Speeding Tickets and Arrest Warrants

A fair warning to anyone who reads this blog.....do not speed in the great Commonwealth of Virginia.  

On my trip to see Andy make Captain with Lori as my co-pilot, I was stopped by a Virginia State Trooper on Route 58.  I was surprised that we were stopped, because Lori's words to me as she buckled her seatbelt were:  "Don't make my foot move!"  And her foot never moved!

It was a beautiful clear day.  Of course it was a holiday weekend and we did notice the HUGE police presence on Route 58.  The speed limit jumped from 35 to 45 to 60 to 55 and somehow I missed a return to 55.  So imagine my surprise with the blue lights. 

70 in a 55.  How precise.

So today, I went to Emporia, VA for my 11am date with a docket.  I arrived at 10am.  Was greeted with a sign that said No phones, no purses, no guns, no knives.  Ok, back to the car. 

Back into the courthouse.  There were quite a bunch of us waiting for the courtroom. Evidently, the 9am docket was running a little long.  The 9am docket ran to 12:30pm and a deputy came out to tell us that there was going to be a break for lunch and that "we might get in by 1:30pm".

There was no place to go, so I waited.  We were allowed in the courtroom by 1:45pm.  Court started at 2pm.  The first defendent wanted his case dismissed because the trooper had written down the wrong day on his ticket.  There were 40 of us there and this was the first case.  I could see that this was not going to be fast.

His case was not dismissed.  And, the docket was going alphabetically, not how we signed in when we arrived for our original 11 am docket.  Where am I?  Almost dead last.

I was finally up at 3:15pm and I pled "no contest".  Got out to the clerk's office to pay and found the same people in front of me in court, in front of me to pay.  There was one clerk. Of course there was only one.  

I got out of there at 4:10pm.  I cannot believe that no one fussed or created more of a problem during this process.  Oh there was one guy who thought he had no fine ~ the judge really didn't announce any fines, the clerk told us when we approached to get our copy of the decision. He was rather surprised his fine was $350.00.  Mine was a surprised $191.00 but no points.  So a win.  I paid my fine, unlike the guy ahead of me.

I get home at 5:30 and told Mom all about it.  And Mom asks me if I remember when Dad got phone call saying there was a warrant for his arrest for an unpaid ticket.  No, I don't remember this.  Do you?  Besides, I do not think you would get a telephone call about an arrest warrant.  I think they knock on the door ~ loudly.

I remember when Dad got stopped on 50 for an out of date registration and the Trooper knew Dad was the President of MADD, so he gave Dad a warning and told him to take care of the registration quickly.  So Dad runs down to the DMV (which is never fast) got to a clerk and was told he could not get the registration because Mom had several unpaid parking tickets.  So, he had to go to the Annapolis Police Station and pay the fines, then go back to the DMV.  And he didn't even yell when he got home.  He said that it took so long that he got over it.   Huh.

Anyway, the moral of the story?  Stay out of Virginia.

Love, Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I was the first one up this morning and it is amazing how quiet the house is when there are guests and no one is up yet.

I have the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on television, it is a bit drizzly here and cool.  

Amy's protest against the peanut M&M's ~ NO MORE she cried!

Breakfast and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade.

Our door decoration and as I took the picture, Bennett nudged the door open and Snoopy was right behind him!

Turkey pillow.

My favorite ~ a caramel Caroline's cake ~ delicious!!!

Apple crumble pie ~ I made this including the homemade cinnamon spice crust.

Breakfast is over, everyone is up.  Mike had to go and find a charger for his phone, it is of course a SAMSUNG and we didn't have one.  I sent him to Walgreens ~ he went to WALMART, which is no longer in Durham.  I wondered why he was gone so long.

Well, time to get ready for the onslaught, rather festivities!

Love,
Leslie

Evaluations

I took Mom to see her doctor at the Duke Eye Clinic yesterday.  Mom always tells them that she thinks her eyes are worse. They took pictures with dye and did lots of tests and.....her eyes are exactly as they were two years ago when she first came to Duke.  Dr. Cousins told her that while they are not getting worse, they are not going to ever be what they were when she was 60.  I appreciated his not beating around the bush.  

Did Mom "hear" what he said? I don't think so because he also told her that she was getting a shot in her right eye and then he scheduled her next 4 appointments and then he told her he would see her in January.  When his nurse came in, Mom told her that she felt that this appointment had been rather long for nothing.  Hmmmm.

Carolyn just sent us her most current evaluation:

Congratulations to Carolyn!!!!!!

Love, Leslie

Change

Change is upon me.  It will be 29 degrees tonight!  We have been hot, warm, cool and wham below freezing.  That means the tender tropicals that I have moved onto the screened porch MUST come into warmer climes.

I moved some more into the house:

I heard someone say that they turned their house into a terrarium in the winter ~ I don't think I will be that bad.  

And, there is still mourning going on in this house.  You can never tell about people.  And how they vote.  I am astonished that 42% of the white women who voted, voted for Trump.  I am astonished that 2 million Democrats did not vote.  I am ticked off that Colin Kaepernick, who knelt down in protest during the National Anthem (which is his right) DID NOT VOTE!.

Well, time to take my aggression out on cleaning the bird cages.  

Love, Leslie

Great Job David!!!

This is belated ~ the election stuff has been exciting enough and I neglected to share a very cool happening from Saturday.

Saturday was the Notre Dame Navy game and it was played in Jacksonville, Florida.  Of course I had the game on, even though I knew that game could be very hard to watch and it usually does not end in a good way for Navy.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the P-3 (or the new P-8?) fly over, I wondered if it could possibly be David.  And I knew the pilots would be shown at halftime so I was hooked.

And yes, David Whitehead was the commanding officer of the squadron and he participated in the fly by!

David is second from the left.

Since I have never known anyone involved in a fly by, this is very cool!  

David with his son, Alex.  Please note the score in the background.

Election Day

Amy is sitting at her desk all decked out for the election.  We have all voted.  Amy and I early and Mom by absentee ballot.  Lori and friends are coming over to watch the returns.  I wish I had a baseball game to watch.

Whatever happens, we as citizens of the greatest country on earth will continue to work and be the best people we can be.  

Love, Leslie

The Best Day Ever!

About 11am today, Amy got a phone call from Lori telling her to get to the church (where Lori works) IMMEDIATELY because they have to get to Fayetteville where they will met the President of the United States, Barrack Obama!!!!!

Needless to say, Amy booked!

Amy, Cindy Horn, Lori and Maren

Amy got her button autographed by President Obama!

They were not allowed to take pictures with the President ~ there was an official photographer there so a picture MAY show up, but they all got hugged ~ Amy got two hugs and Maren said something to the President and he said "I like this girl!"

They were all excited and thrilled ~ what a fantastic couple of days!!!!!!!!!

Love, Leslie

Amy and Lori Go To See President Obama

President Obama is in Chapel Hill this afternoon and Lori and Amy went to the rally.

I guess this is as close as they got.

I saw the speech on television ~ President Obama is so charismatic!  His message: Choose Hope.

What a great opportunity to see a sitting President.

Love, Leslie

Jake is At His New Forever Barn

In all the excitement of Halloween, I forgot to let you know that Jake has been moved to his new barn that is so close!!!!  Amy is thrilled ~ and the owner, Missy, had saved Jake a stall for almost a year!

Jake was already listed on their message board!!!!!!

The indoor arena

One of the boarders named Cat with a cat named Doug.

Jake in his stall ~ and he is in the middle so he will get lots of attention!

Jake (with the white boots) is already turned out in the gelding field with his new friend Oss.  He looks all settled in!

This new barn is much more convenient for Amy, close to home and Chipolte.  No more hour there and hour back!!!!!!

Love, Leslie

Post Halloween.....It Was Great!!!!

We had a wonderful Halloween ~ Lori and Jim came over for pizza, beer, cocktails, Fireball whiskey and CANDY!  It is amazing how You (meaning me) think you don't have enough and then at the end of the evening, there are leftovers!  

We had the front stoop decorated with the scary music and sounds coming out of the dining room window.

The first trick or treater was a little guy dressed as a horse:

Amy, of course took a selfie with him!

We had to get a hold of the little dogs, Melanie stayed on the sofa after the first couple of groups, but Bennett liked to be at the door to see the kids while I handed out the candy:

He was so good!

It was all over about 8:30pm.  I stayed open for business until 9pm, but the streets were empty.

Now it is time to put it all away and dare I say it..........no I won't.  I still have Thanksgiving first ~ then the most wonderful time of the year!!!!!! Ho Ho Ho!!!!!

Love, Leslie