then make a menu of the dinners we are going to be having that week being careful not to repeat a dish that we may have had within the last couple of weeks. Tammy and I then go shopping together -- this counts as a date night -- right? When we get home from shopping, I then put all the groceries away in their correct cupboards and shelves. As the adage goes, “a place for everything and everything in its place" -- or as others might put it -- "You're OCD".

Now as to what we eat, below is a list of our regular fare.

Breakfast
Bagels/English muffins
Cereal
Pop Tarts

Lunch
Dinner leftovers
Frozen meals
Sandwiches

Dinner
Cheese, pepperoni, & crackers
Chicken & rice
Chilli & cornbread
Cholocate chip pancakes/French toast
Eggs, bacon, & toast
Fish with salad
Hamburgers & french fries
Hamburger/Chicken Helper
Hot dogs/corn dogs & macaroni and cheese
Kielbasa & pierogies
Pork chops & potatoes
Shepherd's pie
Soup and sandwiches
Spaghetti & meatballs/Tortellini
Sweet sausages & vegetables
Tacos/burritos
Tuna noodle casserole

To this list we add the occasional:
Chicken tetrazini/parmesan
Chicken & dumplings
Cheeseburger/Frito pie
Lasagna
Omaha steaks
Pot roast
Pork tenderloin
Spanish rice with hamburger
Ziti with leftover sausages

Holidays/Special Occasions
Thanksgiving - Turkey and all the trimmings/fixings
Christmas Eve and Easter - Honey glazed ham and all the Thanksgiving trimmings/fixings
Costco Pot pie
Shrimp

For any of the recipes to the above meals, please send a self-addressed stamped e-mail to tg028@netzero.net. (I had to add that to make it have more of that Food Section flavor.)

Cars

"Here in my car, I feel safest of all. I can lock all my doors. It's the only way to live -- in cars."

First car in 1985: A 1976? Chrysler Cordoba that Robin and I supplied the money to have fixed up (body work, painting, brakes). We used it to get back and forth to college in FL from VT for 2 years. It didn't like to start and would stall until it warmed up. It had cruise control and power windows/seats, and the gas gauge didn't work. Sold it for $500 in 1987.

Second car in 1987: A used 1984? Dodge Charger 2.2 bought from a dealer in VT. It looked a lot nicer than the Chrysler but always had carburetor problems which no mechanic seemed to be able to fix. Rachelle wanted it and took over the payments for me after I got married.

Third and fourth cars: When I got married in 1998, Tammy had a manual 1984? Pontiac T-1000 hatchback with no air conditioning (nice in Pensacola, FL). We never had any problems with this car that I can recall. We kept her car until we needed a bigger car because Elizabeth was born in 1993. We sold it to my parents for $600. Our first car purchase together in 1988 was a manual 1989 black (also nice in Pensacola, FL but at least it had air conditioning)Nissan Sentra. It too never had any real problems other than an air conditioning line that would become blocked and leak water onto the passenger side floor. Kept that car until 2000 and sold it for 500 dollars.

Fifth car in 1993: A used 1986 Jeep Wagoneer Limited. Paid cash for it, and it ran great until around the 90,000 mile mark. Started having to put money into it. Final straw was after just having put an alternator in it, it broke down on the way to my grandfather's funeral. Traded it in in 1998.

Sixth car: A new maroon 1998 Dodge Caravan. Yep, finally bit the bullet and became a mini-van guy. This was the main family vehicle. Only problem seemed to be having to fix the air conditioner an inordinate amount of times and a serpentine belt that had a habit of coming off. We just traded this one in 2009.

Seventh car in 2001: Replaced the Sentra with a used tan 1998 Toyota Corolla VE. I put many miles on this car traveling 90 miles to work everyday. Traded it in in 2005 when the O-rings seemed to be going.

Eighth car in 2005: Purchased a new Mazda 3s because of its mpg rating. Gas was becoming expensive and needed to keep the costs down of traveling 90 miles daily to work. Plus -- Zoom, Zoom. Still have this car.

Ninth car in 2007: Purchased a new Hyundai Santa Fe. Jaclyn was a licensed driver, so we needed another car. She got the Dodge Caravan -- every teen's dream, and Tammy the Santa Fe. Still own this car.

Tenth car in 2009: Purchased a new Hyundai Sonata Limited. Knowing the Caravan was on borrowed time, we traded it in during the Cash for Clunker's deal. (This meant Jaclyn didn't have to drive the Caravan anymore. She gets to drive the Mazda when home from college.)

So there you have it. Now "Get your motor running. Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure in whatever comes 'y'our way."

A Picture is Worth What

Lizzy returned from her school trip to France about two weeks ago. I would be posting pictures of her trip, but she only took five total pictures -- all on the first day -- and only of her hotel room and her next door roommates hanging out their window. Needless to say, I am not posting those. (If one is disappointed by the lack of pictures, then please feel free to google the Eiffel Tower and other famous tourist spots in and around Paris and photoshop her into them. And be sure to send us a copy so we can enjoy them.)

I am posting several pictures, though, of her induction ceremony into the National Honor Society which took place on Thursday, February 4th, 2010.

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Rick, my younger brother who lives in upstate New York, has done a lot of hiking in the Adirondacks. He is a member of ADK 46ers -- details of which can be found at http://www.adk46r.org/. Rick's most recent post on his website - gangwer.net - has information and a picture concerning his winter-time hike up Saint Regis Mountain. Well, I too like to take hikes. In fact, Rick may have gotten his desire for hiking from me. So as not to be outdone, I have posted several pictures of my most recent hikes.

New Year's Update

Here is "all the news that's fit to print" from the Gangwer household.

Tammy, Lizzy, and I (Jaclyn never came down with anything) have finally shaken the sore throats/coughs/runny noses we contracted (as did everyone else it seems) on our visit to Vermont during Christmas. I know from my standpoint, it sure wasn't fun doing news and weather on the radio for a week with laryngitis and sinus issues.

Tammy's News -- Tammy began her full-time position at the hospital last week. She is no longer teaching science at PVCS but is still working as the school nurse. She has been attending a lot of PVCS basketball games so Lizzy can watch Stas play. The next set of Spanish classes she and I are taking begins January 26th.

Jaclyn's News -- Jaclyn has been home from PCC since December 18th and will be returning on January 24th. For her first semester at college, she got all A's in her classes. While home, she has been spending her time visiting with friends from church and school, as well as working three to four days a week. When not doing those things, she can be found on her FaceBook account, playing online games, or getting her fill of TV -- she has three months of missed media to make up for.

Lizzy's News -- Lizzy has become a texting maniac. Within the first 10 days of adding texting to her phone, she had sent and received somewhere around 3600 of them. When not texting, Lizzy is on her FaceBook account chatting with her friends or visiting all of their sites. She will be going to Paris, France with PVCS on January 21st and returning on January 28th. As mentioned under Tammy's news, they both have been attending PVCS basketball games to "cheer on" Stas. Lizzy also keeps herself busy with homework and sleeping. Sometimes she will come home from school and go upstairs and fall asleep until the next day. I guess all that texting makes one tired.

Me -- When not working, I like to read my newspaper, do the crossword puzzle, and the word scramble. I have also been getting back into reading books. I finished The History of Enfield, CT and a signed copy of Mike Huckabee's book A Simple Christmas both of which I received for Christmas presents. I am presently reading Patriotic Fire (about the battle of New Orleans). I have also been getting back into the routine of my workouts after the Christmas holidays and illness. As mentioned in Tammy news, we will be beginning our next set of ten Spanish classes on January 26th.

"And that's the way it is."

Christmas 2009

Enjoyed our visit with everyone in Vermont. To see our pictures, please click on slide show at right.