Liv's On the Lake

I found this photo the other day in my desk drawer. I thought it was so funny, and couldn't believe I hadn't scanned it yet!

I don't know why she's making that face. It's funny, though!

It was taken in July 2009, while Andrew, Livie, and I were at my parents' lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. I don't remember who too the photo (it definitely wasn't me), but I think it was one of the other guests who were staying at the lake house while we were there. Livie was 3-years-old in this photo.

Memory Lane Friday - No Theme

This week is another "No Theme" week. So I'm going to write about something I was talking to Livie about earlier this week.

My family has had Pembroke Welsh Corgis since the early '90s. They are great little dogs with big personalities.

Our first Corgi, Foxy (registered name Oakhome Foxy Fancy), was a great girl. She was SO smart, and everyone said she was such a pretty Corgi.

Oakhome Foxy Fancy, circa mid-'90s.

She did AWESOME in obedience classes with me, even earning her AKC Canine Good Citizen award the first time out, even before completing her first basic obedience class. The Canine Good Citizen test, by the way, is to reward dogs and their humans for the dogs' good manners.

Anyway, she had a good, long life with our family, passing away in mid-2006, when Livie was a baby. Needless to say, Livie never met her.

Since she was my favorite dog, Andrew bought me a stuffed animal Corgi that looked just like Foxy. Now that Livie's a little girl and loves playing with stuffed animals, she found my stuffed animal "Foxy" and has claimed it as hers.

Earlier this week as Livie was playing with "Foxy," she was asking me questions about the real Foxy.

So I told her a time from back in the early '90s, when my brothers and I had a funny incident happen with Foxy.

We were at my parents' lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. It was the end of our trip, and we were heading back. My brothers decided to ride back with me and Foxy in my car, leaving my parents to head home alone.

It was approximately a 6 hour drive from the lake house to my parents' house (their regular residence, that is). At some point, about halfway home and around midday, we decided to stop at a McDonald's to use the restrooms and get something to eat.

Well, since Foxy couldn't come in with us, we had to leave her in the car. Right?

As we got out of the car,  I told my brothers to use the men's room as I used the ladies' room and we'd meet at the counter to order our lunches (I was going to buy all our food). I'd also order a plain hamburger for Foxy so she could eat the patty, per my mother's instructions, as well as a cup of water, no ice, since she needed something to drink, too. (This only happened on infrequent road trips, by the way.)

I asked my brothers to crack open the windows, so Foxy could get some fresh air. We'd only be gone, what, 10 minutes or so (just to go to the bathroom and get our food), so I wasn't too worried about her.

However, Foxy didn't understand the plan. As the three of us walked away from the car, she jumped up into the back window, looking like she thought we'd never return . . . or maybe, "How dare you leave me alone?!"

For some reason, we found that image to be hilarious, and we couldn't stop laughing about it. I think it was one of those you had to be there moments, but let me tell you, if I remind my youngest brother Alex, he and I still get a laugh out of it.

Anyway, we got back to the car a few minutes later, and there was Foxy, SO excited to see us. We just had to laugh.

So, here's the rest of the story . . . my brothers began to eat their lunches alfresco, right there at the car (we'd parked kinda at the edge of the parking lot, in as shady a spot as possible). 

I let Foxy out on her leash so we could go to her "bathroom" (a grassy place near the parking lot). Then we went back to the car so I could feed her her hamburger patty, laying it on the burger wrapper on the ground so she could eat it while I ate my own lunch.

Then we got in the car and headed the rest of the way home.

It was a fun, cute incident.

Foxy, circa 1996.

Please come back next week when the theme is "It Happened in Class."

Memory Lane Friday is hosted by Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs. Please click on the button below to read her post, as well as this week's other entries.

Memory Lane Friday - July 4th

Okay, this week's Memory Lane Friday topic is July 4th. I have a few great memories of the 4th of July holiday. Not only because it's one of my very favorite holidays, but also because of some of the fun, crazy stuff that happened.

Now, back in March on a different Memory Lane Friday topic (a crazy weather story), I wrote about an adventure my family and I had on July 4th. You can read the original post here. But for main fireworks story . . .

As I've mentioned before, my parents have a lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. They usually go out a few long weekends every summer. And over the 4th, there is a big fireworks display over the lake. All these boats head out to one point on the lake, near a particular resort. Then, from the resort, a fireworks show is lit for all to enjoy from their boats in the middle of the lake.

Well, last year we were out there for the 4th. So we all piled into the boat and headed to that central location to watch the fireworks. Off in the distance, we saw storm clouds moving in. But we didn't really worry about it.

As we waited for the show to start, the clouds continued to creep closer.

Finally the show began. And not long afterward, we noticed that our hair began to stand on end (all of us, except for Andrew, who has a military haircut, so it's too short). And the clouds were closer. Sometimes we heard rumbling and wondered if it was the fireworks . . . or was it thunder?

Soon enough, we had our answer. It was thunder. And there was lightning. So before the show was over, my dad turned the boat around and we headed back to the house.

Before we got back it started raining . . . and HARD. He couldn't see where he was going. So he had to rely solely on his GPS to steer and get us back safely. After a few minutes, we were back, and that's when booming claps of thunder and cracks of lightning began going crazy. It was nuts!

But looking back on it, it was kind of exciting. Not that I'd want to repeat the experience . . . it's just fun to remember, considering we got back safely.

Another memory I have of July 4th is being in El Paso, TX with my grandparents when I was younger. This was back in the early- to mid-'70s.

I distinctly remember visiting friends or relatives and heading up to the rooftop to watch the fireworks display over the El Paso skyline. At first, I couldn't remember whose house it was, but it looked familiar when I closed my eyes and thought hard about it. It wasn't my grandparents' house on Blue Ridge Circle. It wasn't Naná’s house.

Well, whose house was it?! Uncle Chino's? No. I asked my Oma at one point recently, and she was horrified, saying she'd never, ever let me on the roof, not even with my Sir Rafa right there next to me. Going on the roof was never something they'd ever consider doing, so why would I mention that? (Sadly, it's the Alzheimer's that has ruined some of her precious memories.)

Then it dawned on me. The more I thought about it, the clearer the mental picture became. It was Uncle Joe and Aunt Lily's house!! To verify this memory, I asked my cousin Rik, who's two months older than I am. I said, "Hey, Rik . . . do you remember July 4th celebrations back when we were kids? Didn't we hang out on a rooftop watching the fireworks? That was at your house, right?"

And he said, "It was on our roof from what I remember! You're not crazy! We used to climb up on the roof and watch the skyline as the fireworks went off. :)"

It sure was a lot of fun. I remember somebody (probably my grandfather or Uncle Joe) spotting me as I climbed up the ladder. Now, keep in mind that these were single-story ranch style houses, with flatter, hardly-peaked roofs.

I remember warm, dry southwestern nights with very little humidity, and a warm desert breeze blowing as we sat on the roof under twinkling stars. I remember the twinkling of the city lights as they mimicked the twinkling stars above . . . and then the fireworks started. Very cool.

I also remember having sparklers, and having been satisfied after a meal before heading up to the roof. Maybe we also had some sort of ice cream treats, too. I remember that my grandmother always seemed to have orange creamsicles in her freezer, and Aunt Lily probably had some frozen goodies at her house, too.

So I can't recall any specifics, but I do remember the fun and adventure surrounding the chance to watch fireworks from the roof!! How much fun could that be for a kid!

Of course, these days I don't know how likely it would be for us to climb on a roof to watch fireworks, right? But it sure was fun back then!

Here are my Uncle Joe, Aunt Lily, Oma, and Sir Rafa, circa mid-1990s (possibly '94?). 

This was at Uncle Joe and Aunt Lily's old house on Paraguay Street.

For the rest of this week's Memory Lane Friday posts, click on the button below:

Next week's Memory Lane Friday topic, by the way, is "A Game."

Memory Lane Friday - My Dad

This week's Memory Lane Friday topic is about "My Dad."

He's the guy that my brother Alex and I think of when watching The Lion King. There's a part where Simba has gotten into trouble with the hyenas, and Mufasa has to come in and rescue him. Later, Simba mentions that the hyenas were pretty scared of Mufasa. And Mufasa says, "Nobody messes with your Dad!" That reminds Alex and me of the kind of guy our dad is.

So what do I say about my dad? Well, I have a lot of stories, so I'll just have to narrow them down to just a few.

 Here's a picture of the two of us. I must've been around 4.

 This must've been about the time we moved to Wilmette, IL.

 Here's a funny photo of Dad as he's floating at the lake house, Lake Ozark, MO, circa mid-90s.

First, as you can see in the photo above . . . I have to say that he's the kind of guy who would be the instigator in something super fun . . . but this thing (whatever it might be) would also be high on the list of "Mom won't like this!" activities.

For instance, in a previous Memory Lane Friday about A Family Vacation, I recalled that he served us ice cream, M&Ms, and Twizzlers for breakfast one morning before skiing. That same trip, he took us to eat nothing but cookies and milk for lunch one day. And then to top it off, we went to this funky, weird place called "The Irish Camel" that served awful Mexican food!

He is also the guy who is up for seeing movies - action, adventure, space - anything fun, fast, and loud. I remember seeing the original 3 Star Wars movies, Jaws 3D, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Terminator 2, probably a couple Star Trek movies, stuff like that. Anytime a fun movie was out, we could count on Dad to take us to it.

At the movie theater, he always used to get the HUGE vat container of popcorn - the biggest one - with butter, and one huge soda. He'd have us all share it, though we always complained that we wanted our own individual sodas. Nope. That wasn't going to happen. One big popcorn and one big soda (with one straw) to share among all of us.

One time, he'd gone to get the popcorn and soda, and when he got back to the aisle where we were sitting, he tripped and dumped the whole container of popcorn on my sister's head. She was SO mad! She must've been around 8 years old, and would not stop complaining the entire movie, but the rest of us thought it was hilarious. We couldn't stop snickering about it, and that made her angrier!

Then there's the side of him that gives good (or tries to give good) advice.

When I was a student at Culver Girls Academy, in Culver, IN, I was a member of the Culver Equestriennes. This team does mounted drills to music.

To be a member of this organization, a rider must be enrolled in the Horsemanship department, and must meet or exceed a certain GPA, maintain a high level of horsemanship, and maintain a "citizenship grade" of B or higher. Riders may try out for the team after a semester in the Horsemanship department.

 The Culver Equestriennes. I'm in the line closest to the camera, third from the right.

Well, my friend Rosann and I had been members of the Equestriennes since the second semester of our Freshman year. At the end of our Junior year, just before the final ride the week of graduation, it was time to elect the new senior captain (out of the current juniors) for our Senior year on the team.

Since we'd been teammates since our freshman year (as were only one or two other teammates), Rosann and I wanted to run as co-captains. Our Freshman year, we had co-captains lead the team. We just knew we could run the team effectively as co-captains. But the coach said no, without reason. We pressured her to tell us why we couldn't and the answer was basically, "Because I said so. End of conversation."

Rosann and I were understandably upset, but ran as individuals.

When it was finally time to vote (right before we were to go out to the stables to mount up for the final ride of our junior year), we nervously voted.

And then just before we entered the arena as a team, the coach told us the results. It was a third girl who had won. She had gotten 6 votes, Rosann and I each got 4 votes, and then other girls got the remaining votes. Rosann and I were so upset. If we had run as co-captains, we could've gotten 8 votes (possibly more) and would've won!

But we had a performance to ride. I put on my best and biggest smile (we were always encouraged to smile big for all performances . . . besides, it was fun!), even though I just wanted to cry.

After the performance, we had to quickly get the horses ready for the Culver Lancers (the boys' mounted drill team). Then we could go up to the balcony to meet our families.

I'm pretty sure I forced out a half-hearted "Congratulations!" to the girl who became captain, a classmate of Rosann's and mine, with as big a smile as I could forcefully plaster on my face. I'd been trying to avoid her, but we were in the stables together, so it was inevitable.

One of my friends, Debra, who a classmate of mine and also on the team, said, "You should've won. If it makes you feel any better, I voted for you." So did my friend, Brenda, a senior who'd be graduating in a couple days, also a teammate.


Then I headed up to the balcony to find my parents. I think I gave them a short, snippy, "So-'n'-so won. She's captain," as we watched the other teams perform.

But in the car, as my parents drove me back to my dorm, I couldn't hold back the flood anymore and I burst into tears. I was so heartbroken (and mad). I explained how Rosann and I wanted to be co-captains, but the coach said no, and then I explained all the rest of the drama.

My dad then tried to explain that it's usually not the best riders (or football/hockey/soccer players, or whatever sport it is) that get to be captain . . . it's the most popular ones. He went on to tell me I had a gift - I was such an accomplished equestrian, having won awards (which was just the icing on the cake), that I could practically ride in my sleep, that it was so effortless for me. This was more important than holding a "captain" title for a year.

Then he explained that when he was on the football team, he was considered to be a talented football player. But when he ran for the captain position, he didn't get it. It went to the most popular guy on the team who was just an average player, at best. So he knew what it felt like, and wanted me to understand it had nothing to do with my horsemanship ability.

I didn't believe him at the time, thinking he was just saying that to get me to stop crying. But as time wore on, and the sting wore off, I could see his point. I found out later, after talking with Rosann, that a similar event happened with her and her parents, and that her dad gave her a very similar story.

Well, then there's how my dad leads by example. He'd received a commission in the Army back in the day. He was the only one in my family with a commission. All the rest of my family members served honorably and bravely as a part of the enlisted corps.

But since I'd be going to college and since I had a strong urge to join the military and serve my country, I knew I'd follow in his footsteps and get a commission, too. But I went Air Force, not Army (or Navy) like all my relatives before me.

Since my dad had been a Major in the Army, I decided that when it was time for me to graduate from Officer Training School, I wanted him to administer my oath of office. It was the same one that recited when he raised his right hand and accepted his commission. It's the same one Andrew took when he was commissioned. It's actually very similar to the one that each U.S. President recites on Inauguration Day.

Here's my dad as he administers my oath on 19 Nov 1999.

 My mom took this photo of us.

Here he is as he pins on my Second Lieutenant rank.

So my dad, the Army Major, administered my oath of office, and pinned on my new rank (which he also did at each of my promotion ceremonies).

This is a common bond that he and I share. He's said on occasion that none of his other kids ever followed this example of his . . . and he's said this with a grin on his face. So I'm the only family member to share this common bond.

So there you have it . . . a not-so-brief snapshot of my dad. But before I sign off . . . check out a couple photos of my dad when he was much younger.

 Here he is as a little boy, less than a year old.

 Here he is when he was about 17 in Auburn, NY.

And here is one more from when I got married in 2002:

Wedding photo © 2002 Brad Baskin

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Memory Lane Friday - A Time You Got in Trouble

Okay, I know this week's theme is "A Time You Got in Trouble" but I'm going to go with a time my youngest brother and I could have gotten into trouble . . . if we had not been quick to hide the "evidence."

This was back a number of years, maybe late-'80s or early-'90s. We were still living in the house on Casady Drive.

 Here's the Casady house, circa early '80s:

I think I must've been getting ready to head back to college at the time this event occurred. It was the end of summer, with Labor Day fast approaching.

My parents were planning the family's last trip to the lake house in Lake Ozark, MO. However, for one reason or another, my youngest brother and I had decided that neither one of us wanted to spend another weekend at the lake house that summer. I don't really know his reason, but I think I wanted my last weekend to be at home before heading back out to college.

Anyway, my mom had no problem with my staying home, and said that if I were willing to take care of Alex, he could stay home, too. I agreed to the task.

When the 3-day-weekend finally arrived, we watched the rest of the family pull out of the driveway that Friday afternoon with excited grins on our faces.

The first thing we did was get into my car and head to the video store. As we browsed through the hundreds of VHS titles, Alex said to me, "Can I get 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'? I've never seen it and it's not really something Mom would let me watch. Would you mind if I got it?" Keep in mind that he was in middle school at the time (I'm a number of years his senior). But being the cool sister that I am, I said, "Why the heck not?"

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and a couple other titles later, we headed down the strip mall's sidewalk to the Dahl's grocery store, just a few doors down from the video store. Were we getting stuff for dinner? Noooo . . . of course not! We went in and got a few pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Once back home, we immediately went to the den to start movie night and order a pizza! Just about 30 minutes into our first movie (it may have been "Rocky Horror" or something like "Flash Gordon" - I can't remember), we got our pizza (and a couple sodas) - which we ate in the den! This is definitely something that would NOT have been allowed if our mother had been home!

Later on after our pizza started digesting during our "weird movies" movie night, we dug into the ice cream. In the den, of course!

Then after the last of our movies it was off to bed, leaving an empty pizza box, some soda cans, and an empty ice cream container (with dirty spoons) where they lay. Luckily Alex hadn't fallen asleep in the den that night - I didn't want him sleeping in there all night, and I wouldn't have been able to carry him to his room. 

The next day - that Saturday of Labor Day weekend - after sleeping in late, and leaving a mess of dirty cereal bowls in the kitchen - the two of us headed to the zoo! I don't recall whose idea it was, but it was a fun outing - until it started raining! I think we ended up heading to the Science Center for something fun indoors, but when we got there, it was closed!

Ah, well. That meant more time at the video store returning our previous rentals and getting 3 more movies. I don't remember the titles, but D.B. Sweeney, Marlee Matlin, Jeff Bridges were among the actors. I vaguely remember renting "Starman" and "The Vanishing" sometime that weekend.

Of course, that also meant more Ben & Jerry's being picked up at the grocery store before heading home, and another pizza delivery that evening. And yet another late night watching movies, and pigging out on junk food.

But this time, we piled up two day's worth of pizza boxes and ice cream containers in the kitchen before going to sleep that night.

I don't remember what we did on Sunday, but Sunday night was more of the same - movies, pizza, and ice cream. Somehow we hadn't finished watching all our rentals Sunday night before hitting the hay. But we did get a chance to clear the den of all junk food evidence. However, it was now all piled up in the kitchen . . . okay, not the soda cans, but the pizza boxes. I still can't believe we ate pizza three nights in a row.

Well, Monday arrived, and since we hadn't finished watching our videos from the night before, that's what we did - we watched the remaining movie. I think we ended up going through the drive-thru at McDonald's for lunch before settling into our comfy chairs in the den and starting the movie - with our bags of fast food in the den.

At some point, we got a call from our mom, stating that they were leaving, and what time she and the rest of the family would be back. It was sometime late afternoon or early evening - around dinner time.

No problem! Alex and I had plenty of time to finish our movie and get rid of the evidence.

That is, we thought we had enough time . . . until early that afternoon, when we were both standing in the kitchen (overlooking the driveway, garage, and extra parking area), and we saw that familiar van heading up the street, and turning into the driveway!!!

Oh, no! We both panicked! We had pizza boxes strewn about the kitchen, empty McDonald's bags from that day's lunch, dirty cereal bowls from three mornings of breakfasts, empty soda cans . . . what were we gonna do? How were we gonna explain this?!

We both grabbed a couple big garbage bags and started filling them with the trash we'd accumulated over the 3-day-weekend. Once we did that, I started quickly rinsing off the breakfast dishes and filling the dishwasher. As I did that, I sent Alex to the den to make sure we'd gotten all the trash picked up and thrown into one of the garbage bags we'd been using.

A quick look outside and we saw the rest of the family as they were getting out of the van, unloading their bags from the very back, and off the roof rack, and gathering any accumulated trash from the passenger area of the van.

Okay, a quick survey of the kitchen. Seemed clean enough . . . now what to do about the garbage bags?! The dumpster was outside near the garage . . . but we'd have to go past the family with trash bags in tow, to get to the dumpster!

I sent Alex with the trash bags to the back yard, hiding behind some shrubbery, and listening for the all clear. I went out the side door to greet the family as they came in, and I stayed out there after the last one walked in the door. Then I called to Alex and told him to hurry up and dump the trash bags into the dumpster, which he did.

Then we both went inside with angelic looks on our faces. Aside from a "you could've gotten this kitchen a little bit cleaner" from my mom, no one ever suspected that our Movie, Pizza, and Ben & Jerry's weekend was just that - a fun, movie-filled weekend with lots of junk food!

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Memory Lane Friday - A Crazy Weather Story

My parents have had a lake house in Lake Ozark, Missouri for a number of years now. Actually, it's been well over a decade now - ever since I was in college.

It basically just gets used during the summer months as a vacation home. My dad will head out there at the first hint of spring to "open" the house. He'll do a walk-through to ensure that all looks good with the house and do any kind of maintenance that's needed, get the boat and wave runners ready for use, that kind of thing.

Back in the day while I was still in college and my brothers in high school, summer trips to the lake house were AWESOME. These were the days when there could easily be multiple week-long trips to the lake house, anytime between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

My brothers and dad were the ones who really looked forward to these trips. They were the ones that were there at every single opportunity. They'd be out all day on the lake, with my dad manning the boat, and my brothers having fun being pulled along on tubes. Or, they'd be out on the wave runners. Those two would be out on the water practically all day. If it were raining, they'd have a bunch of videos they'd watch inside the house.

I'd try to head out there at least once a summer to spend time with them. I wasn't so much into tubing (I'd tried it a few times, but I wasn't all that thrilled with it). What I liked was riding the wave runners. And sitting in a quiet house, reading. Or heading to the outlet mall. I also liked watching movies with them (a perennial fave was "The Cutting Edge").

And on the 4th of July, everyone would go out on the lake on their boats at dusk to watch the show; a local resort would host a fireworks display over the lake, and it was SO COOL. Everyone would be there in their respective boats, having a good time, watching the fireworks while floating in the middle of the lake.

But this story is supposed to be about a crazy weather experience. And this whole lake house story was simply to set the scene.

One summer in the early '90s, I was on summer break, home from college for a couple months. My mom, brothers and I were going to head to the lake house together for the week surrounding Independence Day. My dad would be driving himself later that day due to work commitments; he wasn't able to leave with the rest of us.

So my mom, brothers, and I climbed into the van (they had one of those huge vans at the time) and off we headed. Well, at some point on our way from central Iowa to central Missouri, we passed through a thunderstorm. My mom, the driver, just plowed along in the van.

Until it happened . . . suddenly, we felt like something had jolted the van. The radio went out, the van shook, and there was a bright flash, all at the same time! The van had been hit by lightning!! Now of course, lightning isn't a laughing matter, and we were all momentarily stunned. But once we realized everyone was okay, we did start laughing, maybe because we'd been scared for a moment before realizing all was well - we were all okay . . . or maybe it was because of our mom's reaction. With one hand on the steering wheel, she took the other hand and started patting herself all over, like she'd been shot, not exactly sure what the heck happened.

My brothers and I still get a chuckle out of that memory. Laughing at the shock of it all (no pun intended) and realizing there was no damage.

However, that's not the end of the lightning!

Last summer, Andrew, Olivia, and I headed out to the lake house for the 4th of July holiday. During our visit, my dad took me, Andrew, and another family out on the boat for the annual 4th of July fireworks display. Olivia stayed at the house with my mom, reading kids' books, watching fireworks on TV, and getting a bath.

As the rest of us headed out to the designated area in the middle of the lake, we'd noticed that there were some suspiciously stormy-looking clouds over the horizon. We kept an eye on them as they crept closer, seeing lightning flickering way off in the distance. 

Then the fireworks started. But the clouds (and lightning) kept coming closer. At some point, we started wondering: was that noise from the fireworks or was it thunder? And to top it off, we realized that everyone's hair was on end, really full of static. A very good sign that we were all lightning rods. We started discussing whether we should leave right away, or wait until the fireworks were over.

And then, maybe because someone was reading our minds, or maybe due to the impending storm, the fireworks finale began. But by this time, it had started sprinkling. My dad decided to head back before the finale wrapped up, as it would take a good 10-15 minutes to get back to the house.

On the way home, it started raining harder. The next thing we knew, we were in a downpour and were getting pelted by hard rain. My dad couldn't even see past the bow of the boat, so he was heavily relying on his GPS to get us home.

Somehow we made it home safely, without an actual lightning strike. Thank goodness. What a ride!